So much excitement

I think throughout my childhood my dad instilled in me an almost insane curiosity about events that make no sense to me. This only applies to a select few things that strike my fancy. For example, I would never attend a bridal or a fashion show, but when Mean Gene Okerlund opened his burger store in East Peoria, I knew I had to go. I've never been any kind of fan of wrestling, but I absolutely HAD to go check out the kind of people who attended this event. I needed to see how they were dressed and just had to see Mean Gene in real life. I did not wait in the two hour line for his autograph, but I did sit in the autograph tent and watch people of all ages, many costumed, get their photos taken with him. It was totally worth it!

A truly stupid tradition I have is to go out "shopping" on Black Friday before I go to work. I have no desire to actually buy anything, I just like to drive around and check out the parking lots. I love to walk into Kohls and see the line of people wrapped all the way around the store to check out. I love to see the middle-aged groups of sisters in matching pajamas shopping at Target. I love to see carts piled high with crap that no recipient will actually like, but man was it a deal! Eventually, I go to Michaels and use my 40% off your entire purchase coupon and buy stocking stuffers for the kids. Then I go to work and am happy to be at work rather than rushing to JC Penney for a free Mickey Mouse ornament or to Old Navy for a free $10 gift card if you purchase $50 worth of stuff. Whoopee.

I have worked Saturdays for years now. I always like going to Toyland at Farm and Fleet, but have never been able to go opening day. Since my days off changed this year I decided to give it a shot. I was ok with buying nothing today, I was just curious how busy it would actually be and how the crazies would behave being more or less confined to a few aisles of the store. I was not disappointed.

My first observation was that the usual large number of pickup trucks was replaced with minivans and SUVs. There were maybe 4 trucks in the packed lot. (And probably four very disappointed men that "their" store was being invaded by a crazy herd of women on this unfortunate day...) Carts were in such high demand that people were stalking the parking lot waiting for others to leave so they could snatch the cart. I overheard one woman brag to a friend that she didn't have a cart so she loaded her arms with as much as she could carry, paid and put it in her car and was now on her second round. I intentionally remained cartless. The aisles weren't nearly as bad as I would have thought. Other than the extremely busy game aisles, I was able to have each aisle pretty much to myself at some point of my visit. I arrived an hour after opening and the checkout lines were long. By the time I checked out I walked immediately to a waiting cashier. I did get some excellent deals on a couple of games and a large tub of K'nex. I also found myself a lightweight jacket nice and cheap. Yeah, I love Farm and Fleet. And I only got bumped by one shopping cart.

October has been pleasantly boring, with almost nothing blogworthy. Oh, I did not get a cortisone shot in my foot! Yeah! It has improved slightly so the podiatrist just gave me another round of painkillers. Phew. My dad gave each of the kids $5 to spend at Wal-Mart last night. Kaylin came home with a small toy. Logan bought a bag of candy and a pineapple. Yep, a pineapple. Now he wants it for lunch. Um, what do I do with it? Guess I'll Google how to cut it...