My Black Friday Miracle

*Product names may have been changed to protect the innocence of my children and their Christmas experience.

In the dark of the morning around 3:30am I awoke to a slim fast and the Late Late show with Jimmy Fallon. I skipped my hygienic rituals and ran off to the store. Toys that R Us was my first stop with a line 10 miles long. It had opened at midnight and my friend who had been their since 10:45 was standing in line with at least and hour wait. Waiting in line was not an option so I had to skedaddle to get the Best Buy for my laptop computer. I arrived a half hour before the madness began. My laptop was specifically not a door buster so I waited with patience in my warm car. When the line started moving I ran to the end to find that despite the words in the add they had given out golden tickets for my most needed desire. I sort of complained to the guy at the door and then he told me that if the blessed shoppers who had the ticket to computer bliss did not pick it up by 9am then it just might be mine! I left feeling hopeful but also disappointed, could I get back at nine? Would someone decide not to buy this great find?

At 5:15 I headed to wait for Target to open but when I arrived the shoppers had gone wild and my next hot item that belongs in the house of Weston had all been put in the carts of the shoppers that knew the store opened at 5. Disappointed again I went off to Wallmart to meet my in-laws who got me hooked on this mess. I got what I needed and was holding out hope that sometime before Christmas I'd find another good deal. Deep down inside I thought, oh well, I will spend $700 less dollars on this fateful Friday. We went back to Target and got the less exciting things that I needed and stood in the check out line. While waiting I noticed a shopper that held my desire! I asked where he got it, if he'd been there since 5 and he said, "Why no, a nice lady didn't want it anymore and gave it to me." While waiting in line I eyed this man and wondered why I wasn't there when they wanted to give this away. I hoped he would decide that this items wasn't for him and he'd hand it right over before the lines end. When what to my wondering shoulder should appear than a tap for the NICEST teenager dear! "The QZ you wanted..."she started to say..."someone just set it down over there to give it away!" I ran and grabbed this 32" QZ with a huge smile from ear to ear! My SIL and MIL clapped their hands with joy, my day was looking up, a miracle had appeared! I told this young girl she was now my BEST FRIEND and that when I next go to yoga I would focus on her so happiness would come her way. She blushed and said your welcome...OH what a NICE girl!!!

Off to the Navy that surely isn't young we went for a sweater for my SIL's dear son. I found a few things and was still feeling euphoric when my cute little friend from Target walked by. I thanked her again and then we were on our way to Roberts for some more fabulous holiday shopping!

After Roberts we headed to Best Buy with a prayer in our hearts that I could replace my computer that had recently died. I waited in a line for the non-claimed door busters listening to the crazy people behind me say, "What is this line for? I don't want anything particular but ooo ooo ooo, this line looks like fun." I hoped some random person wouldn't get my laptop. The adrenaline was kicking in as I wondered "Do they have anymore?" After thirty minutes I was told that if no more that 3 people in front of me wanted this same laptop that it would be mine! After another 15 minutes and the people in front of me having 3 cards declined I waited for a manager to void their order and I walk out of the store with joy in my heart and a laptop in hand!

I ended the day with a yummy breakfast at MiMi's with great company followed by a trip back to Walmart, Target, Toys R Us, Bed Bath and Beyond, and Payless for a few more things. I thought this day would be a bust but it ended up GREAT! Ah the suspense of black Friday is better than any amusement park (other than the drastic price difference...laptops and QZ's cost much more than a ticket for a ride!).

I unloaded the car and took a short nap...


...and now I sit here with my brand new laptop. I'm still hygienically challenged but what good is a shower when your beaming with excitement!

Us

So I've updated you on the kids and here is what's going on with us:

Steven:

• Work

• Work

• Work and more work

Things are BUSY at his office. They have been changing to High Definition which adds several new steps to the week along with posting the show to the website one day earlier then they usually would get it done. Plus, they are now doing a radio show. To add to the insanity they are currently pitching an idea for a new show that we all have high hopes of getting the green light. This show will equal at least 2 more employees to lighten Stevens load (we hope) as well as a raise (we hope).

• Reading comic books
• Doing graphics for a friends website (as well as mine)
• Teaching Gospel Doctrine (and he is GREAT at it!)
• Playing with the kids
• Taking me on dates

Becky:

• Cleaning
• Washing
• Folding
• Vacuuming
  
• Playing with kids
• Walking Max to school
• Watching Zac
• Lost my job watching Amber because of government budget cuts
• Being less mediocre
• Thinking of trying out for Fiddler on the Roof
• Maintaining some sort of social life via facebook
• Planning enrichment activities
• Helping out with the ward Choir as Choir assistant (yep, I think it's a made up calling too)
• Working out but not lately because I've been sick
• Swimming with Elese at Parent & Tot swimming lessons
• Feeding my mom and brother only to have them complain that the food is either too spicy (mom) or has too many veggies (Blake)
• Reading my scriptures daily
• writing Max's talk for church on Sunday
• Loosing weight
  

Us:

• Working on having a happier home by having daily family scripture study, family night and family home evening.
• Hoping to someday get a house but me loosing my job has slowed that plan down some. (Cross your fingers for Stevens raise!)
• Going on dates every Friday night
  
• Teaching the kids to help mommy clean up after dinner
• Getting out of debt
• Praying together
• Working on going to the temple more

Happy Halloween!

Elese

Now it's Elese's turn. Here are somethings about her. If you didn't read about Max click here.

• Former favorite word: Awesome (if anyone else would say it she would say, "Don't say that!"
• Doesn't fear spiders-after the flood the kids slept on the front room floor. One night at around midnight Elese calmly walked into our room and said, "Mommy, there is a spider in my bed." We thought she was just being a stinker so Steven told her it was OK but to go back to bed. Elese said, "NO! There is a spider in my bed." Sure enough, there was a spider in her bed.
• She is Dora Explorer
  
• She is Rachel (our babysitter)
• She is Diego and/or Alisia and/or a Jaguar
• She is a princess
• Lucifer the cat in Cinderella is currently her greatest fear because "He went like this" (imagine her cheeks all puffed up) "With that mouse and tried to eat it." She refuses to watch the movie alone now.
• When the little rascals dress up like Amish men she thinks they are monsters.
• She wants to be just like her brother
• Crawdads are very cool and not scary
• Jumping off things is an adventure for her.
• Has gotten better about throwing fits in the library...
• ...although she has gotten worse about throwing fits in fabric stores
• Daddy is a prince and she makes him dance with her
• Lip gloss is the coolest thing since a sippy cup.
• Being 5 is the biggest accomplishment ever!
  
• Dropping Max off at school provides her a great opportunity to run around and report back to mommy which girls have princess backpacks and which ones have Dora backpacks.
• She likes to sing songs (ie. "lalala, I'm a princess..dododo...I'm dancing like a princess...ladeda")
• Nursery is the best place ever!
• BABIES! Oh MY BABIES! Real babies, toy babies, big babies(2 years +) and even little babies. "It's a baby! Mommy I want to see the baby! What's the babies name? Look mommy it's a pink baby! Look mommy it's a blue baby! Hold me like a baby! Look mommy I'm a pink baby! Goo goo ga ga. WAAAAHHH"
• Loves her Grandmas
• Screams at Uncle Blake if he looks at her (Ah, just like her mommy used to)
• Got her first hair cut
• Thinks the bank is a sucker store and the Lake is for throwing things in.
• Enjoys helping daddy cook breakfast and mommy cook everything else.
• Refers to Lagoon as "The Goon"
  

Funny Things she has said or done

12/20/2008 Elese had been bitten by a dog (don't worry, not a bad bite) she said, "Doggy eat you."

7/24/2009 Max had just said, "I love you Daddy!" and then Elese said, "And I love Mama!" In the previous days she didn't want anything to do with daddy, mommy was her favorite.

8/3/2009 We were coming home from a neighborhood party and Elese wanted to stay so she started crying and throwing a HUGE fit. Suddenly she just stopped, looked at me and said, "Mommy, I'm fake crying."

September '09 A new little girl in our ward kept looking at us in sacrament meeting so Elese asked about her...I told her that her name is Grace and that she is in Kindergarten like Max. Elese looked at me with total amazement and said, "She's 5?!!!" as if being 5 was the most spectacular thing to be.

10/11/2009 while visiting another sacrament meeting and everyone laughed at something that had been said, "This Sacrament is funny!"

10/11/2009 We have Sacrament meeting last and the ward we visited today has it first so when we went in Elese got very worried and said, "Mommy! I forgot to go to Nursery!"


During the flood in our basement we had to cut out a piece of drywall in the kids closet, this created a hole that opened up into my moms portion of the basement. We have a door with a deadbolt that separates our space from hers. One day Elese was REFUSING to take her nap. She was having trouble because during the flood clean up she had to sleep on her mattress in the front room. I got fed up with it and dead bolted our front door (so she couldn't escape and wander the neighborhood) and then went through the door that links to my moms and locked her in our apartment while I sat on the steps and calmly said, "Get back in bed and I'll come back in." She SCREAMED and cried for about 30 seconds and then got quiet. I was so relived and thought she had gotten in bed to go to sleep so I was about to go back in when I heard a noise coming from my mom's side of the basement. She had gone into her demolished bedroom and crawled through the door. I was so mad yet so amazed that she was smart enough to think to do that.

Max

So here is a quick (hopefully) update of what has been going on with Max this summer up to now.

• Best Friend Reed, moved to Mexico
• Started Kindergarten
• Going to be starting Karate (hopefully)
• Wants to be an Astronaut when he grows up...
• ...or a race car driver
• Hopes to build a Speed Racer car in his spare time
• Wants to paint daddy's car like the speed racer
• ALWAYS tells mommy where he is going
• Likes to eat fish
• Favorite color (yep color, no "s") Red, white, blue and black
• Does his homework everyday after school
• Trying hard to learn to read
• Thinks Crawdads are YUMMY
• Loves taking random pictures of his toys
• Thinks the world is coming to an end if he doesn't have friends to play with
• Likes girls but blushes if they show him attention
• Favorite yearly event: Father and Sons camp out
• Enjoys fishing with daddy at Fish Lake
• Makes silly faces when you take his picture
• Loved eating at African Ice (shaved ice) as often as possible
• Does not like being skinny and the mention of it will cause him to cry for a half hour screaming "I don't want to be skinny! I don't want to be fat but I don't want to be skinny!"
  

Funny Things he has said/done recently

One day while I was at work he asked my mom to help him write a note. This is what it said:

REED, Don't hur Ryan. He is our best friend. Forgive Ryan. Forget about that.

My personal favorite: (4/6/2009) "Mommy, you're my favorite person in the family because your pretty."

(8/30/2009) "Mommy, my elbow is almost resurrected!"

He said this sometime this summer (2009) to Elese, "I'm bigger than you because I work out more."

Sister Taylor (aka Max's "other Grandma") saw us walking to school on Max's first day of kindergarten and she told him to be the best kid in school. While passing her house on the way home form school Max proclaimed, "I was the best kid in school!"

Ready Set Go!!!

So I'm all set for my giveaway tomorrow on my new website! Well, sort of. For some reason when I add a link to the post it adds a big space. For example... "learn more about this site by clicking here". Isn't that weird? I REALLY don't want to have to change my theme so I hope we can figure it out. I don't want to postpone the giveaway so I'm just going to post it anyway, even with the glitches, I hope it doesn't reflect badly on me. By helping me pass along the word about www.mediocremom.com you TOO can be entered into the giveaway! :)Information will be posted here (see how that's SUPOSED to work?) tomorrow morning.

Sneak Peak

So, you want a sneak peak at my new website? I just need to come up with some fabulous give away. Steven is hoping he can score a free trip from his work that I can give away. If you have any suggestions or would like to donate to my cause :) let me know.

So it's not completely finished. Our computer is still out of commission which means that Steven hasn't had a chance to fix the font and size of the title and little tweaks in the logo. I'm hoping to have it all up and good to go with a giveaway and all by next Monday and then I will start posting October 1st.

Check it out if you please and let me know what you think.

www.mediocremom.com