Dedication & Determination

This morning I set out early for one of my favorite days of the year... Black Friday. I got up well before the break of dawn to be in line @ 3:40. Some years the Eagle & I go together, but today the best strategy was to split up - so while I got in my car and turned on 103.3 and sang along to Feliz Navidad at 3:05am, the Eagle "slept in" until 3:35 before heading in a different direction, and probably not listening to Christmas music.

As has been the tradition in recent years (the ones with kids), my first stop is Kohl's. I love Kohl's when they are having a sale - and I loved it even more this year because they sent me a coupon for an additional 15% off my entire purchase. Now, at regular price most things at Kohl's cost more than they do elsewhere, but when they have a sale they have some good deals. I checked lots of things off my list - Imaginext Toys, Leapster Games & clothes for the kids and gifts for several of my other family members (who are able to read and I don't want to blow the surprise). Awesome deals and an additional discount and Kohl's Cash to spend next week --- what could be better?!?

Better - the Eagle's success at Target. We will now have in-car entertainment again! We have been waiting for several months to replace our portable DVD player, and today the opportunity presented itself. Thankfully for me the Eagle was rewarded for his time standing in line in the rain with a unit or I might never have convinced him to go out on Black Friday again. And to sweeten the success a little more, I had an additional 10% off coupon off our entire purchase and Target gave us a $10 gift card and a free reusable shopping bag. And it was only 6:30am.

By the time I wrapped up at 9:30, I had heard Feliz Navidad on the radio 4 separate times while driving from store to store, purchased flannel sheets for Cameron's new bed, gotten new pants and a free watch for myself at NY & Company, bought the kids their annual matching sweaters at the 25% off sale at Children's Place, saved 25% off stocking stuffers at Michael's and braved Toys R Us and Walmart. I only missed out on a couple of "nice to have" deals by going to Toys R Us and Walmart after 8:00am, but otherwise I got everything else I had intended to - from Christmas presents to classmate birthday gifts to household items.

I would definitely say it was a good day for competitive bargain hunting. Ah, the thrill of a good deal!