Thanksgiving Activities

You know, when you don't have a house full of people, Thanksgiving can get pretty busy.  This was my day:

Woke up at the regular time, dawdled for awhile and headed over to the rescue to lend a hand.  Good thing because an order of bird toys had arrived.  I spent a couple of hours going back and forth between rooms, cleaning cages, hanging new toys, and salvaging parts from old toys (in case they can be re-used).  Karen is my friend because she knew I was out of town when the order was placed, but she picked up some extras of our favorites for me.  Bird toys are really expensive, so one should really not miss an opportunity to pick some up wholesale.

At 10:30 or so, I stopped at Starbucks.  Businesses that are open on the holiday make me really happy.  The strip mall by my house was absolutely packed.  It looked like the Jewel, Starbucks, McDonalds, and Einstein Bagels were all open.  I placed my order and went over to the pick up counter.  The guy asked if I wanted whipped cream on my drinks.  I declined and thanked him for asking.  Then I said, "In case no one has told you today, I really appreciate that you are working on the holiday."

He paused.  "...Um.  No.. No one has said that to me today.  Thanks."

That's really too bad.

I went home, grabbed the newspaper wih the Black Friday ads and went upstairs to plan some strategy.  I found the one for Michael's, the craft store.  Open from 5pm to 9pm tonight and 30% off your entire purchase.  Right when every one was eating.  And then ready to die from being stuffed.

But wait.  There are only two of us.  We can eat whenever we want. 

I convinced my mother to cook the turkey early.  We were still watching the Lions game when we sat down.  (Note:  Whatever the outcome, that was a good game.  I don't want to hear any more of this debate about booting the Lions from the Thanksgiving program.)  And had already placed a Christmas order on Amazon.

Then I took a nap.  Ha.

I got to Michael's a few minutes after five.  There were people, but it wasn't too bad a crowd.  I still managed to spend nearly an hour wandering around.  I filled a basket with supplies and went to check out.  I started hearing the manager shouting orders to people - mostly about how to manage coupons and how much worse it would be tomorrow.  I also thanked the lady at the register for working on the holiday.  Can I tell you?  Her face lit up. 

About that time I started hearing mothers yelling at children and was ready to leave.

Anne's Law:  Black Friday is not for amateurs or children.  Leave the kids at home tomorrow.

Walking back to my car, I saw that Steak and Shake was open.  (Yeah, yeah.  Of course Steak and Shake was open.)  I drove through and picked up a couple of peppermint chip milk shakes.  Again, I told the drive through guy that I appreciated his working on the holiday.  Again, it was clear that no one else had said as much to him today.

Moral of the Story:

Seriously, gang.  Tomorrow, when the whole world goes insane, please say something nice to the staff.  They are having a longer, harder day than you are.  And they aren't being paid enough for it.