I wanted an awesome Stillers (that’s Steeler for yinz who don’t come from the ‘burgh!) sweatshirt on Black Friday from Penney’s but they only had Cowboys (terrible!) and Cardinals (go figure, we’re in AZ!). I finally convinced catalog to order me up one, but the makers were gonna have to mail it straight to my house. This was fine with me since I live 10 miles from our local Penney’s.

After about 2 weeks I was pissed my shirt hadn’t come so I called to complain. Yesterday Penney’s catalog told me it was currently on the UPS truck to be delivered that day. My only package at home that night was a gift for a family member, so today while we were cooking dinner, I was complaining to Donna about Penney’s. I said something about the awesome Steelers sweatshirt for under $30 that I had ordered and hoped to wear to work while they’re in the playoffs.

She gave me this odd look and started laughing. Yesterday a package had come in her name. She’d opened it when I was out of the room and quickly wrapped it for me. She thought she had forgot and bought me a new Stillers shirt for Christmas!

Four years ago our friends Ryan & Laura got us hooked on Black Friday. Before that I just knew it was some crazy day when everyone mobbed the stores. I just didn’t get it. Now I am the mob. Well, I am not crazy like the year Ryan went to stand in line at Best Buy on Thanksgiving after dinner to get those flat screen TVs, but I sure do enjoy my Black Friday now. My friends, with whom we spend Thanksgiving, think I am odd when I show up for dinner Thursday with my backpack full of newspaper ADs, a couple pens and highlighters, and a notebook.

This year we didn’t really need anything, but there were a few big ticket items someone else wanted us to pick up for them (vague on purpose since the recipient of one may read this). Two years ago Claire was so young that she mostly slept through Black Friday, weighing down our arms as we stood in lines all morning. Last year there was no way I was taking a 2 1/2 shopping. We asked our former school nurse to watch her over night, and that was perfect. This year Donna wanted to take her with us. Oh boy. I tried to get the regular babysitter to take her but she was busy with family, I wanted to call another younger sitter, but Donna said no. I even tried to leave her with friends, but Donna just said we’d take her with us. I wasn’t thrilled. I told Donna it was her fault if Claire flipped out, and that she’d have to deal with her. Donna agreed.

3AM comes early when you’re up at 11PM. I must’ve missed the alarms and it was after 3:30AM when Claire and I rolled out of bed. She was wide awake. Donna wasn’t. We dragged Mama outta bed and was out the door a little after 4AM. Our first stop was Walmart for those big ticket items. We pulled in and people were streaming into the store. The sale wasn’t until 5AM, but it was a 24 hour store. People were getting into lines and huge piles of sale items were being guarded by employees. At first, an employee had me in the wrong line for 15 minutes before I loved to the (much longer now) correct line. At 5AM a wave of rushing, ripping and groaning rolled across the store as people broke into the piles of good stuff. Black Friday had begun.

I stood in line for that big ticket item for 2 hours and it killed me to not be running around the store with everyone else. Donna and Claire were hiding with our buggy in the bedding aisle, near where a display with $30 bed sets was devoured in minutes. I began texting her to make sure to grab everything else on our list so we could run when we were done. I thought I was getting a good deal on these big ticket items, but later in the day I saw them in two other stores for the same price! Ugh.

We moved from store to store throughout the day. Occasionally we stood in line, and mostly the customer service wasn’t too terrible (except a few ladies in Walmart who spoke no English and had no idea where the sales were in the damn store!). We picked up 20+ DVDs that we didn’t need, and I got an awesome 16G USB drive for like $30 (the day after I saw the same one at Radio Shack for $150. WTF!)

In the morning we left the house in the dark, and by the time we headed home it was dark again. This was 14 hours later. Even though we really needed nothing, we spent a grand and partied like rockstars all day long.

The wife asked me to stop at Walmart on the way home to pick up some bomb green bean casserole someone told her about. Well, Claire and I searched every single aisle and it was terrible. I called Donna back and she said it was frozen, so we headed back to the frozen foods. I found the “Stock Supervisor” whose nametag said he had 10 years of service and experience at Sam Walton’s crazy blue box. This man walked the same aisles I just walked and shrugged his shoulders. I was outta luck.

I called Donna back to tell her the news, and all she told me was to buy the ingredients and make it myself. Damn. And I thought maybe I could get out of it. I wasn’t sure what was in this stuff and since I knew there was mushroom soup mix, I knew I would never ever be eating it at all. Fougeddaboutit! NO. But other people were counting on me including my ever increasingly 3 1/2 year old whine bucket.

As I walked the aisles aimlessly I saw a students of mine who’d not been in class earlier that day. Never one to miss an opportunity to catch someone try to pull the wool over on my eyes, I called out to her as I approached her in our aisle. She immediately began talking to me, and at first acted like she was caught. Then she began to explain that she didn’t have her homework because her stepdad was arrested and she couldn’t get into her house since the police were still in their with search warrants.

Damn, I’ve heard some good ones, but not this one. Somewhere while she was telling me this tale, I noticed crunchy onion strips in her cart and nothing else. I pointed to them and asked where they were. Her friend was with her (who I taught last year) and pointed back down the aisle. I told the friend to go grab me one, so she did. I told my student that I needed the same ingredients, and I said “Let’s Shop!” So Claire and I, my former student and current student went looking for groceries. We found the mushroom soup mix, and then I saw the bacon bits. I knew I needed them for a broccoli salad I wanted to make so I told the girl to grab them. She read the directions on the back, and we went on search of those ingredients, too.

Within 10 minutes we both had everything we needed, and I didn’t have to think at all! They picked out what they needed and grabbed an extra one of each for my cart! Claire and I were out of there and on our way home in no time.

I love this time of the year. Until a couple of years ago I never considered shopping on Black Friday; I just knew it was a day to stay away from the stores. Three years ago, that all changed. Our friends, Ryan & Laura, introduced us to the whole concept and idea of getting really cheap, cool stuff. Ever since then, we’ve been shopping on Black Friday. Last year Claire at 2 1/2 was too young to go out, so our former school nurse watched her overnight at her family’s house. This year Donna wants to try Black Friday with Claire.

I’ve been going through the ADs recently, but I’ve not seen anything really cool yet. There’s not a ton we need, but there are some cool things we’ll probably pick up. We typically hit CostCo, Penney’s, Kohl’s (which we may skip this year!), Old Navy, Super Target, and Best Buy. Last year we shopped at Tempe Marketplace, and the stores are all in a circular pattern. We walked the circle; it took about five hours and then we were done. Took a nap, picked up Claire and counted our wares.

Watch for updates for this year, and the adventures of Claire, the 3 1/2 year old, on Black Friday.

Yesterday I turned 34. It’s not the biggest of birthdays for sure, but it was a nice day. Nothing too wild, and I remember when it’s my birthday more when I am at work on a birthday (not again until 2010). The highlight of yesterday would be when Laura and Emma came to visit. I’ve not seen them since summer of 2007, and they moved away in December of 2006 to Portland. I can’t blame them since it’s so damn brown and dry here, but it sure was nice to see them.

Dan from Amsterdam Skyped with me, Alan from Iceland said hello, I talked to my parents, and I’ve not had a chance to talk to the in-laws yet (my fault).

We had the girls out playing in the backyard all afternoon before giving them a group bath. Laura’s birthday is tomorrow, so we hit Macaroni Grill for a celebration dinner. The Penn Rustica rocked as did the Tiramisu dessert, but the Sangria was nothing to write home about. It was bland, boring and expensive.

After dinner we hit a carnival that was in a local parking lot. Laura wanted to ride the Zipper and I love the Ring ‘O Fire, so we did both. Mind you this was after we gorged ourselves. We were fine until the Ring ‘O Fire person sent us through the ride twice! I wasn’t the same after that.

Laura and Emma ended up staying over last night, so we went to Cracker’s Cafe for breakfast before the drove across town to see other friends. Beautiful mild birthday with some thoughtful gifts from Donna and Claire. Really enjoyable.

In late May 1994 after I had just finished up my freshman semester of college at Penn State University, I’d planned on hanging around all summer. My bother, Jaime, and I headed to a party with these people we’d just been getting to know. At some point in the evening we played spin the bottle. A young woman with torn jeans, red wild hair, and glasses spun the bottle and it landed on Jaime; he kissed her. Later in the evening I spun the bottle and it landed on her. I moved in with all the charm I could muster. I reached forward across the center circle, and went for it. Needless to say we quickly forgot the bottle, but we never ever forgot that 14 years ago today my brother kissed my wife before I kissed her!

To keep the traditions alive, on May 20, 1999 I had just finished my Master’s Degree at Duquesne University and Donna had just now finished her degree in management from Lock Haven, and we had much to celebrate. I decided to pack a cooler of KFC chicken and a couple Sobes before driving Donna out to South Park south of PIttsburgh. We roller bladed around the park before heading up to the "Stone Shelter" where my parents always said they made out when they were our age. So sitting up there, I was very nervous, and eventually I just went for it. I leaned in, pulled the small box out of my pocket, tossed it into her lap and asked loudly "Wanna Get Hitched?" This proclaimant and several feet of green phallic graffiti behind us on the wall was I needed to woo Donna to marry me.

She said yes, and we moved to Arizona a few months later. We never looked back. Happy Anniversary, Honey!

Claire’s bday weekend, originally uploaded by nooccar.

Donna had seen IHOP commercials about the Horton Hears a Who breakfast meal, and for some reason she got it in her head that Claire needed this meal! Since Claire’s birthday is on a Tuesday this year, we decided to being celebrating on Sunday with this breakfast. It’s a pancake tower with what is suppose to be blueberry syrup and colored chocolate chips. A "dum dum" sticks out the top, and of course the meal was served with green eggs (spinach) and ham! She loved it!!

Afterward we drove to Desert Breeze part in Chandler where Claire loves going on the playground equipment. When we got there we discovered they’d recently installed shade coverings, so it was much nicer here. This little girl’s a natural monkey who needs her own equipment at home! After the playground, she splashed around with about 25 other kids on the sprinkler mats that run all day in the warmer months. Of course we didn’t think ahead so she got to do this in her underwear and a t-shirt, which dried afterward as we walked around the lake there. A great first day of her three day birthday celebration!

Don’t know what to tell you. Here we sit in OUR OWN LIVING ROOM! Claire got so many presents from her family that we had 9 bags coming back from Pittsburgh today. Donna’s father just rolled his eyes and made his comments and moved on. This morning we had to take Danny’s 4Runner and Dad’s Jeep to the airport since we had so much stuff. One bag I had weighed 53.5 pounds and the other was 48 pounds. Danny & I stood there and took out piece by piece, weighing it by hand. Eventually both bags were 50.0 pounds and Danny had a handful of clothes and I had a few DVDs. We were proud of ourselves for figuring it all out, and then Donna showed up to check her and Claire in.

Once we made it on the plane (and yes, the new SOUTHWEST seating orders suck!) Claire fell asleep for 90 minutesl I got three magazines read cover to cover and Donna read her Reader’s DIgests. I can’t believe I took about 8 magazines home to read, and I read three ON the ride home!

Now we’re sitting here at home, unpacking, watching reality TV that we recorded while we were gone, and watching Claire be very attentive to the baby dolls that were sitting here for the last three weeks. She’s got a new babydoll stroller from Mimi & Pap Pap, and she’s been driving them all over the house in the stroller. Back to the grindstone…

Merry Christmas. Yeah! It was odd not going to Grandma’s house last night on Christmas Eve. I’ve never ever (except the year I wasn’t in PA) gone elsewhere than Grandma’s or Great Grandma’s house on Christmas Eve. Last night I went to my parent’s house. Dad wanted to cook, even though Aunt Gerry (Grandma’s sister) invited us over. Dad made Cornish hens, but didn’t know if you cook like 8 of them at a time, that they take 3-4 HOURS! And he went around the house asking who wanted Escargot appetizers before cooking them, and I said I wanted some. He made them, remembered that Donna wanted to try one and gave her one… then he proceeded to eat the rest of them. ALL the REST of THEM. Errr… Mom made the Babalky this year and they old had whole wheat bread, which she thought would be better for Claire. Such an odd taste. The whole dinner was an adventure to say the least, but next year I am off to Aunt Gerry’s. Last night was our annual Christmas party, and Tom had purchased a 50" Panasonic plasma screen. Woo-hoo! Watched some football and part of 300, which I still haven’t seen. We were there for about three hours and then drove back to my parent’s house. My family does Christmas morning way earlier than Donna’s so we always begin there.

Claire and I crashed around 12:15AM, and Donna and Jaime stayed up all the night (well Donna did crash two hours before Jaime woke up at the house at 7AM). Last year we couldn’t get Claire to open anything ever. She opening one thing and just didn’t understand there was more. This year she ran around for 2 days looking at all the present tags and shouted and pointed when she found ones with her name on them. Then at my parent’s house, she opened a baby doll and doll stroller, which she had to push all over the house. She also refused to open anything else because she was playing with her doll. Finally after about FOUR HOURS she had unwrapped her presents and there were rad. Skis, boots, dolls, clothes, cute stuff, and others…

Then we headed to Donna’s parent’s house. She crashed on the way there so we let her sleep awhile before waking her up to open presents. We started with her dad’s new chair and her mother’s wooden chest and hangy thingy for above it. Both items, along with pillows and a throw rug were for the new basement remodel. Very very nice items. Donna and Danny did well with the present from us kids. Claire proceeded to open more presents, and I need to remember to have the grandparents split toys from clothes, so Claire can do clothes first. By the final outfits she opened at Donna’s parent’s, she was tossing them over her shoulder and screaming "More presents!" which I immediately knew meant "More TOYS!". She’s funny and always a laugh. Including the time she paused to make Papa take her to the potty where she said proceeded to claim she needed lotion for her pee-pee! I was really confused, until she explained that she was a little red down there (girl held in the pee for 3 hours so she could open presents, of course she’d be red!). Mama put on diaper cream and we finished opening presents. Now we sit waiting for the ham dinner and maybe a movie later.

Our families are wonderful. Thank you all. Our friends are wonderful! We hope you all have a wonderful and restful holiday break!!!