My Favorite Holiday!

BLACK FRIDAY!



That's right... Some of you might think man is she crazy but I am not. This is the one day a year I get to be totally devoted to shopping and I am not alone. Some of the sales are great and I get about 75 - 85% of my Christmas shopping done. Now I may have posted the guidelines for success when shopping on "Black Friday" before, but as an early gift to you all I will do a recap.

Black Friday Guidelines
1. Make a detailed list of who you need to shop for.
2. In your list include items that you want for each person.
3. Check Black Friday sales.
4. Pre shop ( this way you know right where to find the item you need so you don't waste at lot of time looking around.)
5. Shop at a mall or large grouping of stores so you don't have to do any driving around.
6. Find a good friend that will go with you.
7. Get up way early like around 4 so that you can be on location at least 30-45 minutes before they open. (You want to have a good spot in like)

This is the most important guideline.

8. Buy your self something first. (Once you get your self out of the way you will be free to shop for others.)
9. Try to finish up your shopping by 9 or 10 am at the latest. Then go and enjoy and nice breakfast with your shopping team.

Black Friday Shopping Do's
- Have a meeting place to meet up with your shopping team members should you be divided by the crowds.
- Get coffee on your way to wait in line. ( This will help wake you up and keep you warm while you wait outside.)
- Wear comfortable shoes, there will be lots of walking and maybe even some running.
- Having a map of the mall helps.
- Have fun!

Black Friday's Don'ts
- Don't take small children or whinny husbands.
- Don't wear to many layers, you will get over heated and have to end up carring all of your layers once you take them off.
- Don't drink to large of a coffee in the morning or you will have to stop and pee... this will waste precious time.
- Don't dress in matching outfits with your shopping team... this causes other people to point and laugh.
- Don't be out to late shopping... after 8 or 9 the sales start to really go down and that is when all the other people start coming out to shop.

**** Ok This is a Big Don't****

Do not go anywhere near and K-Mart, Wal-Mart or a Best Buy on this day. People die... I mean really people have died... if you need something from them on this day order it online.

Ok I think I have just about covered everything. I hope everyone has a wonderful Black Friday.

The Great Gift Exchange!

Ok so I don't know about you guys but for Tim and I this year money is tight... I came across a great site that I think will help all of my family to save money this holiday season and still have a lot of fun. I am partaking in a online book club gift exchange and they are using a site called elfster. Pretty much it is an online way to set up a gift exchange. I am hoping over Thanksgiving to talk my family into doing this. I feel like I would much rather spend $50 or $60 on one really nice gift for some one then try and spend $10 on impersonal gifts for every person. I have been looking at the site and it is pretty easy to use... you set up your own guide lines for the gift exchange like : Gift exchange date, spending limit, theme (if you want one). The person who sets up the exchange enters every one's e-mail address and then the elfster will send out an e-mail to each person telling them who they are to buy for. Each person has there own account and can put in there shipping address (for people out of town) and notes about what they do or don't like. There is also a wish list where you can mention things that you would like to receive. Another cool thing about this site is you can ask your person questions through elfster if you need a better idea of what to get them. I am really hoping that everyone goes for this idea this year. I think it will be a lot of fun and save us all a lot of money.

Here is the site if anyone wants to check it out!

www.elfster.com

Really?

This is just too funny I have to share... So I was reading a post form thenest... anyway this woman was arguing with her husband weather or not he would be able to tackle a Giraffe. The husband seemed to think that he could... So she asked all the other ladies to ask there husband if they think they would be able to tackle a Giraffe... The responses were pretty funny. So I texted Tim this morning and this was what he said.

Me: Could you tackle a giraffe?

Tim: probably...why?

Me: LOL! yeah right!

Tim: I'd totally kick that things ass

So all morning I have been trying to picture Tim trying to tackle a Giraffe LOL!