SHEs Organized

I'm not brave enough to be out among all the people shopping.

Good morning ladies!

The guys are the ones that do black Friday in our family.
Dson & dgson went shopping at midnite at W mart, sil does the early home depot run.
Yesterday the gals all said that once was enough Black Friday shopping for them! LOL!
Dd has to work this afternoon it's not my day for granny duty today.

Coffee is on, I've felt a bit puny the past couple of mornings so I'm taking it slow.
Swept off the deck leaves are coming off in the winds we have here today.
BS was up but not too bad considering this is the day after Turkey day.
Some things are ready to go in to for the turkey soup.

I belong to the "once-is-enough" group. DD#2 and I did the early morning thing once and I'm never going to do that again. In fact, we will try to stay away from shopping until January. We will make a run to Wally world to get the DGD's 1-6 gift cards but that is all.

I have a L**T with 10 things on it this morning. I have the hardest one accomplished - I have the Christmas letter written. DH will go to the PO to pick up our mail and get stamps and I will have it in the mail by tomorrow. That is - IF I get my database program to work for the addresses. I might have to print them out from DH's computer and re-type them into mine - we will see.

Next up with be S2S, breakfast and meds which isn't even on my list. But it must be done. TTFN - I'll be back with a CI later.

I gave snack mix as grand kids were leaving it is such a hit! They love that tradition it had been hours since the big meal and they were munching away even with instructions to wait till they got home! LOL! It's such a long 3 mi. ride!

I have cookie cutters and a rolling pin for gifts already.

Black Friday has come to Canada now, mainly because with our dollar close to par, too many were crossing the border to shop the sales. So in an effort to keep people shopping local, the chains are having big sales today. Not as good as Boxing Day, but good.

All we have on our shopping list for us is a 32in 1080p tv. Those are hard to come by, most in that size are 720p and we don't have room for a 40" tv (which are commonly 1080p.) So I'll glance over the sale flyers online and see if there is one on sale. That will our Christmas gift to each other. We also bought a new weather station yesterday since the wind and other outside instruments stopped working on the one we have now. They are solar powered and the solar cells gave up after several years (about 5 or so.) This one has an all-in-one for outside temp which won't be as good (the temp sensor on the other one was separate so we could put it in a shady spot, but our shady spot is too sheltered to be accurate for wind or rain.) The weather is warmer today so I may get dh to mount it on the top of my laundry line pole.

I'm waiting for a currency transaction to happen (the company sends a driver here to trade cheques with me) and the follow up phone call from the bank (are you sure you want to let this guy certify a cheque?) At that point, I can go into the bank myself and do the shopping.

First challenge, though, is breakfast. I'm slow moving this morning. A load of laundry is on the line, and I've s2s after exercising but that's it for progress today.

I look like a little kid writing. My head is cocked to one side, the tip of my tongue is sticking out, and I am concentrating as I slowly write things out. If I write slowly I have my handwriting back.

Good morning, villagers ~

I've only been shopping on "Black Friday" once, a couple of years ago. We needed cat food and I decided I might as well go to the used book store early to see what their sale was like. They were offering a free reusable shopping bag, $5 coupon, and chance for $100 gift card to the first 100 people through the door. I was there plenty early that day but it was so cold that I waited in my car rather than standing in line on the sidewalk. By the time I walked from my car to the door, they had already given away all the bags with the big coupons, and all they had left was a regular smaller-value coupon. It was still fun because at that particular store, everyone was very cheerful and polite so it was kind of a party atmosphere.

I did consider going to the same place this morning because they offered an even better deal at 7 AM. I woke up 3 times between 5 and 5:30 and thought about whether or not I felt like getting up and driving to The Big City. I finally decided that since I didn't really need anything there or anywhere else (I stocked up on groceries Tuesday), it wouldn't be worth the time or gas. I'm just not that interested in shopping for the fun of shopping, and the things currently on my gift list are not ever included in store sales.

We had a wonderful day yesterday. Lunch with my family at my younger sister's. Supper with DH's family at his oldest brother's. Neither family had everyone there, but that was ok because sometimes when the whole crowd shows up, I still don't get to talk to everyone anyway because there isn't enough time to chat with so many people.

DSis insisted we bring home a dish of turkey, and DSisIL insisted we fill a to-go box with some of everything, plus another small plate of desserts. (We had a cooler with large ice packs in the car for taking food up north; it was still plenty cold and therefore safe to bring food back.) We have plenty of lettuce & veggie salad, too. DH will be happily munching on leftovers all day today, once he finally gets up.

Gave both hostesses yesterday a gift-in-a-jar cookie mix, with permission to re-gift. (One of the reasons I wanted to give this particular gift at Thanksgiving, both are very busy ladies and we all know that sometimes an extra gift stashed away comes in handy.) Both like to bake cookies, though, and seemed delighted with the jar mix.

Since I made these in a class last week, they were in Ball jars with metal tops and rings. For other general dry storage (small pasta shapes, instant rice, anything that comes in a box that doesn't re-seal), I've been using Ball glass jars with plastic lids that I found at WalMart. The box said they are safe for freezer storage, which I may try someday. I've never done any old-fashioned canning yet somehow I have ended up with many glass canning jars.

Transferred the leftover turkey & sides to a microwave-safe dish so DH can heat it up whenever he gets hungry. I have not been able to convince him that it is not safe to microwave in the styrofoam take-out containers. He also forgets that the "vintage" Tupperware is not for the microwave.

(I took treats to a gathering once and a friend said, "Oh, I love your vintage Tupperware." He buys Tupperware very inexpensively at Goodwill & SalArmy & yard sales, then resells it for big $ at flea markets. Ever since then, I call all of the Tware in our cupboards "vintage" because ... well, because it IS. )

I can't really make any plans for today until I know what DH feels like doing, and he's still sleeping. After so much socializing yesterday, we will probably just hang around the house and read the newspaper, watch some TV, do a few chores outside. I bought the 1st season DVDs of Big Bang Theory because we realized we've never seen the earliest shows.