Black Friday

Back home and recuperating from a 4 day trip to Great Falls to partake in their annual Black Friday sales. 

The tradition is to arrive at the hotel to check in Thursday, pick up your newspaper from the desk, which is about 2.5 inches thick because of all the sales flyers, and go to your room to pour through the flyers and map out a plan.  I remembered to pack scissors this year to cut out the coupons in all the flyers; and pen and notebook in hand marked down which stores opened at 3 a.m., which opened at 4 a.m., 5 a.m. and 6 a.m.    Then marked down what I wanted from each store with its sale price to compare with other stores advertising the same thing.   (This procedure was repeated Friday night to remind oneself of what was on sale only on Saturday.)  

Being a good sport, I agreed (why???) to get up at 3:30 a.m. Friday to go shopping with my friend at the Holiday Village Mall, on the understanding that we would catch the early morning specials and then go back to our hotel to sleep a little bit longer before we went shopping for the entire day.   Oooh, really red, ugly eyes.  Someone forgot to tell me plans had changed... there was no rest back at the hotel.   Trust me, lack of sleep affects you much like drinking all night does.  Despite only drinking very strong (awful) coffee all day which required far too much sugar, we were walking and talking like drunks long before we finished shopping at 5:00 p.m.  And after 11 or so hours on my feet I really needed to throw away my running shoes, and wasn't looking forward to having to wear them for 2 more days!  Even repeated shots of Kiwi's Fresh Force couldn't sweeten those puppies. 

After an awful supper at a restaurant across the street from a perfectly gross-smelling oil refinery (not my idea), it was back to the hotel to finally get some sleep... but only after reading the sales ads for Saturday.   I woke up at 9:45 lying fully clothed on top of the covers with all the lights on, the t.v. on (vaguely remember watching part of a Christmas movie) and flyers spread all over me.    I'm just now remembering parts of the movie. 

We didn't get up until 7:30 Sat. morning.  Despite all the sleep I got I still could barely walk on my very sore, stiff legs.  So, of course, we went shopping at Kmart, Walmart, Shopko, Michaels, Old Navy, Famous Footwear and drop me off at the hotel because there is no way in hell I'm going back to the freakin Mall with you!  

Guess it shouldn't be surprising that I slept most of the drive back home Sunday; unpacked, showered and then slept sitting up in my chair while supposedly doing laundry (I'd throw a load   in the washer and my sweet husband would take it out, put it in the dryer and then hang it up while I slept.)  At 9:00 he convinced me that I should probably just go to bed.  No argument there.  Sigh.  I now have to tally up the receipts/damages.  I'm delaying the pain and typing this instead.

Christmas Flash Mob

Although it will take about 4 minutes to watch, the following video is pretty awesome!

Christmas Food Court Flash Mob, Hallelujah Chorus - Must See!

Diarize this 5 years from now

Very groggy day today but I'm starting to wake up (6:30 p.m.). After our family's scare in March when my sister, Carrie, was diagnosed with colon cancer, we sat down and discussed our family risk and decided that all four of us had to be tested regularly. Our Dad and his mother both had colon cancer, and now Carrie. We were very lucky and are all thrilled that Carrie's surgery was a success and she did not have to have chemotherapy or radiation. Carrie and I took on the task of convincing our other sister and brother that they, too, needed to start testing if they haven't before. I was shocked to learn that our brother wasn't even getting regular annual check ups and didn't even have a family doctor. So I nagged him until he did get a doctor and he is scheduled for a colonoscopy in December. Marlene hasn't mentioned a date yet. I had one seven years ago and had a polyp removed. I was supposed to have the next one in 5 years but my alarm clock doesn't work that far ahead. Two years behind, but I had my second procedure this afternoon. Another polyp; another polyp removed. See, since Carrie had cancer this spring we have all read a lot more about the issue and have discovered that those small polyps is how cancer starts. So, consider me thankful.

I can't seem to get a photo that does the colour and sparkle justice. Mom would have loved this. I wish that I could have had her nails done for her.

I'm amusing myself with trivial things right now to try to keep my mind off the miserable winter weather. Within a matter of a week we went from having above-average temperatures for this time of year to below-average temperatures. The dogs can't be let outside by themselves as their feet freeze so every time they want out one of us has to bundle up to take them out and freeze while they fiddle fart around so that we can rescue them if they can't walk.

My boss is on his way to North Carolina for a week where the temperature will be in the mid 70's. Sigh. Now counting down to our trip to Cabo 76 days from now.