Black and Blue Friday

This pretty much sums up my shopping experience on Friday. Well, maybe with some more bruising. It was fun, exhausting and fruitful all at the same time. That's a lot to accomplish before 7:00 am, but we did!

Lori and I took to the wind following the heels of a fellow shopper. We were at JC Penny in Saginaw by 4:00 am.

Now, before you say it, I know. That's early, there is nothing out there I need or want to make me brave those crowds at that hour on a holiday. Believe me, I've said all the same things, but kept thinking "Maybe I'm missing out on something. Everyone's doing it."

Penny's was relatively calm, except for the check out line. Dreadful. There was a price check issue, the clerk was confused, the patron was insistent. This would become a pattern and a theme by which the day would be remembered. Crummy check out line choices. When you see EVERY line moving along BUT yours, it tends to grind you.

Next, we were in line at Walmart. Wow. People really can be aggressive over electronics. Shoving, bumping, line-cutting..... you name it. We saw it. For a few brief seconds, when the clock struck 4:00 am I was scared. Then that killer instinct takes hold and you become the hunter you were born to be. Sheets? On sale? I don't need 'em. Grab 'em anyway. Blocks? Are they on the special? Focus. We are here for electronics. Thank goodness we had extra bodies for line holding and extra run backs to different departments. Finally, we made it to the check out. @#$%*! Same problem. Flashing check out lights. This time the women in front of us were mean. I mean fighting mean. *shudder* They could have taken all 3 of us in one swoop.

A few stores later (Staples, JoAnn Fabrics, K Mart and Meijers), we returned home. Victorious. Other than the pair of boots I need to return that are 2 different sizes (really?) the purchases made on Friday were really good ones and worth the purple marks that keep popping out on my arms and legs.

Maybe next year we should try some stores in Owosso.

Farm Work

These are some cool pictures from my day last week working on the farm. My mom came up to Chesaning and with Reese's help, we took all the old canned goods out of the basement. I love the fences and the field stone foundations around the barns and the house.
I was really happy with our view of the neighborhood. I think the price has dropped by almost 10 more cents. Yeah!
Above are the jars we are saving. They were the true canning jars of the bunch. The green or blue glass is my favorite and I don't think you can get them any more. Please note the retro wallpaper in the back. Funk-a-dellic.

These were the only 2 jars we couldn't open. As you can see, the contents are gross. To the left is a jar of pears. Pears! They don't end up that color unless they really, really stink people. shudder. By far the sauerkraut was the worst. Hands down. I may have left the room when that baby was opened. Weak stomach.
These two pictures are of the jars we sent to the recycling pile. They were mayonnaise jars, Taster's Choice jars, and anything that thrifty canning queen could get her hands on.
Reese was such a ham! He would dump each jar in the bucket and yell, "Is that gross Mom? Come on, smell it? Don't you love it?"
This is a shot of our "renters" in the barn. They are keeping an eye on us and not quite sure why we have brought 3 noisy animals into their world. Sorry guys, if you think it's bad now, wait until Joe fixes that window.

My technilogical advances

Alright. Everyone who reads this humble blog, know of my mad love for all things technological. Between Facebook, Twitter, 2 computers in the house, (don't get me started on my Macintosh addictions) I spend a fair amount of time in front of a screen. So my 2 new acquisitions are frustrating and cool at the same time.

My new-ish phone.

That's not a complaint. I know it's not new and it's not the i-phone I pine for, but that's ok. Baby steps people. You can't run the marathon until you've walked the village. I get that. Until this little bugger starts working right I haven't earned the privilege of the i phone. No big. But it will be a reason why my emails, texts and voice mails could be anything from strange, repeated or just plain dropped. Consider yourself warned.

The next bit of excitement that showed up via UPS to my house was i-life. Yes, at this point the i-terms are getting on even my nerves. This software is suppose to help me manage my photos better and really, who couldn't use help in that department? Don't judge me because there were 1,000 photos on my computer between June and November. Yes, that's just in 2008 and while some may say that's excessive, ok most agree that is nuts. In my defense we had some serious fun this year and pictures are proof. The only gripe I have is I can't find my pictures on my computer. They are there, I've burned some to a cd and deleted the extras, but I want to just open a file and find them and it's not happening. So tonight I'll be doing some research on the website, watching some tutorials and reading the NEXTEL book instead of reading my book club book, which isn't very good this month anyway. Enjoy your weekend girls.

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Enough Said!