PS to the post below....

My alarm DID end up going off..... just not when I was there! Poor Hubby, who is a light sleeper, said he spent quite a while hitting all kinds of buttons in the dark to shut the #$@!* thing off!! LOLOLOLOLLLLL

Real Black Friday Virgin

Okay, Maybe the title of this post is misleading, since I have gone shopping on Black Friday, but I was in the stores by 7am. That doesn't really count, does it? Not after reading this post, okay? I just wish I'd brought my camera.

While at my sister's house on Thanksgiving (for dessert), Black Friday happened to be a subject that came up in conversation. (I'd gone early, just once, with my daughter Leslie, but not REALLY early. After all, I'm up usually at 5:30-6:30am every day, sans alarm clock.) Not ever slept out/camped out at the stores. Not even stood on those lonnngggggg lines! Til this year. A friend asked my husband "What's the chance that Nancy will make it out of the house AND be at Kohl's at 4am when they opened their doors?" When my husband made a 'zero' with his fingers, that clinched it for me!

I set my alarm (haven't used the alarm in YEARS, and did it without my glasses) for 3:15am, since I didn't have to do anything but 'throw' my clothes on and head out the driveway, ... and Kohl's is only 6-7 minutes from the house. I was so nervous that I'd oversleep and my DH would hear the alarm first, that I woke up on my own at 2:45am. I think I shut the alarm off, to keep it from going off later (in the dark, still no glasses on), snuck downstairs (DH is such a light sleeper), had my clothes on (no bra and no deodorant--Hey, I had on a sweatshirt!- am I sharing too much?) and was in the car by 3:25am. THIS was GOOD! Driving on the highway (two exits away) was a breeze- not much traffic at all,... a few trucks, but really nothing.

Kohl's is about 1/8th of a mile off the exit ramp, just on the other side of the Toyota dealer (which you are next to as you get to the end of the ramp). Once I got in sight of Kohl's store (at 3:35am, I might add), I realized why no one was on the highway.... THEY WERE ALL AT KOHL'S!! The parking lot, in front, was completely full! Along the side, it wasn't any better, as maybe 1/2--2/3 was full, also. I found a spot quickly enough, but the line was already along the front and down the side almost to the middle of this HUGE store! I would have jumped in line immediately, but -- I spied a 'lunch truck' right in front of the store...BREAKFAST! I didn't have my tea (or even grab a coffee to go) before I left and having breakfast, even a bagel, would have slowed me down, because you see, I wanted to BE at Kohl's early. So, I got a coffee AND a bagel breakfast sandwich (that's a treat!), with egg cheese and bacon!! Whooo Hooo! (I even knew the lunch truck ladies, since they used to come to our workplace in the next town over). Well, now... this could be fun!

I ate breakfast in line and it was done by the time the line started moving into Kohl's, ... I headed into the store, grabbed the GPS unit I was contemplating ($76.00), got a few other items on their Early bird sales and saw a 'WonderPets FlyBoat" for a GS , snagged it, then got in line. The LONG line. The one that you have to wait in if you want to check out. THE ONE LONG LINE!! But, in comparison to where I went next, this line actively moved... slowly, but it moved. I chatted with the lady in front of me, off and on, and even though I was getting tired on carrying my selections in my arms all the time (forget getting a carriage when you get in the store, they never have enough on a normal day), I managed to ask her to pick something off a rack we just passed and add it to my pile (for my mom). I even asked one of the 'line managers' to put a few pairs of 'something' (can't say in case the kids read this blog) on my pile. Okay, NOW I can't see much over the pile! One item, I had clutched under my armpit (and it goes to the floor!). I'd been hiking this 'thing' (can't tell you what, again) up and down, clunking it under my armpit, moving along in the line and it's starting to irritate me, BUT it's a GREAT sale, so .... oh, well, I'm almost at the registers. The cashiers have 'pom-poms' to shake to alert the 'line manager' they are open, and we got 'herded to the next open one'..... It moved along rather well, I thought (and I complimented the management on the 'breakfast trunk AND their system of handling the line inside....VERY nice experience!)

Okay, off to the next store.... and it's only 4:51am! Not bad timing, eh? (So I thought)

Up the road and into the 'mall area' (that should have told me something), I headed to Walmart. I always hear the horror stories of the line at Walmart, but I forgot how early it was. They didn't open until 5am, so the lines were actively in place. I thought Kohl's was long.....HA! What was deceiving, was that the line LOOPED (ever been to Disney? or in a queue at the movies?) a few times on the 'blind' side of the store. And what you COULD see from the parking lit was already long enough! Okay, in I went (to the line).... and once the store opened, the line went VERY quickly!! I got a few items (one for DH, since he needed this item - as his present one, died the other day- still can't tell you all yet), another GPS unit (Garmin, $97.00 this time- I'll compare them and return one) and headed for the register at the back of the store( I was parked near this exit door-- at the farthest end, but near here). This experience was one that I will say, I won't ever do again, ... at least not HERE anyway!

At the back near the garden area, one of two registers died! The human lines converged, Oh, GOD!.... Then some of the people started heading back through our line (what now!) with their bagged stuff. I guess the store people weren't opening the outside doors beyond the registers, so you had to weave yourself, with bags, through the craziness of the store to the doors at the front!! Oh, Hell, if that's the case, I'm going in the front lines (BIG MISTAKE). I must have stood in a line (in the front,... yeah right) FOREVER!! We 'inched (and I mean inched!) our way along this ling line and once I was able to see the registers.....OMG... the 'sea of humanity'!! I wish I had an aerial view of the 25 lines of humans converging to the 18 registers!! Standing in line, at some point, I heard someone say the back doors were now opened but I wasn't moving!! Not Again!

I DID make it out alive, but I vowed to NEVER do that store again! No matter WHAT is on sale! I even warned a few people in the parking lot that were headed for the entrance, of the check-out lines! But the nice thing, ... I was home by 6:45am! And I got gifts for 7-8 on my list. And I was fed.

Long post, but hope you enjoyed my adventure... I can now say, I've done "Black Friday" the way you should!

Thanksgiving Traditions

Here we are on the eve of a great holiday... where we have been doing a 'new' tradition, thanks to the girls. About 5 years ago, the daughters were spending the holidays with their respective boyfriends, and I couldn't see any reason to make a huge holiday dinner (is there any other, but huge?) for just Lee and I.

Lee & I went to our church's Thanksgiving eve service where they Bless bread that each family brings to the service and you take a loaf home. As I was waiting for Lee to disrobe from his acolyte robes, I glanced at the bulletin board near the door and read that a local bread co. needed volunteers for Thanksgiving Day. They sell their bread til noon all for charity. The nice thing is that the bread co building is 'just shy of' the finish line of our annual Turkey Day Race in town. We could always make Turkey Dinner on Friday when the girls were home. ... And the tradition started.

We've had a blast ever since. We get to see people in town, and those who've moved away, but came home for the holidays, and international runners (Kenya, Ireland, etc) and of course, since the main attraction is the race, we get to step outside (the owners remain inside to mind the register) and cheer the runners on....!!

We'll still have our dinner on Friday this year, with Leslie and Scott coming down from MA, and my mom's coming. (I'm most thankful for having my mom in my life still..... she's 80 yrs old and really spunky. Thank God for that!) Julie and Kai will be home, too. This year Les will be bringing dessert, mom is bringing squash and coleslaw & bars. Lee's work will provide the turkey this year (their gift to employees), so my day will be light. Can't wait to relax.....

Quilting Accomplishments

Last week we had a mtg of the Peace by Piece Quilters (at my church). We got a lot done, but the nice thing was that we had 4 quilts Blessed at our 10am Sunday service. (I never seem to get a chance to finish them in time to make it to the announcement part of the 7:30am service, and it's too bad because a lot of the ladies in the group go to that service. Anyways, I announced that we had one going out to a 2 yr old on Charlotte's Garden who's very sick, but that we had a few quilts with no particular homes to go to... yet. Well, a few people to come up to me right after the service and some (very shyly) asked if it would be okay to request one for someone they knew. Of course! That's what we do!!

As of Monday, this one went to the 2 yr old (Critters in the Grass- above and the quilting on the back is by one of our angels, Mary Johnson in MN),

This one went to a lady with MS who has been having a hard time with her illness AND the home health aides she's had ... she now has NEW aides and will be getting our quilt (Heart Echoes), too,

This one went to a man (co-worker of a parishioner) who has been dealing with several health issues. His family is dealing with it as much as he is, so ...off goes another quilt (quilted with 'Angel Wings")

Another went to a little 9-month old boy in town who has neurofibromytosis (Space Odyssey)

This also has the Angel Wings quilted into this. The quilting was done by one of the other of OUR angels, Laura McCarrick.

Another one, "Clifford" was given to the sister of a parishioner, a 44 yr old who just got diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.

Boy does it feel great for all of us to be able to bring peace to so many people who don't even know us... so peaceful.

I'm so ALIVE!!

Hubby came home earlier than expected and I rushed from the computer to prepare him for the 'bad news'.... When I told him what happened, he said, "So? That's okay... we can just glue it. Not a problem... it's fixable.

Whew! I love that man! :-*

I'm SO Dead!

You ever do something you know just got you in deep doo-doo with your favorite spouse(actually, my only one)....?

My hubby's favorite pinewood derby racer (the Penny Racer) was up on my bookcase (next to my chair at the computer). The operative word was "WAS"! I went to get something in the bookshelf that was a little too tightly in there, and in the process I 'nudged' the bookcase and something whizzed down from the top! =;0

YUP! You guessed it.... the Penny Racer.

And he's not home yet........

ooooh, I'm so dead.... The only thing that I hope saves me is the fact that when we were playing cards with my mom last night, he said I was a 'wicked good woman"! ;-)

I hope he remembers that.

I put it in front of his computer. Hope he can get it tweaked back in it's original shape.

:-(

My dream car....1954 Jaguar XK140 Roadster

My dear hubby found these photos of my favorite car.... enjoy the short drive.

Quilting Bingo

This is my bingo card. It's made up of 2.5" squares (25 of them) to make a 10.5" block. Each column is a color, although two of the columns are dual colors, with a black print in the middle.

Quilting Bingo is the game I'm having the ladies in my quilting group play when we meet in December. It was in the Fons and Porter "Love of Quilting" magazine, Sept/Oct 2006 issue. I printed out the calling cards

and they have one month (until our Dec mtg) to make their Bingo Card out of their (and my) stash.

Now I have to decide what to get for funky prizes....on limited funds. I'll bring my button box for those who don't have buttons to use to mark their squares.

Halloween capers!

This year Lee talked me into leaving our humble abode on Halloween night to go see the granddaughters. I LOVE this holiday and the tradition is to hand out candy, but keep track of how many kids came to the house. I think the most we've ever had was 61!

Well, this year, we went a few towns away and got to see the granddaughters (and gs Zackary, for HIS 1st Halloween!) Hubby Lee even dressed up in his acolyte outfit.

As we walked around their neighborhood, some people that we ran into actually called Lee, "Father'....thinking he was a priest...LOL

His son, Scott got to wear his glow-in-the-dark glasses and his daughter's wings that he'd painted with neon paint- she gave up on them, I think.

Even the females got in the fun! Our daughter Amber and DIL Diana (in the mask) had some laughs...

There is a family who carts some of the neighborhood families around in their wagon, pulled by a tractor. It was fun to see them go by... we also got to see the 'college kid's house' and the haunted cemetery in front of it.

The girls were dressed cutely...The Princess and the "Bee" (pun intended).

Anaka (in the middle) wouldn't let go of that donut hole for anything, but check out the extra photos link at the end of this post for what her big sister did to finally get a photo without the munchkin being in front of her mouth! LOL

Grandson Kai looked very debonaire with his swash-buckling outfit on. His mom Julie and her friend Andrew took him around our own neighborhood and over to see her dad on the other side of town.

It's great to have a 'stash of fabric upstairs, which is where the bandana and the sash came from. The pirate outfit originally belonged to Kai's Aunt Leslie when she was two or three. The striped pants were previously a skirt, but I sewed an upside-down "V" in the bottom to make them pants. Check out more Halloween photos.

Obama WINS!!

This will hopefully be the only post I put in my blog about politics...

Barack Hussein Obama

WINS!!!

WHOOO HOOOO!!!

No matter who got in, it was to be a historical event, in any case. I ran out this morning to buy up several newspapers (to be put away after they are read) as they will be a valuable piece of history and I was there and got a chance to take part in it.

(Think what they may bring in on e-Bay...)

How lucky am I?

The emotions around this campaign were higher than I ever remember any election. There is so much hope on these faces....

I heard the horror stories of long lines and questions of whether our new voting system (scanned paper ballots) would work properly...they did and the wait at 7am was 22 mins. (I would have waited hours....brought my book to read, just in case... just to take part in this historical election).