One of my favorite holiday traditions is going Black Friday shopping.  Seriously.  My mom and I have a lot of fun together, and we usually manage to snag a few deals that make the whole ordeal worth it.  This year I decided to bring my camera along so that all of you who stayed at home in your warm little beds could feel like you experienced it too.

Here’s a shot right before we left the house at about 3:45am…

Indiana Mimi looks pretty good for that early in the morning, doesn’t she?  She wanted to know if all the pictures were going to be of her since I was the one with the camera, so I stretched out my arm and took this one…

And now I need to interrupt this blog post to ask you something:  Do my eyes look 4x brighter to you?  You see, I’ve been using the new line from Cover Girl, the Exact Eyelights line, which is eye make-up for your specific color.  I’ve been using the line for green eyes for a few weeks now, and Big D refuses to answer that question, so I thought I’d put it out there, and see what all of you think.  I can’t decide if it makes my eyes look brighter, or if it looks like I have pink eye.  What do you think?

Okay, so anyway, after snapping a few pictures and getting some hot coffee in my to-go cup, we were off.

3:54am, and we were ready…or not because my windshield looked like this…

We had our first frost overnight, and I didn’t think to start the car earlier, so we had to wait about five minutes for the ice to melt.  Indiana Mimi thought we should have waited a few minutes longer because she was scared to death I couldn’t really see when I decided to take off.  And guess what?  I really couldn’t see all that well, but there were no other cars on the road anyway, so it hardly mattered….unless you’re a deer….or a mailbox.

We arrived at Kohl’s, our first shopping destination about fifteen or so minutes after they opened, and we were encouraged to see that we were not the only crazy people that were out this early in the morning.

Besides having to wait a few minutes for an available shopping cart, it was a rather tame experience.  I found almost everything I was looking for and only had to wait in line for about ten minutes or so.  We left the store about an hour after we got there, and then headed to a bigger town to shop at Wal-mart.

 I had dropped Indiana Mimi off at the front of the store and went to find a parking spot when my cell phone started ringing.  It was Indiana Mimi telling me that there were no carts and that every register was open and the lines were still clear to the back of the store.  I tried to look at the bright side of things and reasoned that at least this would be the one and only time I wouldn’t have the buggy with the wobbly wheel.

Inside we decided to divide and conquer.  Well, actually we were already separated and had no hope of finding one another in the sea of people in that store.  I wandered around, trying my best to not run into anyone or get hit myself by the careening carts.  It was utter chaos.  The Black Friday merchandise had been ransacked.  The prices were obscure.  Some things were situated in odd places, like an entire bin of bargain DVDs were set up in the middle of the produce department.  I managed to find one toy, a pair of PJs and a movie, but I couldn’t find my mother or an employee who could tell me how much my movie cost, since all four of the self-scanners I had been to were not working.

Eventually Indiana Mimi and I were able to reach each other by phone.  I’m completely convinced that if this had been in the days before we all had cell phones that we would still, almost a week later, be in Wal-mart trying to find one another.  I tell Indiana Mimi that there is no way I’m going to stand in line for three hours just to buy my little pile of stuff that probably cost around $20.  She agrees, and I told her to make her way to the front of the store where I was so we can leave, but then I hear her greeting someone.  The someone ended up being a friend and neighbor of mine, already in line, who agreed to purchase my piddly pile of things for me.  I gingerly make my way to where she is standing in line and hand over the goods.  Indiana Mimi and I wipe the Wal-mart dust from our hands and move on.

Next stop is LifeWay Christian bookstore….

We got to the parking lot about ten minutes before the doors opened, so we had a moment to collect our selves and re-caffeinate.  Indiana Mimi had Coke, and I had lukewarm coffee.

I don’t really know why Indiana Mimi is posing like that.  Just remember that you are viewing the antics of people who had about four hours of sleep and have just left the zoo called Wal-mart, so things are bound to not make much sense.

LifeWay was a really good experience.  The crowds were light, the staff was friendly and helpful, their specials were conveniently located and the pricing was visible and accurate.  Most importantly, however, they were serving free hot wassail and sugar cookies.

When we left the store it was 7:54am, the sun was up, and unfortunately you can now see all the dust on my dashboard.

I sorta wanted to try Michael’s craft store now, but we finally decided to head back to our town to hit the Target there.  Our town is much smaller, so we reasoned the crowds would be lighter, and we were right.  Actually, I believe there were just as many employees in Target as there were shoppers.  They were everywhere in their sporty red shirts, asking if they could help you find anything.  And they COULD find anything….well, except for Indiana Mimi, but you can’t really fault them for that.

We left the store at 10:00am, and we were done!

Just a quick note to my children who read this blog:  None of your gifts are visible in this picture, so quit looking!

We ended the morning with my one of my favorite parts of the tradition:  breakfast at Cracker Barrel!

And there you have it!  Black Friday in a nutshell….or is it Black Friday by a nutcase??? (Oh yeah….and don’t forget to answer my eye make-up question…thanks!)