Today the circus came to town...and they all wanted pictures taken.
Yes, ladies and gents, the circus has returned, scheduled to run through our store like a bunch of wild turkeys until Christmas. Of course...today marked the beginning of the first DIGITAL circus i've had the pleasure to take part in, which has it's own, unique set of issues to handle. What to do when the trapezes freeze. What to do when the lion's roar wont upload. What to do when there just arn't enough damned rings on the floor or clowns in the car. Alas, we survived...for now. It was a long day, dear readers, but we survived.

When I finally managed to escape the circus, I found Chris and the car waiting for me in the parking lot. Huzzah! We got home, finally got our turkey (which may or may not develop some sort of poisoning agent because it won't fit in the fridge, so it HAS to defrost at room temperature), ordered some chinese (because we haven't spent enough money on food for JUST tomorrow), watched some Growing Pains, and buckled down to work like pilgrim shoes! We chopped, we sliced, we boiled, and we decorated. I must say, this place looks pretty festive. This is probably the most I've ever looked forward to Thanksgiving. Of course, our 6 has turned to 4...and we have enough to feed 10...but that means I get to be creating about how many different ways we can eat leftovers before we OD on triptophan.

Well, my eyelids are getting heavier and heavier...and tomorrow is gonna be a big day. I'm trying to not even think about Friday or Saturday....or the rest of next week. I didn't get my day off for Wednesday, which is something I'll go into further later. For now, goodnight, and Happy Thanksgiving! Count your blessings twice today!

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Where to start!
Ok, Thursday we woke up and started preparations for Thanksgiving, watched the Macy's parade, and waited for Chris' mom to come over. Several hours, lots of dirty pots and pans, a little improvisation, and an oven fire later we finally got to eat! It was a really good dinner, albeit a little late, which means we have quite a bit of dessert sitting around. Our apartment looked splendid, and nothing says "happy holidays!" like a John Waters film. However, because we were so late eating, by the time dinner was finished and Chris' mom opened her birthday presents it was getting after 11pm, so I tried to go to bed. I ended up not being able to sleep until Chris was in bed, which wasn't until 1am or so. Now, this wouldn't have been a problem had we not planned on getting up at 2:45am to head out for some Black Friday craziness.

2:45 the alarm went off. 3am we headed to Best Buy with the intention of getting a camcorder for $132. 3:45am I lost feeling in my hands. 4am they started handing out vouchers to get the deeply discounted items. 4:45am we left because we didn't get a voucher. 5am we headed back home because I realized I'd left my wallet at home. 5:45 am we got in line at Target. 6am we finally got to enter a retail business establishment! We got our camcorder for a little more than it was at Best Buy, but still nicely discounted. I also got my stained glass snowman light! I say one of my managers in line at Target, which was pretty neat. From Target we headed to the mall where we got McBreakfast, and I got at least 80% of my list taken care of, and I even got my jewelry box! (Maybe Chris will get me something nice and shiny to put in it? hah) When the box started to cut off circulation to my fingers we lugged it out to the car, and Chris came home to sleep because the lucky bastard had yesterday off.

Then it was time for work. Running on an hour or so of sleep, at 9am I walked into the studio for what would be a long day. It was chaotic, it was long, and the mall must have been 90degrees because everyone was overheated and sweating (even customers), but it still wasn't too bad. I was surprisingly alert and awake for having been up and running for so long. In fact, I was too awake to crash and sleep as I'd planned when I got home, so we headed BACK to Best Buy to get another item I wanted but hadn't felt like fighting the 5am crowd for. Chris looked at MP3 players, but he didn't get one, so we headed over to Walmart to see if they had any on sale. They didn't, but we did end up getting some nice Christmas stuff to decorate with! We also found the ornaments and lights we want for our tree and balcony, but we'll have to get those next week. As it stands, I've got about $4 in my account. yesterday was payday, so I've got another 2 weeks to be close to penniless. It was probably not the best idea to spend my ENTIRE paycheck on presents and a much needed new cd/dvd drive for my computer, but if I hadn't done it yesterday I would've never been able to afford a gift for everyone on my list. As it is, I've only got four people left! But I digress...We left Walmart, headed to Best Buy for the third time that day, and finally got Chris his MP3 player!

About that time we were both cold and broke. Chris had slept all day so he was about as tired as he would've normally been, but I was seriously starting to crash. I had reached delerious about the time we got to Best Buy, so it was time to come home...and I slept until I had to get up for work this morning.

Today didn't have to be stressful or frustrating. Were we busy? Yes. Were we running all day? Yes, but I can handle all that. I thrive on that. I focus better when there's chaos. It brings my head together. What I didn't need was to be lectured by my manager when there was absolutely nothing else I could've done to make the sitting better. I did my best, I worked my ass off, and the parents were not only realistic about what they would get but also highly impressed that I DID managed to get what I did. I don't even mind criticism, but calling me sloppy, interrupting me when I tried to explain, and talking to me like I either did it on purpose with lots of other options or like I don't know how to do my job was infuriating. I was really close to just walking out. Luckily, I like what I do for the most part, and I need a job. So I had my mini breakdown in the bathroom, sucked it up, and went on with my day. That particular family complimented me to the girl who showed the pictures, so that made me feel a little better, too. The rest of the day went pretty well, so I was able to refocus and eventually I was in a pretty good mood.

Tomorrows my day off. We talked about going to visit Chris' grandparents, who I have yet to meet, but I'm not sure what we're doing. Tonight we're putting up the Christmas stuff we have. I think we're going to try the butter toffee hot chocolate we bought the other night, too!

So, anyone who's still reading this gets a blue star for the evening...sorry for the novel. Heh. Have a good Saturday night all!

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