The most savage controversies are those about matters as to which there is no good evidence either way.

Hello blog world! Did you miss me? I missed you. I thought about writing you all holiday weekend, but sleeping was so much more enticing and by the time I got the nap I was craving, I completely forgot what I was going to write you about. Sorry.

Wednesday
Wednesday I got off work later than I had wanted. So I pulled into my house and my dad was there picking up the painting totes (we have totes of painting supplies that we pass around my family) so it was nice to see him before I left. Seth and I packed up and headed out, we got to Columbus around 5/6. As soon as we got there I crashed, my back and abs hurt from working for a full 8 hours and sitting in the car for about another 2. I went back into our bedroom and crashed and rested for a little while. When I got up we had dinner and hung out and caught up. I mostly laid on the couch like a beached whale and asked for random things so I didn’t have to get up. Janet let me use her Jacuzzi bathtub and I went to bed around 11. Everyone else stayed up until like 3.

Thursday
Thursday we woke up around 11 (yeah, I slept a lot this weekend…) and helped get ready for Thanksgiving lunch. It took a while for the boys to get their butts in gear and showered so I about starved to death. We ate around 1 and I promptly fell into a food coma. I thought Seth would come wake me up in an hour but it turns out he didn’t and I woke up around 4 and was really confused. We celebrated our birthday’s (because Seth and I’s are close to holidays, we generally celebrate them with his family at the same time) and then took off back to Omaha. We got into Omaha around 7 and we proceeded to unpack and work on the game plan for Black Friday. Seth went out “scouting” around 9:30. Then he decided that he needed to go to bed. So he went to bed, and I sure tried but I had pretty much slept all day. So I finished my book “Prep” and tried to sleep. Seth got up at 2:30 and I got up with him. He left pretty quick. I didn’t have to leave until 3:30, but then he called and said there were already people at Target so I’d better go. I got to Target about 3.

Black Friday
Wow. That is something I don’t ever need to experience again. I don’t need to. That was a lifetime enough for me. First off, when I get there, I am alone. It’s cold. I’m totally unprepared for the fact that I’m going to be standing in line for 2 hours, and as the pregnant woman, trying not to think of what is going to happen when I have to pee. I park in front of the store and the line has already curved around the side. As I walk up, America’s finest high school students ever show up drunk and get in line right in front of me. Great. They are even less prepared than I. They are wearing t-shirts and pants with holes. They are cussing up a storm, (which I’m usually okay with, but when the topics include slutty girls in high school, I get a little prude) spitting constantly making a lovely ice sheet of spit on the ground (it’s 25 degrees) and calling everyone they know to come bring them blankets and coats and they will let them cut in line. Oh and smoking. Behind me is a guy who shows up and gets dressed while standing in line. He goes full out hunting gear on me. Even with a face mask and proceeds to read a book on his phone. Luckily, the teenagers from hell had moved up and I got a spot on a bench. Behind cameo guy was 2 Latina ladies and a 1 or 2 year old girl. They brought their daughter, in 25 degree weather, to stand in line for 2 hours. They plied her with Shakira “She Wolf” videos on their phones. I wondered what weird time warp I had stepped into. The hooligan kids were already talking about how much ass they were going to kick once they opened the doors and I started to fear for my child and I’s life. Seth called around 3:30 to tell me he had already failed out of his mission. (Turns out he was trying to get a laptop at Best Buy or Walmart for me, both which had lines forming at 9:30 the night before so I’m not sure what he was smoking.) He showed up at Target around 3:45 and I was SO HAPPY. I almost cried. I seriously thought about it for sure, but I was pretty cold. We sat on the bench and commented on the teenage wasteland ahead of us. The crowd got rowdy when they let three more stinky teenagers cut in front of them. I wasn’t worried because I was pretty sure those kids did not have enough money to buy a 450 dollar tv. Target people came out around 4:30 and gave us cute little shopping bags (which the teen nightmares promptly stuffed into some carts and declared “fucking gay”, so I got like 6 of them). Then people must have started standing up because the line started moving, amping everyone up. A lady came out and warned everyone about running and pushing and the brilliant youth of tomorrow pointed out she didn’t say anything about kicking or biting. So of course Seth goes into strong man mode. Long story short, we got the TV. In fact we got two of them. One for Cheeto and Whitney who showed up around 5 and realized the line was ungodly long and they may not get one. Of course though, we got them a lemon that they had to take back, and Seth still feels uber guilty about. So much so he went over there Saturday night and boxed it up and took it back for them. After we got the TV’s and split up with our coupons, we caused all of the machines to crash and had to wait forever for someone to ring us out while they tried to find a cash register that worked. We loaded the TV’s and I went back in for the board game I wanted. Then I waited in a super long line, which was completely unnecessary because it turned out it was a line that formed for one register and not the 20 others they had open. I jumped the line and we got out of there about 6. We dropped Seth’s truck off at my parents since we knew we would be there the next day and we went to the Menards in Bellevue, which opened at 6.
After trying to park for about 20 minutes (and ended up parking in a Famous Dave’s parking lot like a block away) we went into that madness. Menards, by far, was the craziest place we went. They had run out of carts and were giving people garbage cans (new ones) to put their stuff in. They had guys carrying the “hot items” around on their heads up and down the line (that went down the main aisle and curved back into the lumber section). I, thank God, brought my shopping bag in so we didn’t need a cart. I grabbed our little items and then stood in line because I knew it was going to be a wait. We got a mouse for my computer, a body pillow, some flashlight Seth wanted, and some presents for Seth’s family. Then Seth went off and got the soundbar we wanted and the DVD shelf. We waited in line about 1 ½ to 2 hours. There were some crazy scary people up in Menards. Gun cases and dog beds were on sale and people were FIGHTING over them. After that terror seen we went over to Walmart. This was around 8. By then everything was pretty much gone. We got the frames we wanted for Evie’s room, but not the sheets, or the Blu-ray’s. I got electronic catchphrase. We got out of there and I was starving. Seth decided that we needed to go to Toys R Us and get a present for Cody that was on sale. Lying Garmin told us there was one only 8 miles away. It did not account for 72nd and Dodge street traffic. An hour later I was at the scariest Toys R Us ever. Then because were near one, Seth wanted to go into Best Buy and tease me. I found like 600 Blu-Ray’s I wanted. But Seth was out of shopping mode so I pouted all the way home. We went home, around 10, got all the stuff in the house, ate something and I promptly passed out until 3. Seth wondered in around 11 after messing with his football stuff and slept with me.

Hold up
Okay I actually have to work this morning, so I’m going to postpone the rest of the weekend update until later today or tomorrow!

Love (to be back on holiday),
Carrie