Day After Thanksgiving = Recreational Sport

I love Black Friday. I dislike spending money though, so I like to focus in on lower priced items. But really, it is more of a competitive sport to me. It is something I am really good at, so I really look forward to the Day After Thanksgiving. I start out with the sales papers, then I focus in on the stores that I like or that have the best sales on what I need. I automatically try to ignore ads for Best Buy and Circuit City - people start lining up the night before and they usually only have ten of _____ in stock. I ignore Sears because of a bloody toe incident that happened on Black Friday 2004. I was particularly impressed with WalMart's sales this year, so that went in the must pile. JCPenneys is also an obligatory stop, not because I need anything there, but because they have a free Mickey snowglobe every year. I have a collection that goes back 8 years, so I can't stop now. This Friday, my mom (willing partner in fun) and I left the house at 3:20am and we returned at almost 8am. We went to six stores and a short Chick Fil A break. Here was the plan:

We went to Kohls first because they get checkout lines an hour and a half long from fifteen minutes after opening until the sales end. We got there an a half hour before opening, and had a good position in line. I ran to the toys, while my mom secured a position near the registers. I was successful in grabbing a very large and heavy set of metal Tonka trucks (this, plus my existing closet stash means Child #2 is now officially set for Christmas) plus a Rubiks cube. I ran to get the Cutlery Set next, but it was non existent. In fact, funny story, they only had one in stock. A lady that was two steps ahead of me beat me to it. Ah well. Kohls was not a first place finish.
Kohls 4am
* KitchenAid 14pc cutlery Set $29.99 - Unsuccessful
* Tonka Mighty Truck 2Pk $19.99
* Rubiks Cube $6.49

We ran to the car and high tailed it to JCP. My mom went in, but couldn't find them. After a bit of a muddle, I went in and found a Customer service guy. He pointed me in the direction of a rather hidden pile off to the side. I grabbed two and ran out. Not sure what he thought of me...
JCPenneys 4am
* Snowglobe!

By now it was 4:30am, so I leadfooted it to WalMart for the stuff I was really looking forward to. I have to say this turned out to be my favorite stop. (I never would have gone to the WalMart near us in SoFla, too seedy and unpredictable.) It was busy, but they were organized. They were already open, so people just lined up next to the pallets of stuff they wanted. At 5am, they cut open the pallets. We walked in at two minutes to 5. Good timing! We grabbed the housewares, and soon realized we were in dire need of a cart. Mom went for that while I moved on to the electronics... madhouse, and a line had already formed for layaway. Now that is just sad. Do you really need that plasma screen TV that bad? (No, you don't.) I had recently found out Wal Mart price matches Black Friday ads, so I tried to find some of the stuff I say in the Best Buy ad. (I took all the ads with me into WalMart.) I was only successful in finding the Micro SD card. I did find a bunch of $2 DVDs though. Mom guarded the cart while I went for the pajamas and clothing. I got four pairs of pajamas at $4 each; Star Wars, Transformers, Spiderman...yippee. Fleece PJ pants for dear hubby with an obnoxious XBox logo all over them, and some turquoise ones with HSM all them for me. The best was the hoodies with fleece lining though. Luxe! Dear hubby is totally loving me because of that. He has worn his for the last two days. Check out was super quick, but I had a panic attack when I went to pay. No wallet, breathing and heart stop. AAAAH! Mom paid and we went quickly to the car. False alarm, wallet seemed to have fallen between seats. Obviously, in my marathon shopping, I had gotten sloppy.
WalMart 5am
* DVDs $2 - Cinderella Man, Grumpy Old Men, Miss Congeniality, TMNT
* Hamilton Stand Mixer $15
* 1.5 cup Mini Chopper $4 - rang up a dollar!?
*Eureka Stick Vacumn $9
*2pc Pajamas 4 pairs- $4
*Fleece PJ Pants 2 pairs - $4
*Fleece Hoodies 2 - $8
*Graphic Hoodies - $4
*Micro SD Card 2gb - $7.99

Load up the car and off we go to Target. I was disappointed in Target, but in their defense, it was a newer location. And it was their first Black Friday. I really needed the iPod dock alarm clock for sweet husband's Christmas gift, and it was nowhere to be found. Mom and I split up and combed the electronics section. I found four on the bottom of an endcap, with no sale sign nearby. I matched the upc numbers and grabbed two (one for my sister, per her request). They had unlocked all the doors holding the video games, so it was blissfully easy to get the Lego Batman game (officially done with Child #1's Christmas shopping). We also had a very hard time finding the womens shirts that were 2 for $10. They were hidden in the back of the clothes section.
Target 6am
* Clok iPod dock Clock Radio $29.99
* Lego Batman DS game $20
* Lionel Trains DS game $7 Unsuccessful, didn't appear to ever have been in stock
*Womens Cherokee Shirts 2 $5
*Transformers DVD $6

By now it was 6:20am. We took a break to eat at Chick Fil A, and with my many coupons we had a feast for under $5. I love Chick Fil A breakfast, and the Dr. Pepper perked me up. We headed over to Office Max next. The crowd waiting was small and very tame. I really wanted a souped up labeler that normally retails for $40, it was on sale for $10. I headed straight there, and I got one. There was two other ladies at the same time that got the only other remaining ones. (Sidenote: If a store spends all that money to put the item in their national ads, then stock it in the stores for goodness sakes! Otherwise, I will deem the store untrustworthy for next year.) I also got a 100pk of DVDs and mom picked up a 4gb Micro SD card.
Office Max 7am
*Brother PTouch Labeler $9.99
*DVD-Rs 100 pk $16.99

We were winding down, so we drove over to Home Depot real quick before going home. I got six of the $.99 poinsettias, two in white and four in red. They were beautiful. I gave two of the red ones to my neighbor and she really appreciated them.
Home Depot
* Poinsettias $.99

Finally, we made it home. Nobody was awake, but of course, the sound of us unloading woke the house. I had a tricky time hiding some things, but it was a very successful morning. (And I did write my mom a check for WalMart, in case you were wondering.)
And a funny sidenote, I brought my reciept with a $3 coupon from today's paper to Target, and I got $3 back for the Transformers DVD. So it ended up costing me $3 total!