In My Copious Free Time

Black Friday

Up at 5:35am.
Out the door at 5:42am.
At Target at 5:58am.
Out of Target at 6:19am.
In Wal-Mart at 6:22am.
Out of Wal-Mart and on [major connector] by 6:40am.
In and out of Michael's in 15 minutes.
At mall by 7:15am.*
At AC Moore by 8:45am.
At Target stop #2 by 9:00am.
At K-Mart by 9:20am.
Home by 9:50am.

There were maybe 100 people lined up at Target when I got there. Thank goodness I wasn't any earlier because it was *freezing*. Or, more accurately, below freezing. I got the Seinfeld DVD sets (seasons 1-3), an under-cabinet mount clock/radio with CD player, Trivial Pursuit 90s edition, and CandyLand for A.

The toy department at Wal-Mart was crazy -- there wasn't much there that I wanted, so I just avoided it altogether. I got some DVDs for $3.88 each (You've Got Mail, Dave, Vacation, and Murder at 1600).

I had a 60% off coupon at Michael's and hoped to use it on a good knitting book, but they had nada. I ended up with Creating Keepsakes' 2004 Idea Book for $6 and change.

At the mall I waffled on a cashmere sweater for $69.99, and ended up getting a RL Polo argyle cardigan for about $40. Wandered down to Old Navy and was appalled by the lines -- each register must have had a line 20-25 people deep. Nuh-uh. No way.

*Best Buy wins the You've Got to Be Out of Your Ever-Lovin' Mind Award. I went in to pick up a few CDs for $8 each. The line was stretched all the way around the store. I kid you not -- they were estimating the wait at 1 hour. If it were a great deal on an expensive item, then perhaps I would have waited. But to save $5-$10 bucks on some CDs? Again, nuh-uh.

Went to AC Moore with plans to pick up a book and was totally pissed at myself to find I'd lost my Michael's flyer with the coupons for today (which ACM honors). So I skipped it and headed back to Target, where I got a couple of DVDs (Sound of Music and a gift for Joe), a set of small motorcycles for Alex, and something else for Joe. Then on to K-Mart where I got some toys, a pair of white gold simple hoop earrings for my sister and a yellow gold bangle bracelet and small hoop earring set for my MIL (gold jewelry 70% off, so excellent deals).

Black Friday shopping is perhaps one of the most fascinating opportunities for people watching, ever. People in and of themselves are something to behold, but add in holiday spirit, the lure of a good deal, and sleep deprivation, and you have...I'm not sure what, but it's funny.

Random Alex thoughts

Volcano infatuation continues. There is frequent talk in our house of strombolian eruptions and a'a or pahoehoe flows.

This evening Alex was sitting next to me on the couch and I was sniffling (head cold). He said "I going to make Mommy feel better" and kissed my arm. :)

I finally broke out the DVD copy of Disney's "Aladdin" and Alex is crazy about it. He walks around saying lines like "Genie, wake up and smell the hummus" and he does a mean Robin-Williams-as-Jack-Nicholson saying "Listen Sparky, if you wanna court the little lady, you gotta be a straight shooter."

Just in the last couple of days I've seen a huge improvement in his eye contact, especially accompanying spontaneous language.

Since watching an episode of "Tom & Jerry" that featured a witch flying on a broom, Alex has been fond of "flying" around the house on a broom as well. Except that he uses a Swiffer. :)

34 candles

Any day that begins with a small box of a certain shade of blue is a good day. :)

This morning I slept late -- until 8:20 or so. I recall hearing something fall on the floor when I reached over to hit the snooze button on my alarm, and groggily thought "that didn't sound like my glasses" but couldn't figure out what it could have been. A few minutes later, Joe came in, already dressed, and retreived the item from behind my bedside table, placing it on top of my alarm clock. A small, white-ribbon-wrapped Tiffany box. Inside was a necklace -- a small sterling lock pendant with the 1837/T&Co stamp. I'd told Joe I liked it months ago, and he filed the information away for my birthday. Go figure. Of course, thanks to the T&Co stamp, he's already dubbed it the Taco necklace.

Work was mercifully unharried -- lots of birthday wishes, a beautiful arrangement of flowers, a cake, and one coworker took me to lunch (I accepted her offer before my team offered to buy me lunch :-\). I even got birthday phone calls from two clients, which has never happened before. And my dad called me while I was out for lunch with birthday wishes and to tell me how much he loves me, "which is a lot." :)

This evening, Joe, Alex and I went out for dinner -- nothing fancy, but a nice time. I got the most bizarre phone call from my brother ("I sent you something and you'll get it soon -- I think you'll love it and wear it every day and it will be really meaningful. I've had it for about eight months.") Then he put some stranger he'd sold a Mercedes to on the phone to wish me a birthday. I could have sworn it was the actress who played Janice on "Friends" -- I couldn't understand much of what she said beyond "your brother" and "Scorpio." So who knows what the hell that all means. But at least he did call me -- that's something.

If it's my birthday, then it's also my sister's birthday, and I capped off the evening by talking to her. She didn't get my present to her yet, and I didn't get hers to me (though, in fairness, it's magazine subscriptions, so it'll be a while). But she did get the flowers I sent her, as well as the same unusual call from our brother.

And, if it's my birthday and my sister's birthday, then it's also Stinky's birthday as well! Happy birthday, Stinky! I'm lucky that I get to share my birthday with such cool women. :)

Two of a kind?

Peanut butter and jelly...
Cake and ice cream...
Nelly and Tim McGraw...

Huh? I admit I was surprised by this duet when I first read about it. But knowing each performer, I was curious and a bit excited. And apparently for good reason, because their duet -- "Over and Over" is a great song. It was on the radio this morning, and even Joe didn't say it was good, but rather admitted it wasn't bad. My sister was totally skeptical and worried about what Nelly was doing, but she loves it, too.