Black Friday

Holy insanity Batman! I have always - until this year - been successful in avoiding the Black Friday shopping experience and with very good reason! However, this year I got talked into venturing out for a great deal. It started out that way anyway....





We hosted Thanksgiving at our house again for the 25 or so people in my extended family and after dinner we were all sitting around digesting turkey and trimmings and browsing the ads. There was talk as usual about going out in the early morning hours and I said "HELL NO!" like I always do and paid no more attention to the details. Then, as everyone was leaving, Brett and Amber were coordinating a sleep-over at Grandma and Pa's for the kids so they could all go shopping and Erin wanted in on the action. I interjected my usually loud opinion about how insane I thought they were and Denice said "you would pass up the kinds of deals we are getting in Park City? I think THAT is insane" and proceeded to tell me about the great deals her friend got last year. (Okay, so I'm a sucker for saving money on kid's clothes!) I let Erin go home with Grandma and Pa and still said NO to the shopping. But then the bargain hunter in me started talking in my ear and I called and asked if it was too late to go with them. Little did I know that they had more planned than the Park City trip I had heard about... I left my house that evening at 10:30 and didn't get home the next morning until 7:30am after having braved crowds and yelled at folks who don't speak English and were trying to butt in front of me in a line I'd been in for HOURS. We started in Park City at midnight and it was only after we had arrived that I heard the rest of the details. We were also headed to Walmart and then Target and Lowe's. I am pretty much done with my shopping but I seriously will never do more than the Park City part again. My time is worth WAY more than the few dollars I saved sitting in line for hours with the unwashed masses. Park City will probably be a new tradition until Erin can't wear their clothes anymore because of the screaming deals but the rest I now know from first hand experience I can live without! It was a fun outing and now I can say I've done it and it just isn't for me!

Halloween 2008

I know, I know... It's Christmas season already! Here's photos from Halloween this year although I seriously did NOTHING special. Erin had fun being a kitty after she ruined the first costume at the kicking party we went to the weekend before in the neighborhood (and which of course I didn't get a single photo of?!) She thought it was the best thing ever to trick-or-treat in both our neighborhood and my brother's with all her cousins. Luckily it was fairly warm this year!


Question of the year is typically "What are you for Halloween this year?" The 2008 costume was ... A biker. I threw on a bandanna and my own motorcycle jacket and applied a temporary tattoo. Told you, nothing special! (It was SO not my year this year being so sick for more than a month!) Oh well, I'm always the one going overboard every other year so I would bet most people thought it was about time I had a mellow year for once.

My neighbor had the BEST hat and socks and I had witch costume envy so I had to snap a photo... this was when we were handing out candy from the middle of the road with several of the neighbors before heading to my brother's place. We seriously have the BEST corner in the neighborhood!

Erin and her little buddy, Seth, although you can't tell with the mask on! He is such a ham!

And even Clint and his co-workers got in on the action this year!

Photos from Erin's Birthday

Well, I'm back from the edge of death and the proverbial sick bed and ready to get busy catching up on posting photos from the last month or so. First up... Erin's 7th Birthday parties - and yes, I meant it to be plural. She is the epitome of the spoiled, only-child and this year was no exception.

First - the family party (and the cool neighbors, too!)

We had the immediate family over for dinner and celebrating. And then Erin and her cousin's had a blast playing with their favorite play toy of the night... Grandpa!

Second was the morning of her actual birthday (in the middle of the week) where she got her iPod that her horrible Mom had been telling her she probably wasn't going to get. Yeah, like that has ever happened!

Third was the visit that night from Grandma for more spoiling!

Can't forget the favorite tradition of Build-A-Bear Workshop for a new "kid" - this one named Pinky. By this time she had caught the bug and she was so sick but still made me take her to the mall while Daddy was at work. What a trooper for a gift - and what a monster we have created!

And last but not least, the friend birthday party at home with Pin-The-Tale-On-The-Donkey, painting t-shirts and lots of squealing little 1st graders. Thanks to Ace for coming to help that day since I had zero voice by the end!

It seems like yesterday but already more than a month has gone by. At this rate she will be a teenager! We love you, Erin!

Quote of the Day and other random thoughts

THE quote of the day.... "Bryce, please don't hump the banister!" I swear, Clint and Bryce are twins who just happen to have been born to different mothers several years apart... We are all still coughing and dealing with transient sore throats but are feeling a bit better and enjoying a long weekend with Clint's Dad visiting from Kansas... I am hard at work writing the novel in all my free time (ha! what free time!) so the blog is suffering... At some point I swear there will be more photos posted here! I don't know when but some day soon... Erin goes back to school tomorrow after what feels like 6 months of being off track and I don't know who is more excited; her or me! And watch out world - my Mom has a blog now! It is now a proven fact that you're never too old to be a blogger!