would you like to save 10% on your purchase today by signing up for a target red card?

this is one of the things i hate the most about target. well, besides the fact that they have 20 check out lanes and only 2 open. sometimes only one. even with long lines. i digress...

but i hate it when they ask you all the time if you'd like to apply for a credit card. no, we already have one thank you, one that was maxed, one that the apr was about 22.9%, one that we PAID OFF about 5 months ago. no, i really don't want to save $20 on my purchase when i'll be paying $10 a month in interest. no thank you, we really don't want another target red card.

i don't ususally get into that kind of conversation when they ask the simple question, but that is what rambles through my mind. (although after we paid it off we were asked if we'd like a credit card and i told the lady, "nope, we had one that we just paid off and we definitely don't want to go down that road again!" i hope i wasn't too rude to her.)

so black friday morning i was at target when the doors opened (actually before they opened and got to stand in line), easily made my way through the store, snagged the items i wanted and was headed for the checkout in no time. they even had seven lanes open. i don't think i've ever seen that many open at one time. (yes, i stopped to count.) i chose the express lane and was greeted by a nice lady that was probably in her 60s. i'll call her marge. as we were chatting she mentioned that she was nervous because she was from a different store and that the computers were a little different and she wasn't used to them.

as she was finishing scanning all my items i swiped my debit card and signed for my purchases thinking i would shortly be on my way to the next store.

nope.

marge looked at me and asked, "would you like to save 10% on your purchase today by signing up for a target red card?"
me - "no thank you."
marge - "ok." she said, smiling. then she hit a button looked at the screen for a minute and said "ohhhhh....... oh no....... uh oh.... OH NOOO......"
she started pushing some different buttons and then found a credit card application, scanned something on it, asked for my driver's license and scanned it, asked me what my address was, then handed me the application brochure, looked at me with appologetic eyes and said, "just throw it away."

uggghhhhhh. so apparently she had pushed the yes i'd like a credit card button on accident and had to go through the whole process. meanwhile the lines were backing up behind me. i didn't dare look, but i could see the impatient people out of the corner of my eye.

then marge asked me to sign something on the credit card thingy. (what's that called anyway?) but there was nothing to sign. it stated that i had already completed my transaction. so marge was stuck. she was pushing buttons on the computer, flipped her light so that she could get some help, and just kind of looked around unknowingly. poor marge. finally the lady from the cafeteria - let's call her pat - came over to help.

**side note - why is the cafeteria opened at 6:15 on black friday morning? are they having a popcorn special that people don't want to miss out on?**

so pat and marge discussed what was happening and pat asked me for my i.d. again. so i gave it to her and she went through the whole process of scanning, swiping, and asking again.
pat looked at my license and asked me, "is your first name erin?"
me - "yes."
pat - "is your last name k***?"
me - "yes...?" can you seriously not see it on my license?
pat - "is your address blah blah blah?"
me - "yes......."

she finally got done with all that and asked me to sign on the credit card thingy again. "it says my transaction is complete. i already swiped my card and signed it," i said. so pat started pushing a bunch of buttons and got stuck again!!!

finally i looked at pat and said "is there no way you can get out of this because i don't want the credit card."
pat - "oh, you don't?"
me - "no!" (laughingly, not rude.)
she pushed some more buttons and after a couple more minutes my receipt finally printed out - my ticket to leave the store! after the 15 minute fiasco i quickly took the receipt, did not even dare to glance at the line behind me, and swiftly got out of the store!

and to think i went back there today...!

thanksgiving by the numbers

6:30 - the time my alarm went off so i could stick the turkey in the oven before going back to bed.

8 - the number of things i made for dinner.

2.5 - how many hours the turkey had been done by the time we ate.

12 - how many people were at our house throughout the day.

80 - how hot (in farenheit degrees) our house was.

0 - the number of stressful minutes i had during the day! seriously!

240 - minutes spent looking through the black friday ads.

2 - how many hours of sleep i got last night.

6 - hours spent battling the crowds shopping this morning.

14 - the number of items i bought today that i will be returning.

359 - days until we do this all over again!


i must say i had a wonderful thanksgiving day. this is the first year we hosted ben's side of the family. i had dreams that the turkey didn't get done and that we ran out of food. but the reality was that the turkey was done way early (it wasn't dry though, thankfully!) and we had tons of food left over! as i was getting ready for the day i was missing my family and wishing i could be with them. then as everyone showed up i realized i was with my family! i am so blessed to have in-laws that i love and get along with! i had such an enjoyable day with everyone!

we had a relaxed day. we the men watched the football game, we played a couple games, spent hours looking through the ads, and all but two people played guitar hero. by the time everyone left it was the kids' bedtime. sweet quietness!

the past 4 years ben and his brother tommy and a bunch the nephews and family camp out at best buy most of thanksgiving afternoon and through the night. they decided not to do that this year since there were no good deals and they really didn't want anything so instead they went to walmart at midnight to see if they could get anything then or if they had to wait till 5am. by the time ben got home it was after 1am. i was still looking through the ads, then ben started his quest of ordering stuff online. it was 3am when i got to sleep, 4am when ben got to bed, and 5am when my alarm went off. i was out the door by 5:20 and went to target, walmart, kohl's (wow... i'm definitely not a kohl's lover. walked in and out in a matter of 5 minutes!), gordman's, and kmart and was home by 9am. then we all ventured out again at 10! it was so nice to go shopping by myself! the crowds weren't too bad (except at kohl's!) and it was great that the kids were sleeping the whole time so that i didn't feel like i had to hurry home!

i had a tiring but fun day. hopefully by monday i'll be recovered and ready to get back into the groove of things. i hope you all had a fun, safe, and happy thanksgiving!

ben's first time carving a turkey. you did a great job hun!

ben's brother tommy and his daughter kasey.

kasey and her boyfriend josh.

friend casey, ben's mom debbie (yes, playing the drums!) and step dad mike.

debbie and friend jason who is married to casey.

friend casey who is married to jason! :-)

cousins! samantha and niece karma. no, not samantha's niece, our niece! figure this out: karma's dad is tommy and her mom is casey. ;-)

ryan LOVES playing the drums! and doesn't he look soooo cute!