The ups and downs of Black Friday

It is no secret - I love to shop and find a good deal. So I actually started shopping on Thursday at Kmart's Thanksgiving sale. I found the one big item I was after - I picked up the last one on the shelf - lucky me. I was very happy on Turkey Day.

Friday (Black Friday) was a bit more tricky. Even though I did not do as well, I did come away with some successes.

My youngest son was having trouble getting to sleep last night (night terrors) so between me and my husband we were up most of the night. I had set my alarm for 4:15 and I was going to hit Walmart first. Well I happened to roll over and look at my clock only to see it was 5:05 am. What, where am I, what's going on - how come my alarm didn't go off????? I raced out of bed threw on my clothes and ran out the door. I set my clock for PM not AM - DUUUUHHHHHH!!!!! Not so good. Well if any of you tried to shop at Walmart it was crazy!!!! I had great luck last year and totally failed at Walmart this year. I walked in - elbowed my way around and decided to leave.

I headed to Target next. When I got there they ushered me into line. I kept walking and walking and walking. Yes, the line went all the way around the store. I was in line by some nice people and we patiently waited for the line to move. I didn't think I would get anything considering my place in line. Surprise, Surprise - I got most of the stuff on my list. This definately put a smile on my face.

I then proceeded to Shopko. I didn't really find a lot of stuff there, but I found a few movies and some stocking stuffers. Because my birthday was this month, Shopko sent me a birthday discount, so I got an additional 10% off my purchase. Yea!!!!! This also made me happy.

I was getting really hungry about this time and decided to go through the Krispy Kreme drive through. When I got to the window the lady handed me my donuts and chocolate milk and would not let me pay for them. Wow!!!! Could this really be???? My day was certainly improving.

I decided to try the mall and went into JC Penney and found a bunch of clothes for the family. I then went to Lane Bryant to check out their selection and to spend my gift certificate I got for my birthday. It was fun - I got some Spanx (have wanted to try them for some time) and some pants.

I rounded out the day with a long afternoon nap. A well deserved nap....I had a good day even without Walmart!

One thing I did notice at most stores is the nice help of so many of the employees. Not only did most of the stores have a full staff checking people out, they also had employees throughout the store helping to locate items, pull things off of upper shelves, shagging carts etc... And to that I was very thankful.

So did any of you go shopping on Black Friday? Anyone want to share their successes or failures? You can celebrate or vent if you'd like.