Poor Traumatized Tom

Tom has been traumatized.

By Wal-Mart.

I warned him that it would be packed.

Actually, he said it didn't look that bad when he pulled up at 4 in the morning. He said he was able to find a parking spot close to the front.

But then...then he saw all the people inside.

He said he could barely move. He'd go down one aisle and get stuck.

Eventually he made it to where the Power Wheels were. He said they were all wrapped up in black plastic and there was a small group of people waiting around it.

For some reason I picture a circle of lions surrounding a hunk of meat.

Tom took his spot and then played the waiting game.

"Amber," he told me when he had made it back home. "You know those angry black women in Maury?"

Oh yes. I admit I watch those DNA Maury shows. I have no idea why. They always end the same way: with the woman leaping out from her seat and screaming that she's ONE THOUSAND AND TEN PERCENT sure that DeShawn is her baby Daddy. I like it when it turns out the guy isn't the father. Then the woman runs off the stage screaming at the top of her lungs.

Well hello? Maybe you should keep your knees shut.

"Yeah," I answered Tom.

"Well I think I had one beside me," Tom explained. "Because she said 'I will fight anyone who takes my Power Wheels.'"

Oh lordy.

He said she was in her pajamas too. And that she had a large purse and that he was afraid she'd take a swing at him.

At five on the dot the black plastic came off. Tom said people immediately rushed in and placed their hands all over Power Wheel boxes and shouted, "THREE OF THESE ARE MINE!"

He said the people around went, "No, you get only one."

Tom said one old guy added, "Yeh selfish bastards!"

Tom said there was another women beside him that nearly got trampled. He felt bad for her so he handed her the box he had grabbed.

It's just the person he is.

Luckily he was able to grab another box.

"In about five minutes, all the Power Wheels were gone," Tom told me.

He said he passed by the TVs on sale and was disgusted when people were loading up cartfuls of them.

Some people are greedy. That's all there is to it. I try to give these people the benefit of the doubt. Maybe they're donating to charity or passing off deals to family members. Although it's hard to believe that when one person is grabbing TEN televisions.

Shame on the people who re-sell that stuff. It's just not right.

Tom said he passed one lady loading up a cart full of those $69 digital cameras.

She basically took them all and some people were arguing with her.

She insisted they were for family members.

But an entire cart?

Tom wanted to look at other places. But his arms were full of the Power Wheel box and he basically "wanted to get the hell out of there."

He said it took about a half hour to get to the front of the store. There were just that many people.

Of course when he got home he realized that he had accidentally grabbed the pink Power Wheels. Oops. But he said at the time all he wanted to do was grab one and go.



He says he'll spray paint it for Tommy. Can he do that without ruining the Power Wheels? That's what I'm worried about.

**Actually I just saw the age limit was 4! So Tommy wouldn't fit in this anyhow. So what we'll probably do is give this to Natalie for her second birthday and Tommy will get his new big bike so hopefully he won't mind so much.**

I ended up waking up at 6:30. I got dressed and told Tom goodbye.

I decided to pop into Wal-Mart because I wanted to get Tommy the $29 bike they had.

It wasn't as packed by the time I got there. I was able to find some good deals:







I thought the $29 bike was long gone but I asked someone and he said that they were stacked way off in the corner of the store.

So I picked up one of those and checked out.

Then I went to Target. I was looking for the $59 Guitar Hero set.

That was sold out. But then I saw a huge set that came with the guitar, the microphone and the drums. That was $189. Yikes. But I figured it would be the best deal. I picked up the last one. Apparently they are huge sellers? I saw a lot of people with them in their carts at Wal-Mart.

I got Juno and Office Space for $5.98 as well.

After that was Kohls. I brought in my stroller because last year I knew the wait for the carts took awhile. I'm glad I did. When I walked in there were a cluster of people waiting for the carts. I breezed right past them and headed off to the toy section. I got a bunch of those.

This is basically what I got:






The line at Kohls...oh my goodness...it was nearly stretched around the entire store.

I had been impressed with how fast lines moved up until then. Wal-Mart I got in and out.

Target was the same.

But Kohls?

Oh Kohls. My beloved Kohls. What happened?

I waited in line for an hour. I ended up getting $20 in Kohls cash back.

Though it was amusing because as I shopped I noticed people kept giving me funny looks. I was starting to wonder what was so amusing and then finally someone came up to me and whispered, "There isn't a baby in there under all your stuff is there?"

Uhhh...no..I would not bury my kid.

My last stop was the mall.

I popped into Gymboree to pick up one of their coats for my niece. Then I picked up two others to drop off at the Salvation Army. The worker there recognized me when I walked in.

"Hi there!" she said. "Our coats are $14 and our fleece are two for $12."

"Hi," I answered. "I know about that." Then I bit my tongue. HUSH Amber. Gymboree workers don't like it when you know more than they do.

I bought the coats and then ordered a pizza to go at Sbarro. While I was waiting I got my beloved sweet tea from Chick-fil-a.

Then I went to The Salvation Army and dropped off the two coats. They seemed surprised that they were new.

"I figure you know someone who can use them," I said cheerfully before driving off.

And then I got home.

When I walked through the door I was met with Natalie's angry, "MOM!"

We ate the pizza and Tom asked if I got Guitar Hero.

"Well," I said. "Sort of."

He looked confused.

"You should wait until Christmas," I added.

But Tom is stubborn and said that he wanted to see now. And I was too tired to argue. As I was eating my pizza I all of a sudden felt fatigued.

I told Tom to look in the trunk of the car.

He excitedly brought in his big gift:



We haven't played it yet. Tom works tonight so he had to get to bed. I thanked him for watching the kids while I shopped.

Oh, and Tom vacuumed while I was gone too.

So I think I'm shopped out for awhile. I'm glad I'm in Wyoming where Black Friday doesn't get too crazy.