Deanaland

Wednesday, January 18, 2006

Baytown's Target addict

By Deana Nall
Baytown Sun

Published January 18, 2006

My name is Deana, and I’m a Target-a-holic.

I love Target. I love it so much that last week, I got in trouble for going there so frequently.

“Do you realize you went to Target four times in six days?” My husband bellowed as he reviewed our bank account activity the other day.

Making a mental note to pay for future Target purchases in cash, I explained to him that last week was difficult for me. Take Tuesday, for instance. Our youngest child started Mothers’ Day Out, and I needed to sip on a Starbucks Cafe Mocha while walking around the baby section, crying into newborn outfits I’ll never need to buy again.

“Then how did you manage to spend $43?” he wanted to know.

Oh. That.

I really can’t help it. They have you as soon as you walk in through those big red doors. Immediately, you are in “the Target trap.” To your left is “The 1 Spot,” where everything costs a buck. To your right is Starbucks, where they sell heaven in a paper cup. And I’m supposed to just walk right past all that, go get the baby wipes I need, and then head straight for the checkout?

I don’t think so. Here’s my usual route: First Starbucks, then The 1 Spot. Then I look at clothes for me, jewelry, and clothes for my kids, toys and all the cool home decorating stuff. Oh, I also love the scrapbooking aisle. And I don’t scrapbook.

I’m not the only woman who has been hooked on Target. One of my favorite memories of my friend Jennifer Watson was the night we decided to “stop by” Super Target in Seabrook on the way home from Bunco. We wandered around for a while, thoroughly enjoying ourselves, before Jennifer checked her watch. It was midnight. We had been there for nearly three hours. Jennifer and I had reached the ultimate in Target shopping: We had achieved a Target nirvana.

One thing about us Target addicts is that we’re all in this together. Want to know if you’re one of us? Here’s a handy guide to determine whether you’re addicted to Target:

1) The first thing you look for in the Sunday newspaper is the Target flier.

2) You walk into the store and everyone yells your name like you’re Norm on Cheers.

3) The baby is five days away from needing more diapers and you justify that as a reason to go to Target today.

4) You fantasize about living in a Target fitting room.

5) When the Baytown Target replaced its old, faded shopping carts with the new, shiny red ones, you were deliriously excited but couldn’t tell anyone because you knew you would sound like a nut.

6) You miss a few days and Target’s manager calls, wondering where you’ve been.

7) Your blog is called “slavetotarget.blogspot.com.” (No, it’s not mine. But it’s cool!)

8) You named your children Merona, Mossimo and Isaac Mizrahi.

9) You keep adding to your registry at target.com and you’re not getting married or having a baby.

10) You win a two-week vacation to anywhere in the world and you pick Target.

If any of these are true for you, I’ll see you at Target later today. And tomorrow. And Friday, Saturday, Sunday ...

26 Comments:

  • At Wed Jan 18, 05:57:00 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Our town doesn't have a Target. When I go to the big city, where do I go? TARGET!!!

     
  • At Wed Jan 18, 06:30:00 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    yah I think I'll find just about any reason to go to Target. I grocery shop at Target, so I always need something. But of course, the first thing I do isn't get what I need, it's the dollar spot and clothes and baby clothes and starbucks is a for sure! :-D Later.

    ><>IN HIM<><
    Michelle

     
  • At Wed Jan 18, 06:30:00 AM, Blogger Kelley said…

    My friend went to California and they have a 2 story Target! Sigh!
    Funny story about Target...I have a couple of friends who share my Target addiction. We are a wild bunch. A night out for us is jumping in the mini van, brousing around the book store and then heading to Target for a binge. We were actually the last two in the store one night. They kept calling out over the loud speaker, "Target shoppers, we are closing. Please bring your purchases to the front." My friend, said, "Our names are Melanie and Kelley. We'll be there in a minute." We shop slowly in Target we look at everything. We are contemplating trying to spend the night in one of the tents in the sportings goods section, but they refuse to put up a full size one and only display the Barbie size. So we are still trying to figure that out. Yes, we are Target aholics and my friend said that we are not interested in a 12 step program until the 12th step is entering some big red doors.

     
  • At Wed Jan 18, 06:47:00 AM, Blogger Mae said…

    AMEN!!! I have to drive 35 miles to get to the nearest Target... it's worth every penny in my gas guzzeling SUV just to walk in, hit the dollar spot (no Starbucks inside... must talk to GM about this) and sit in the new furniture section to see if the hiney quotient is suitable. Don't EVEN get me started on the baby department!!!

     
  • At Wed Jan 18, 07:13:00 AM, Blogger elizabeth said…

    I have commented on your blog before about my husband's war with Target. He can't understand why just walking into the store costs 100 dollars!

    We are in January budget crunch after the holidays. I have to drive by and "just say no"!

     
  • At Wed Jan 18, 07:28:00 AM, Blogger Jacinda said…

    I love this post and I love Target! Sad, we don't have Starbucks inside, but that would be even so much more dangerous if we did! We have one in our Kroger which isn't quite the same temptation for me!

     
  • At Wed Jan 18, 08:38:00 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    My name is Carrie and I am a Target addict, also. When my kids were younger the Target was located right down the road from the church where they went to MDO. It seemed like a church reunion every Tues/Thurs at 9:45!

    When the $1 spot goes to .50 and then to .25 I go really nuts! My girls stockings were full of these items. You forgot the names Cherikee and Circo.

    Carrie

     
  • At Wed Jan 18, 09:15:00 AM, Blogger JKMeeks said…

    My name is Katie and I am a targetaholic. My husband calls it the $100 dollar basket. I can fill it, with big or small and no matter what we spend a $100.00. The great thing is that I can pass off Target as a grocery expense to him because it is where I buy diapers, wipes, formula (clothes, shoes, jewlery, pajamas, etc..) but I am not sure he has figured that out yet...Now I must go and call our target to figure out how to get a Starbucks in there, or put my house on the market so we can move to Baytown.

     
  • At Wed Jan 18, 10:45:00 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    My name is Carol and I'm a targetaholic... and I'm an enabler. When toys went on sale %75 off I immediately called my friend (sorry Carrie you were at work!). Luckily, she's an addict too, and was in the parking lot. With her help I found $10 toys for $2 and a $90 electronic game for $22!! Lucky for me when I called my husband to tell him he cried,"I love you!" He's a closet targetaholic. Don't be jealous... you had your chance w/ him! :-)

     
  • At Wed Jan 18, 12:39:00 PM, Blogger Candice said…

    My name is Candice, and I'm a Targetaholic. (And the crowd says in unison, "Hi Candice.") I like to sit in the book section of my local Target for hours, slurping my strawberry Icee (We don't have a Starbucks at my Target, but we've got an Icee machine, and that's just as cool!), and reading the books without paying for them. Generally, this is frowned upon. But see, I'm their favorite customer, so they don't care. I also like to stand guard next to the 50% off rack, and give people mean glares when they express interest in the black sweater that I'm going to get, just as soon as I can come back with enough cash in my wallet to pay for it, since all of my money has already been spent on slushies, and books, and handbags, and jewelry, and home decor, and clothes for my nieces, and a new thing of hazelnut creamer to take to work, since I -without a doubt- use more of it than any of my colleagues, and shoes, and a new bottle of red fingernail polish, and polish remover so that I can take off the red nail polish before it permanently turns my fingernails pink, and the 5th season of Gilmore Girls on DVD, and CDs, and a new Scrabble board, and some pencils, and Jelly beans, and all sorts of other necessities.

    I. need. help.

    (Oh, just in case you're wondering how this insane woman found your blog; it was through your comment on Slave To Target.)

     
  • At Wed Jan 18, 12:43:00 PM, Blogger Shanta said…

    Deana- you are hiliarious! Pardon me for intruding on your blog. I think I initially ran across yours from Mike Cope once upon a time. I too delved into a relationship so deep with Tar-jey (as I like to call it) that only the largest infraction could ever sway my affections. Sadly, that infraction occured recently, and my husband has announced that we will no longer be shopping there. (Sniff.)

    Basically, we registered there for our wedding and when we tried to return a $60 camping lantern that was on the registry, they would NOT give store credit, but would only allow us to return it-at that moment only or never again- for merchandize ONLY from the sporting goods section. And to top it off, they would only give us $21 value for it. Steam has never come out of my ears like it did that day. I have put my heart, soul, and waaay too many dollars into that store for them to treat us that way. So, I'm sorry to pop the party here, but I had to speak up! Boo target. You lost a very committed customer by your TERRIBLE return policy.

     
  • At Wed Jan 18, 02:26:00 PM, Blogger Jenna said…

    Oh, Deana! It's so good to know that I'm not the only one addicted to Target. I'll have to show Matt this blog because I think it would help him understand my love for Target. He has uttered those same questions Chad asked... How can you spend this much at Target? I think most of my Christmas shoppong was done at Target. And now that we have a SuperTarget 2 minutes away, of course that's where I do my grocery shopping. It's amazing how many times I have to run to the store and buy a few "groceries".

     
  • At Wed Jan 18, 02:33:00 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    My name is Julie and I too am a Targetaholic. I must confess that my husband timed the trip from our new house to Target to convince me we would not be too far from civilization. I have influenced countless friends, including Carrie and Carol, into unplanned spending. I love running into my fellow addicts at Target!

     
  • At Wed Jan 18, 04:14:00 PM, Blogger Hoots Musings said…

    Target has the BEST housewares section!!!!

    I love Target and my brother-in-law use to build them!

     
  • At Wed Jan 18, 09:09:00 PM, Blogger mom23 said…

    Um, is it bad that my first thought was, 'good for her - she only spent $43.00!'

     
  • At Thu Jan 19, 03:07:00 AM, Blogger Cheryl said…

    Bless you Target lovers! I miss things about the USA but Target is at the top of the list. My favorite furlough activity is to get the kids in bed, call my sister and head to Target. Coffee, my sister and Target bargains!
    So don't feel bad, friends. Drink a vanilla latte, peruse the $1 bins and buy a notepad for me (I always end up with a really cool stash of notepads from Target...)
    Longing for the Red Store,
    Cheryl in East Africa

     
  • At Thu Jan 19, 05:16:00 AM, Blogger Kelley said…

    Ok, that settles it! We must all go to Target today in honor of our blog friend, Cheryl.

     
  • At Thu Jan 19, 06:53:00 AM, Blogger Brian said…

    I found a shower curtain at Target that shows the map of the world.

    I face it towards the inside of the shower so I can figure out where all these countries are in the news while I take my shower.

     
  • At Thu Jan 19, 07:51:00 AM, Blogger Deana Nall said…

    No, Meredith. I don't want to get better.

     
  • At Thu Jan 19, 07:59:00 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    When I am feeling a little financially challenged but I still need Target, I just get my red cart and walk around the perimeter so that I can only see the Clearance sections.....

     
  • At Thu Jan 19, 11:04:00 AM, Blogger SG said…

    How did I miss this post? The other day at church Kolby saw a man in khakis and a red shirt and asked me if he worked for Target. The other night Rob asked the kids where they wanted to go and was floored when they both yelled out "TARGET!" When we lived in the meto-plex, three year old Kolby could direct people turn for turn to any of the three Targets within 20 miles of our house. Not only am I a Target addict, but I am passing it on to future generations. Sigh...
    And I have actually run into Patrick at Target more times than Carrol! He is a true addict! :)

     
  • At Thu Jan 19, 04:20:00 PM, Blogger sarahdawn said…

    One more name...Liz Lang - being a pregnant mommy at the moment I frequent that section of the store. I went twice this week. Today I even split my purchase in two so that part of it would be paid for by my "fun $" - what I make and and manage to save working in our church nursery. Is that bad? My oldest knows it as "the red dot." I think I might shrivel up and die if I lived somewhere without one. Yes, I am a target-aholic.

     
  • At Thu Jan 19, 04:26:00 PM, Blogger Trisha said…

    Oh, yes. Target. My 4-year old daughter's favorite activity for a girl's day out--try on every pair of little girls' shoe section. She's good--doesn't have to buy, just wants to try every one. She has the makings of a Target-o-holic already.

     
  • At Fri Jan 20, 09:32:00 AM, Blogger Jana said…

    Jana. Target-aholic.

     
  • At Sat Jan 21, 01:11:00 PM, Blogger Susan - said…

    Hi, my name is Susan, and I too am a Targetaholic. I used to run into to SG at Target when we both lived in the Metroplex. When we first moved to Conway, there was not one here, but they built one for me within a year. And when SG came to visit last summer, of course we went to Target!

     
  • At Tue Jan 24, 08:12:00 AM, Blogger Heather said…

    I have a Target across the street. . . and a Krispy Kreme, but that's beside the point at the moment. Four trips in six days is a light week for me! I can find an excuse to go there every day of the week . . .groceries, a book I "need", a video, some school supply. It's my haven! Lucky me, my SIL is a HR manager at another local Target and she puts toys, etc in her office that she'll think I want when they clearance out.

    The scrapbooking thing . . .I could get you addicted to that too! I've already turned 4-5 other people into addicts!

     

Post a Comment

<< Home