Black Friday

I braved Kohl's for Black Friday. I wasn’t going to, but I did. The stores have a way of luring you in with deals you just can't pass up. In this case, they had exactly what I needed for $20 less than usual. I did NOT get up at 4am with the other lunatics. My sister-in-law and I showed up about 8:30 and found that the line curved around the entire store. That was a little discouraging, but not discouraging enough to send us home in defeat. We had made a sort-of 'pact' that we wouldn't get crazy and it would be a laid back morning, so we smiled and got to it.

As she held a spot in line for us, I went for the items I came for. I found them without much hassle seeing as half the people in the store were in line doing the same thing we were doing. I came back to line and my shopping partner went out. Now, she has three kids, so she took a little longer and came back with some really neat things.

Guess what...the people we were in line with were really nice. I found a fellow Arkansas Razorback fan (that's a rare thing in Tennessee) and a talkative guy from the East coast. I felt bad for him. It was his second trip to the store and the lady behind him was convinced he had cut in line. She actually confronted him about it. That was the only awkward moment of the day. Turns out, he didn't cut in line, and she ended up feeling a bit silly.

The other unexpected thing I found about being in this line was that it wasn't as boring as I thought it would be. As you circled the store, you also passed by all the things they were trying to sell. I'm sure that was a convenience to them. All of us were dashing in and out of line as we saw something that sparked our interest.

After hearing other horror stories of how people were trampled as stores opened, fights over the last toy or video game and other examples of the downfall of our society, I have to say we had a pleasant experience. It's hard for me to become obsessed over an item having seen some of the living conditions in a refugee camp and impoverished areas of Mexico and Venezuela. Some of them look at our culture and feel sorry for us. Why? As a nation, we are obsessed with ourselves and we're dying because of it. I don't mean to end on a downer, but to open eyes to the fact that we don't need anything as badly as we think we do. We'll survive without a new game system or a new wardrobe (that one hits me close to home).

Here’s a holiday challenge; do something to better the world this holiday season. There are so many opportunities. There’s the Nashville Rescue Mission (or your local shelter), Angel Tree programs from the Salvation Army, and lots of other charities that I can’t think of at the moment. Now, it’s not a command or anything, just a suggestion. MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Thanksgiving!

Driving down Briley Parkway this afternoon, there was a gorgeous rainbow. It was faint at first, but as I got closer, it was popping off of the grey-blue sky. I love rainbows! I have a vague memory of my dad showing me a rainbow off our back porch when we lived in Jasper, MO. Some of my memories are later found out to be dreams (I have very vivid dreams), but I’m pretty sure this was real. We lived on a farm and the rainbow was going over the barnyard that was lined with a white criss-cross fence. I loved that farm!

There are so many things to be thankful for. I sometimes focus on the negative and forget there is so much positive. The negative would be that I’m going to miss my parents, sister, brothers and their families this holiday. I hate being away from them for any holiday. I wish I could be in 2 or 3 places at the same time, but alas, I cannot.

Now here’s the positive. We are so blessed to have Andy’s brother, and his amazing wife and kids in the next town. We get to hang out with them and still celebrate with family. On top of that, we have amazing friends that live just a few miles from our house that I’m pretty sure we’ll run into.

I’m thankful for so much more – like my amazing husband, my other friends that are amazing, having a long weekend etc. – but there is food to make! If I sit here any longer, Andy will end up having to fix all the food…hey…that’s not a bad idea. HA!

This was eye-opening

I found a tool on a friend's site that ranks the reading level of your blog. I was curious to see what would happen, so I gave it a whirl. I was pleasantly surprised at the outcome. I have to say, if it came back saying my blog had the reading level of a 10-year old, I wouldn't be posting this...I would be taking an English course online. However, it didn't. I would like to thank Microsoft's spelling and grammar check as well as Dr. Pittman, of the Harding University English Department, who would be shocked at this outcome and finally my husband who is forced to read everything before it gets posted.