u/Forevermoody16

Not including the wreath. AND we got duos!

Most of my stuff was still in the box. I didn’t decorate at all this year (at work.) In July I had carpal tunnel and cubital tunnel surgery and was out for three months. It’s been one thing after another The last time I decorated my desk was at Christmas. We had a team decorating contest and granted, I was out a lot. But the unofficial “decorating queen” on my team (who hates my guts) pretty much shut me out of helping. Never mind that I have an art degree and even my input would have improved the display by 200%. Not bragging, just a fact. So I just went all out in my own cubicle. I’ll post photos some time. Yeah, we weren’t supposed to take pictures, but they took all kinds of photos for the contest. And I’m retired now.

Well, now I have enough cute summer stuff to do a decent display in my house (fingers crossed the cats don’t mess with it!)

So, after not finding anything on Saturday, I really wanted to look on Sunday (today . . . sort of) because I was afraid if they were put out on Sunday evening or Monday morning they’d get grabbed up before I could get any. And I didn’t feel like going all over town looking.

I didn’t know when I would get away because my ex was over here all afternoon helping with my place. But I’m not complaining. I’m having major surgery in the near future and want to get as organized as possible before that, as I’ll have a long recovery. He was building shelves for my utility room over the washer, and it’s great storage space with nine foot ceilings (photos attached.) I’ve been waiting for a long time for this, and I‘d decided to get a set of new crates that I’d seen on Saturday at Target and liked. I figured if I liked them in the room, I’d go back and get sets for all three shelves. The dryer, on the other side, has a tall cabinet over it.

After he left, I headed off to the closest Target — about six miles, and Store #2 is just another 2 1/2 miles or so down the road. From 20 feet outside the store, through the window, I saw a lot of color and it looked like Bullseye’s Playground was getting stocked. It was sadly empty on Saturday.

I got in and looked around. No birds. But I found the hot dog cart I passed up on Saturday. This time there was just one left so I grabbed it! Then I saw an employee with a large stocking cart full of boxes putting stuff out. I asked about the birds. She didn’t know what they were. I pointed out some boxes that looked about the right size. I told her they were the standing birds. She opened a box but it had sort of flat stuffed sailboats, and maybe sea turtles. Nope. She asked what the birds were made of. I said mostly felt with wire legs and described each one. She was scanning all of the boxes.

Someone called her and said they needed help with a customer picking up 37 bags of merchandise. Holy cow! She didn’t seem thrilled about that, told them she was with a guest, and continued to look for the birds. I told her that I got the rubber ducks weeks ago (there were six, a funky assortment) but one of the other stores must have restocked because they had a big pile on Saturday. However, I said I didn’t think the birds would be restocked and I didn’t want to miss out.

She opened another box — there were Sam and Sparky! Three of each. So the styles didn’t come in their own boxes. I was so excited. They was a sheet of cardboard under them, and in the bottom of the box were three each of Patty and Tater. The girl said that was probably all they would get, but from other photos here I’m guessing there was one more box. I told her they needed a lot more of these!

I took my birds and hot dog cart to the self check, paid out, and started to leave. Then I remembered that I was there for some other things . . . including the crates! I went and found those and got a few other items. I headed for the self check again but decided to take a quick look at the dresses. There was something I liked at another store. The girl was gone but the pile of boxes was still there. I figured she was helping with the 37 bag order.

When I did go to check out (didn’t buy a dress) the girl was back putting stuff out. There were six new rubber ducks! Of course I HAD to have those too. More patriotic and summer than the first set of the season.

It was dark when I came home and thundering. I was happy and my mind wandered and I missed my exit. But I didn’t have to go too far out of the way. It took a couple of trips to get all of my stuff into the condo and it started raining. Just as I finished the storm REALLY blew in.

Anyway, I just couldn’t believe the perfect timing I had tonight. I’ve never caught the birds being put out and the employee was so nice. Another girl watching the self check registers asked if I collected them. I said I really needed to slow down and pare down . . . but I couldn’t resist these!

I seriously didn’t need anything, so I was glad to find these newbies. They keep going up and they’re not on sale too often. The yellow thing on the green holder is for lip care. Cute!