Clearance

For the last few days Drew has been asking me if we could go shopping on Black Friday.  I have been putting him off, knowing that it is really the last thing I want to be doing on my day off.  The crowds, the parking – I just didn’t want to deal with it.  I blame the media!  All the build up to this “big day of sales and bargains” is all they are talking about and it is enticing him and luring him in!

Last night he begged me and I caved.  How many more days is my nearly 13 year old going to want to go out and spend the whole day with just me?!!?  The deal was, he would let me go to an exercise class this morning and we would leave mid-morning.  No waking up early for any door buster sales for us although Drew told me when he gets his driver’s license he plans on doing that “just once.”

He had saved up some of his own money and we gave him some that he’d have to budget himself for all of the people he wanted to buy for.  We started at Best Buy where not only did we get the FIRST parking spot in front of the store, but he found his first deal of the day for his cousin.

Target, right next door was our next stop and Drew found his new favorite words, “CLEARANCE” and “BARGAIN”  A boy after my own heart!  Following in my footsteps I told him.  I am a bargain shopper and it thrills and exhilarates me to get a good deal.  It gives me such a sense of accomplishment and I think I have passed some of that along to Drew.  I was so proud 🙂  I think he wound up getting four or five gifts there and still had money left over for our trip to Bob’s.  He had ideas in his head which always helps when holiday shopping.  Somehow, he even wound up buying my gift and I never saw what it was – he’s as sneaky and crafty as I am when it comes to shopping with the person I am buying for!

He is wrapping them all right now.  He is so ahead of the game! He is already talking about going out again for another day of shopping for his last few gifts.  I will relish these days while I can get them.  Who knows how many more of them he will want to give me!

Hey Batter Batter Batter

Drew wants a new baseball bat.  They are not cheap!  He got a new one last year, “The Lucky Bat” I just looked back to find the blog and I realized that I wrote about it more than once.  One of those baseball bat blogs was written a year ago today.  Well, I guess the luck of that “old” bat has run out, so now we need a new one to bring some good karma to his swing!

Once he gets something stuck in his head, that is all he will talk about for days and days and days….and this is one of those times.  If I hear one more thing about the DeMarini 2014 Voodoo Paradox, I might scream!  We have already told him that he has to pay for this bat himself.  We aren’t buying him another one.  He has priced them out at stores and searched on line.  He has found the best price, (I love that he gets his bargain shopping talents from me!) He has it bookmarked on the computer so that he can sit and stare at it as he comes up with some clever ways to earn some money.

The bonus is, he is cleaning and purging his bedroom and finding things to sell on our local swap meet in town.  He has already sold some Wii games, a “too small” baseball bat and a game.  He had some money saved up already so once he reaches his goal, he will order that new “phenomenal, unbelievable, incredible” bat.  I just hope it is as lucky as the last one and that its luck doesn’t run out quite as quickly!