Paint It Black

Typically I spend Thursday evening taking a peek at the ads for Black Friday shopping and watching Home Alone (love it!). Thanksgiving is a holiday that Kyra comes to our home after 8 or so and we keep her overnight. She spends the day at her mother's and gets to see her extended family there. We have come to the agreement that she stays by her mom for Thanksgiving and comes by us for Easter--- it works :) The other holidays we play more by ear and see where we end up. This year Thanksgiving was a little more complicated because as I was looking at the various flyers I noticed many of the stores open at 8pm. On Thursday!!! What the hell??? SO I had to talk Jade into letting me pick Kyra up at 7pm so that we could get to the first store and in the line before 8. There weren't many places I wanted to go this year (frankly there was very little I was interested in) but Miss Kyra and I managed to find ourselves a few deals. The first of these was at Kohls where were both picked up a pain of "fashion boots" (that's what Katie calls them) and she found some jeans and I found some leggings for Kate's Christmas dress. Saved 220.00 Spent 40.00 Awesome! We popped into Office Max to find Timmy a new computer chair (as he is working from home now) and I thought I had found the perfect one. That was until I realized that the giant sign said "save 99.99" not "SALE 99.99." Darnit! I may have just bought it anyway but it was two hundred and fifty bucks-- forget that! So after a short disappointment we stopped at the gas station and bought a lottery ticket whilst picking up a few coffees. It was game on at this point because Kyra somehow talked me into going to the Bay Park mall on the other side of town during the height of the madness. I always swore I would never cross the bridge on Black Friday. I like to experience the frenzied but slower pace of the east side. "But MOM!!! There are 10.00 T-shirts at Hot Topic!!!" How much is my sanity worth? I just cant say no to the adorable little face! I rationalized it as bonding time (which it was) and we hit the streets- literally. There were absolutely no parking spots and the mall (I know!!!) so we parked across the street at Hobby Lobby and hiked in. She was afraid to J-walk but peer pressure took care of that. We got into the store and she was just so darn happy. Which made me happy. SO happy in fact that I may have impulse bought 80.00 worth of T-shirts. Its only money :)  Kyra got some of her beloved Dr.Who and Nightmare Before Christmas shirts and I collected a few more bands to my collection. I even found one for Timmy. All in all it was a successful expedition. That was until I tried to go to sleep and realized I had consumed a metric ton of coffee and that wasn't going to happen any time so. So I started to read a book... that did the trick. I totally passed out. So hard in fact that I failed to get up at 545 so I could get to Home Depot for 6am to get my mother her poinsettias for a dollar (limit 12 per person). On no!!! Luckily I got a call at 8am and it was Karla asking where we were as we were expected at a hearty mid-shopping breakfast (another Thanksgiving tradition) at 8. We flew out of the that house (myself, Kyra and Via) and quick stopped at Home Depot. I knew I was pressing my luck and the chances there were still any plants left (let alone decent ones) was slim to none. Well good thing I bought a lottery ticket because guess who got her 12 poinsettias??? This girl. Thank God though... my mother would have killed me!