Dodging Drivers & Christmas Came Early

After seeing how horrible traffic was tonight I’m scared to see how bad things are going to be on Black Friday.  It was a mad house out there tonight, and now I’m definitely not heading out into that madness on Friday.  I’ll stay at home and shop online!

Everything around town was madness.  We tried to do a little shopping tonight to pick up a few essential things we forgot to grab at the grocery store the other day, but it was nearly impossible to get in anywhere for all the people.  Then on the way home we were dodging crazy drivers left and right. 

Apparently a ton of people seem to be having car trouble this weekend, too, because I can’t count on one hand the number of cars I saw parked on the side of the road this evening.  Apparently no one around here seems to have roadside assistance plans. Maybe it’s because our unemployment rates are still so high no one can afford it, so they have to leave their cars parked all over the place because they can’t afford to get them home.

Anywho when we got home I did some online shopping, and I took advantage of some of the deals that are already going on online.  I finally picked up my netbook.  I got myself an Asus Eee PC 1005 Netbook.  I’ve been wanting one of these for awhile, so with Hubby’s approval I treated myself to a late birthday/early Christmas present.  I think he only agreed because I agreed to let him pick up the home theater system he’s been eyeing as long as he grabs it on Black Friday when it’s on sale.  At least both of them are items we’ll get a ton of use out of even if they are a bit of a splurge.  We figure with the baby these are some of the last big purchases we’ll be making for awhile, so we might as well enjoy it while we can!

Ordering Gifts

After talking to Hubby on the phone for a few minutes on his break I’ve come to the conclusion that I don’t really need to over think the anniversary gift this year.  His suggestion was that instead of trying to surprise each other we just each order one thing we want. 

That kind of works out because I’d end up ordering my own gift anyway! LOL!  Every year Hubby asks me what I want, and then when it comes down to the last minute he normally says to pick something out and order it. 

The traditional anniversary gift list says we should be giving each other sugar.  LOL I’m pretty sure we’ll be trading some of that but not in the form they’re talking about!  The modern list says Amethysts are the gift of choice.  Well that’s a possibility, but we all know I’m not a big jewelry person.  There are a couple cute necklaces I’ve picked out from this month’s Avon catalog, but I think I might just end up ordering the super cute wall candle sconces I’ve been checking out and calling that my gift. My only issue there is deciding if I want this set or these.

I guess after 6 years we’ve fallen into a routine of anniversaries not being such a big deal anymore.  I was just hoping we’d make this one a kind of big deal this year simply because it’s our last anniversary as a twosome.  Next year we’ll be calling up one of the Grandmas to babysit just so we can head out to dinner and a movie or something.

Shopping Online With Coupons

With the way things are around here these days financially I know I’m going to have to learn to find bargains in more places than normal.  I do clip coupons, but I haven’t been clipping them as often as I should.  I admit I got slack because I just didn’t have to worry about it at the time.  We had the cash we needed, and we were doing ok.

Now that we’re not only dealing with Hubby’s job status but the fact we’ve got a baby on the way I’m definitely going out of my way to use coupons.   One way we’ve learned to save is by taking advantage of the online sale prices that some stores run.  There are a lot of stores like Walmart that will offer better deals online than they offer in store, so you can not only find Walmart coupons to help you save cash, but you can also take advantage of the cheaper online pricing and free shipping to your local store!

If you’re the type of person who doesn’t feel like sitting down with the Sunday paper and a pair of scissors you don’t have to give up on saving money.  Remember coupon codes are all around us, and the power of saving with internet shopping is endless.

Crazy Out There

Hubby and I headed out to grab dinner tonight, and I swear it was crazy out there.  I know places are going to be semi packed out around here on a Friday night around dinner time, but this just wasn’t normal.  It was 8pm on a Friday night, and even the parking lots of the fast food joints were overflowing…even Burger King which is normally absolutely dead.

I don’t know what was up, but some kind of event must have been going on somewhere.  It doesn’t even get that way on opening game day at Clemson.  I had really wanted food from a specific restaurant, but we gave up on trying to get in there.

We rode through town and eventually decided to just leave town and hit up Paw’s Diner, one of our little local hole in the wall places full of really good food, great prices, and friendly people.  I’m so glad we decided to eat there because I always forget how good the food there really is.

It’s one of those local places where you walk in the door and the waitress knows what you want to drink before you even find a table.  I ordered the $5 hamburger steak plate which is so large I can barely eat half of it at once.  I didn’t even touch my mac & cheese or my fried okra.  I’ve got a full plate left that will be great for lunch tomorrow.

We were going to go shopping after we ate, but that just wasn’t happening.  Lately my energy let has plummetted to 0 in the evenings, so I just did not have the energy to do so.  We swung into CVS for a few must have things, stopped by Hubby’s parent’s house, and headed home.

I do have to go shopping again tomorrow for another gift for another baby shower, so I’ll look at the luxury watch I want to get Hubby then. He really needs a new watch because I’m tired of him breaking all the cheap crappy ones my Grandma buys him. He has a really nice watch he got years ago, but the glass is cracked on it making it useless since you can’t read it. I may have to see how much it would cost me to get that one fixed if I can’t afford to buy him the one I want to get him.

Now I have to go get our tax stuff together. I’ve got most of it ready, but I have a few things I need to print out. We’ve finally got an appointment first thing in the morning to get them done, so now I get to find out how much we owe Uncle Sam. Don’t ya know I’m just so excited to find that out?