Target

Why does America love Target so much?  I don't know of any other country that has a store that they love more than Americans love Target.  Why do we, as a culture, keep subjecting ourselves to a store where we consistently buy $50 - $100 more stuff than we need literally every time we walk through the door?

 I am a self-admitted Target addict.  I love Target.  We buy Isabella's disposable diapers from Target so we have to make the trip once every two weeks or so and it never fails that we come out of there with an $80 - $100 bill and nothing really important in our cart except diapers.   

Maybe it is the overly bright fluorescent lights. Maybe it is the stimulating site of the 'clearance' and 'sale' signs and items on every aisle. Who doesn't love those little red clearance tags?  They are designed to make you think that you might need a 4 pack of the same deodorant for $.80 less than it was originally priced.   Maybe it is the fact that you can get anything that you want or need in the same store at the same time. With the invention of the 'Super Target' my life got a lot more expensive.

 We have found a lot of interesting food items that are at Target that they don't have other places.  We consistently buy flavored pancake mix here, different flavors of yogurt, and drinks that they don't seem to regularly carry at other stores.  I don't think that it matters what it is - just that something about Target makes a grand scale amount of consumers go there regularly and spend money like it grows on trees. 

My absolute favorite part of Target is the $1 clearance section in the front of the store.  There are three things that we absolutely love to buy from that section:

1. Kid dishes.  They have these super cute colorful character plates, bowls, cups and sometimes silverware for children.  For some reason you can't put this stuff in the dishwasher but it is really convenient for the kid's meals and easy to portion out their food.  Plus it seems fun for the kids to eat off of these colorful animal plates.  They normally have different ones for each season and/or holiday. 
2. Children's books.  We have purchased some super cute cardboard Sesame Street books that are great for the kids.  They are short, very educational and very colorful.  The kids can relate to them because they are regular characters that they know from Sesame Street like Elmo, Grover, Oscar the Grouch, etc.  They are durable and easy for small babies and kids to manipulate. 
3. Educational materials.  They regularly stock items like flash cards, handwriting books, educational games, etc that you can use with any age group.  They have flash cards for letters, numbers, words for beginning readers, and more challenging cards for older kids. 

There are too many other things to name that we love to buy from Target.  Just shopping there is a like a drug to me and many others that I know.  Their maternity section is impressive.  Their baby area is usually well stocked and neatly organized.  Their stores are easy to navigate in and usually there are an appropriate number of cashiers to people waiting in line. 

All in all maybe those pluses are what we pay for with the extra items that they sucker us into buying.  Like maybe the extra money is a surcharge to get into the Target club and the extra clearance items are just bonuses for shopping there.  Whatever it may be we might complain about the extra money that we spend but we are too consumed with it now to ever stop.

-Sara


  

My 2 year old needs help

So over a year ago, before my daughter was a year old, she learned how to unlock an iPhone.  We thought it was funny and super neat... kind of like a cool party trick.  We took videos of this and encouraged her to do it.  If we would have known then what we know now, we might have thought different about teaching her that. 

She started off just wanting to just look at different things on your phone... pictures, videos, your text messages... nothing really big.  She would call random people (ask Lake Worth 911) and sometimes send crazy text messages but on the whole she just wanted to hold the phone.  Then she started wanting to play games and actually do things with your apps.  We started downloading 'baby apps' on our phones to keep her interested.  My mom downloaded this awesome app on her phone (my favorite apps for toddlers is an upcoming blog post) and she loved watching that app.  This was like a gateway drug - she wanted more and more time with your phone and would throw fits if you took it away and didn't distract her.   

When Corry and I got upgrades on our iPhones last year, we decided that we should give Isabella Corry's old iPhone to be 'Isabella's phone'.  It effectively works as an iPod Touch.  She can do all of the normal functions on her phone that you and I can do but she can't make phone calls or send text messages.  We downloaded a bunch of toddler apps, removed all of the important information (in case she lost it) and put a cover on it to make it harder for her to break it or damage it in water.   

A 2 year old with an iPhone... is this the best idea?  Definitely not.  Do I regret it?  Sometimes... there are some days when it is super helpful to have a way to distract her when we are on long car rides, or when she is acting up.  There are other days when I get tired of hearing "where's my shone (phone)?" 

As much as I regret giving her their own phone, there are a lot of pluses that have come from our decision.  We download mostly educational apps on her phone, so while she is playing she is actually learning.  She has apps that reinforce the ABC's, animals, colors, shapes, etc.  She does have a few apps that will stream cartoon shows from Disney Jr, or PBS but the majority of those teach good lessons for children so I don't feel as bad about them - it's not like Spongebob or anything like that. 

She uses her phone, I think, more than I use my phone.  And probably better than I use my phone.  She can put the phone in Airplane mode, she can change the ring tone and turn the sound up or down in settings.  She can change the background picture of the phone, take pictures and videos, play pictures and videos, lock the phone and shut it down.  She tells you when her phone is dead, that it needs to be charged and she can plug it in (supervised). 

Some people are upset by this because she is too involved with electronics.  Most people are amused by it because she is so little and such a good user of a phone.  I think that it's still cute and funny.  We use it as a learning tool now for her.  It has helped her in more ways than hurt her so we are willing to continue to let her have it.  If you think that it's bad just take a look at the cutest picture ever taken by my sister Jessica at our most recent Creecy Christmas - Isabella and her cousins Raquel (left) and Addison (right) and tell me it isn't the cutest thing you have ever seen. 

 

 

- Sara

I'm a TV addict, I think

When I was growing up at my parent's house, I never really cared that much about TV.  We never had cable.  I 'missed' it growing up because all my friends had cable.  It seemed, at the time, like everyone else in the world had cable.  And we didn't.  Cue the sad teenage violins.  Even though we didn't have cable, television was always on but mainly just as background noise.  I rarely remember watching any specific shows or series programs or anything like that.  If you ask my parents today, they are strictly devoted to several shows about celebrities dancing or singing or ice skating or something else ridiculous. 

Throughout my younger 20's and up until just a few months ago I have done that same thing, except with cable.  Once I got my first apartment, I got cable.  Rebellion from your parents: party of one!  Rarely though did I get involved in any one TV show especially a current show because I can't ever remember what channel or what time it's on.  I would get involved in the Food Network any time of day or night and could always get sucked into those marathons of Law and Order: SVU.  Who doesn't love 19 straight hours of Benson and Stabler?   

Corry and I have always had cable since we moved in to our first apartment together.  However, since having kids, I have now become more aware of the shows that my children watch on television.  Before we go any further, I will say that my children watch television and they have learned an exponential amount of awesome things from educational television.  I am not a follower of the 'no TV before age 2 or your baby's brain will rot and fall out' mindset, nor do I believe that exposure to violent or sexual behavior on television shapes the way that we grow up.  I love SVU, but that doesn't mean that I am going to go out and assault someone.  I digress..

Before we moved into this newer house, in an effort to save money, we talked about getting rid of cable.  We didn't have that much spectacular stuff with our current cable package and it was well over $100 a month including taxes and fees.  Ridiculous.  And what's even worse is that we watched like 5 channels on a regular basis.  Even more ridiculous. 

My husband couldn't have been happier when he saw a NeoTV box on the Black Friday deals in our area.  I, of course, didn't know anything about it but was quickly schooled that it could stream Netflix and Hulu.  Sold.  I originally missed live television, but now I can't even tell you that I notice it.  Plus, I get to become involved in shows that I never watched before, like Survivor.  I have become a Survivor crazy person.  How did I never watch any of the first like 24 seasons of this show? 

I would like for one of the positives of this year with my new exercise resolution to be that I get more exercise, yes but possibly less television.  I want to not be one of those parents that entertains my children with television.  I want them to remember that we went to the park, and out to the zoo, and that we played games, and not that they knew which channel Cailou was on everyday.  I'm working on it... as soon as Survivor is over!