In the black?

Why oh why did I venture into Toys R' Us today? Because of a birthday girl. Jonathan is going to a party for a classmate tomorrow and we hadn't had a chance to pick up her gift until today. What a mistake.

As we pulled into the parking lot of the mostly vacant strip mall that Toys R' Us resides in, Dave and I knew we shouldn't have waited until the infamous Black Friday to go birthday present shopping. Then on the other hand we thought we would be getting a great deal on an otherwise overpriced toy or game. We would usually go to Walmart as they have most of the same merchandise that is popular with the kiddo's. But Walmart BF would have probably been a really bad idea.

We parked and actually got a pretty good spot so we were thinking that maybe the crowds have past and we were going to breeze through the store. (are you laughing at us yet?) As we entered the store we stopped for just a second to glance at the beginning of point disaster. With each step we took there were more and more piles of toys and games and action figures and whatever else had been tossed from a shelf to the floor. The end caps were loaded with "deals" that were not very good. It was obvious that anything they actually had with a reduced price, was already gone and the rest was just full priced merchandise that the stores had and probably hoping people would buy as well. But really, I have never seen such mayhem and disorder. Employees were telling customers that needed direction to a product that they had no idea where it was because everything was so misplaced. The price scanners on the wall were not working so there was no way you could tell the price of something unless you took it to a register. Some toys were out of boxes and you had to step over things just to keep from tripping over something else.

I saw the news about what was happening today in other areas. Some news so horrible it doesn't need to be repeated. And in other places reports of people getting a deal on a TV for over $400 off. Of course those people have been in line since Wednesday. And they really were too! Jonathan and I spent our day at Colour Me Mine and Barnes & Noble in Costa Mesa on Wednesday once I was off work. There is a Best Buy there and there they were. The people lining up for the sale that would happen 2 days later. Knowing they would be missing Thanksgiving they still put their tents up and waited. According to the news channel that was out there early this morning, people were taking shifts to be sure they wouldn't loose their place in line. I would never do that. Funny thing is, many of the same deals went online yesterday at 10pm Pacific. But then again, many things sold out FAST! I went on to Walmart.com last night at about 10:05 and the Motorola Blue Tooth ear thingy was already sold out. It was marked down to $18. See, that's a deal! Last year I did get in line at Walmart at about 4 am. It was fun and I got a few good deals. I probably would have done it again but truthfully I didn't have the money this year.

At Toys R Us we did finally end up with a game for the birthday girl. The original Mystery Date game. It wasn't marked down, not even a cent. But it's something she'll enjoy. So I wonder if the stores will actually be in the black after today?

Are you addicted to your Blackberry?

I was up really early today and watching the news. I saw the piece of the interview with Obama about how he really wants to keep his Blackberry because he is so used to it keeping him connected. Can you relate? I certainly can.

I have a T-Mobile Dash smart phone and I get every pennies worth out of it. I check my 5 or 6 email addresses several times a day and I use it to get on the Internet when I need to know something right then and there. I now also take advantage of the modem use and connect it to my laptop when needed.

I can't even imagine actually just having a phone anymore. Imagine what life would be if I had an iPhone? I may never look up! :)

Did I miss something? Was Obama already sworn in?

I rarely use my blog for political rants but something has been bothering me and I need to get it out. Has Obama been sworn in yet? Is he an active president? He sure is acting like it.

I just read an article that stated he "blessed the Bush administration's bailout of the financial industry." Well that was very nice of him. I understand the country is in a major amount of despair but every time I see a new headline about Mr. Obama he is already acting as if he is the Commander in Chief.

Don't get me wrong, I am not a big fan (anymore) of President Bush and no, I didn't really support McCain or Obama either. But I think out of respect he should back off just a little and perhaps concentrate more on what he will do instead of what he is going to do now as president.

I understand a lot of people will disagree with me but please be respectful, this is my blog and a great place for me to vent. :)

Extra! Extra! Read all about it! AMAZON.COM MAKES SUPER MOM FEEL SUPER AGAIN!

Amazon.com does it again! They addressed the problem of Super Mom's and Dad's not feeling Super. This applies to all people as well of course. They now package some items such as electronics and toys in an Amazon Frustration-Free Package, a recyclable box that is easy to open and comes without excess packaging materials such as hard plastic clamshell cases, plastic bindings, and wire ties.

So why can't manufacturers follow suit? Hopefully they will. This type of packaging is not only better for our hands and ego's but very good for the environment as well.

So there you have it. A company that addressed the problem of my Kryptonite.

TGIF

It's Friday! WHOO-HOO! This week has been a very short one. It went by so fast. And I can't even believe it's almost Thanksgiving and then Hanukkah and Christmas.

I haven't been blogging so much lately because I really don't have anything interesting to say. The days have been so much around getting Hey, That's Gourmet up and running that I haven't really thought about much else. We have advertising on Google and Yahoo now. If you search through many different words such as Brownies, Browniepop, truffles, even football you may see out little ad come up.

Dave still works at AAA and his and everyone else in customer service that is "technically" part-time actually can only get part-time hours until whenever. Dave's supervisor said he just needs to hang in there and it'll change back to where he can work 40 hours a week even thought he's a part-timer. So he's been doing just that. Also about Dave, his shoulder is getting better through physical therapy. I don't want to mention his seizures because I don't want to jinx him.

Jonathan has been great too! He reads really well now and will read a chapter book over one with a bunch of pictures. He is also still a stellar speller. But an angel he is not. He received a detention 2 weeks ago for throwing an eraser at a classmate during reading time. He said the child irritated him pretty bad before class and he was still mad at him but he still should not have thrown that eraser. He learned from it so I guess the detention was fine. But on the other hand he has never done anything like that and I would have appreciated the teacher just giving him a verbal warning. Nobody should get detention on a first offense.

Tomorrow we are participating in another boutique selling our chocolates and sadly it's the last one we are scheduled for. I was hoping to find another one before Christmas. If anyone knows of a boutique still accepting vendors on any weekend day except December 13th please let me know. I would love to be able to have one more chance before Christmas.

To my sister, I hope the conference goes well and you get to relax soon.

For all of you that have a blog that I read I will be sure to read them today. Sorry I've been so bad about that. It's just been CRAZY!

Have a great Friday!

My Kryptonite

Jonathan looks to me as some sort of Super Hero for the most part. I kiss his boo-boos,resolve his problems, feed him, reward him and so on. But I found out that even me who Jonathan considers to be the most super of all super moms has a weakness, a kryptonite. Plastic packaging is my krptonite.

Nothing makes me feel more weak then the packaging that toys, electronics and pretty much everything comes in. Jonathan asks me, Mommy can you open my toy so I can play with it in the car? So there I am with my keys trying to make some sort of tear without cutting myself. Sometimes I just have to say No J, I can't and he just has to deal with it until I can get to the scissors. Scissors by the way doesn't always cut the packages either. But eventually the Kryptonite is depleted and I get to the prize and win and then again I feel Super.