Black Friday Mayhem! Thanksgiving Shopping Havoc! -It comes early this year!

Well happy turkey week everyone! That's right, it's my 3rd annual Black Friday Post! -wow time is flying by.

This year, I have both Turkey day and Friday off of work, so we will have to plan accordingly. We also are on a fairly tight budget this year, as [you may notice from previous post] we now have a brand new home that needs plenty of it's own little necessity's. Indeed our home may be the one making off like a bandit this year.

But alas, i'm sure we may brave the shopping madness and hopefully score some sweet deals.

I am looking forward to our first holiday in our new home...relaxing a bit from a hard move, drinking some nice wine, having some ham, and sweet 'tater pie with the kiddos! ....mmmmmmm....pie....

This will be the third year shopping on black Friday, so we are going to arm ourselves accordingly. We have a strollers for Rowan and Aidan, which will be equiped with an ample supply of snacks, diapers, toys, to (hopefully) curtail the inevitable tantrum throughout the business. We have a list of the family members and a rough idea of a budget to work with. I have my best gel-inlaid sneakers and probably will strap on a powerful set of elbow and knee pads. Hey! It's a JUNGLE out there!

I will take no prisoners.

I fear for the worst, and expect that it will be bumper to bumper roads, and near-misses in the parking lots that day. Good thing we have decent insurance!

"i said that was MY spot!"

A funny thing came up when I was thinking of what I wanted to get for my wife for x-mas. Exactly how would I spy something, get it in our cart, pay for it, and get it into our car without her noticing? I can't. So I think we will have to have two separate carts, I may have to force her to run away until I get something hidden amongst all the kiddy toys etc. or maybe I just jot the items down in a little notepad and when WE have gotten everything for everyone else, I have her check out and go through the cashier and to the car, then I run around like a mad chicken and speed shop my wifes gifts??  sigh, last year I had to go BACK to the stores, and try to grab the stuff I wanted to get her...it wasn't easy.  There is also the question this year, of "shall I get her a 'ok' priced gift, and lots o' small ones, or just get her that one big, nice expensive one she's been wanting for years? "[there are multiple options of these as well]

What do you you all think?? Does anyone have any ideas?

I will leave it at that for now, did I mention yet that I luv the holidays?   ;/

-And just so I didn't completely waste your time reading excerpts from my personal life, here's a few links to get you on your way. I'm sure they will be happy I led you there.

#1 sites:  http://www.blackfriday.info/  and http://blackfriday.com/

http://www.bestbuy.com/

http://www.amazon.com/ (my personal fav)

http://www.target.com/ (my fav local store)

http://www.frys.com/

http://www.fredmeyer.com/ (for you Oregonian/Washingtonians)

http://www.walmart.com/ (if u really have to..ugh)

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/

http://www.toysrus.com/

http://www.babiesrus.com/

http://www.sears.com/ (for that angle-grinding,circular sawing,super-sanding, Makita-drilling, Tim Allen-worshiping dude on your list)
http://www.oldnavy.com/

-and last but not least!

http://www.tylenol.com/ (the most important one for this holiday season methinks)

HAVE FUN!

Mission Completed - First House!

So besides all the facebook mentions, and much thankful congratz from our friends and family, I thought i'd make a quick post for our first home, which we FINALLY closed on November 9th.

I'll use my wife Heather's quote, as I think she said it best: "Once upon a time back in...gosh, March? My husband and I decided we wanted to make one of our biggest dreams a reality, and after many months of planning, hard work, downfalls, tears, anxiety, and one final large hump, we can safely say as of last week that we are now HOMEOWNERS! The house began as a lot and is now a home!"

Indeed, we have been through a lot with this one, with many lessons learned on the mortgage loan-obtaining part. Looking back, we had a number of things stacked up against us, and somehow, through sheer determination and brute force, we managed to plow through the obstacles and accomplish this one, ever so important goal for our family. It's still all a bit unreal, and all the homeowner responsibilities are lurking just under the surface, waiting to take a great majority of my time...but I tell you this: I won't mind it a bit. I'm so proud of this house, and I am looking forward to Thanksgiving and Christmas and many many more years of holidays and memories to come. 

Here's how it turned out!                       Construction -  Aug. 4

 Breakfast Area

 Shiney new Kitchen! All maytag appliances.

                     Center Island sink/dishwasher, w/ Aidan showing off the spacious living room.

 Master Bath Tub, (Shower is on right)

Completed - [Sept] Nov 2010

For anyone interested [in this area], The builder was Stone Bridge Homes NW, via Don Morissette Realty.

We ended up with a respectable 4.5% Fixed 30 Yr Rate with a VA Home Loan. Of Course, we couldn't have accomplished most of the icky parts of this without our exhausted and relieved mortgage broker, Mark Wilson @ Innova Mortgage!  If you haven't used your VA loan yet, the market is still perfect for you to get a home now! It's not easy, but if you can make it through, it's the best time to buy in a long time, and the future can only go up right? 

                                Now I gotta get a Lawn Mower! (among a hundred other things!!)