by Ashley
Hi all! Any Black Friday shoppers out there? I don’t know how the frugal living/getting out of debt folks of the world feel about Black Friday. In past years I always saw it as more of an ‘adult’ thing (i.e., getting items you want for cheaper than usual). But now that I’m a parent I’ve started really noticing how many parents rely on Black Friday shopping in order to afford their kids’ Christmas presents. We did not do any Black Friday shopping this year (in fact, I have never ever done a Black Friday in my life), but I do think that if gifts are budgeted for and planned in advance (so there is cash available), Black Friday may not be so bad. I still don’t know how I feel about fighting the crowds, but it may be something I consider in future years in order to get the girl’s gifts for a good deal.
I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving yesterday and ate tons of yummy food!
Our day ended up being pretty packed!
My Dad’s flight was delayed arriving in Tucson so he didn’t end up making it to the house until 1am on Wednesday night/Thursday morning. I was planning a noon Thanksgiving lunch so we could nap afterward (the girls go down for naps at 1pm), so I was definitely tired when I had to be up and prepping food in the kitchen by 7am on Thursday morning. Ugh, can you say coffee?
But it was so nice to be able to fully focus in the kitchen while Dad + Grandpa spent all morning chasing the girls around and playing. They don’t see their Grandpa (my Dad) too often – maybe 2-3 times a year – so it was fun to hear their laughs as he chased them around.
I cooked non-stop from 7am – 12:30pm, then we feasted!! Then napped. Then woke up (before any of us were ready) to head over to our friends’ house for dessert. We ended up being there a few hours and had to rush back to our house with supper hungry/grumpy babies for a dinner round 2 of Thanksgiving food. I’d invited a couple friends over to share Thanksgiving lunch with us but the wife was working (she’s a nurse), so they came over for dinner leftovers instead. They stayed right up until the girls’ bedtime and by 8:30pm (toddler bed time) we were all ready to crash!!!
Only, we didn’t go to sleep yet (looking back, I wish we had!)
Husband decided to try to help me replace my phone screen. Remember when I broke my iPhone screen at the beginning of the month (again)? I bought a $15 screen replacement kit from ebay but haven’t done anything with it since it arrived. I’ve been a little nervous to do it after watching some youtube videos and seeing how difficult it looked.
Welllllll (you can see where this is going….) hubs finally opened up the packaging (I hadn’t even opened the replacement parts box yet) and watched some youtube videos. Then he dove right in. And by “dove in,” I mean he removed my screen and got all up in my phone. Only….it didn’t work. He worked diligently on it for nearly 2 hours, watching multiple videos and trying to trouble shoot again and again. Eventually I went to sleep. When I woke up this morning I discovered my phone…with its old broken/cracked screen on it….and now the touch-sreen doesn’t work either. Yup. So it went from cracked screen, but still useable, to absolutely useless. For any unfamiliar with an iPhone screen, if the touchscreen doesn’t work then the phone is completely unusable. I can’t answer calls, send texts, etc etc etc. Sooooo, yeah. I got online (on my computer since I obviously can’t do it on my phone) and scheduled an appointment for this evening at the Apple Store to have my phone worked on. In the meantime, no phone.
The most worrisome part (and I’m trying to block this from my mind and simply hope this isn’t the case)….is that my phone could be seriously broken. As in…needing replacement (not just simple repair). Deep breaths. I’m not sure what I’ll do if it comes to that. We can NOT afford a new iPhone right now (how much are they anyway….like $500??? more???) Like I said…trying not to worry until I know the full scope of the damage. Crossing my fingers for just a simple screen repair and I’ll be on my way.
I’ll let you know what happens. Can you all just cross your fingers for me and send some positive thoughts my way??
Do you do Black Friday shopping? Are you an in-person or online shopper? What did you do for Thanksgiving??
Hi, I’m Ashley! Arizonan on paper, Texan at heart. Lover of running, blogging, and all things cheeeeese. Freshly 40, married mother of two, working in academia. Trying to finally (finally!) pay off that ridiculous 6-digit student loan debt!
I had a feeling that might happen Ashley 🙁 My husband broke his phone and my daughter and her boyfriend who both work for Apple literally had to take the phone apart to put a new screen on. They have both worked for Apple for over 5 years and it took them over 4 hours to fix so don’t feel bad at all!!!!
Good luck with the phone – hope they can fix it!!!
I’m a bit behind the curve on phones but aren’t used ones available too? If you do have to replace it perhaps not as much.
I always buy used phones on ebay, but android phones get cheap fast and apple phones not so much.
We pay an extra $10/mth for each phone to have insurance against breakage or if they just stop working. With teens, we feel it is worth it.
Definitely search for a used phone if it comes to that. With the new iphone release, there will be a lot of quality used options.
We had “Thanksmas” on Saturday so all of my Christmas shopping was done on Thursday night & Friday (late) morning. Didn’t run into any crowds! I have to confess that about 50% of my shopping was done online (Amazon). I have work people to buy for (I’m the boss) and then I’ll be done. Still trying to decide if I want to send out Christmas cards (newly married this year! but second marriage for both of us after a 10 year ‘courtship’ – ha!).
God love those husbands – they mean well and always want to help, but it doesn’t always go the way they plan. Hopefully you can get it fixed, or find a cheap used one.