On the day after Thanksgiving, most people line up in store parking lots in the wee hours of the morning to get thier hands on the best bargains around.
I have only participated in this style of bargain shopping twice.
Once, I convinced my dad to stand outside of Wal-Mart with me at 4 in the morning so that I could get a vcr and tv combo. And while I still think it was a pretty good deal, It took me years before I could brave the After Thanksgiving crowds again.
The next time I went out there I was 7 months pregnant. Mr. Yardbird had gotten his hands on a Thanksgiving store catalog at my parents house and discovered that Best Buy had a fantastic deal on flip video cameras. Because I know how much Mr. Yardbird loves a good gadget, I suggested we go get the video camera that very night.
"But your pregnant," He said.
"So."
"I will feel like the biggest jerk if you are standing out there pregnant with me in line."
I assured him that I had to be there. Being 7 months pregnant and huge wasn't going to stop me.
So that night we decided we take a nap before going instead of staying up the whole night through.
"We'll just watch an episode of The Walking Dead, rest up, and then head over there about 3 am." Mr. Yardbird suggested.
If you haven't seen the walking dead then let me explain. In the show, zombies have taken over the world. A group of people try desperately to survive but every now and then someone gets their arm biten by a zombie and then the group has to decide when they are going to shoot them.
It's a real nail biter.
So a few episodes in we decided to hit the hay before venturing out to the store.
At 3 am, my husband nudged my arm and said "It's time to go. But we don't have to go if you don't want to."
"No, I'll be ready in minute." I said. I put on an odd assortment of layers not minding much that it didn't match, because I doubted anyone would be looking at me anyway. We hopped in the truck, yawning and rubbing our eyes the whole way over there. And just as we pulled up I saw it. My jaw dropped and I gasped so loudly that Mr. Yardbird whipped his head around and said, "What's wrong?"
Apparently I had not rubbed my eyes hard enough, because what I saw was a crowd outside of Bestbuy of slow-moving, lethargic people, struggling to put one leg in front of the other, swaying and bumping into each other with each step. They looked like......zombies.
"I...um....I thought..they looked like...." I mumbled "zombies" so maybe he wouldn't catch it. Because I felt like a moron.
He caught it though. And it's been a joke ever since.
We didn't get the video camera that night. We decided to turn around and go home. I don't suggest After Thanksgiving bargain shopping, but if you must, don't watch a zombie flick before you go.
This year, we opted for my family's tradition of spending the day after Thanksgiving at the fairgrounds betting on horses. While we didn't know the first thing about betting we pretended we did, reading the race catalog and scrutinizing each horse before the race. Sometimes we bet on a horse that seemed calm and sure of itself. "That one's a calm one," we would say. "he's just confident he will win." And sometimes we would pick a horse because it was crazy. "That's a crazy horse." We said, "He will just bust through the gate and take off." More often than not, we were wrong. But that's okay because we didn't know what the heck we were doing anyway and it sure was more fun that way.
I have only participated in this style of bargain shopping twice.
Once, I convinced my dad to stand outside of Wal-Mart with me at 4 in the morning so that I could get a vcr and tv combo. And while I still think it was a pretty good deal, It took me years before I could brave the After Thanksgiving crowds again.
The next time I went out there I was 7 months pregnant. Mr. Yardbird had gotten his hands on a Thanksgiving store catalog at my parents house and discovered that Best Buy had a fantastic deal on flip video cameras. Because I know how much Mr. Yardbird loves a good gadget, I suggested we go get the video camera that very night.
"But your pregnant," He said.
"So."
"I will feel like the biggest jerk if you are standing out there pregnant with me in line."
I assured him that I had to be there. Being 7 months pregnant and huge wasn't going to stop me.
So that night we decided we take a nap before going instead of staying up the whole night through.
"We'll just watch an episode of The Walking Dead, rest up, and then head over there about 3 am." Mr. Yardbird suggested.
If you haven't seen the walking dead then let me explain. In the show, zombies have taken over the world. A group of people try desperately to survive but every now and then someone gets their arm biten by a zombie and then the group has to decide when they are going to shoot them.
It's a real nail biter.
So a few episodes in we decided to hit the hay before venturing out to the store.
At 3 am, my husband nudged my arm and said "It's time to go. But we don't have to go if you don't want to."
"No, I'll be ready in minute." I said. I put on an odd assortment of layers not minding much that it didn't match, because I doubted anyone would be looking at me anyway. We hopped in the truck, yawning and rubbing our eyes the whole way over there. And just as we pulled up I saw it. My jaw dropped and I gasped so loudly that Mr. Yardbird whipped his head around and said, "What's wrong?"
Apparently I had not rubbed my eyes hard enough, because what I saw was a crowd outside of Bestbuy of slow-moving, lethargic people, struggling to put one leg in front of the other, swaying and bumping into each other with each step. They looked like......zombies.
"I...um....I thought..they looked like...." I mumbled "zombies" so maybe he wouldn't catch it. Because I felt like a moron.
He caught it though. And it's been a joke ever since.
We didn't get the video camera that night. We decided to turn around and go home. I don't suggest After Thanksgiving bargain shopping, but if you must, don't watch a zombie flick before you go.
This year, we opted for my family's tradition of spending the day after Thanksgiving at the fairgrounds betting on horses. While we didn't know the first thing about betting we pretended we did, reading the race catalog and scrutinizing each horse before the race. Sometimes we bet on a horse that seemed calm and sure of itself. "That one's a calm one," we would say. "he's just confident he will win." And sometimes we would pick a horse because it was crazy. "That's a crazy horse." We said, "He will just bust through the gate and take off." More often than not, we were wrong. But that's okay because we didn't know what the heck we were doing anyway and it sure was more fun that way.
"I think I'll go with Horse Number 4...."
Our first win!
Checking out the horses
The girls!
Showing the horses that we loved them. :)
1 comment:
YAY RACES!!! The Horse Whisperer works in horse racing, and I am always thrilled to see people enjoying themselves at the races for the first time. Go again!!!
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