Adventures in Black Friday Shopping

Each year as September draws near, I usually manage to finish up my Christmas shopping.  I know, I'm weird.

The stores are always so crowded the closer it gets to Thanksgiving and Christmas, and patience is always stretched so very thin. So I try to avoid all last minute shopping, just to save my sanity, and to avoid my name on the chalk board for too many curse words.

Unfortunately, I have gone Black Friday shopping, but only for myself and my husband.  One  year we bought a Nintendo DS.  Best investment I ever made.  It comes in handy when you are expected to wait, or when you are stuck at home sick, and are tired of watching TV.  Another year I bought a TV and DVD player for our bedroom.  Last year I bought a camera, but thankfully I didn't get up in the middle of the night to do that.  And this year.  Well, I went hunting for a TV.  We still had the "old" TV's, not flat panel type, until September, then in an effort to eliminate some clutter, we sold our 2 TV's on Craigslist.  We found an amazing deal on a 37" for our bedroom and have already replaced it.  So in preparation for when we move out and live on our own again, we decided to take advantage and purchase a new TV.  There was a local retail store that had a 42" TV for less than my truck payment.  So I opted to get up at 3am in order to stand in line in 19* weather for a cheap TV. 

I'm pretty sure that was my 2nd mistake.  My first was ever deciding that we really needed a 2nd TV.  I mean, you would think after almost 11 years of marriage my husband would just sit in the corner and let me watch what I want on TV and not complain, but Ohhhhh Noooooooo, he can't do that.  He wants to watch wrestling, and football, and (shudders) baseball.  So we really need 2 TV's, otherwise one of us might be in a lot of trouble with the other.

I'm pretty sure that I temporarily lost my mind, temporarily insane, crazy, not in my right mind.  I'm not really sure, but I shouldn't be allowed out of bed before noon, let alone at 3am.  I'm pretty sure some old lady grabbed my butt, hoping to startle me into dropping my purchases.  I just kicked her walker to the end of the aisle, and she gave me the finger, so I'm guessing we are even now, and that was just the beginning.  I got to see two grown women tugging on a video game console, screaming "Mine!", "No, Mine!". 

I got out of a nice warm bed for this?  Is 3am to early for a margarita?

There are always great deals to be had, but next year, I'm pretty sure that I'm just going to stay in bed and avoid the crazy people.  That's the best deal out there.  Cheaper too!