What?!? Believe it or not, the title of my post does not have the slightest hint of sarcasm!  Walmart really DID save the day for us yesterday!  It almost makes me sorry for my many rants against Walmart and their shady practices designed to put small companies out of business…  almost sorry, but not quite there.

It all started when we decided to take the kids over to Fort Wayne, Indiana, which is about an hour away.  We pulled into a stall at the Sonic drive-thru for a light lunch and some slushies (Sonic has awesome slushies and drinks), when we realized we had forgotten my husband’s wallet, which left us without money or credit cards.  Luckily, we had picked up the mail before we left the house and brought it in the car with us.  And luckily², we had gotten a commission check in the mail.  So we braved the ‘big city’ Walmart customer service line on the Saturday after Thanksgiving to see if they would take pity on us and cash the check even without my husband’s ID.  We were gifted with even more luck when they accepted my driver’s license to cash my husband’s check, and we were able to eat lunch.  Except now it had gotten really late and we were all really hungry, so we decided to skip Sonic and go to the Golden Corral that was in the Walmart outlot instead.  If you braved my posts about our vacation diary, then you know how much we like Golden Corral.  And I’d say that the one in Fort Wayne is of the best quality out of any of the others we’ve been to.  After lunch, we took the kids to a McDonald’s Playland, but it had only one little tunnel and one small slide; prompting our 4-year-old to proclaim, “Dad, this is boring!”  But our 2-year-old loved it, and soon there were more kids to play with and everybody had lots of fun – including mom and dad since there was also a foosball table.  When we left the McDonald’s, we noticed there was a Burger King across the street (when isn’t there?), and that Burger King had a 3-story play area!  Oh, well, we had fun where we went and we can remember the BK for next time.  We quenched our thirst with drinks from Sonic, and there was a cool looking car wash next door, so we treated the kids to a car wash also -they love watching the soap, brushes, and water cascading off the car.  The second we pulled out of the wash –ding ding – our low fuel bell rang – uhoh.  My husband and I just looked at each other because it wasn’t like we had unlimited money with us.  In fact, we had spent the last of the check money at the car wash.  Thank goodness gas prices are decent these days because with the change we were able to scrape together from my wallet and the car, we had enough to get us gas to get home…  whew!  Perhaps it can even be considered a blessing in disguise.  When you compare the variety of shopping Fort Wayne offers to our hometown choice of Super Walmart and…  well, just the Super Walmart, unleashing us in a larger city with all those shopping varieties could have been disasterous to our bank account!

And by the way, the Walmart customer service line wasn’t too bad, all things considered.  Most of the line consisted of a family who had 6 kids and one on the way -wow.  And I thought I had a lot of kids!

I’m not really big on winter parades unless I’m parked in front of a TV with a mug of something warm. I imagine going somewhere warm to see them would be OK too. Today I did get to see my hometown’s holiday parade of lights. Wagons, tractors, sleighs, horses, mules, donkeys, ponies, miniature horses (which are different from ponies — so I’ve been told) and reindeer. And lights, every thing being pulled and in some cases the things doing the pulling had lights.

Armed with a large Mocha, with extra Espresso, I braved the cool evening to watch for my youngest. She was on one of the wagons with most of her show choir. They sang Christmas carols for the parade. Unfortunately, they didn’t stop long enough for a complete song. That was disappointing, but somewhat expected.

After the parade, I did get to go and see the reindeer. Wonderful creatures, reindeer. Their wide hoofs and thick fur make them ideally suited for harsh winter weather. Interesting thing about reindeer, the females also have antlers. The two reindeer in the parade were females, as the males tend to be more aggressive. Not good when small children want to pet them. Very soft fur, and extremely nice animals. Except of wanting to move their heads to all sides (to see who was around them) they made no moves to hurt anyone. Getting whapped by their antlers could be painful, but they seemed to try to avoid that. The handlers made sure to keep a decent grip on the heads too. I really like these beasties.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. (CNNMoney.com) — Wal-Mart – expected to benefit this holiday season from its deep discounting in a tough economy – had its Black Friday marred when an employee was trampled to death as thousands of people rushed through the doors at the opening of the store in Valley Stream, N.Y.

Police said the man, identified as 34-year-old Jdimytai Damour, was a temporary employee who lived in New York City’s borough of Queens.

In addition, police officials said a pregnant woman was taken to a local hospital, but was expected to be released Friday.

Video footage showed as many as a dozen people knocked to the floor in the stampede of people trying to get into the Wal-Mart store, according to Nassau County Police detective Lt. Michael Fleming. The employee was “stepped on by hundreds of people” as other workers attempted to fight their way through the crowd, Fleming said.

“We expected a large crowd this morning and added additional internal security, additional third party security, additional store associates and we worked closely with the Nassau County Police,” said Hank Mullany, Wal-Mart’s vice president for the Northeast, in a statement. “Despite all of our precautions, this unfortunate event occurred.”

“Our thoughts and prayers go out to the families of those impacted,” he added, saying the company is cooperating with authorities in their investigation. (Full story)

Around the nation, shoppers descended upon Wal-Mart (WMT, Fortune 500) en masse in hopes of scoring Black Friday discounts. From New Jersey to Dallas, there were reports of hundreds of shoppers lining up before stores opened, looking for $2 DVDs and flat-panel TVs priced just under $400.

At the Fairfax, Va., location, the scene was social. Hundreds queued up before doors opened at 5 a.m., with some having arrived the night before in order to be among the first to shop.

“We skipped Thanksgiving dinner,” said 30-year-old Arash Habiezadeh.

Wal-Mart, which operates more than 4,100 U.S. stores and 3,100 international locations, is expected to be a big winner this holiday season as its discounts resonate with budget-conscious shoppers. The company has been aggressively courting customers by lowering its prices and introducing holiday-gift sections in stores.

“Even with the economy, you’ve got to go with the deals,” said Robert Balboni of Centreville, Va., while loading his shopping cart with a 42-inch flat panel TV, a portable DVD player and a Philips 2GB MP3 player.

Wal-Mart has already shown signs of benefiting from the economic slowdown. Same-store sales, or sales at retail stores open at least a year, gained 2.4% in October, beating the company’s own forecast.

Overall, the U.S. retail sector is expected to endure one of its worst holiday seasons in years. Sales are projected to climb just 2.2%, according to the National Retail Federation, making it the weakest sales gain in six years.

Unfortunately, the holiday temp working at a Wal-Mart store near New York City drew the short straw and found out first hand what a stampede feels like.  He obviously stood in the wrong place as the thousands of shoppers stormed the store at 5AM on Friday morning.  I worked at a Wal-Mart store for 6 years and only once had the pleasure of witnessing the mad rush enter the store in search of items at ridiculously low prices.  What got me was the fact that once the employee was down, the herd did not stop but kept on going.  When the store decided to shut down for rest of the day to investigate, shoppers were indifferent.  Some had been standing in line since Thursday morning.  All this for a $9.00 Incredible Hulk DVD?

While I worked at a Wal-Mart, I had a very good friend who actually volunteered to unlock the door to release the hounds.  Most brave on her part.  Now, the last I knew, she is the Manager of the Automotive Department.

I learned of the tragedy on Friday when I ran into another person whom I worked with.  She had just heard it on the news.  There was also a pregnant woman who was knocked down and taken to be examined; however, she and the baby were uninjured.  Perhaps taylhis was right in not venturing out into the battlefield?

Those days between Thanksgiving and Christmas were a blur. Seemed like non-stop travel from home to hospital, or home to in-laws. When my wife was released and scheduled for cancer treatments, she had to stay within an hour of the Ann Arbor Hospital. Our house did not meet that restriction, so she stayed with her parents. So between work (we still weren’t accepting the forgone conclusion), taking care of the girls we would drive to see her often. Ann Arbor is about 2 hours away, her parents 1 hour. That meant a lot of time in the car. Often in very poor weather. It became a blur. Very few days stick out in my mind. I remember the blur.

The stretch of 23 between Toledo and Ann Arbor has been in my nightmares. I saw that road too many times during that month. I’ve had dreams of car crashes, getting lost or stranded on that section of road. It was not a road I traveled often before that November/December, but it became one to avoid if at all possible. It brings up memories of the Blur.

This evening, I went with my family to watch the Santa parade here in town.  One of the nieces was somehow scared to death of Santa until grandpa took her up.  Then you could not get her away.  While we waited for the free photos to develop we watched the junior high band play carols in the fire hall (my oldest niece is now in the 7th GRADE).

Following the festivities, we went back to the house and learned that The Polar Express was playing on network television.  Once again, if you want to watch a good movie watch it on video with out the butchering and commercials.  The movie is fast becoming a holiday classic and a tradition as has the book by Chris Van Allsburg.  It tells the story of a doubting boy who boards a magical train on Christmas Eve and travels to the North Pole and Santa’s home.  On the train, the boy meets a trio of other children each of whom have a specific reason for being on the journey.  On the trip, the quartet have a series of adventures inside, outside, and on top of the train.  I loved the idea behind the personalized tickets… each passenger is given a ticket which eventually reveals something meaningful.

My favorite character is the lonely young boy who in his own words claims that “Christmas just doesn’t work out for me.”  The hero boy, hero girl, and lonely boy sing a beautiful number entitled “When Christmas Comes to Town.”

Plus, the coolest actor ever has at least 5 roles in the movie.  When you watch it, pay close attention and see how many roles you can hear Tom Hanks give voice to.  It is just a beautiful film to watch every year while you prepare to celebrate the most joyous time of the year and believe in what can and, more importantly, what you can’t see… that which is in your heart.  After all… The thing about trains… It doesn’t matter where they’re going.  What matters is deciding to get on.

The Polar Express (Selections from the Motion Picture) Music by Alan Silvestri, Glen Ballard. Songbook for voice, piano and guitar (chords only). 72 pages. Published by Alfred Publishing. (AP.PFM0428) See more info…

So you don’t know what to ask your wealthy friends and family members for for Christmas.  Well, how about Indiana Jones’s whip or fedora from Temple of Doom?  Or how about that light saber used by Mark Hamill in the original Star Wars movie?  Now you know why I said wealthy friends and family, because no ordinary person is going to be able to afford these things, but if you are one of those who can, the auction is December 11.  There are some things for ordinary mortals too (though still starting at $1000 for most), but don’t expect to get some of the more famous stuff including the above mentioned items for less than 100 grand, and no- the chocolate bar won’t work as payment. 😛

The place to find more information is Profiles in History and what to look for there is Hollywood Auction 33.  Besides the two films above by Mr. Lucas, you can find items from films like Harry Potter, Gremlins, Men in Black, Terminator, and many more.  What are you waiting for?  Go and check it out.  Be sure to get something to catch that drool first…  The first bunch of items are photos, but after those the good stuff starts.  I downloaded the catalog at 24 megs, but you can view the lots on the web too.  Indiana Jones starts at lot 368.  Star Wars at 346.

Another Thanksgiving weekend is upon us, and so far it’s been wonderful for us.  Thanksgiving dinner was deliciously cooked by my husband and our guests who were kind enough to bring yummy dishes to share.  We played some games afterwards and watched the movie “21” -not very Thanksgiving-y, but a good movie nonetheless.  The night before Thanksgiving, my husband and I watched some Thanksgiving episodes of Friends – I think I had forgotten how funny that show was.  It’s strange because now when we watch Friends episodes, we are older than the Friends, whereas when the show was still running new in prime time, the friends were older than us…  oh well, yet another example of how time flies.  Over the turkey last night, we also did our tradition where we go around the table and say what we’re thankful for – and my ever-generic answer was the same as some of my friends, “I am most thankful for my family and friends.”  It may be a generic response, but it’s very true, and I am very blessed to have such a wonderful family (my husband and kids and our relatives who live far away – we hope everyone had a wonderful day) and such great friends.

So now, Black Friday is upon us, and I was able to convince my husband to not go shopping.  Every year, he wants to get up at the crack of dawn, if not before, and go wait in the lines to see the best sales stores have to offer.  But I’m never very enthused, mostly because we have 4 children under the age of 9.  I keep telling him to put it on his “when our kids aren’t so little” list, although I have one that’s lengthy enough for the both of us.  It’d be nice if one year we could get a babysitter for Black Friday so we wouldn’t have to wake all the kids up, but until that happens, I’m not willing to lose the sleep myself or have the kids lose it either.  So today for Black Friday, I’ve already had my first turkey-and-leftover sandwich, and we’re going to take the kids to see Bolt (our two oldest girls are excited to hear the voicework of Miley Cyrus) at the movie theater with a friend and her grandkids.  We haven’t been to a movie in forever.  I just hope our 2-year-old can behave.  After the movie, we’ll walk across the street for dinner, and then we’ll go see if Santa’s reindeer have arrived on the square before we get our spots to watch the parade.  Every year on the day after Thanksgiving, our town has a parade celebrating Santa’s arrival.  They bring real reindeer to the square, and everyone lines the streets in anticipation of seeing Santa Claus come to town.  His sleigh is pulled by huge beautiful horses, and last year, Santa called out hello to us and knew us by name!  When Santa reaches the town square, a few lucky children get to push the big button that turns on the Christmas lights on the square, and everyone cheers as they sip their complimentary cups of hot chocolate.  It’s like something out of a cheesy holiday movie, and I relish every minute of it.  I don’t know who is more excited today -me or the kids!  I love small town life!  And right now, as I’m writing this, I just saw Santa’s sleigh (covered of course) get pulled down our street with a golf cart!  I excitedly yelled out, but thank goodness the kids didn’t come down here in time to see it – I think it’d be better for them to see it for the first time in the parade.  It was exciting for me to see though!

I’m not sure what the rest of the weekend holds, but I do know that I get twice as much time with my husband and kids as a normal weekend, and for that I’m also very thankful.  I hope everyone else had a wonderful holiday!

Day 1 is almost finished. 5 years ago today, I found out that my wife had terminal cancer. We knew it was cancer before that day, but we didn’t know anything about the kind of cancer. At the University of Michigan Medical Center we found out it was a very rare aggressive cancer, most likely terminal.

This day five years ago put a gray shadow on the Thanksgivings that were to follow.

I don’t care what people say, time does not heal all wounds. Time makes some wounds bearable.

Well I did make it through the day. Actually had a relaxing time. Spending time with people/family who knew my wife and were not afraid to bring her into the conversation of the day helped.

We didn’t have a traditional Thanksgiving meal. There was no turkey or dressing. The mashed potatoes were part of a Shepard’s Pie. Breads of all kinds filled the table. There was plenty of food and even more conversation.

I had a long talk with my dear wife’s parents. They do treat me well. Saw two of my four daughters. One is still many states away, the other spent the day with her future husband’s family. That is the way life goes. Families grow and the young leave the nest. This really isn’t a sad time for me, I’m proud to see my children grow and become adults.

So there are things to be thankful for after all

Good night folks.

This is the long-awaited post (by some anyway) that details the uncanny coincidences of ride break-downs we encountered while in Orlando, Florida.  Here is a list of the following rides that stalled or broke down while fellow blogger jamiahsh was along.  Not to blame him, but…   😉

Epcot:  Spaceship Earth, the boat ride in Mexico, the boat ride in Norway – not only did the boat stall during the ride, but also, after we exited the boat, the doors at the end of the ride failed to open, trapping us and the 4-5 boat-fulls after us!

Universal Studios – The Mummy – got stuck where the ride gets “hot”, the Simpsons ride, Cat in the Hat ride

Magic Kingdom – Carousel of Progress glitched, Peter Pan’s Flight, Haunted Mansion, Pirates of the Caribbean (multiple times), Snow White

 We’ve been to Disney World lots of times, and although we’ve been involved in rides stalling and getting backed up, it’s never happened with the frequency of this year when jamiahsh was with us.  Therefore, the phenomonon of him “breaking the rides” is a running joke of sorts, and that’s why I had to make a post of it.  Break-downs aside, a fun trip was had by all, and the uncanny ride luck jamiahsh had is now merely blog fodder – and that’s always fun.

Round two started around 5.30 when my mother’s brother and sister and their children and children’s children arrived.  By the end, we probably had 25-30 people in the house.  We keep talking about renting out the local hall or church basement (prolly impossible for the church I think our organist has a life time resevation for Thanksgiving).  My uncle’s wife has a gathering where they had 109 people earlier this afternoon.  So, while we were watching Chad enjoy his traditional Dallas Cowboy game (in which the Dallas Drug Cartel disposed of the Seattle Seahawks 34-9 unlike the Lions who are perennial favorites of other members of the family).

My cousin, his wife, and myself discussed the many flavors of Jones Pure Sugar Cane soda.  Carla has had the regular varieties but has never had the opportunity to tast the many holiday flavored delights.  Who wants to drink Christmas Tree flavored beverages?  More food, lots of desserts (too MUCH dessert) and lots of laughs and planning for the newly arrived holiday season.  Who is going shopping during the Black Friday merriment?  I have to be at work at 6.45, so I decided to miss the game night that was planned.  I hope you all had a great day remembering all the blessings bestowed upon you and yours in the past year and that you endulged heartily.  Apparently, I did as many have commented after the digestion process began.