free4rms
freely admits to licking rocks
My little pet walrus
Member since January 2007
Posts: 839
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Post by free4rms on Dec 21, 2010 8:46:34 GMT -5
Today's winner is straight out of the mouth of babes. I really loved amyk's story about the child who completely forgot he had a sibling.. either that or didn't think to highly of him/her. I am sure that story will be told around the table for years to come. Send me you address and watch the mailbox. Whew! It is getting hard to think of new questions every day. Believe it or not, that is the hardest part of running this contest. If any previous winners have any question ideas, pm me with them. Ok, how about this: What is your worst/best shopping experience when searching for Christmas presents? It could be the best or worst for any reason whatsoever, so think hard on this one. Here is the prize for today to inspire you, a nice pendant made from fossil wood from Madagascar, electroformed in 18kt gold.  Vance |
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Post by sbreed on Dec 21, 2010 10:00:51 GMT -5
OK, I can chime in on this one two with no explanation needed! I had 3 young girls in the 'Cabbage Patch Doll' craze. Can you say "INSANE"?
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bdport
off to a rocking start
Member since September 2010
Posts: 13
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Post by bdport on Dec 21, 2010 11:06:27 GMT -5
Ok Ill jump in here :-)
Very generous contest,Thank You.
My kids are 12 and 15 so I did the Elmo and Furby thing...fun fun.
People are just nuts in the stores at this time of the year.
Every year we host a friends and (certain)Family Christmas party at our home in December.
This particular year we had redecorated our entire family room.
We had ordered a sectional couch a month earlier and assured that it would be on time for the party.
Well it was "on-time" I suppose.....12 min before our first guest arrived!
This is the short version...the long version includes the ever increasing frantic calls to the manufacturer as our day approached.The repeated promised/failed deliveries.The time off work to sit home for no reason.The discussions on possible family bringing their own couch...uggh.Put a dark cloud on the season.
In the end we had a great party.....Dark cloud lifted....the delivery guys did not get Eggnog.
(yes, it was partially their fault)
Thanks for listening,
Brian
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adrian65
Cave Dweller 
Arch to golden memories and to great friends.
Member since February 2007
Posts: 10,790
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Post by adrian65 on Dec 21, 2010 12:25:07 GMT -5
Some 15 years ago, when the supermarket system started to be present here, they opened the first super-market in Bucharest a couple of weeks before Christmas.
We didn't go right when it was opened, 'cause we expected to be crowded but after a week we decided to go to do some Christmas shopping.
Being a new thing here at that time, we still had to wait in a line for some half an hour just to get a cart to be able to enter the store.
Funny thing back then we had a pleasant surprise as we didn't have to wait for long at the exit to pay, all the cashier machines were open. Since then, many other supermarkets appeared, there's no problem at the entrance any more but they tend to open only a few of the endless row of cashier machines and the waiting time could be as long as we firstly waited for the cart.
Adrian
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colliel82
has rocks in the head
Member since November 2007
Posts: 664
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Post by colliel82 on Dec 21, 2010 14:29:52 GMT -5
We buy Christmas themed gifts after Christmas the year before. Dillards used to be my favorite place for this. There is always a huge mob at the door on Dec 26. One year we got in line behind a lady that had a HUGE stack of stuff. I think it came to over $1000 and took forever to ring up. She was buying stuff to resell on ebay LOL. But I got my treasures to give to friends and family the following year for 1/2 price. I know I've already won but had to share. I have really enjoyed reading everyone's stories and experiences.
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meta99
has rocks in the head
Ohio Flint Ridge flint
Member since October 2010
Posts: 540
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Post by meta99 on Dec 21, 2010 16:02:35 GMT -5
My turn (yes, I too have already won!):
About three years ago, my daughter came back from college for her first Thanksgiving after being away. On a lark, I asked her if she would like to do Black Friday (I hate to shop, she loves to!). She took me up on the offer and for the last three years we have done it. I learn all sorts of things she thinks she told me about school, deciding on majors, issues with friends, things about the boy/man friends in her life....
She gets early Christmas presents....
I get 'time with my now adult daughter'...
and as they say on the commercial....
PRICELESS!!!
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amyk
fully equipped rock polisher
I'm a slabber, I'm a cabber, I'm a midnight wrapper.
Member since January 2010
Posts: 1,331
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Post by amyk on Dec 21, 2010 17:51:17 GMT -5
Thank you for the prize for yesterday. I am glad you liked my story. However my son did not have any siblings. My brother in law was talking about his own kids. My son was just so full of himself, I guess, that he just knew that one of the special kids had to be him.
We do still laugh about that one.
Thanks again,
Amy
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amyk
fully equipped rock polisher
I'm a slabber, I'm a cabber, I'm a midnight wrapper.
Member since January 2010
Posts: 1,331
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Post by amyk on Dec 21, 2010 18:10:08 GMT -5
I know I already won, but I gotta tell this one.
3 years ago when the nintendo Wii was the present of he year and was of course in short supply, my son just had to have one. My husband FouNd out that the Target store in Flagstaff was getting 18 of them in on a Friday night 2 weeks before Christmas. So we did what any insane parents would do.
We camped out in front of Target all night. We got there at 10:00, even before the store closed and claimed the first and second spots in line. We pitched our tent after the store closed. Flagstaff got their first snow of the year that night. (Of course they did.) Slowly other people started showing up. Most of them college students. We were of course the oldest ones there in our early 50's.
It turned out to be quite a party that I would have enjoyed in my younger days. The hooka pipe that someone brought, the skim board and rope that 3 guys used to slide around in the parking lot and the great conversations. But it was cold, very very cold, 10 degrees. The tent and sleeping bags did not help. We were the only one's who thought to bring a tent.
We decided to get 2 Wii's since there was 2 of us. One for a friend in CA who couldn't find one either. Here is a helpful hint if you ever decide to do this. Bring a permanent marker with you. One of the college kids had one and he started marking numbers on the back of the hands of the people who were there once we numbered 18. This allowed us to move around more and not have to actually stay in line. To go to the gas station across the street for obvious reasons.
Once the store opened, we were all escorted back to the electronics dept. We, having number 1 and 2 on our hands, got ours first. Then the security guard asked if we wanted to be escorted to our car.
We declined an escort but were offered double what we just paid for our prizes twice on the way out. We were tempted to sell the extra one we got for our friend.
The kids were very happy on Christmas morning. (Our friend came to visit us for Christmas.)
But we vowed......NEVER AGAIN!!!!!!!!.
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free4rms
freely admits to licking rocks
My little pet walrus
Member since January 2007
Posts: 839
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Post by free4rms on Dec 21, 2010 19:20:40 GMT -5
Sorry about the confusion on the story, but now that I know it was someone who was not even talking about your son at all, that makes it every bit as funny. Yeah, he was pretty full of himself that evening. How funny...
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Post by rockrookie on Dec 21, 2010 21:12:00 GMT -5
i'm drawing blanks , Vance !
but , i sure like reading other entries .
thanks for the contests !!
and awesome prizes .
--paul
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leadhand
spending too much on rocks
Member since October 2009
Posts: 262
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Post by leadhand on Dec 21, 2010 22:39:29 GMT -5
The first year we were married I asked my wife what she wanted for Christmas. She responded with a list of possibilities. Being the new and enthusiastic husband I went out and bought every thing on the list. It took days of diligent shopping amdist the madness of the malls to find it all, but I did. I got absolutely everything on the list. Fast forward to Christmas Day ... big mistake. Apparently I was supposed to make some choices between the things on the list. Buying everything was overkill. That meant a number of years without lists and some great blunders along the way. After nearly 34 Christmases together I now get a list, but only purchase part of the list and have learned to make/buy a few other things as well.
On a side note, I'm a very slow learner ... for her 30th birthday I bought 30 dozen roses ... I thought it was romantic... she thought I was an idiot ... too much money on a gift that would be gone in a few days and she doesn't like flowers all that much any way.
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