Within the Consumer Maddness - Black Friday 2011

Oh my, I am so exhausted after on-again-off-again shopping insanity since 10pm Thursday, when Wal-Mart kicked off Black Thursday. I'll post my video commentary, then follow it up with our shopping spree items and prices so that people learning how to work great deals can get an idea on what goes on sale and the price differences (the benefits of being patient in a bad economy basically).



Unfortunately, and as a lesson to everyone, I did get a little panicked and rushed to buy a Zelda 3DS bundle online, only to have my husband get a second one the next morning, along with a Mario 3DS bundle. He bought the second Zelda bundle because the manager at GameStop told him that the online store does not track stock and will often over sell items, then delay or cancel orders because of that. So, they scared him into grabbing one while he could, then we got a shipment confirmation for the online purchased one a few hours later (I actually tried to cancel the order, but the site messed up and customer service wouldn't answer the phone and didn't get my email in time, obviously), followed by finding the bundles all over town, much cheaper, later in the day. So now we have three 3DS bundles, when the goal was to only get the one - and that is exactly why I never let my husband do any shopping!

Here is my physical haul for the day:


3DS bundles. The Zelda set was $130 at GameStop with the trade-in of a DS Lite system ($70 store credit, much higher than normal). The Mario bundle was a full $199. I wouldn't have paid full price for that one, but, like I said, my husband went out alone and doesn't care about the price of anything!


The top two puppy pajamas were $7 shirt, pants, and slipper sets from Target. The rest are two girls PJs and a boys lightweight hoodie, each under $5.


Skylanders XBox 360 Starter Kit, $50 at Target (reg. $80), Skylanders individual figures, buy 1 get 1 from Toys R' Us (making them about $4 each, regular $8), and the Skylanders packs, also part of the Toys R' Us deal for $20 total (reg. $40).


Sonic Generations 360 game, $30 at GameStop (just released for $60 a few weeks ago), Ninjago DS game, $10 at GameStop (reg. $30), and Zhu Zhu Pets: Quest for Zhu DVD $5 from Wal-Mart (reg. $13). The PS3 Rio and Rango were $12.xx each from the PX with their 50% off all clearance games special (normally $30/ea). Walking Dead Season 1 Blu-Ray, The Community Season 1 DVD, and X-Men: First Class Blu-Ray combo pack were all actually free for me, because I used my Amazon credit card points - but the total was under $50 with their flash deals and the shipping was free. I can't remember what each cost individually, and Amazon is no longer listing the prices, but you can't beat that!


SpongeBob Yahtzee Jr. $4 at Target. Squinkies deluxe cupcake playset $10 at Wal-Mart (reg $20-ish).


Blu-Ray Player, $50. Ninja blender $18.xx (reg. $25-50, depending on where you find it). Both from Wal-Mart.


Gorgeous Disney Store ornaments, 2/$18 (reg. $10.50/ea). WARNING: I would NOT recommend these for houses with young children or active pets. They are all EXTREMELY delicate and fragile, with many of the ones in the store being already broken.


Bath & Body Works VIP 2011 bag, $20 w/$40 purchase (valued at $103.xx). It included the black bag with a zebra print interior, 2 cosmetic pouches (1 zebra, 1 giraffe print), Be Enchanted shower gel, lotion, and shimmering mist, lipgloss, Mistletoe Kiss foaming hand soap, Sleep tea lotion, a lovely pink loofah, pocket hand sanitizer w/holder, and a new lotion pump! I love the pump idea, because I'm always balancing bottles up-side-down when they start running low, and then they topple over.


My entire BBW purchase, including the VIP bag, 6 bottles of soap for $20 total, and buy 3 get 3 free Signature Collection items for $36 total.



I also got some online deals that I may post later on. But, for now, happy shopping, happy holidays, and everyone eat left overs and relax for the rest of the week.

My Kid

My daughter cracks me up and makes me laugh (she comes with many headaches and frustrations as well, so keep that in mind any young women watching and getting the baby itch). She made this video for her Papal, but then started going off on her own rant, and it was hilarious! She's going to punch the fictional fish, and her tongue keeps getting turned into background image and freaking her out, haha!

What I don't get is why Photo Booth on my Mac lit her so well at 10pm, but when I recorded a video at 4pm it was so dark half of my face was gone even though I was using three light sources! I'm going to have to think of a better solution for recording if I can't figure this out.

Happy Ham Day!

Happy Holidays!

This marks my official start of the X-Mas season! I put up my tree tomorrow (after shopping), start shopping at 10pm tonight for early Black Friday sales, and for the rest of the day, we will be munching away on this spread:

from bottom to top, left to right we have:
Cinnamon Baked Apples, Sweet Potato Suffle, noodles w/scampi dressing, chicken rice, Jell-O cheesecake, crescent rolls, mashed potatoes, bacon mac and cheese, pineapples, corn, peas, green beans, gravy, cornbread stuffing, and ham.




It's my first year making Thanksgiving, and even though most of it was microwaved, I think it's the thought and effort that counts more than precisely where the food comes from.

And special love to our HoneyBaked Ham. Delicious, but very expensive (it's been 20 years since my last taste of HBH, so don't think I indulge like this too often, haha).


Be happy, be safe, be thankful, and be full of food today. <3

YouTube Monetization

Anyone else notice how YouTube has spread out a partnership program to most users through Google AdSense? Confused on how to check your earnings balance? See video:


And, not using Royalty Free music (or not giving the proper credits)? Watch my frustration here:

Moxie the Corgi

Well, long story short, after a lot of protest, my husband basically ignored me and got a dog anyways. But, I do have to say that she is the cutest dog in the universe. This is Moxie, and she's a Pembroke Welsh Corgi. Very smart, trainable, agreeable dogs, and she has really been a big change of pace to our last dog, who hated kids and was afraid of everybody.


Moxie is going to branch out into her own blog at followthatcorgi.blogspot.com

The Epic Dreams of a Black Friday

So, 2011 is winding down, almost time to cut the Turkey (or Honey Baked Ham if you're at my house), and that means we are in countdown mode to Black Friday savings. If you are like me, retail price is a dirty word for most items. I buy my Blu-Rays for $20 on the date of release at Wal-Mart, or for $13 at Blockbuster (great deal, but no DVD copy if you store does this offer), I see two values for everything - the worth-my-time price, and the pass-it-up price. Usually, anything less than 20% off is a pass for me, as 15% or less barely covers the taxes and is not worth my time.

You would probably think that I am Black Friday crazy then, getting in line for the mega deals at midnight the night before. Alas, I am not. I have learned that, all too often, a mega deal (like a $2,000 TV for $500) is not going to last and be in extremely short supply. So, odds are, I will not get one, even if I did wait in line all night. Secondly, I hate waiting in line, and after 10am, most stores have almost no line, but most of their specials still going on. For example, last year I bought my daughter a 7 piece Disney doll set, $50 blu-ray player, and even the on sale cookware at 7pm on Black Friday. There were pallets full of most of the specials, enough so that many items were still available on Saturday and Sunday.

In short, if you're after televisions and computers - come early and wait if you think you have good odds to get the item you're after. If you are looking for toys, Blu-Rays, DVDs, games, and smaller-scale items - they will likely be waiting long after midnight/5am (except for the hot toys, but again, they usually only get in a few units per store, so odds are not favorable).

My strategy this year is a little different, because I have some particular items that I am after, and I'm not sure what the supply will look like. As such, I will be there at midnight (when the stores open this year, instead of when the lines start at Wal-Mart as it was in the past) and fight through the crowds to capture an illusive 3DS holiday bundle pack. I'm hoping that there won't be such a rush for that smaller item, and that people fight over laptops while I sneak to the cashier with a X-mas victory for my son. :)

Here is what is, or will hopefully be, under my tree this year:


And don't forget about the lesser-publicized Cyber Monday on the 28th! Check Amazon and other online shops for specials or items that you missed over the weekend.

Foster Care Update

After much silence, here is our disappointing update on foster care adoption. This will likely be our last update unless we either move to a new area and decide to put ourselves through the ringer again.

11-11-11: Make a Wish!

First of all, Happy Veterans Day!

Secondly, this is possibly the luckiest day of the century. 11-11-11 - that date only happens once every hundred years, so even if you think it's silly and supersticious, make a wish just in case! My daughter's wish is to become a pop star mermaid, so she made this video:

Military Coin in Batman Arkham City - Geek Girl Post

Since the vlog part pretty much sums it all up, I'll just add in these photos for your extended fanboy/fangirl enjoyment. The coin is still in the sleeve with the Batman information printed on top of it - because I'm a good little collector like that.

I tried to edit these to fit nicely within the blogging area, but Photobucket or Blogger, whichever, decided to spit on that plan and ignore my cropped and rotated photos. At least that's how it shows up for me, hopefully you all see them beautifully displayed:









And, yes, before anyone freaks out, I admit that I took this item away from my son. BUT I did buy it from him, and for a lot more than he wanted, so at least I didn't rob him. And, in the end, I'll die and he'll get it back either way, I just don't want him to demolish it or lose it in his room, so there you go.