Christmas shopping!

I've been doing a lot of Christmas shopping the past couple of weeks. Yesterday, I was at Target looking at the toys for ideas on what to get my nieces. I was walking through the toy aisles when I seen it - the toy that my friend has been looking for everywhere! She (Santa) wants to get her 4 year old the My Size Tangled Rapunzel doll and hasn't been able to find it anywhere but on ebay (for $100 at the lowest price + shipping). There it was on the shelf, one lonely 3 foot doll for $59.49!!! I didn't even think twice as I picked it up and put it in my cart. Of course, I tried calling my friend right away to make sure that she didn't already get it, but she was at work and didn't answer. I walked around the store for a while and decided that I would just get it and return it later if necessary. I wish I could be there on Christmas morning to see the look on her face when she opens that doll - I might just have to have her take a video!

Black Friday 2010

Every year I hear myself saying "I'm not going to do the whole Black Friday thing this year," but I still end up doing it.

This year, it started not only in the wee hours of Friday, but many weeks before - browsing the ads that had been uploaded to the bfads.net site. I had my list created even before the ads came out in Thursday's paper!

A few years ago, I vowed to never again go to Menard's on Black Friday because of the madness that happens in that store. As soon as I looked at their ad on bfads.net this year, right there on the front page was a Cricut cutting machine - at $100 off! I've been wanting one for a while (actually ever since I seen it on QVC), but couldn't justify spending that much money on something like that. So, here I was breaking my vow and putting Menard's on my list. I did find several other things in the ad from there that I added to my list.

I was really impressed with the way Shopko handles the checkout line. They have ONE line for the checkouts and block off all other ways to get to the checkout area. Then as a checkout is about to open, they send the next person in line to that register. That was by far the shortest time I waited in line all day!

So, my Black Friday experience this year consisted of getting up at 3:00am and going to Herberger's, Sears, Target, Menard's, Shopko, KMart and Wal-Mart. By the end of the day I had a car-load and needed a nap!

My tips for Black Friday shopping:
**Be organized! Make a list for each store and plan out your route based on opening times of each store.
**Take the ads with you into the store - they will come in handy if you need to ask an employee where something is.
**Shop with a partner or a group - this way if you're standing in line and have to grab something at last minute, they can hold your spot while you go grab it - or while you run to the restroom! Also, shopping with a partner or a group can be helpful if you are all after the same items - you can have each person focus on a different item.
**Waiting outside in the freezing cold is not necessarily the best way to get the best deals. Most of the time I've gone after the crowd has already left the store and I've still gotten everything I've wanted. This year, I didn't spend any time waiting outside for the store to open - I made it to the stores just after they opened.

New car!

Well, we finally decided on a new car. We were able to deal with a different salesman that was not as pushy as the other one. We got a 2010 Dodge Journey and I LOVE it! I've never had anything brand new before and so far it's awesome.

Of course, this new purchase also prompted some other purchases. I had to get some car washing supplies (my other car, I usually just took through the car wash). I got some microfiber cloths, wax, chrome polish, cleaning wipes and leather wipes (for interior).

There are so many fun gadgets with this car that I've never had before, so I'm still having fun playing with it all. I've never even had a car that had the outside temperature display in it before!

Car shopping

Ted and I have started shopping for our next car. We went for a test drive in a Dodge Journey last weekend. We both fell in love with it. Unfortunately, the price on it was a bit higher than we were hoping for and of course the dealership doesn't want to give us the amount that our car is worth as a trade-in. So, we're still kind of looking into our options.

I was hoping to get something with AWD or 4WD before winter, so hopefully we can find something soon that fits our needs, wants and wallet!

$1.00 book

I was getting some things at the Dollar Tree the other day and found this book that I just had to get (it was only a dollar!)

I have only read a little bit of it (so far I'm on page 13) and I'm intrigued. It looks like it's definitely going to be worth the $1.00 I spent on it!

Also, speaking of books - Sophie Kinsella has a new one out in the Shopaholic series - it is called Mini-Shopaholic. Rebecca 'Bloomwood' Brandon's daughter is now 2 years old. It is only out in hardcover right now, so I will have to wait for a little while longer for the paperback. All of my others in the series are the paperbacks, so I would like to stick with that.

Shopping in 3 states in 4 days!

This past week I went to Columbia, SC to my sister-in-law Rachel's graduation from Basic Training. It was an interesting experience. Wednesday was family day and we just got to hang out with her on base for the day after our flight got there. We did some shopping in the Main PX (sort of like Wal-Mart) on base. We also found a mini-mall type of place that had souvenirs, etc. I did get a few postcards of Fort Jackson, a cute teddy bear and a couple of the basic gray ARMY t-shirts - they were only $6.55!! Even if I don't wear them, they will make good pj's!

Thursday was graduation day and I got a shot glass and a couple of 3-13 (her battallion) t-shirts for Ted and me. After graduation, Rachel was able to leave base with us. We had some time before we all had to be to the airport, so we went to.....where else??? THE MALL! We ate lunch there and looked around. We couldn't really buy too much because our bags were already pretty full! I did get a cute D&B purse at Macy's on clearance 50% off! Thursday night we spent in Minneapolis after our flight got in.

Friday, Rachel wanted to go to the Mall of America before we headed home so she could find a dress for a wedding the following day. We ate lunch and then decided to all go our separate ways and meet back in 1 hour. I was off and running. First I went to Victoria's Secret and got some pretty-smelling perfume. Then I went to Lane Bryant and tried on some clothes - I got a dress and a couple of other items. After I was done there, it was off to the Harley-Davidson store to check out the sale that I noticed when we walked by on the way to eat lunch. They had fleece sweatshirts for $18 and t-shirts for $15! I decided that I was done after that and headed back to the meeting spot. I still had 15 minutes left - so I went into American Eagle right by the meeting spot and browsed the clearance racks. I ended up getting 5 shirts for Ted for $38! When all was said and done, I was the first one done and I was the one that bought the most stuff.

Saturday, it was off to Fargo for a wedding. Rachel rode with us and we had to leave early because she was a personal attendant. After we dropped her off, we (Ted, his brother Josh and I ) went to the mall. We agreed to meet back in 1 hour. Of course I was the first one done again - which is surprising for shopping with 2 guys! I did get a couple pair of jeans, a top and 2 pairs of shoes. After eating lunch at Olive Garden (YUM-O!), we went to Scheel's and spent quite a bit of time in there just looking around.

It's been an exhausting few days, but it was well worth it to see my sister-in-law graduate and to see two people enter the wonderful world of marriage! Congrats to all of you! Now, I'm going to get some sleep!

New stove!

I'm so excited about my new stove! Unfortunately, I cannot use it yet because we have to do some rewiring since we previously had a gas stove. I will have to wait until my dad can get some time to come and do that for us. Thankfully, it is summer and we can grill until then!


My friend, Brianne just moved into her house this past weekend and her daughter was scared to be home alone today while Brianne was at work, so I took her shopping with me. We were on a mission to find some wall stickers for her room. She loves horses and wanted some horses to put on the wall. We had a heck of a time finding them, but ended up finding some at Menard's. We also found a cool stick-on that is chalkboard material. She loves to play school, so that will be fun for her to have.

Expensive Day!

After seeing the price of the flight to Columbia, SC go up twice now and no signs of it going back down, I decided to finally book the tickets. The booking price (for flight and rental car) ended up being $579 per person, which is quite a bit than it was when I first started looking. Oh well, I am very excited to see my sister-in-law after her being gone all summer! And very excited to see her graduate and accomplish another milestone in her life.

Tonight I was going to make a frozen pizza for supper. I turned the oven on to preheat and it seemed to be taking forever to preheat. I went and opened the door and it was cold inside. So, after checking it out, it seemed that it was completely dead - except the stove-top part of it still works. So, the pizza went back in the freezer and we went out stove shopping. Found one that I really liked at Menard's for $599 and they would have to order it and it wouldn't be here until next Friday. Being the shopper that I am, we decided to look at other places. We went to Sears next. They had quite a few that I liked and even the same one that I liked at Menard's, but it was almost $100 cheaper at Sears! So, we ordered the one from Sears and it should be here Thursday! I have hated the stove that I've had since we moved into this house (came with the house), but I always said that we'd use this one until it died. So, I guess it's the time now.

Leaving on a jet plane

Flying somewhere is not cheap, that's for sure. I am looking at going to my sister-in-law's graduation from Basic training at Fort Jackson, SC at the beginning of August. So far, it looks like the cheapest I'm going to get is $400 round-trip from Minneapolis to Columbia, SC for flight and rental car. It isn't actually too bad compared to the $800 ticket I found from Aberdeen! I can handle driving to Minneapolis to save $400! I haven't actually booked the trip yet, so hopefully the prices don't go up!

Weekdays off

Sometimes I don't mind having days off during the week. It is nice to be able to just run to the mall to look for something. Today, I went to the mall looking for an anniversary gift. I didn't find anything, but I did find some great deals at Herbergers!

Like this Kabob Rack and Skewers on sale for $8.00. Now only if I can make kabobs that are as yummy-looking as these!

And this purse on clearance for $12.00! It's not really like I need another purse, but it's cute AND it was on clearance! :0)

Now, if I could just find an anniversary gift....

Unplanned purchases

The other day I went to use my laptop and when I turned it on, it basically told me that it could not find the operating system. After some diagnostics and attempting system recovery, I figured out that the hard drive was bad. By now, I'm cursing at myself because I haven't backed up my files recently. So, I call HP to find out how much it will be for a new hard drive. They give me a price of $104.50 plus tax and shipping. Holy cow! I could almost buy a new laptop for this price. Not only that, I need a recovery CD to install all of the programs, drivers, etc that came with the computer. The recovery CD is free, but it costs $16.00 to ship it. How can it cost that much to ship one little CD? So anyways, I ordered the CD for $16.00 but I searched online and found a hard drive for $68.00 (with shipping). Now I just have to wait for it to get here and hope that it fixes the problem. Wish me luck!

(I know now that I need to back up my files more frequently!)

Rapid City weekend (again)

This past weekend I went to Rapid City for the last of this year's graduations. I also got to see and visit with my uncle, who was home for the weekend from Denver where he has been doing radiation and chemo treatments for the brain cancer. We did spend about an hour at the mall where I found a great bargain! I found a pair of jeans on the clearance rack at Herberger's that were originally $85.00. By the time all of the discounts were taken off and the coupon that my mom let me use, they ended up being $35.00! Those are the kind of bargains I love!

All by myself

Yesterday I had a couple of hours to go shopping in Sioux Falls all by myself! My brother was caddying for a friend in a golf tournament, so I got to shop while he was doing that. He even let me use his car so I could go wherever I wanted! I went to The Scrapbook Store for the first time. I was in heaven! They had so many different types of papers and stickers. I was mostly looking for Disney/Florida stuff for my vacation scrapbook. They had a WHOLE aisle of DisneyWorld and Sea World papers and stickers! I think that I have plenty of stuff for the vacation scrapbook, but we will see once I start working on it. I will definitely be stopping at The Scrapbook Store next time I'm in Sioux Falls.

I also made a stop at Barnes & Noble to get "Oh the places you'll go" for a graduation gift and to the mall for lunch and to get some other things. I was finished at the mall and Jordan still hadn't called me that they were done, so I went to TJ Maxx to look. I had fun looking at lots of things there, but didn't end up buying anything. I was just glad that I could go shopping by myself for once. I love just going wherever I want and spending as much time as I want there.

I wonder...

Sunday I am riding with my brother Jordan to Vermillion for a graduation. If I was going by myself, I would definitely make time to stop in Sioux Falls for a little retail therapy. I wonder if he will stop and let me shop at all... If I know my brother as well as I think I do, I will be lucky if I get to stop to go to the bathroom if I have to go!

Shopping in Orlando

The first day of our vacation to Orlando we spent shopping! We first went to Orlando Prime Outlets - we spent quite a bit of time here just looking around and mostly window shopping. We had to keep remembering that we had to find some way to get all of our purchases back in our luggage to take home. I was in heaven though walking into a Dooney and Bourke outlet store and seeing 30%, 40% and 50% off signs! I think if I would have been by myself, I would have gone a little crazy. But, I managed to make it out of there without buying a single thing. The most stuff we bought at the outlet mall was in the Harley-Davidson outlet store. We did go to The Florida Mall after that, where I bought a pair of really comfy sandals at Nordstrom and we checked out M&M's World. This one is not near as large as the one in Las Vegas, but now I just need to go to the one in New York and I will have been to them all! After we were done shopping there, we went to the Mall at Millenia to eat at The Cheesecake Factory. We didn't do any shopping at this mall.

Day 2 we spent at Epcot. The World Showcase at Epcot is very neat. We ate lunch at the Biergarten in Germany and had an amazing buffet of German food. I collect shot glasses, so I bought a shot glass in Germany that looks like a beer stein - it is very cool. Also in Epcot, we purchased a shot glass in Itlay, fans in China (and they even wrote our names in Chinese on them), tiny sombreros and Jose Cuervo chocolates in Mexico.

The next day we spent at Magic Kingdom. This was the most amazing place and even brought tears to my eyes when the "Time of Your Life" song was playing during the parade and everyone was dancing around. We started out the morning looking through some of the shops. I found this adorable Dooney and Bourke small purse with Minnie Mouse on it! I told Ted that he could get that for me for an early birthday present. We decided we would stop back before leaving so we didn't have to carry it around all day. Throughout the day, we bought several things - Mickey ear hats with my nieces names on them, Mickey ears for both Ted and myself, a Tinkerbell doll for our goddaughter who loves Tinkerbell. At the end of the day, we got all of our other stuff in the gift shop - a Minnie Mouse doll with cap & gown for Ted's sister who is graduating this year and a Magic Kingdom shot glass. I got a scrapbook and a paper edgers that makes Mickey ears! :) And of course, the Minnie Mouse Dooney & Bourke purse!
The next day we spent at Universal Studios. The most of what we purchased here were t-shirts, some miscellaneous souvenirs and then some stuff at the Hard Rock store. Of course I had to get a shot glass at Hard Rock because I've collected them from several other Hard Rock's that I (or someone else I know) have visited. So far I have: New York, Washington DC, Barcelona, Minneapolis, Phoenix, San Francisco and now Orlando!

The following day we went to Sea World. Here I purchased 2 shot glasses. On our way back to our resort, we stopped at a discount gift shop that we had driven by several times and have wanted to check out. We found several things here. We bought some beach towels to use the next day when we go to the beach, t-shirts, a photo album and some other misc. souvenirs.

The last day of our vacation we drove to Cocoa Beach. We parked the car in the free parking (for once we didn't have to pay for parking) at the Ron Jon Surf Shop and walked across the road to the beach. We had an awesome day at the beach, got quite sunburned and met a drunk guy that wouldn't leave us alone. After we were done at the beach we went back and did some shopping at the Ron Jon Surf Shop - got some t-shirts, jewelry and souvenirs.

When we got to the airport the next day, it was evident that we had done too much shopping - both of our suitcases were over the 50 pound limit. We had to go through our suitcases in the middle of the airport and try to shove more stuff into our already-full carry-on bags. We ended up getting it to the 50 pound mark and all was OK. We had a fabulous time on our trip and I can't wait to go back someday!

Many trips to WalMart

This week I'm trying to get things packed and ready to go for our trip to Orlando. It seems like I get some things ready and then realize that I need to get something else...many little travel size bottles, luggage tags, and now possibly a new carry-on bag (because I cannot find mine). I think I've discovered that I need to travel by airplane more often so I have these things all organized!

I am getting very anxious for our trip and can't wait to do some shopping while we are there. I have been looking at the forecast and it's looking like chance of rain pretty much every day we are there, so it may be an interesting trip.

Trip to the Hills

This past weekend we went to Rapid City for my cousin's wedding. We did have a little bit of time to do some shopping. Friday evening we went to the mall. I did find some clothes. Their JCPenney and Herberger's are way better than ours here! Saturday morning the guys dropped mom and I off at Hobby Lobby. When we were done there, we walked to the mall. It doesn't look like it's too far away - but when you are carrying shopping bags and walking into the crazy wind, it's a bit difficult! That's what you call serious-shopping. I did have to get some makeup items at the mall, because stupid me forgot my makeup bag at home. :(

Ted & I at the wedding reception

We also got some bad news this past week. My uncle (my dad's brother) was diagnosed with glioblastoma - a cancerous brain tumor and the doctors are giving him 1 year to live. This is the same tumor that Ted Kennedy had. It is very difficult to take in because my family has not had to deal with something like this before. My dad is one of 8 children, so we have a large family. The good news is that he will be going to Denver where a team of specialists will operate to remove the tumor and then go through intense radiation. He will need lots of prayers to have the strength to get through this. There has been a CaringBridge website setup for him at http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/jamesweisbeck so you can stay updated on his progress.

Quick shopping

I didn't get too much shopping done on our trip to Fargo. We (2 men and myself) went to the mall Saturday morning to do some shopping. I wanted to get a few things, so the guys went one way and I went the other. I went to two stores and I was finished before they were! :) I did forget that I was going to get a couple of gift cards for upcoming birthdays and I was going to check out the scrapbooking stuff at Hobby Lobby for a scrapbook I'm making for my sister-in-law's graduation. Oh well, the scrapbook stuff I can get in town - there just isn't as much of a selection and it's a little bit more expensive, but at least I can shop locally. And, I will just have to figure out something else for the birthday gifts. This is what happens when you don't make a list!

Shop Til You Drop!

Today I am babysitting for my friend's 3 year old daughter, Mattea. I needed to get some things at Target and at Wal-Mart. We went to Target first and she was such a good girl in the store. She sat very nicely in the cart as I got what I needed to get. We walked into one aisle and she said "WOW! That is sooo cool!" Next we went to Wal-Mart. She was very good in Wal-Mart too. I was almost done shopping and she ended up falling asleep in the cart. This is what she looked like as we left the store. Some people are just not cut out for shopping!

Weekend trip

Friday we will be heading to Fargo for the annual bowling tournament that Ted enters. I will be there with a bunch of guys, so not sure how much shopping I will get in. But, I usually don't sit at the bowling alley the whole time, so I can go off on my own and get some shopping in. I do need to find some capris/shorts to wear on our Orlando trip. I do know that I didn't have a great selection of ones that fit me good last year, so I would like to get some new ones that fit good. I'm not sure if the stores have all of the spring/summer stuff out yet, but we will see. If not, I'm sure I can get by with what I have.

Planning a vacation

Ted and I are taking a vacation to Orlando soon and we have our flight and accommodations figured out so far. I'm working on trying to plan what things we are going to do while we are there. I'm beginning to think that we should have just gotten a travel agent. Both of us are really indecisive and it's very difficult to figure out what we need to buy tickets for and what we all want to do. I keep asking Ted what he wants to do and giving suggestions and the only response I get is "Whatever you want to do." I do not like this answer at all - I need help! I like to plan stuff, but I don't like having to make all of the decisions.

I think I'm just going to bite the bullet and make the decisions and hope everything goes smoothly. I've figured out in life, no matter how much you plan, things don't always work out how you want them. Plus, this is a vacation - it's supposed to be stress-free. Hopefully I'm just stressing out before-hand and when the vacation starts, everything will go smooth and stress-free!

Purses and shoes!!!

Purses and shoes seem to be my favorite things to buy! I recently purchased this Dooney & Bourke crossbody on CLEARANCE for $25! I'm very excited to find a cute small purse like this to take on our vacation to Orlando this spring. It will be perfect to fit the essentials in and it's not the typical tourist fanny-pack!

Also, we have several weddings, graduations, etc coming up this spring/summer/fall (yes it will be a busy year), so I have been wanting to find a nice pair of "comfortable" dressy shoes. Normally, I go for something flat because heels are so uncomfortable, but I found these cute ones by Vera Wang at Kohl's. They are kind of a heel, but more of a wedge so I don't feel like I'm going to fall when walking in them. We will find out how comfortable they actually are after wearing them for longer than 2 minutes!

New DVD stand done!

The new DVD stand that I bought is put together and all of the DVD's are in it! What we had in 2 different stands before, now fits into one and there's a little bit more room! Here's a pic of the finished product:

Getting in shape (trying to)

I've been wanting to join a gym for a while, but I couldn't decide on which one. I have been a member at Curves before and I liked the environment, but their hours suck. I was kind of leaning towards either Snap Fitness or Anytime Fitness (in the Lakewood Mall). The thing I didn't like about Snap is that it's right along 6th Avenue and at certain times of the day you can see in from outside.

One day, Ted and I were eating at Taco John's. On the counter there was a box where you could sign up to win a membership to Anytime Fitness. I thought "what the heck" and signed up. I didn't win the one-year membership, but they called me and offered me 2 weeks free. I setup my appointment to go in and get a tour of the place and I signed up that day. With my membership I even got a session with a personal trainer.

I had my session Monday and he went through and showed me all of the machines that he thinks would be good for me to use and wrote down how long I should spend on each machine and how many times per week, etc. I think that will be very helpful! I was also very impressed that the personal trainer told me that he used to be 430 lbs and has since lost over 200 pounds. So, it made me feel a little better having someone that used to be overweight giving me instructions. I would have probably felt a little more intimidated if it was some skinny little thing that has never had a weight problem before. Wish me luck on my quest to lose weight!

Sioux Falls trip

Last week my sister-in-law and I made a quick trip to Sioux Falls. She wanted to take a tour at Southeast Technical Institute and go shopping for a prom dress.

I bought quite a few things while we were there.

First of all, we were on a mission to find the prom dress. Here is a picture of the one that she decided on.
It is a beautiful dress and looks great on her. Good thing that she found this one almost right away and we didn't spend too much time finding the perfect dress!








We then went to Hobby Lobby. I have been working on getting caught up on scrapbooking, so I bought quite a few scrapbooking supplies. Also, Ted bought me a sewing machine for Christmas, so I got some material to play around with and a pattern for doll clothes. It will be interesting to see how those work out! I haven't really sewed before, even though I've watched my mom many times - and the sewing machine came with an instructional DVD, so wish me luck!

We have quite a large collection of DVD's, so for a while I have been trying to find a storage cabinet that will be able to hold all of them. I found one online at Best Buy that looks like it will work for what we need, so I purchased that also. It is still in the box needing to be assembled, so I will post a pic after it's all setup.

My splurge item for the trip was this AMAZING Coach purse:
I absolutely love it! It's the perfect size, has several pockets/pouches and I love the colors. I've noticed that I have been more careful with this one than the usual purses that I carry, making sure not to get it dirty or set it on the floor anywhere - that's what a purse hanger is for! :0)