I survived Black Friday...barely

It took 9 hours, but I got everything on my list and at amazing prices! The following is a play by play of THE EVENT (as Walmart called it).

11:55 PM Thursday - Toys-R-Us
They opened at midnight and we naively thought we could go right before they opened and get what we needed, go home, and take a quick nap before having to be back at Sears by 4 AM.
We pulled up and boy were we wrong!!! The line of people waiting to get in was from the front door all the to the back of the parking lot, then all the way across the parking lot and back all the way back to the front and over the store next door. I tried to take pictures, but they didn't come out. SO we ditched Toys-R-Us and tried to price match what we were looking for at Walmart.

12:10 AM Friday - 1st Walmart
Everyone must have been looking for the same thing and had the same idea, cause Walmart was pretty much out of what we wanted...SO...

12:30ish AM Friday - 2nd Walmart across town
The hoard hadn't made it to this Walmart yet. We were able to price match what we needed...Little Pet Shop Stuff animals regularly between $10-$15 for $2.98. We also picked up some other items.

1:30-2:00 AM Friday - Back Home
We decided to change our plan of attack. The line outside Sears was starting to pick up and I really wanted the $19.99 King size down comforter, reg. $99.99. And the lines for the items we wanted at Walmart we also forming for the 5AM sale. So we split up.

2:30ish AM Friday - 2nd Walmart
I'm standing with a small group of people waiting for the $50.00 Rock Band (it included all the instruments). One guy had been standing there since 11PM, he wanted to get that and a game system. Those of us standing there for hours decided we would help each other when 5AM hit. But about 4:30AM 7 BIG guys showed up. I had a feeling they were gonna rush the front when the time came. And sure enough at 5AM they rushed/pushed forward. My foot got step on, ran over or both, I'm still not sure. I got shoved forward and almost fell and somewhere my knee ended up bruised, but came out a victor! Unfortunately, I couldn't get back in pile to grab one for the lady behind me like we had planned on. I felt so bad and she seemed SOOO disappointed, but understood. All this happened in about 30 sec - a manager lady tried to step in and tell everyone to back off and she would pass things out, but it was too late, everything was gone! I ran into the guy who had been in line since 11PM, he only was able to get half of what he wanted because he got pushed over. It was insanity! That was first time I ever experienced anything like that during Black Friday. Walmart did have tickets for items they thought would be HOT, but I don't think they thought this Rock Band would be one of them.

While I was in Walmart waiting for 5AM, Wendy went to Sears for the down comforters. She said in the 30 secs it took her to walk through the door to where the comforters were, there were only 2 left. Thanks again Wendy for getting me one.

My mom also had a battle in Walmart for $3 PJs.

Even with all that, we made it out of Walmart by 5:10AM.

Then we went to the Fred Myer 50% off sock sale. I got LOTS of socks. It's the only time of year I buy socks : )

We ended up splitting up again and we were pretty much done by 9AM Friday. The few things I wasn't about to pick up at the store, I was able to find online at amazon.com for amazing prices!

We were awake for 36 hours, 9 hours of which was battling crowds. Let me tell, you I was exhausted!!! But I got some great deals and had fun!

Oh PS...I lost my voice too!