I was looking through the blog and reflecting on 2008, and I thought it’d be neat to make a list of everyone who took the time to comment this year. Do you know how many people that is?

Rather than make you just scroll through an admittedly long list of links, I’ve added in a story for your reading pleasure. Ready?? Here goes!

Joe of Fathered Five
jae of Good Enough Mom
Raymond Chua of Attracting Your Goals
Karen of Scraps of Mind
Cindy of Go Workout Mom
Evan of Well Being and Health
Craig Harper of Craig Harper.com
Sandra of On Living by Learning
Nan of Things I’ve Found in Pockets
Michelle of Bear Twins Mom

I decided to take advantage of some of the post-Christmas sales on Friday. The Manager and TechnoBoy have been anxious to do some shopping of their own, so I invited them to join me. Apparently they didn’t listen carefully when I explained that we’d be stopping at church to do some paperwork, then going to 3 or 4 stores.

Jan of Queen of Kaos
Birney Summers of Energy Boomer
JoLynn Braley of The Fit Shack
Robert of Reason for Smile
Colby of Puppy in Training
PreSchool Mama
David Rogers of Confident 1
Rob of Solaralos
Sommer of Green and Clean Mom
Diane of Carbon Tiptoes
Naomi Dunford of Ittybiz
Our good friend Doug
LA Mama of Raising California
Angie of Angie’s Pangies
Blaine Moore of Run to Win

If there’s one person in my family who abhors shopping, it’s Captain Earthquake. I invited all the boys (mainly to be polite) and he quite naturally declined. The Manager surprised me by wanting in. He had a good deal of cash that he was very interested in spending. I explained (again) that the trip involved writing checks at the church, then going to 3 or 4 stores.

Paula Lynn, a Sassy leader
Lian of Value Bookshop
Brett Legree of 6 Weeks
TulipGirl
Alpha Omega Home Schooling
Accepted to College: For Parents
Sophia Levis of Sophia’s Life
Writing Mommy
Bob Younce of The Writing Journey
Michelle Vandepas of Divine Purpose Unleashed
Shirley King
Beverly Erb
Crystal, from the Sassy Flyers
Marvin of Office Profiles
Wendy, one of our Sassy leaders
Stu Mark of Stu News and Photos
troubled teen
Kathy Slattengren of Priceless Parenting
jrc
Bruce of Get the Skinney

So we went to the church first and the boys played while I worked on the books. For part of that time I had to insist that The Mercenary sit at the desk because things got a bit too rowdy. Ahem. We finished up there and headed out.

Tara of hobostripper
Mel of Tuttle Family Adventures
tracy ho of Wisdom Getting Loaded
Katie, of the Sassy Flyers
Crissy, wow I hadn’t realized so many Sassy’s had visited!
Mike of ihenpecked
Liz Strauss of Successful Blog
Easton Ellsworth of Visionary Blogging
NextStep
Lisa Sabin-Wilson of Just a Girl in the World
Karen Putz of Deaf Mom World
Chris Cagle of Cagintranet
Doris M., my dear friend
Jon, of Spatially Relevant
Bradie of Quiltcetera
Jimena of Caricatures Now
Parenting Articles
Dawud Miracle of dmiracle.com
Terry Starbucker
Todd Jordan
Karen of Mother Earth
Stephen Hopson of Adversity University
Kristen King of InkThinker
Shashi Bellamkonda of Solutions are Power
Jon Swanson
Annie Galvin Teich

Our second stop was the bank. We are there at least weekly; the boys charm the tellers and bank manager while I hand in the deposits or payments. It’s always a fun visit, especially since there are suckers available for boys.

Yvonne Russell of Grow Your Writing Business
Sherri of Debt Free or Bust
Monica Brand
Lori of Leveraging Influence
WW, from the Sassy Flyers
LeRene Ellis of Rebuild Shattered Dreams
Adrienne
Sandie Law of Geeked Off
Heather of Oh My Stinkin Heck
Polina of Skin MD Natural
Mary of the next block
Ben of Hawaii Health Insurance
Kathlene of Where Families Connect
Mrs. Schmitty of A Schmitty Life
Derek Semmler of The Man Page
Watch Anime Online
how to draw
Webkinz
danandmarsh
Kel
Clark
fico
Araba Modifiye
digital cameras for sale
Loseis
nkog
Andrew
AlexM
Bath and Body
Paul, of gopaultech

After the bank, we headed out to the stores. I remembered that Menard’s carries a special rack for storing bikes at a great price, so we drove there first. The boys were not pleased. I forged ahead. They had a large selection of Christmas merchandise at 50% off, and even an aisle of toys on clearance. Can you believe the luck?? Crayola products at 50% off! I was very pleased.

Jennifer D
Debt Management
Sandie of Macaroni and Peas
Lee of Austalia Bodybuilding
Bogdan Radu of Funnystuff Place
Terren
San Antonio Lawyer of Lawyers that Win
Gadget Mania
whitening
Carl
Andrew in Houston
Darin of Toronto Mortgage Site
Las Vegas
Super Foods
William of The Data Supplier
Comment draguer
Chessia of the International Medical Corps
Fun Adult
Do-Follow Blogs
Sydney of Sunbonny
Lance Nelson of Overseas Property Talk
Jimmy Scott
Tum Oyunlar
Earth 4 Energy
Sellers

Our next stop was WalMart. The older boys were thrilled when I gave them permission to look in the toy section on their own. The Manager cried a few crocodile tears because I insisted he stay with me. The tears stopped when I pointed out that we were standing next to the candy aisle, that it was all marked half off, and that he could help pick something out.

Grace of Face to the Sun
First Time Fathers
SEO Service Consultation Guy
Prismas Basalticos
Brian Krassenstein
Get Out of Debt
Jordans
Chris Abraham
Accounting Technician School
lyrics
Alex
Shaheen
Garden Wall Fountains
International Medical Corps
special needs equipment
James Touso
Franco
Cashman
Sherri of Homeschool Your Teenager

It turns out that The Manager can be quite the power shopper. He had a total ball looking through all the sale items. We tried on antlers and Santa hats, picked out ornaments, and exclaimed over all the cute decorations. My favorite was when he found the dancing figures and turned them all on at once. He liked the Santas who spun around and wiggled their backsides the best.

Scrapbook Embellishments
Secret Affiliate Code 2
Bethany Gifted of Dilly Dots Tots
KeeKee
Beth Fork
Men
Copper Wire
Jerry
Ha. Chris Wingert of A Bucket Full of Love
Internet Cafe Software
Johann Buch
Wii
Busby SEO Test
Dexter of Tech at Hand
HID
Wheat Free Foods
Bethany Moors
Almir Bojkovic of Spreading Your Cashflow
Rosie McCleaner of Office Cleaner.net
Ronli
felix
Rachel Suites
Hus Spanien
Christa, a UP Sassy Flyer
dextro

Once we finished looking through the Christmas clearance, The Manager and I headed towards the toy section to find the older boys. Turns out they’d been wandering the store looking for me and were GREATLY relieved because they’d been looking ALL OVER the store. I rolled my eyes at the drama and took them back to toys so The Manager could pick something out.

Lesley Brown
Laura Harvey
Fly High
Reifand
Saglikli Yasam
Hugo Sausagemen
Dan at Do Follow Blog
Acne
Outsource Bookkeeping
Erik Z
Khafi
Internzoo
Custom Items
galihrock
horse racing news

Toy shopping proved to be interesting. The Manager had already purchased some coloring items at the first store, and he really wanted to buy 43 other toys at WalMart. TechnoBoy got some spy glasses, The Mercenary 3 Hot Wheels cars, and The Manager rounded things out by choosing a combination ball/frisbee thing.

Donate a Car
Remus
lawyer makati
Roofer
Air Jordans
Pinoy
Bethany Storage
Beauty with Heri
Dreads
Steven
nan
Travel Brochure
Shopping Gurl
Brad Poker
junaidy
Ty
Reith
Blogging to the Bank
Cheap Cars
Agence Web Geneve

Finishing up at WalMart, we got in the car to hit the next store. This was when complaining got serious. (For best effect, add a whiny tone) I heard “We don’t wanna shop so muuuuuuch!” “I’m tiiiiiired” and “You didn’t tell us we’d have to go to all these places!!!”

Um. Boys? I told you twice. Each.

Modified Mummy
Dad S of Logical Kid
Lindsay of Addiction Rehab Blog
Informixx
Scarpe Hogan Interactive
Chetan
horoskop
assignment
espresso machines
Perry
andy
Charlie
Oliver
sandy
Diana Insurancet
Insurance Agent
Taariq
Ajith Edassery
Ginger

We soldiered on. I did get to glance at the Christmas sales, but this store was already cleaned out, so we walked over to grocery because I needed some things. You know, non-essentials like milk and bananas. The complaining continued. “My feet are burning!” and “We’re going to be here foreeeeeverrrrrr”.

My personal favorite came from The Manager, “Mom!! It feels like we’ve been shopping for TEN MINUTES!!!”

Gabriel
medical alarm girl
Mogs
Melbourne Accomodation
Vera Bradley of Buy That Purse
Cool Dude
getaengarse
niroshan
Taylor Jacobsin
Herbalife Diabetic Rich
John of Curious Cat Investing
Kim of Rainy Day Diamonds
Multiplication Worksheets
Carpet Cleaners NYC
Wholesale Suppliers
Val Garner
Pasta n More
Doctor Flix
Jolly Martin
Acai Girl

When we got home I checked the clock. We’d been gone 4 hours for the whole trip.

Wimps.

I count at least 244 people who’ve taken the time to comment this year. How cool is that? I’m sorry if I missed anyone. Thanks so much for being part of the conversation friends! Happy New Year, and we’ll talk more soon!

Related posts:

1. Make Some New Friends!
2. Merry Christmas, Friends
3. Are Your Kids Calm in a Crisis?
4. Doing Well With Logic, Working on the Love

Tags: Boys!, Christmas clearance, complaining, gratitude, link love, sales, shopping, thanks