BFS 2009

i started to write this post and realized the officer has the camera. he and my son are heading to THE big rivalry football game today compliments of some sweet friends. so i thought i would write this post anyway and then come back and add the pictures tonight. i had a blog reader ask me to tell her what bfs 2009 was. every year the shopping day after thanksgiving is called black friday. it's called black friday because that is when all the retail stores will be in the black (make a profit) because so much shopping is done. they have great sales on some of their items. many stores used to open at 6 a.m. but not anymore. some stores opened up at 12 a.m., old navy at 3 a.m., target at 5 a.m., but most everything is open by 7 a.m. at the latest. they have early bird specials (sales that last until 10 a.m. or noon). that's the best explanation i can give.

i was unable to make the t-shirts. sad? i was! i went to michaels to purchase the t-shirt. they had all the sizes except XL and we need three of them. i bought all the other t-shirts and the iron-on transfers. when i got home, i put the sac onto my big chair. i was going to make the tuesday night. monday afternoon i went to another michaels clear across town, but they didn't have any XL t-shirts either. i didn't have time to go to another store. i was just going to use one of my shirts and the other find a t-shirt they could use. tuesday night at 7 p.m. when i getting started to make the t-shirt, i realized the iron-on transfers were not in the bag. i hadn't touched the bag since i got home with the previous day. they would have been the last thing in the bag when i checked out because i used a 40% off coupon for it. i am pretty sure i left them at michaels. when i called michaels to check they didn't see anything left under the counter. i really didn't have the money or another coupon to spend on more iron-ons so t-shirts would be left to next year.

everyone has been asking me about how BFS 2009 went. so here goes:

it didn't start on friday morning as you well know. i waited and did not give into temptation to look at the black friday ads online. i like to look at the ads at my mom's house with my sisters or any "team" members. i am one of those students who had to to hear a lecture, see the notes written down on a board, and then write the notes myself to learn. i like to see the ads and make my list at the same time. plus just the time with the family/team is fun.

i was out of town for thanksgiving. we spent it with the officer's family. i'll post about that later. we had a lot of fun! thursday afternoon i left and headed to my mother's house. i had a couple of team members, j and j that had to drop out. we were sad to see them go. my cousin j was going to be a runner. i knew he would be a great runner. also he was going to make a spreadsheet of our schedule. how cool is that? his wife, j, would be quick, funny (need someone who can make you laugh in those early hours) and totally go along with using the walkie talkies. so i looked at the ads with my sister-in-law, c, my sister, g, her husband, g, and my other sister, m. we made our lists and it looked like target would the be the first place to go. it was the store where most people had most of the items they were looking for. majority rules. my sister, g and her husband, g decided to shop in town and they would meet up with us later in the morning at the mall. my sister, j dropped out of the shopping to because she went to toys-r-us at from 12-4 a.m. and that was her limit.

my sister-in-law was going to be staying the night with me. the officer and the kids had stayed up at his parents. this meant i would get a full night's sleep (the 3 hours i would actually sleep) without my daughter coming in during the night.

when we went home, i looked through my paper again to make sure i hadn't missed anything. i took a shower, fixed my hair (this mean i put palmade in it and dried it), and got dressed. i think i fell into bed at 12:30 a.m. sleeping with a belt on wasn't too bad. i set my alarm for 3:45 a.m. the plan was to leave by 4 a.m., go by 7-11 and get the necessary caffeine, and pick my sister up by 4:30 a.m.

i think i actually rolled out of bed at 3:52 a.m. not a problem though. why? because i'm already dressed. my hair had that what i call "tousled look " or if you'd prefer as the officer calls it the "did you brush your hair look??" i threw on more deodorant, brushed my teeth and put some lovespell lotion on. i purposefully picked out lovespell because i knew they had that scent in the mall in victorias secret. if i got smelling too funky because of all the sweating i would do while fighting the crowds, i could just reapply the "tester" lotion when i got to the mall and smell wonderful. see there? always thinking ahead.

when we were at 7-11 getting doritos and a coke (yeah that was my pre-breakfast) i saw a lady who said she works at bath and body works. she was preparing for her day too. i was at my sister's house by 4:15 a.m. i had told her i wouldn't call or knock on her door. she has small dogs inside and i was afraid they would bark and wake everyone up. i think we sat in the driveway and she sat in her study looking out into the street until 4:36 a.m. until she realized i was parked on the other side of her minivan.

we're off! we head to target. when we get there at 4:50 a.m., of course, the line is wrapped around the building. they only have one set of doors that are going to be opened at 5 a.m. we decide not to go to the very back of the line but just wait with the crowd. the crowd would wait until the line got in (or most of it) and the go in. at 5 a.m. they opened the doors. there were two police officers who were at the door and went in with the crowd. this left two very nervous looking target employees outside to usher the line in and make sure the ever-growing crowd didn't bust in. the employee ushering the line in was very strict. when people yelled "hey he is cutting in" he signaled for someone to usher them out of the line or out of the store. two people were ushered of the store for line-crashing. the other employee was "watching" the crowd. you could tell he was very nervous. he had a nervous laugh, holding up both of his hands and saying "let's not stampede, trample or hurt anyone!!!!!" he laughed his nervous laugh every time the crowd would inch forward, which they did every few minutes. it probably took about 12 minutes for the line to go in. you knew who was supposed to be in the line because reusable red/white target bags were handed out to those in line. while we were still waiting for everyone to go in, a man came through the doors with a cart filled with a big screen tv. that was about all he had in his cart. when he, the first customer, came out everyone in the crowd cheered for him. it was like he won the new york marathon.

as we were waiting for everyone to go in, we discussed our game plan. my sister, m would go to the toys and grab several important toys she and c were wanting. my sil (sister-in-law), c would go to videos and grab the dvds everyone was wanting. i was headed to bedding to pick up 700 thread count sheets (they are sooooo soft) and flannel sheets for everyone. papa b showed up right before we went into target to, so he was the cart pusher. we thought we could get away with having no cart, but once i got to the sheets there was not way i could carry around 4 sets of flannel sheets and two sets of 700 thread count sheets. the 700 thread count sheets were my one thing i wanted to purchase for me. anyhow, papa b just hung onto a cart in the aisle where he was out of everyone's way and we would just drop things off into it. amazingly, we all got everything we had on our list. all toys, dvds, and clothes. the only thing we didn't get was a set of 700 thread count sheets for my sister. there were no king size sheets. in fact i only got two sets because some kind man gave them to me. he was putting them back and asked if i wanted them. yeah i do! oh yeah, i did go ahead and buy an easy bake oven for my daughter for her birthday. i had a whole should i or shouldn't i poll going and it ended up being about equal. they were on sale and i decided my daughter would really enjoy it, so i went ahead and purchased one.

before the snicker debacle

we headed up to the line. they were long, but not crazy. it was 5:30 a.m. while we were checking out, we remembered that the target ad said if you spend $100 you will get a $10 gift certificate. my sil got hers, and i was next. when i was checking out i realized i was going be a little short. i hadn't remembered the $10 gift certificate thing when i was shopping. i couldn't go hop out of line to find something else for $10-$13 (essentially getting it for free). as the lady was ringing me up, i saw my total. it said like $96. i was going to use a $5 of any leapster game, but decided not to so i could get up to the $100. the two ladies behind me were watching. i grabbed three candy bars and i was at $99.05. i thought the candy bars were $1.20 but they were only .69. the lady behind me grabbed me another candy bar and i made it over $100. the cashier tried to get me my gift certificate but it wouldn't ring up. another employee came over and she was going to ask that employee why it wouldn't ring up, when we realized the $100 total had to before taxes and i was seeing the total after taxes. basically, i would had to grab 12 more candy bars to get me up to $100 before taxes. i just said forget about it because i didn't want to take up more time. i gave the two ladies who were behind me and who helped me get the other candy bar two of my snickers because they were so sweet and patient with me. so i purchased 4 candy bars i didn't need, didn't get to use my $5 off coupon for my leapster game and didn't get a $10 gift certificate, but i got my 700 thread count sheets, flannels sheets for the kids, an easy bake oven for my daughter, a leapster game, a few other small things. so i was happy. we were out of there by 6 a.m. oh and the walkie talkies were a lot of fun to use in the store!!!!!!!!

the lines at the registers at target

we left target and headed to sams. we figured since we weren't there at 5 a.m. to get into wal-mart we could stop by sams to eat breakfast and not worry about rushing. when we got to sams, there were only cheese danishes, cinnamon rolls, water, coffee, hot chocolate, and juice out. it was a larger spread last year for sure, but we sat down and ate. they eventually brought out some hot sausage, egg, and cheese biscuits out. we were thankful for the little refuel.

now off to wal-mart. the sun was starting to come up.

i don't think we had a lot in wal-mart we were looking for. my sil, found some jackets for herself and pjs for her kids. she lives in a warmer state and didn't bring a warmer jacket. i just bought a gift for my nephew. while i was in the toy section, the two ladies who were behind me in target saw me and said, "haven't done enough shopping???" i said, "no i've just gotten started!" they thanked me again for the snickers and were lost among the shoppers. in the line at wal-mart, i noticed the ladies behind me had some easy bake oven mixes. i asked if whoever they were purchasing the mixes for played with the easy bake oven. one of the ladies said she just purchased the oven for her daughter that day and she didn't know if she would play with it. she was just buying the mixes to go along with the oven. as we waited in line we saw piles of things just sitting on the ground or on top of the candy bars. these were things people didn't want and just left. my sil found some of the $3 pjs they were out of for her sons. again walkie talkies fun and useful to be able to find someone quick or say "where are you? oh can you grab "one of these or so and so" for me while you are there?"

my sister, m

when i was checking out, one of the ladies who was behind me with the easy bake oven mixes, asked me, "is your name treasure?" in case you didn't know, that's my name - treasure. it's not a common name and when someone actually asks me my name and gets it right, i am pretty sure they know me or someone who knows me. it's funny, when people see my name they will say, "is your name teresa or trisha?"

oh sorry rabbit trail....

anyway she asked me my name, and i said, "yes, my name is treasure." i was looking at her trying to place her but i couldn't. she was an older lady and i thought maybe she knew my mom or something. then the two younger ladies that were with her said, "treasure!" i was so confused. i thought one of the ladies looked familiar right off, but the other one i wasn't sure about. i just stood there stupidly saying, "yeah???" then the older lady said, "my son is tim ______!" he was a good friend of mine through college. then i all clicked. it was his mother, his sister (that's why she looked so familiar), and his wife (i've only seen her picture through facebook). also somehow, at 6 a.m. they all managed to look cute too. how anyone does that at that early of an hour i will never know! it's a small world.

when we walked out of wal-mart the sun was mostly up and it felt like 12 p.m. even though it wasn't. we headed to the mall. we started in sears because my sil wanted a mini-trampoline. she found the last one. i went into bath and body works but the line was snaked through the whole store so we decided to go eat breakfast instead.

we went to the food court where we ate our usual breakfast at chick-fil-a compliments of papa b! thanks papa b!



we shopped around a couple of the stores picking up a few things here and there. papa b picked up a gift i am going to give my mother, while i headed to bath and body works. i knew i was going to be in line for a while so everyone just met up with there. i met up with my sister, g also. i was in that store for an hour and 40 minutes of that time was spent in line. and before you ask, "really did you need to be in that line for that long, i would have never done that", yes i did need to be in line that long and i know it's going to be that long every year. that's just part of it. the line "s-ed" all the way through the store. they had a great buy 3 get three sale on their signature line and of course the wallflowers were $5. i knocked out a few christmas gifts there. when i got up to the front to check out, guess who was there. the lady i had seen at 7-11. she recognized me and said, "did i see you at 7-11 this morning?" she had seen me the first time i came into the store, before we ate at chick-fil-a. she said, "have you been in the store the whole time?" although i could have been in there the entire time, i told her we had taken a break to eat. i felt worse for all the team members who had to wait for me because i was in there a long time. i kept them up to date where i was in line via walkie talkie (see how handy and fun they are?).

when i left bath and body works i saw this lady with this t-shirt on and i asked her if i could take her picture.

we decided we were done with the mall and headed to old navy. my sister and i went into old navy to check out the line. at 10:30 a.m. it was still very long. we decided there was nothing in there we needed that bad. we went to michaels next door and my sil bought something. since papa b, me, my sil, and my sister were all in my altima, we decided we'd better stop. there was literally no more room for sacks/packages in my truck or car. everyone was holding something. papa b didn't even buy anything he was taking home with him, so we were packed in. i drove papa b back to his car in the target parking lot and i took my sister back to her house. my sil and i weren't completely sure we were finished but we had to go back to my house to drop off some stuff.

after we got to my house, my sil decided she'd better not spend any more money and headed back to her parent's house.

i didn't do any more christmas shopping, but i did get my coupons in order and went couponing! that's a whole other post. after i get my camera back from the officer, i will post some pictures of our day. so what do you think? will you go BFS shopping next year? i will definitely have the t-shirts made next year. my cousin, j and his wife, j said they'd definitely go next year. did you go shopping? did you find any great, great deals or have anything funny happen to you?

really overall, you are not getting up at 3:45 a.m. to get that extra$20 saving only, you are getting up and going for the experience, the fun family/friend time, a morning shopping with your close friends or family, and for the deals. however, if you don't like crowds or lines maybe this isn't your cup of tea. if you are on the fence about it, find some team members you always have fun with and go for it. no one was rude that i noticed. no pushing or crazies. it was a lot of fun. thanks for going guys! i think my bath and body works line was the longest one we had to wait for so thanks for waiting too. (of course i had the keys to the only car being driven so that probably helped in them not leaving me!) :)