Retail Therapy

Jun. 10, 2010

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Yesterday I was feeling kind of blue. Just one of those days, you know? When life kind of catches up with you, and you feel like you’ll never get out from under your to-do list, and the sky is kind of gloomy, and your baby is cutting two teeth at once, and you just kind of wish you could be someone else for the afternoon…those are the days I’m talking about here.

And when I have days like that, and I feel like I’m climbing the walls there is really only one thing that I can do to center myself: I go to Target.

Super Target. I can bask in the florescent lighting and wander through aisles of crap I don’t need for hours on end. It’s my happy place. And before Dee was born, it was where I would go to do my best thinking. Writer’s block? Target. Family crisis? Target. A raging case of the PMS? Oh yeah – Target.

But then one day, just before Delilah was born, the customer service department at my local store nearly sent me into labor from pure rage during a return gone awry. I walked out of my beloved Super Target that day swearing I’d never look back. A week later I had Dee, and my private outings were a thing of the past anyway. So it’s been a while since me and Le Target Boutique have had one of our little rendezvous. But yesterday, as I mentioned, I was feeling kind of blue. And I didn’t know what to do with myself, or Delilah – who refused to eat the apple puree I made her for breakfast, and all of our baby food storage was full, and our small tupperware was in the dishwasher, and we were out of saran wrap, and I steamed and pureed those damn apples myself, so I was NOT about to just feed them to the garbage disposal. So I grabbed a cooler full of teething rings and off to Target we went, in hopes that maybe MY happy place could be OUR happy place.

And lo and behold…a hot pretzel and an hour later we returned home new women. Target to the rescue. Ready to nap. Ready to write. Ready to conquer the world.

What’s in the bag? (clockwise, from top) -

Munchkin Booty Bags (okay that’s not what they’re called, but what do you do if you are somewhere that you can’t throw a poop away, or worse, when your baby vomits all over herself multiple times during an awkward run in with a former colleague, and you don’t want to throw her entire outfit away?)
Just One Year Baby Headbands (I couldn’t find these anywhere on line, but they are some of the best baby headbands I’ve found – not too frilly, and not too tight. There were four in the package, but Dee was already modeling one by the time I took this photo.)
A double-pack of Softlips. Because (thanks to Sara) I am finally figuring out which things I need two of so that when I need to switch between diaper bag and purse all I’m grabbing for are my phone and wallet.
Gerber Bunch-A-Bowls With Lids. This was the impetus for the Target outing in the first place. I had no idea how often she would not be finishing her snacks/hating on apples once she got started on solids, and baby bowls with lids suddenly became a necessity.
A GPS holding mat for my car, because I thought it was illegal to stick things to your windshield in the state of California. Apparently the Governator actually did something for once, because as it turns out that law was repealed last year (who knew? Obviously not me, until I googled for a link to the weird law and found this) but I already opened the package, I’m still happy not to have my GPS mounted on my windshield. Ah well.
HappyBaby Organic Puffs. I am pretty psyched about these. They have about 1/2 the sugar of the Gerber puffs and [as the name suggests] they are completely organic. I’ve also been experimenting with their Oatmeal with DHA (so far the only organic oatmeal I’ve come across with DHA in our local stores) which Dee seems to love, but our old favorite Earth’s Best Oatmeal still takes the cake for least ingredients I can’t pronounce (with ZERO) so we’ve been switching back and forth between the two.
And lastly, Munchkin Snack Catchers, which are just awesome. (And proving quite entertaining to Delilah.)