Oh the Insanity!! Why???

If there wasn't already a blog named "Getting Through Life, One Xanax at a Time," I would have replaced my title with it today.

Our week began with Thanksgiving parties at the kid's schools. It's an annual tradition and we look forward to them every year. However, on Tuesday evening, my sweet great-grandmother passed away. She was 102 and it was a blessing for her sake. We miss her greatly. I'm sure I'll tell you more about her at another time. Wednesday we headed down for the funeral and then returned later in the evening. Thursday, we headed over to my brother's house for deep-fried turkey. It was yummy! The kids had a great time together. We journeyed back home that evening. The kids were pretty tired, so I put them straight to bed. I had begged my sister to come up and spend the night so I could run out and get a few "Black Friday Specials" before the kids woke up. She reluctantly came, but did manage to act like she was excited to be here. This is where it gets exciting...

The alarm goes off at 4:45 am. I'm lying in bed thinking how insane I must be to even consider getting up at this awful time to go to Walmart of all places. I DESPISE going to Walmart. I really despise getting up early...and the thought of getting up to go to Walmart was just dreadful! My sister had come all the way up here, so I had to go. When I got there, the whole parking lot was completely full. I had to park in a nearby strip shopping center. I have never seen the whole parking lot full. I knew it was going to be even better once I got inside. Ugh!

I guess I should explain why I was even at Walmart at 5:00 am. I got this bright idea that the kids would love a trampoline. Walmart happened to have them really cheap. They also had DVD's for $2, sweats for $4, etc. My main reason for showing up was for that trampoline.

Back inside, it was mass chaos. I do believe the maximum occupancy was way surpassed. None of the specials were in the usual location. For instance, printers were in the food aisles. So no one knew where they were going. People were trying to maneuver through crowds with 72 in. flat screens in a cart. I finally found my trampoline in the back of the store. There were four! A man was standing guard waiting for another guy to come and help him load it in his cart. It took two guys to load this thing in my cart. I started to weasel my way back up to the mile long check out line. Insanity! About 15 minutes into the wait the large man in front of me let 'er rip. I almost died right there. Just my luck to die in Walmart. Ugh! Well, I survived and we slowly inched our way forward. I was third in line when all of a sudden, the monsoon came in to town. Lovely! After checking out, I managed to man-handle my cart to the front of the store, all the while hoping an employee would be there to help me load this thing into my car. Nice thought. Well, maybe if I just get it to my car, I can just dump it into the trunk. I headed off into the rain across two parking lots with an uncontrollable cart only to arrive at my car and realize I had left tricycles in the trunk. Ugh! Idea #2. Put the trampoline across the car seats in the middle row. Great idea if only I had been able to lift the silly thing! I stood in the rain for five minutes trying to get mad enough to build up enough adrenaline to push this thing. I couldn't budge it! I ran toward the first guy I saw and begged for help. He was so kind! He managed to push the trampoline over the seats and save my day! After a quick thank you, it was off to Tractor Supply.

If you're going to shop on Black Friday, I highly recommend going to Tractor Supply. No lines, no crowds, and good deals! Their ad had the cutest little pedal tractor. I just knew my boys would love it! I was in and out in five minutes. Of course, there was no place in the car to put it. I had to rearrange the tricycles to make space for the box. As I was putting the box in the trunk, the end came open and I had tractor parts going everywhere in the dark parking lot while it was still raining. I think I found them all. We may have a lop-sided tractor. I had to hurry, because Mardel was opening in five minutes!

Mardel is another great place to be on this wretched day! I picked up a few video's and t-shirts for $5. I was pretty drenched at this point and I knew the kids would be waking up aunt Laura any minute. I had promised her a Starbuck's for coming up, so I ran by there and got her mocha. As I was leaving, my battery light came on making me wonder if I was going to get home or just stay wet all day. I had already removed a sock and shoe because my feet were so wet and cold. I arrived back at the abode right after the kids had escaped from their rooms. Breakfast was served, diapers changed, and everyone was happy. This was all before 7:30. There's much more to come, but you'll have to come back tomorrow. My fingers are about to fall off. Don't forget! It gets so much better!