Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Here it is, Mom.
Okay okay okay... sorry for the delay. I've been catching grief over the lengthy suspense since my last entry (mostly from my mom) so here it goes.
We got the TV.
After bundling up in about 12 thick layers of Carharts, snow pants and polyproplane long john underwear (obviously not in that order) and packing enough chairs-in-a-bag to keep any proud soccer mom happy, we made our way to the already growing line at Circuit City around 10 pm on Thanksgiving.
We introduced ourselves to our "neighbors", a seasoned family huddled in their ice shanty and a seriously underprepared woman who packed only a bears fleece to protect her from the bitter 20 degree chill (of course, of course, it was the coldest night of 2007 thus far). We are 23rd in line. Then we pulled out the DVD player we borrowed from my mother in law, along with the longest, most captivating movies in our arsenal (Lord of the Rings trilogy, of course) and settled down into our sleeping bags. Just like camping. Except it was really really cold. And uncomfortable. And there weren't any marshmallows for roasting.
11:30 pm Due to previously discussed bitter cold, DVD player dies. We got through about an hours or so of LOTR
12:30 am I ran home for bathroom break
1:00 am I return with hot chocolate mix and boiling water in a thermos and chex mix
1:02 am Mike gets tangled up in his sleeping bag and consequently knocks over the thermos, causing it to shatter- boiling hot water pouring copiously over the sidewalk. Hot chocolate is ruined.
1:03 am-2:59 am Sleeping. Kind of. And shivering. Line behind us builds to about 100-125 people.
3:00 am Circuit City employees arrive on the scene. "China Man" (Not my name for him.... just a nickname the endearing crowd came up with) makes the fateful announcement that line is forming in the wrong direction, and according to fire safety or some other rubbish, everyone must move.
3:01 am China Man realizes his mistake as over 100 people run to cut in line. Those "all nighters", settled warmly into shanties, sleeping bags and folding chairs, some around mini fires, stare dumbfounded at China Man.
3:02 am Mike started swearing and yelling at China Man. Erin advises him to quit yelling and get in line.
3:05 am Erin, lugging all their crap, some how finds Mike in crazy swarm of people. We are now 100th in line.
3:06 am Erin lugs crap out to car... since China Man stated "fire safety". Angry customers start carrying on and threaten a riot. They advise police protection.
3:10 am Police show up. High schoolers that cheated everyone and ran to front of line start getting rowdy and obnoxious... which really endears them to the rest of the line.
3:30 am China Man makes another announcement that anyone who has left their chairs, shanties, ect in the original line can return to them and they will be allowed in the store first. Erin almost starts crying at the injustice of it all... but can't because she is too cold to produce tears.
4:00 am Circuit City employees start handing out impossibly small maps of the store (luckily, we pre-shopped)
4:30 am Vouchers are handed out for computers. Jerky Highschoolers claim all laptop vouchers and then turn around and attempt to sell them to others behind them in line. We are all freezing nearly to the point of biothermal shutdown.
4:40 am Circuit City employees start handing out complimentary notepads. Young woman behind us in line cackles with derisive insanity.
4.50 am Dunkin Doughnuts guy shows up with coffee. This is nearly 7 hours after we've arrived. No one buys coffee, instead they yell at him for not showing up sooner.
5:00 am Put our game faces on, at least 3 other couples around us in line are after our TV, by our estimation. Doors open.
5:05 am Erin has hands on 32 in Sharp TV... not our TV, but our price. Mike sets out to find a store employee to clarify.
5:06 am Two employees later, Mike waves Erin down to pick up the stereo. He's number 5 in line with sticky note in hand. Fingers crossed.
5:10 am TV is claimed, bought and paid for. So is stereo. There were only 8 TV's available. We drive around to back of building, load up our prize and head home.
5:30 am In bed. Sweet dreams of new beautiful, ginormous TV.
9:30 am Mike is up. TV is up. Success.
We got the TV.
After bundling up in about 12 thick layers of Carharts, snow pants and polyproplane long john underwear (obviously not in that order) and packing enough chairs-in-a-bag to keep any proud soccer mom happy, we made our way to the already growing line at Circuit City around 10 pm on Thanksgiving.
We introduced ourselves to our "neighbors", a seasoned family huddled in their ice shanty and a seriously underprepared woman who packed only a bears fleece to protect her from the bitter 20 degree chill (of course, of course, it was the coldest night of 2007 thus far). We are 23rd in line. Then we pulled out the DVD player we borrowed from my mother in law, along with the longest, most captivating movies in our arsenal (Lord of the Rings trilogy, of course) and settled down into our sleeping bags. Just like camping. Except it was really really cold. And uncomfortable. And there weren't any marshmallows for roasting.
11:30 pm Due to previously discussed bitter cold, DVD player dies. We got through about an hours or so of LOTR
12:30 am I ran home for bathroom break
1:00 am I return with hot chocolate mix and boiling water in a thermos and chex mix
1:02 am Mike gets tangled up in his sleeping bag and consequently knocks over the thermos, causing it to shatter- boiling hot water pouring copiously over the sidewalk. Hot chocolate is ruined.
1:03 am-2:59 am Sleeping. Kind of. And shivering. Line behind us builds to about 100-125 people.
3:00 am Circuit City employees arrive on the scene. "China Man" (Not my name for him.... just a nickname the endearing crowd came up with) makes the fateful announcement that line is forming in the wrong direction, and according to fire safety or some other rubbish, everyone must move.
3:01 am China Man realizes his mistake as over 100 people run to cut in line. Those "all nighters", settled warmly into shanties, sleeping bags and folding chairs, some around mini fires, stare dumbfounded at China Man.
3:02 am Mike started swearing and yelling at China Man. Erin advises him to quit yelling and get in line.
3:05 am Erin, lugging all their crap, some how finds Mike in crazy swarm of people. We are now 100th in line.
3:06 am Erin lugs crap out to car... since China Man stated "fire safety". Angry customers start carrying on and threaten a riot. They advise police protection.
3:10 am Police show up. High schoolers that cheated everyone and ran to front of line start getting rowdy and obnoxious... which really endears them to the rest of the line.
3:30 am China Man makes another announcement that anyone who has left their chairs, shanties, ect in the original line can return to them and they will be allowed in the store first. Erin almost starts crying at the injustice of it all... but can't because she is too cold to produce tears.
4:00 am Circuit City employees start handing out impossibly small maps of the store (luckily, we pre-shopped)
4:30 am Vouchers are handed out for computers. Jerky Highschoolers claim all laptop vouchers and then turn around and attempt to sell them to others behind them in line. We are all freezing nearly to the point of biothermal shutdown.
4:40 am Circuit City employees start handing out complimentary notepads. Young woman behind us in line cackles with derisive insanity.
4.50 am Dunkin Doughnuts guy shows up with coffee. This is nearly 7 hours after we've arrived. No one buys coffee, instead they yell at him for not showing up sooner.
5:00 am Put our game faces on, at least 3 other couples around us in line are after our TV, by our estimation. Doors open.
5:05 am Erin has hands on 32 in Sharp TV... not our TV, but our price. Mike sets out to find a store employee to clarify.
5:06 am Two employees later, Mike waves Erin down to pick up the stereo. He's number 5 in line with sticky note in hand. Fingers crossed.
5:10 am TV is claimed, bought and paid for. So is stereo. There were only 8 TV's available. We drive around to back of building, load up our prize and head home.
5:30 am In bed. Sweet dreams of new beautiful, ginormous TV.
9:30 am Mike is up. TV is up. Success.
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
Cute picture... they're rare... so I am posting it!
Courtesy of our Best Friend, and photographer extraordinaire, Kevin Von Qualen. Google him and check out his site... he is AMAZING for weddings!
Tis the season
In about another week, dear friends, I will embark on my first true effort at holiday sale maddness. I will become just another willing and even eager participant in the psychotic phenomenom otherwise known as "Black Friday".
For those of you who know me well, you probably realize how unusual this is for me. I typically am a little bit of a "crowd" snob and refuse to partake in the shopping craziness the day after Thanksgiving. In fact, the term "Black Friday", itself, was completely foreign to me. I thought it was just something that had to do with the Great Depression... but desperate times call for desperate measures, kids.
Let me explain. My husband and I have decided to make our first official "real" grown up purchase. Besides our couch. Which, upon further consideration, perhaps we should have waited on that purchase. At least until our puppy was full grown. But anyways...
Well, everyone, we are buying a flatscreen TV. A 42 inch LCD moniter with a special option that will tint the screen according to the level of natural light in the room. Yeah, I know... it's a pretty big freaking deal.
I'm not much of a TV person. I mean, we don't even have cable. But it is really starting to get on my nerves that the three or so hours a week that I spend watching television are constistently being interrupted by our screen going out. By going out, I mean, just that... going out somewhere. I don't know where, but we've discovered through good old fashioned trial and error that if we jump with both feet right in this particular spot in front of our couch, there is about a 87% success rate of having it come back.
Why get such a nice tv, you ask? Why the heck not? That's what my hubbie always says. In truth, we were looking at the 36 inch, but my father-in-law said "Why not just go for the 42 incher?" and Mike, being the easily persuaded man that he is decided that that was enough reason for him.
So a few months back I caved in and we went to work. We called up our respective parental units and explained that this year, all we want is money. Really. True, we've said it before and probably didn't really mean it, but this year we're legit. Then the real struggle began.
The last few weeks have been spent scoping out underground "pre-black" Friday websites and coupon centers during my lunch hours and previewing our picks on the store shelves in the evenings. We've narrowed it down to our top contender, but there is no way in heck that I am writing it out here, in case one of you are my competition come a week from Friday.
So there I will be, 3 am on Friday morning. Fighting my turkey hangover with a hot cup of dunkin dougnuts coffee and plotting our route through the aisles to our prize. Perhaps, if the "nutty holiday shopping gods", in which I don't, of course, believe in, smile upon us, I will have a success story to share with you all!
Wish us luck!
For those of you who know me well, you probably realize how unusual this is for me. I typically am a little bit of a "crowd" snob and refuse to partake in the shopping craziness the day after Thanksgiving. In fact, the term "Black Friday", itself, was completely foreign to me. I thought it was just something that had to do with the Great Depression... but desperate times call for desperate measures, kids.
Let me explain. My husband and I have decided to make our first official "real" grown up purchase. Besides our couch. Which, upon further consideration, perhaps we should have waited on that purchase. At least until our puppy was full grown. But anyways...
Well, everyone, we are buying a flatscreen TV. A 42 inch LCD moniter with a special option that will tint the screen according to the level of natural light in the room. Yeah, I know... it's a pretty big freaking deal.
I'm not much of a TV person. I mean, we don't even have cable. But it is really starting to get on my nerves that the three or so hours a week that I spend watching television are constistently being interrupted by our screen going out. By going out, I mean, just that... going out somewhere. I don't know where, but we've discovered through good old fashioned trial and error that if we jump with both feet right in this particular spot in front of our couch, there is about a 87% success rate of having it come back.
Why get such a nice tv, you ask? Why the heck not? That's what my hubbie always says. In truth, we were looking at the 36 inch, but my father-in-law said "Why not just go for the 42 incher?" and Mike, being the easily persuaded man that he is decided that that was enough reason for him.
So a few months back I caved in and we went to work. We called up our respective parental units and explained that this year, all we want is money. Really. True, we've said it before and probably didn't really mean it, but this year we're legit. Then the real struggle began.
The last few weeks have been spent scoping out underground "pre-black" Friday websites and coupon centers during my lunch hours and previewing our picks on the store shelves in the evenings. We've narrowed it down to our top contender, but there is no way in heck that I am writing it out here, in case one of you are my competition come a week from Friday.
So there I will be, 3 am on Friday morning. Fighting my turkey hangover with a hot cup of dunkin dougnuts coffee and plotting our route through the aisles to our prize. Perhaps, if the "nutty holiday shopping gods", in which I don't, of course, believe in, smile upon us, I will have a success story to share with you all!
Wish us luck!
Monday, October 29, 2007
This past weekend...
I am working on putting up pics on my blog of things I've been up to...
This is from this past weekend. Our old friends from college, the Katerbergs, and their little girl, Abbie came to stay with us. We spent a super fun and super tiring Saturday downtown racing around in trolleys and trains and splashing around in the water room! (be advised: wear the proffered rain coats if you take advantage of all the children's museum has to offer!) Since our trip was "kid themed", we invited my youngest brother and sister, James and Bridget along for all the crazy-hectic fun.
This photo is from Christmas Eve Eve- last year... when our best friends, the Vonqualens came out to celebrate the holidays with toasty warm holiday treats.I realize that we are only days from Halloween... and that that is a pretty big deal for lots of people...
But it isn't such a huge deal for me. I am, of course, looking forward to those cuter then cute trick-or-treaters showing up on my doorstep in want of neighborly enablers to support their sugar habits... and its been highly entertaining scrolling through my friends various websites and checking out their costumes from their last-weekend parties all across the continental US.
Nevertheless, I, personally, am very eagerly looking forward to the day AFTER Halloween. On the day after Halloween the radio will begin playing Christmas music (at least those special seasonal stations will), and the temperature will surely start to drop and I will begin baking and crafting and watching copious amounts of White Christmas and Eloise at Christmastime, starring my very most favorite birthday-sharing buddy, Julie Andrews in all her "Nanny" spendidness...
And I just get giddy thinking about it. The Holidays.
I. Love. The. Holidays.
I love them because they are a celebration of my Savior, Jesus' birth. I love them because we get to give presents. I love them because we hang sparkling white fairy lights everywhere that make the world seem all glittery and beautiful. I love them because I can giggle guiltlessly at the Christmas Lobster in Love Actually. I love them because for some reason unbeknownest to the general population, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone is considered a Christmas movie and they even show that sweet kids movie on TV. I love them because we are permitted and even expected to completely gorge ourselves on high sugar, high fat, extra creamy, uber rich comfort foods.
I love them because it is a time of gratitude and fortitude and love and family and everything perfectly wonderful in the world..
If I had my say, Heaven would be a Currier and Ives Christmas Eve each and every day. And I am pretty sure that God reads my blog, so I think that it might be a done deal.
Friday, October 26, 2007
Anther milestone...
I have reached another milestone, my friends. I knew this was coming. In the back of my mind, I have been awaiting it's arrrival with bated breath. Dramatic, to be sure... but I can not say that I am exaggerating. Yesterday was a day like any other. Perhaps a little bit more dreary beause it was a Thursday, which happens to be my least favorite day of the week- but a typical day, nonetheless.
Until I came home and checked the mail.
An invite to my Godson's first birthday party was precariously perched right on top of that little pile of junk mail and Christmas catalogues.
I have been invited to a grown up birthday party for a little boy. It is one thing to have had close friends welcoming little babies into their families. It is quite another to be have those little babies become little kids and to have those little kids have birthday parties!
Don't get me wrong. As I type this, I am beaming. I am absolutely thrilled that Noah, who happens to be the absolute cutest little guy on the planet, is turning one. A little shocked that time has flown so quickly over the past year... but thrilled all the same.
It's just a milestone, that's all. I mean, this is my first time doing this. The first of many, to be sure... for another couple close to us just had their first child this past summer and our dear friends from the southside are welcoming their first any day now... So I will be a seasoned party attender before I know it. Life carries on... and before too too long I will start collecting consumer reports of which hot toys are the safest, and I will find myself fighting the nutty crowds the day after Thanksgiving in order to procure a tickle-me-elmo or whatever is hot these days, to send to my littlest friends. And I'm looking forward to it. Really!
But still, yikes. :)
Until I came home and checked the mail.
An invite to my Godson's first birthday party was precariously perched right on top of that little pile of junk mail and Christmas catalogues.
I have been invited to a grown up birthday party for a little boy. It is one thing to have had close friends welcoming little babies into their families. It is quite another to be have those little babies become little kids and to have those little kids have birthday parties!
Don't get me wrong. As I type this, I am beaming. I am absolutely thrilled that Noah, who happens to be the absolute cutest little guy on the planet, is turning one. A little shocked that time has flown so quickly over the past year... but thrilled all the same.
It's just a milestone, that's all. I mean, this is my first time doing this. The first of many, to be sure... for another couple close to us just had their first child this past summer and our dear friends from the southside are welcoming their first any day now... So I will be a seasoned party attender before I know it. Life carries on... and before too too long I will start collecting consumer reports of which hot toys are the safest, and I will find myself fighting the nutty crowds the day after Thanksgiving in order to procure a tickle-me-elmo or whatever is hot these days, to send to my littlest friends. And I'm looking forward to it. Really!
But still, yikes. :)
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