Black Friday

It's been years since I ventured out on Black Friday.. the rush of shoppers, the rage, the pushing, and shoving just wasn't worth the stress to save a few dollars. The sales generally continued up to Christmas Eve with a few special door busters (always with limited amounts) and I felt no urgency to join the ruckus.
My daughter and I joined the crowd of early shoppers this year. Not at midnight or 4 am but at the more reasonable hour of 6 am. We had searched all the ads in Thursday's paper and created an itinerary and shopping list for Friday morning. Best Buy and all similar stores were a no no...people had been camping at their doors since Wednesday to get one of the limited sale items. The parking lots of the shopping center where Toys R Us resides were totally full at 5 am. We did go there later in the day and were successful in finding the items we wanted. The mall....well it was hopeless to find a parking space.

Most of the stores we visited had plenty of the sale items advertized. There was no rush to snatch up items; the check out lines were controlled and moved quickly.
There were lots of people to talk with while hunting for our items and we exchanged information on other stores.
Of course as my granddaughter grows, so do the size of the toys and it is not as easy to hide them. Toy assembly will follow in a few weeks.

Will I go again next year?
Probably Maybe - I have a year to consider it. Happy Shopping!

Seeking Safety for All

For many months toys have been disappearing from the shelves of the popular stores such as Wal Mart, K Mart, and Toys R US.
Many of the toys were related to the popular television shows for children under six years old and removed due to their lead content.

In the next few weeks I will be searching through stores for alternate toys for my granddaughter. Luckily there is a plethora of 'Princess" related items that are available.
There are also some new company names emerging on the shelves.

With the rising recalls of toys, other recalls such as food and drugs, have appeared daily in newspapers and on the Internet.

Who and Where are the people that are supposed to watch over imported items and our own manufacturers? Is somebody watching over E Bay to ensure none of these recalled items are being offered for sale?

Yes I will be out in shopping land the day after Thankgiving