BLACK FRIDAY

Well, it's already over. I was exhausted before it began. I worked nine day straight prior to having Thanksgiving Day off so I was tired. Getting up at 2:30 Friday morning wasn't an appealing thought.


But, the alarm clock went off, and I got up. I put on my make-up, my required black shirt, gray slacks, and tennis shoes (we were allowed to wear tennis shoes for the long day). I put on my name badge, my coat, shouldered my purse, and left home a 3 am.

When I got there, the parking lot wasn't too bad. I found a parking space easily and noticed that there were only about thirty people lined up outside the door. At least I knew I wouldn't have to fight to get in. Someone let me in and I went to the break room. A lot of people were already there. We stayed there, talking for a few minutes, then headed up front for a meeting with the manager. Within that few minutes, the crowd had tripled. I could see them pressing against the glass doors while we listened to the managers. The employees that tried to come in now had to fight there way through the crowd. The manager said that before he opened the doors he would make an announcement over the intercom for everyone to clear the aisles. He said we better do it or we would get trampled. Everyone dispersed to where they were supposed to be and I got in my register. The manager waited until 3:59 and made the announcement to clear the aisle over the intercom. Then he had people hold the doors open.

The crowd ran in. And I mean, they ran. One woman was so crazy to get a cart and run that she turned the cart over and almost trampled an old lady. For five solid minutes, the crowd kept coming through the door. It was pretty amazing to see. I never knew that many people would line up outside of a store. Within ten minutes, the line started forming. We had a great line system worked out, though. One huge line was mapped out for the misses' registers and one for the men's registers. Then a manager stood at the end of the line and directed traffic, sending customers to registers 1,2,3, etc, as they finished a customer. That relieved so much stress from the cashiers. I never had a line full of cranky people right in my face, we never had to worry about line-jumpers, and there was always a manager on hand for price adjustments or anything I needed. I did not have a full minute without a customer for the rest of my shift. There would be slight lulls in the crowd, I think because they went to the other stores as they opened, then it was just as big as before. I got several breaks, so that was great, and I had someone to bag for me which helped a lot with the big orders.


I was supposed to get off at two. About thirty minutes before, the manager came around asking everyone if they could stay late. He said it was a lot busier than he anticipated for the afternoon. A lot of people wouldn't stay, but I decided to try to stay an extra hour. The crowd was still really busy and it would have been hard to leave knowing there weren't a lot of people coming in. So, I ended up clocking out at 3:15, almost twelve hours after I clocked in. I shopped for just a few minutes, found two presents and a sweater, and LEFT. I managed to stay awake for about an hour after I got home, then I collapsed on the couch for two hours.



All in all, it wasn't too bad. Most of the customers were really nice to me. I only had one hateful customer and one rude customer in the whole twelve hours and hundreds of transactions, so that's a lot better than I expected. It was actually kind of fun. Exhausting, but fun. I wouldn't mind doing it again -- if I have to. :)

A Thanksgiving Proclamation....

We all know the story of the first Thanksgiving, but I thought it was interesting today, when I saw this link posted on Boundless for the original proclamation that set apart the last Thursday in November as a day to give thanks. I imagine that I had read this in my history books at some point in time, but I had forgotten that Thanksgiving was established during the Civil War, when times were so difficult for soldiers and civilians alike, as reminder that even then, there was much to thank God for. I have a habit of complaining. I complain about having asthma, my aching legs, about standing on my feet all day, etc, etc. I forget that I have a lot to be grateful for. I have medicine for my asthma. I have a job, a roof over my head, food, clothes, and family, not to mention so many other things. God is good.

Thanks to God for my Redeemer,

Thanks for all Thou dost provide!

Thanks for times now but a memory,

Thanks for Jesus by my side!

Thanks for pleasant, balmy springtime,

Thanks for dark and stormy fall!

Thanks for tears by now forgotten,

Thanks for peace within my soul!
Thanks for prayers that Thou hast answered,

Thanks for what Thou dost deny!

Thanks for storms that I have weathered,

Thanks for all Thou dost supply!

Thanks for pain, and thanks for pleasure,

Thanks for comfort in despair!

Thanks for grace that none can measure,

Thanks for love beyond compare!
Thanks for roses by the wayside,

Thanks for thorns their stems contain!

Thanks for home and thanks for fireside,

Thanks for hope, that sweet refrain!

Thanks for joy and thanks for sorrow,

Thanks for heav’nly peace with Thee!

Thanks for hope in the tomorrow,

Thanks through all eternity!

Lyrics by August Storm

source: www.cyberhymnal.org

New hair cut....

I decided it was time for a new haircut last week! I was just plain tired of my hair, so I took a picture to a stylest, and she did a great job cutting it. These pictures don;t show the cut too well. There are layers all through it and it looks better when it is straightened flat like the stylest did it. My flat iron doesn't get hot enough to straighten the "flip" though. So far, I like my short hair cut a lot.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

and feel like Christmas. It is so cold here. The store has started playing Christmas music and two local stations have switched to nonstop Christmas music. For now, I'm enjoying it, but I have a feeling I'm going to be tired of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer ten times a day before long. The store is decorated with red and gold decorations and everywhere we go are the sights and sounds of Christmas. Monday, we went to the mall for our first Christmas shopping trip. Of course, we went home without buying anything. :) But our last stop was the music store, and I bought a big book of Christmas solos. They aren't arrangements, just nice solos of just about every Christmas song you can think of. I've always wanted a comprehensive Christmas collection like that, so I was glad to find it.

I can't even believe Thanksgiving is next week. What?!?!? I won't have another day off until Thanksgiving and then Black Friday, I work 3:45-2. Yesterday, my feet hurt so bad when I finished my shift that I clocked out and went straight to the shoe department. I was determined that, no longer how long it took and if I had to try on every pair of shoes in the store, I was going to find a pair of shoes that felt good on my feet. I was actually about to give up, because the regular flats didn't have enough cushion and cushion-y shoes seemed to pinch my feet in the wrong places. I finally started trying on Sketchers. They had some black shoes with a comfort sole, but made enough like a dress shoe that I could wear them with my skirts, which was something I was looking for, too. These shoes were SO comofortable. They fit my feet like a glove and were like walking on a cloud. I was determined to buy them if they cost $100, but fortunately they were on sale for $45. I put them on hold for Friday, when I get an extra associate discount. I can't even describe how bad it is to stand on my feet for hours and hours in shoes without enough support. I am so glad I found these in time for Black Friday!!

Mini Vacation

I was so glad to find myself scheduled for a three day weekend! Yay!! I have lots of studying to do, but hopefully some Christmas shopping and fun stuff. It would be great go to another store for a change. A few days ago I went to Walmart and, I do not exaggerate, I realized I had forgotten what the inside of the store looked like. Yep. It's bad when you're walking through Walmart looking around and thinking, "Was Walmart always this big?" I really need a break.

Art Show

The art show was last Saturday. It's a long day -- registration ends at ten, judging is from 11-1, and the award ceremony is at 4. After I had registered all my pieces and given left them with the organizers to be hung, they came back and told me I had to change the tags on all my pieces because the person at the registry had given me photography tags. I guess it was a compliment that she thought my drawings were photographs, but it was a big aggravation to deal with at the last minute. We went out to eat while the judging took place and came back to find that my tree and soldiers had won second place ribbons in their categories and my hands won a honorable mention. The show was larger than last year, so I was glad to get even those three ribbons.

I came down with bad head cold yesterday, so I couldn't enjoy myself and look around at all the pieces like I usually do. My head was throbbing and I just felt -- sick. I still feel like that today. Anyway, I'm always inspired by going and seeing everyone else's work. It makes me want to learn to paint so bad. I even want to start taking lessons again. I started researching local art teachers and found one I would love to take from. Maybe soon. There is so much going on right now that I don't think I can add another thing, but this made me remember how much I love art and want to learn more and to keep it a part of my life.

Latest drawings....

When I scanned these, there was still a little touching up work to do on them, but these are the almost -final products. I've posted some of these before, I think, but the scanner shows the drawings better.


Marat Safin. I decided to try a sports drawing and used one that we took at the tennis tournament.

This is one of my favorites. I took this picture of Kati a couple of years ago. I was putting up Aunt Sherry's Christmas tree for her and Kati was "helping" me decorate. I always laugh at how sweet she looks in the picture. You would never know she had been jumping up and down screaming for an ornament two seconds before it was snapped.

Aunt Sherry's wedding portrait

My hands holding a flower. I've added more details to the flower since then, because I realized the flower is the focal point of the piece. It needs lots of little details to make it interesting.

This is definitely my favorite. The trail is one I took when I was climbing natural bridge and the lighting was incredible. It was really hard to try to recreate all the lights and darks in pencil.

Civil War soldiers. My friend took this photo at a reenactment and was kind enough to let me use her picture as a reference photo. Because the people are at a distance, I couldn't get a lot of detail in it, but it still looks interesting. and the smoke/dust looks more like smoke/dust than it did before.

My uncle's barn.

I'm trying to get frames together for all these drawings now, as well as come up with names for all of them. I hate that part. I really hate that part. But, the drawings are finished at least. And, even though I accidentally requested the wrong day off for the art show, my supervisor was nice enough to work around my schedule and let me have Saturday off. So, every thing's almost finished. Maybe I'll take my camera Saturday and take some pictures.

After the election

I voted yesterday and when I came home from work I watched Fox election coverage. At first, things looked promising, but then states began to turn blue one after another. It is a disapointing outcome, but makes it even more important to pray for our country. "The king's heart is in the hand of the Lord, as the rivers of water: he turneth it whithersoever he will."

Getting out to vote...

Tomorrow is Election Day 2008. It's an important election -- so important that it's hard not to worry about the outcome. While McCain may not be as conservative as some would want him to be, Obama's liberal beliefs are coming through more and more. "Spread the wealth"?? Their tax plans and economic policies are somewhat beyond me and given how different people give different interpretations of what they will mean I can't rely too much on that, but I do realize that Obama is for huge tax increases and redistribution of wealth. Most importantly, he is pro-choice. Boundless has convinced me lately that taxes, economics, environment, foreign policies -- while these might all be important issues, they are nothing in comparison to the issue of abortion. We need to vote for the candidate who is pro-life, who will vote to overturn Roe v. Wade. There are questions about whether McCain is pro-life enough, but Obama is adamantly pro-choice.

I have to work tomorrow, but I will be getting up and leaving early so that I can cast my vote for president. As an American, it is our duty to vote. As a Christian, we should pray for our country, but not worry about the outcome of tomorrow. The Lord has America and the whole world in His hands.