Charcoal Gray Saturday

Yesterday I did what I haven't dared do in a long, long time: I braved the Black Friday crowds and went shopping at 5 a.m. in pursuit of a really good deal on... dishes.

We have a still-useful set of Corelle dishes that we've enjoyed for years, but we had to give it up because it was service for eight, and with six people in the family (one of which doesn't believe in small plates, coughBagelcough, and several of which have found ways of breaking unbreakable Corelle dishes) there just weren't enough dishes. But we didn't have enough money to purchase Corelle service for 12 or to update our set (which had been discontinued years ago), so we went to IKEA in search of a temporary solution.

IKEA, as it turned out, had some insanely cheap sets with service for six that included a large dinner plate and two sizes of bowl, so I bought two of them figuring they'd tide us over till we had enough spare money to buy Corelle service for 12. Well, I was soooo wrong. Within days the kids had started breaking the dishes, and soon we were back to service for eight. I went back to IKEA figuring I'd just pick up another of these cheap sets, but they didn't have any more. They had the bowls, but not the plates. I picked up some more bowls.

So it was that we decided that with our Christmas money we would get some new dishes. We priced around and figured that if we got a good price, we could get service for 12 with the money we had allotted. Then we saw the Shopko ad: a deal so great on Corelle that we could get service for 16 with the same budget. It was too good to pass up, especially considering that it was only a matter of time before the kids broke the unbreakable.

Black Friday was almost everything I'd hoped to avoid: a line to get into the store that went around the corner, crowds of people, gridlock in the aisles. (The one nice thing about doing Black Friday in Logan is that when people bump into each other they apologize, and no one shoves.) There was virtually no one in Housewares; FH went to Electronics and had a very different experience. I found the dish sets without any trouble, and it just so happened there were exactly two of the service-for-eight sets that were on sale, so I got them both. Getting back was another story altogether. The store had been partitioned off with displays and stacks of soda 12-packs so that it became a maze; the girls' clothing section had only one tiny entrance. FH finished in Electronics before I got back over to him, so he was already in line to check out. We were in and out in about an hour.

Later I went to the best toy store in the universe, Magical Moon Toys. I won't say what I bought there because Princess reads my blog. But I will say that I spent plenty of money there. ;)

Now it is the Saturday after Black Friday, which I suppose should be called Charcoal Gray Saturday since it is almost as busy a shopping day as Black Friday. And if I can get a free minute when the kids aren't peeking over my shoulder going "Whatcha lookin' at on the computer, Mommy?" I'll finish the shopping on Amazon.