Thank you so much for a wonderful year to all those who have helped me buying, or reviewing my books. Thank you for your encouragement. Thank you for giving a love for reading to people around you. Thank you for good memories.

‘Tis the season for giving.  I haven’t been shopping on Black Friday in so many years I can’t count them. When my children were little (really little) my mother-in-law would spend Thanksgiving at our house. She would offer to babysit while I hit the stores for Christmas gifts and Christmas décor. I found great deals galore.

I never camped overnight, or went first thing, but I have gotten up at the crack of dawn and gotten to the store early. This year with the big hoopla over Black Friday – the controversy, working or not working on Thanksgiving —  Workers in hospitals, fire stations, and police stations will tell you there are good and bad things about working holidays. But from polls on Facebook I could see that the main thing is the double and sometimes time and a half-pay that people who work holidays get. I went black Friday shopping, on Black Friday.

I’d seen the sewing machine advertised in the paper. I looked on Amazon. Wow, this Brother model had great reviews. And the Wal-Mart price was close to $200 cheaper than the original sales price. Wow, a computerized Brother machine for $99. Such a great price.

I used to sew. But having a machine that would jam every time I used it was frustrating. That was thirty years ago. I haven’t had a machine in thirty years. I wouldn’t even be thinking about this except that I found quilt tops that my grandmother had pieced together in 1980. One of those quilt tops is crib size. And I have a new grandson. Soooo…

I went into Wal-Mart about 9:30 on Friday morning. The parking lot was nearly empty. I’ve never seen a Wal-Mart parking lot so empty. I parked up near the door. I went to the sewing machine aisle, seeing no shoppers on my way. There was no Brother $99 sewing machine. Bummer! There was one that looked like the one in the paper for $129. Hmmm. I found a sales associate to ask if there were any of the $99 ones in the back. She looked at the sewing machine sales tabs on the shelves and sort of shrugged. Then she said, “Wait a minute. I thought I saw…” And she walked to the end of the aisle, smiled and pointed. There was a huge stack of the $99 machines. I was shocked, but I bought one and exited the store.

A nicely dressed woman in the parking lot stopped me and asked me if she could ask a question. Now, if you’re like me, you don’t mind talking, but not necessarily to strangers in parking lots. She quickly showed me a badge that I couldn’t read and she said she was with The Wall Street Journal. I found that highly unlikely but thought I would go along. She asked me good questions though. Mainly, what did I think about this Black Friday sales day? I told her I was shocked there were no people in the store, no cars in the parking lot, and it sure didn’t feel like a Black Friday shopping day. A lady pulled her car up as we were talking and asked us if Black Friday was over. That’s how bad that empty parking lot looked. Ha.

I got home and discovered that the lady in the parking lot was following me on Twitter. Holy Moly! She really was   journalist.  What?? Thank you, Erin Ailworth!

So here is the article in the wall street journal It’s a great article AND my name is mentioned.  https://t.co/FolZdXfdFk  Whoot!

Happy Getting-All-Prepared-For-The-Holidays!!