Thanksgiving, Black Friday, & 2-Wheeler

Last year apparently people were lamenting because there wasn't any leftover turkey (what a shame) despite Jennifer having made a 35-pounder.  This year she decided to go bigger but had to settle with two 20-pound ones since she couldn't find one big enough.  She cooked one in our oven and then one in the Isidro's.  And then, oddly, even though we had about the same number of people, they only ate one turkey.  So something was very off.  There was pretty much one whole turkey left over.  I came down from putting the kids to bed and most everyone had left, including the Isidros who I had somehow thought were taking the turkey back with them (this was the one that had cooked - - is that even the right word? Baked? - - at their house) and the giant Tom was still sitting on my counter basically intact.  What on earth was I supposed to do with it?? Thankfully Angie disposed of it for me which involved some flushing down the toilet or something and I don't know the rest.  Anyway, everyone was so terrific with all the ladies helping to clean up.  After the kids were in bed, I came down to find the kitchen wasn't completely in order and there were still some dishes in the sink waiting to go into the dishwasher which was running at the moment.  I decided to rest my head for a few minutes on the couch which turned into more than a few minutes.  When I came to, Elaine and Angie had my kitchen completely spotless as if nothing had ever occurred in there.  It was so nice of them I was almost in tears.  I really have the best family and friends.  

My little nap provided me with the energy to look through all the Black Friday ads so I could see if there were any bargains out there that could not be missed.  Mostly the answer was no but I saw a few things of interest.  Please note that we were NOT out shopping on Thanksgiving evening although I did buy some poinsettias on Lowes.com at like 12:30 am.  Why go into the store at 5:00 am when I can order online and have them ready and waiting for me to pick up any time?  

Since Duncan had his little golf outing Thanksgiving morning, I felt like Friday morning was my day although I was out a little longer than he was.  I left the house with Colby at 7:30 am and went to Once Upon a Child (two locations), Big Lots, Produce Market, Walmart (can't believe it), Walgreens, Babies R Us, another Walgreens (where I cleaned house big time), and Publix.  

I had quite the adventure at Once Upon a Child, the Orlando store.  First I went to the Ocoee one.  They were having a 35% off sale from 7:00 - 9:00 am and then it dropped to 25% after that and so on.  I got to the register at 8:45 and asked if I needed to pay by 9:00 and they quickly assured me that no, I just needed to be in the store by 9:00 and in fact, they were about to hand out pink slips of paper to people in the store so they would know they were there by 9:00.  Huh, I thought, that makes great sense.  I'm sure the Orlando store, which was having their 35% off sale from 8:00 - 10:00 must do the same thing.  I got to that store at about 9:10 and didn't even look at my phone as I was busy loading my cart and keeping an eye on a mostly sleeping Colby.  I finally went to pay and as the clerk was ringing me up she says "And you get a 25% discount." I said, "What?" and looked at my phone.  10:06.   So yeah, turns out that you have to pay by 10:00 at their store, not just be in the store.  I started pleading my case that with all the clothes, which amounted to $74, that clearly I had been in the store longer than six minutes.  I asked to speak to the person in charge who just kept stating over and over again, "I'm sorry but this is how we do it.  We aren't affiliated with the other store. I can't do anything about it."  She made it sound like she was physically unable to give me the 35%.  I said "Come on.  I know you CAN give it to me.  You just don't want to." They recommended that I email the owner and that was that.  I was really ticked off, let me tell you.  It only amounted to $7 but that people running a store could be so uncompromising to the "rules" even when situations such as this arise, was just mind blowing.  In the age of Twitter, Facebook, and blogs, why would you be so non-customer friendly?  It's not like I was trying to take advantage of a situation.  It was an honest "mistake" considering that none of their advertising on the sale (email, Facebook, flyer attached to the front door) gave any information as to paying by the deadline.  Even a simple announcement at 9:50 saying the sale was ending in ten minutes so please bring purchases to the register would have been nice.  But no.

I went back to the car and immediately sent an email off to the owner who, to her credit, emailed me back very quickly and wanted me to call her so we could discuss.  I did and she was very reasonable and was pleased I had called her about the situation. She said they had been doing it this was for five years and never had a problem but she could see how it was confusing and that she needed to look at perhaps doing it differently.  She took my address and said she would be sending me some coupons and such to make up for it.  So thankfully this seems like it will have a happy ending.  As you may or may not recall, this is the second incident I've had with this establishment.  The first was a few years ago when they wouldn't give me a fourth stamp on my customer appreciation card even though I was at $39.97 and needed to get to $40.00 for the fourth stamp.  This is all in the quest to get 20 stamps to get a 15% discount.  Not to inherit half the store. Jeepers.

Anyway, the rest of my shopping was considerably less stressful although my "big" purchase of a portable DVD player at Big Lots for $34.99 did not happen.  They were out of stock.  Another store had them but it wasn't any where near me.  Oh well.  A bit later I stopped at Walmart looking for a safe they had on a sale and decided to just stop by the electronics on the off chance they had that same DVD player.  In fact, they had exactly one of them.  Jackpot.  It was $59.99 but Walmart price matches and I had the Big Lots ad with me so I went to the register and sure enough, they changed the price and I left a happy camper.  At least Walmart has that going for it.  I really hate the Walmart near my new house but at least this was my old Walmart so I didn't feel as dirty shopping there.  

Meanwhile, Duncan took the kids to Downtown Disney with Chuck, Angie, Ron, Elaine, and Russ.  They were only there about two hours but a good time was had by all since they got to go on a couple of rides. 

 

Friday evening we, along with the Bergherms, went to the Isidros for supper as they were lighting up their outdoor fireplace.  Boy, did we need it.  It was a chilly night and we had to don our turtlenecks and sweaters.  Poor Colby had a really tough time.  I put him in his little chair that I had brought and situated him outside by the fire with a blanket on.  He started crying hysterically and I had to take him inside to calm him down which took a while.  After a bit, I took him back outside and within a minute, he was back to crying again.  This repeated itself again and all I can come up with is that he doesn't like the cold.  That will not bode well in a couple of weeks!

Saturday night we were all geared up to go to a boat parade and other festivities they had going on at Lake Ivanhoe which is near downtown.  It started at 6:30 so to get there in time, we needed to leave by like 5:30 which meant no time to cook supper.  We were all chowing down on some cereal when I had the bright idea to check some details on the event.  Thank goodness I did since I discovered it had been the previous Saturday night.  Not sure who does a whole Christmas themed event before Thanksgiving but okay.  It was still a win though because I didn't have to cook!  We ended up going to Ikea and Mall at Millenia instead. I stayed in the car for the first bit at the mall while I fed Colby and Duncan took them in to the Apple store, where else.  After a bit he sent me an SOS that Brady had a pee accident.  I suddenly realized I forgot to pack a back up outfit.  Oops.  Fortunately walking around all wet didn't seem to phase the little guy.  And yes, I realize we were in a MALL which has stores that sell pants but I wasn't about to pay those kind of prices (it's an upscale mall).  

Sunday morning we went for brunch at Ron and Elaine's.  Chuck and Angie stayed at their house for the last three nights after being at our house the first two so we were reunited with them.  Angie and Elaine outdid themselves on the French toast and hashbrowns and I ate way more than a person who is looking to lose weight probably should be eating.  But my rationale is that brunch is technically two meals in one so I could really eat as if it were two meals.  After stuffing ourselves, we left for home and stopped on the way at our old Christmas tree lot where we picked out our tree.  We only got a seven footer since I have no desire to pay big bucks for one that we'll only be enjoying for a week and a half.  We paid $58 after using a 10% off coupon I had saved from two years ago.  

We got home and Ricky came over to watch the Patriots game vs. Houston.  Another 34-31 victory and a come from behind one although not as dramatic as against the Broncos.  At some point in the afternoon, Duncan started looking for his wallet and could not find it.  I started helping him look...the car, our bedroom, all his pockets, etc. with no luck.  He was worried that it had fallen out of his back pocket when he went running that morning.  After checking all the spots we could think of, I gathered the kids and said we needed to say a prayer that Jesus would help us find the wallet.  A minute or two later, Duncan turns to Brady and says "Have you seen Daddy's wallet?" And Brady says "Yes, it's in the office." I go in there and start looking around and underneath the desk I come across an AmEx with Duncan's name on it which starts a trail of several more cards strewn about under there.  Brady leads Duncan right to it all.  So yes, while we were frantically looking for it and then saying a prayer, right in front of Brady, he seemed oblivious to it all.  It did stick in his head though because when he woke up Monday morning the first thing he said to me was "I won't play with Daddy's wallet anymore."   

I don't know what prompted it but Duncan had told Calleigh on Sunday afternoon that she was going to learn to ride a two-wheeler, finally.  For whatever reason, it's just not something we've gotten around to doing.  She's never expressed an interest in learning and we never mentioned that she should learn so thus, it never happened.  But once Duncan did mention it, she was really, really excited.  His plan was to take her over to the grassy area near our clubhouse and just let her go there.  He took the training wheels off at our house and had her get on the bike while they were still here to just give her a few preliminary instructions. Instead, she just started riding.  And that was that.  He never actually had to teach her.  She just started riding it and hasn't fallen once or anything.  I'm assuming this is because she's 6 1/2 and most kids learn long before now.  At any rate, now all she wants to do is go on bike rides.  Not a bad thing, of course.  

Monday morning I had a doctor's appointment so I dropped off all four kids at Ron and Elaine's.  Chuck and Angie had a flight in the afternoon, back to Little Rock, so they were getting ready to leave as I arrived. Now get this.  Their flight was at like 2:00 pm on Monday afternoon.  They just got home at 10:00 am this morning.  Wednesday!  So it took them almost two days to get from Orlando to Little Rock.  That is just insane and would greatly discourage me from ever flying anywhere during Thanksgiving.  I don't know all the details that delayed them but the second night, which was in Houston, was because there was so much fog in Little Rock.  I don't know if they will ever come back after that but we sure were glad to see them.  

Tuesday we had a stay-at-home day which was greatly needed as I had to transition Colby to his 3-6 month clothes although in all seriousness, I almost think he needs to skip right to 6-9 months for a lot of the stuff. He's getting to be a big boy....almost 14 1/2 pounds.  My other three were at this weight at six months. Maybe being chubby makes you wake up at night.  I don't know.  He's really not improving in this area. But, I'm improving.  I've decided to embrace it instead of getting bothered by it.  I realized this is my last baby and if takes snuggling in Mommy's bed at 4 am to go back to sleep, then so be it.  I will never have a cuddling baby again and the shortened nights will eventually end.  This too shall pass.  Always one of my favorite slogans.  One thing I did that has helped a little is to get him a new swaddle.  The 7 - 14 pounds one was much too small and the 14 - 20 pound one was apparently too big because he kept breaking out of it.  I found another brand, Aden & Anais, and decided to give it a try.  It's a little different in that it has snaps rather than Velcro.  It was working great but then last night he got an arm free.  I'm hoping that was just a fluke.  But seriously, why is it so hard to keep a kid in a swaddle?  Someone needs to invent a better product.  Go on Shark Tank or something.  I'll buy it.

This morning we did some errands which included a stop at Publix where Brady suffered yet another injury.  The bagger brought out our cart to load the groceries into the van.  Brady seemed quite taken with her and was acting all silly.  I got him out of the cart and told him to get in his car seat.  He started walking towards the van and was looking back at the lady.  When he turned, he walked right smack into the edge of the sliding door which I had obviously opened.  Thank goodness there was no blood but he had a big welt on it. I still had Colby strapped to my chest in the Bjorn so it was quite a feat to hold and comfort Brady at the same time. Of course, he was crying and I had no binky but he gladly took Colby's.  He sat in the front seat, whimpering, sucking on the binky as I got Colby settled who then started wailing probably because he had no binky.  As I came back around to Brady, he popped the binky out, I think since he heard Colby crying, and said "I'm done" and handed it back to me.  I wanted Colby to use a different brand so there would be no sharing of binkies but I guess in this case it worked out.

I think that's it.  A few parting pictures. 

Good night!