Black Friday and More...

So the ads all went live at 1:08am (by our clocks). I had actually turned the computer over to my wife for a while to hit refresh. I could hardly stay awake. I was curled up in front of the heater (and I think snoring) when she woke me up to start the shopping. Then it was shopping frenzy! I only missed out on three items I wanted, and they weren't super important. We found other items at different sites to off-set most of them. I was very happy with how it all went down. It took me until 3am to get everything squared away and more my wife and I to go through the carnage and list what we got and for whom. Even though most of our Christmas fund is now gone, so is the fact that we had nothing for our kids! Yea! We have a few odds n ends to pick up, and gifts for parents and our family numbers!

So Friday was a long day as far as I was exhausted and did do a whole lot. I guess that is okay too!

This morning (Saturday) I went to my classroom and spent 5 hours. I was hoping for just a couple of hours, but I had a bunch of new books to add to my classroom library and that alone took about 90 minutes to get in. So, with that removed, I guess I was closer to being on track than not! But, I am ready for the week, and that was worth the time. Tomorrow is Sunday and another day of rest (kind of). That will be nice. I hope to take my practice writing section of my Praxis test. It is coming ever closer and my stress and anxiety is climbing ever higher. I hate that I have to pass a $400 test to show that I will be a good administrator. I don't know how a test proves anything at all. But what ever.

Well, I need to run to the church with my wife and copy the program for tomorrow.

More Hughes Adventures coming soon to a blog near you!!!

Later...

Black Friday was C-R-A-Z-Y!

Ok, so I haven't even had a tiny inkling to be a part of Black Friday for years. But this year, with Thanksgiving dinner done the week before, and wanting to spend time with my baby sister, our family headed out Thanksgiving day after lunch and headed North (thanks mom and dad for letting me steal your car). We arrived in plenty of time to make a quick trip to K-Mart. We are lucky enough to get some free shoe certificates for the three oldest. That was truly a blessing.

We then headed back to my sis's house and chilled. Actually, since we were planning on heading to Wal-mart (the source from which all evil flows) at 3:30am, I wanted to rest. My sister had set up a play tent for the little ones to sleep in. When it was bed time, my little princess wouldn't sleep in it unless I stayed with her. Well... 3 hours later I woke up and wandered into the living room to find my wife and sister in the middle of their second movie and chatting away. I curled up on the love seat and went back to sleep. Got in a good 5 hours- thank heavens.

We left at 3:30am and headed to Wal-Mart. Because it is a 24-hour store, lines formed around the sale items. We started putting items into our carts anyways. We had all the movies we wanted and a couple other items as well. When the time came, my sister was able to barter with a man who was closest to the camera's to get her two despite the lady who told him to ignore my sister and get her 4 of them because she needed them for her kids. The guy got them for my sister because she had the memory cards. He barely got away with his life. People were pushing and clawing so bad they tipped the display completely over. What is wrong with people. Anyways, we got almost everything on our list. We then headed over the Toys R Us, got a few items that were thankfully still in stock (although not nearly as many people as I thought there would be).

We took a break (now that it was about 7am) and had breakfast at Burger King. It was nice to just sit and relax and not worry about people and "stuff". When we were done we headed back into the fray by going to ShopKo. It was very disappointing (although they had a great deal on cans of nuts- yummy!). My sister wanted to head to a different Wal-Mart to see if they had a few of the other items she needed that weren't at the first Wal-Mart. We were actually able to get a few more of the items on our list.

And then, we were done. We headed home after almost 7 hours of shopping. It was nice to sit down. We headed home later that day. It was sure nice to get home. We had a lot of fun with my sister and her family. My kids sure enjoy being around her kids.

Today (Saturday) has been pretty uneventful to say the least. We had a nice breakfast and then I ran some errands. My wife and I put up the decorations in the front yard, and I spent about 5 hours at the school getting my room and lessons ready for Monday. I even wrote my talk for church tomorrow (I know, can you believe that I have to talk again????)

Ok, I'm tired (mostly of fighting my dying laptop) so I am going to sign off.

Later...