Holiday Weekend Recap

It's been a busy and a not-so-busy long weekend all at the same time.

Thursday
S and I were up kind of early (i.e., alarm was set) to make sure we got to the race on time. We had to take Miss J to my mom's beforehand, drive home, and then walk to the nearby race location all by 8:30am. There were a LOT of people at the race. There were over 1,000 people alone who finished the 5K, plus there was a walk and a kid's dash.

Everyone has said that participating in a race is so much fun. Even S said that. I didn't get the fun vibe, especially as it relates to running. Remember, I do not like running. Every year for the past 3 years I try to run in the fall, and it never works out well. I never get to the point of euphoria, or the runner's high as other people call it. Well, anyway, I actually did better at the 5K than I thought I would. My time came in 5 minutes lower than it has been. As a side note, my practice time on the 5K has always been within a minute. Apparently running the same route with other people, and with the constant competition, kicks my butt into a higher gear. I only finished 2 minutes after my husband, which I find amazing, since I expected to come in at least 10 minutes behind him. So, all in all, I was pleased, but again for the record I still hate running.

S and I got home, showered, and we went through some of the Black Friday ads. I had seen most online, but there's something about physically holding them and laying them all out in front of you that makes the experience far more enticing. The rest of you all can stick with your runner's high, and I'll stick with my high of placing Black Friday circulars all around me. I started to fill my discard pile. Some stores only have 1 thing, and the closest location is 20 miles away. It's all about prioritizing your Black Friday time and money. Some things aren't displayed well in the Black Friday ad, so you need your computer on hand to look up the specs. Again, I like my Black Friday high.

We went over to my mom's, and my stepdad had arrived at midnight and had been in the shower when we had initially dropped off Miss J. We said hi to him, got plenty of hugs from Miss J like we had been gone for days, and helped my mom some with the meal. I continued to plan for Black Friday. Can you tell I take this seriously????

The food was good, it was nice to spend time with my mom and stepdad. We came home, and I finalized the battle plan for the next morning. I had narrowed it down to 4 stores with a 4:12am wake-up time. Thank heavens Toys R Us wasn't on the list (just stay away from it, folks), and of course Wal-Mart is never on the list. I'm not that crazy.

Friday
After a lot of grumbling and yawning at 4:12am, I ended up getting everything on my list at all four stores. The worst part as far as crowds go was when I had to get a cart at one store due to the sheer girth and weight of a few items, and it was impossible to navigate with all the other carts. As much as possible, I tend to avoid using a cart on Black Friday for maximum navigation. Oh well, I still got the items at the first store. The other stores I got away without a cart, things were stocked reasonably well, and I got home at 7:30am. S and Julia were both sleeping still. Dang them.

I got Julia up by asking if she wanted to see the Christmas tree and flowers (poinsettias) that I got in the car. That got her attention, and she eagerly walked downstairs to help. S came down, and our day together started. Part of the plan was to get another (fake) Christmas tree for this house. I know, it's sort of excessive to have two Christmas trees. But but but but... we have a big house and a toddler who is really excited to decorate. Anyway, S with the help of J started putting up the trees. I ate because I wasn't hungry before I left that morning and was now practically ready to pass out after shopping for several hours.

Thanksgiving leftovers eaten, I was in a food coma, Christmas music was on, and I decided to take a nap. Yeah, it was something like 8am, but a girl needs to nap, right????

Fast forward to 11am-noon. Tree 1 is up, S is starting to put up Tree 2. Some decorations are out. The house is in a disarray because Christmas tubs and boxes are strewn about. I still haven't emptied most of the car of my Black Friday finds. Tinsel seems to be everywhere. I'm not doing much of anything, as I'm still pretty much useless after the shopping adventure.

I decide to go out Round 2 shopping. We ended up needing additional ornaments for Tree 2, a timer for Tree 2, a tree topper for Tree 2 (yeah, we didn't plan out the whole accessories for another tree thing very well). The mess was overwhelming me anyway. I took Julia with me to the store since I figured it would probably be less crowded. I also had some other things to pick up that were going to be on sale during the weekend as well. Julia and I went to four stores, and I got what I needed.

Both trees were lit and decorated by the time we went to bed. Some decorations were out. I made fudge and snickerdoodles.

Saturday
Decorating continued. S messed with the lights outside with J's "help." He put up his Christmas houses collection inside. I vacuumed up tinsel, miscellaneous crap that was all over the floor, and focused on catching up with NaNoWriMo. I think I wrote 7,500 words that day. I hadn't written since Wednesday night. I remember watching my true crime shows. Honestly Saturday was a blur, and I don't think we left the house.

Sunday
My bright idea was to get 2 turkeys during the Thanksgiving turkey sales. My goal had been to get them for free, but I ended up paying something like $6 each for two turkeys. Not too bad. We're saving one for Christmas and due to freezer space (i.e., lack thereof), we decided to cook one for a belated Thanksgiving. S prepped the turkey while I took Miss J out for an extension cord (this was the first time we've put up outside lights in this house and whattya know, we need an extension cord). I think S was particularly proud that he ended up not leaving the house from Friday - Sunday. Of course I got the wrong extension cord. Not really. S wanted one with only two prong holes; I told him that there were NO extension cords that filled the bill; they all had 3 prong holes. Anyway, he still has to fix that debacle by getting an adapter or something.

I did some writing, and so did he. I made stuffing. I made a different fudge recipe. I think I like the first fudge recipe better, and it was easier to make so *double score.* Turkey was good.

Fell asleep by 8pm, up at 11:30pm. Had some leftovers and am writing this entry. Probably should be 1) sleeping or 2) NaNoWriMo.