black friday luck

I never participated in Black Friday before my husband.  Since we were married, however, we have not missed a year.

This year, however, was the perfect storm for not going . . . very little money to spend + getting up at 5 am on Thanksgiving to prepare the meal + a sick husband = "sleeping in" until the kids got up at 7 am on Black Friday.

I didn't even look at the ads until this morning at about 9 am.

And that's when I noticed that JoAnn's had their flannel prints on sale for $1.29 per yard (and my troublemakers need pajamas!)

So, I tried to get the kids all dressed, fed, and set up with a movie as quickly as possible, and then left them in the care of their still ill father while I ran out to see what was left.

I had heard that the line for the cut counter at JoAnn's on the day after Thanksgiving is long, but this was ridiculous!  They have a "Take A Number" dispenser, and on a day like today, it had been loaded not only with the numbers 1-100, but they were alpha-numeric. 

I pulled a number: D52.

The current customer: C18.  More than 130 people in front of me.  (sigh.)

I started asking around.  People had been there for four hours just waiting for fabric to be cut!!

So, while I decided whether or not to stick it out, I wandered the aisles.  That's when I saw it on the shelf.

I looked down, blinked, and then picked it up.

I apparently wasn't the only one who thought about throwing the towel in when I found out how long the wait was because I was staring at ticket #C21!!

What luck!  I skipped my way back to the cut counter and waited a mere five more minutes to have my fabrics cut.

I then hurried up to the front of the store to check-out.  That line was not so lucky, but it was good for a laugh.

When you're in a line for 30 minutes, you tend to talk to the people around you.  Turns out, the two older mature ladies in front of me had ventured out on Black Friday to buy sewing needles and bobbins, neither of which was on sale.

I giggled a little as I thought, "You have to be a special kind of stupid desperate to wait in line for 30 minutes for needles and bobbins!!"

The good news is that I got enough flannel to make 7 sets of pajamas for just over $20, which comes out to less than $3 per set!!  Score!