The Target Pile-Up

I've reached the point in my summer where my hoarding begins.  Up until now, I was keeping a very organized shopping list.  A simple list on my phone of things I will want to bring along in my luggage.  I would cross things off as I realized they're unnecessary, or as I learned they're available in Indonesia.  I would add things as I thought of them.  It was all very organized, very civilized, and very normal.

So, this afternoon, with my shopping list in my phone and my 10% off coupon in my wallet, I headed off to Target.  And the trip began in a very civilized fashion.  I walked through the pharmacy aisles with my list, only picking up a few months worth of floss picks and a couple bottles of face cream.'

But toward the end of the list, I reached the vague subjects.  And that's when the crazy set in.

Snacks

Okay, so that's not a great line item on a well organized shopping list anyway.  On any given hungry afternoon, snacks could lead to some crazy choices.  But on the last Target run for the coming year, snacks made my head spin.  What will we want to eat when we've missed the food cart and we're hungry and everyone else is sleeping on the airplane?  What will help Annika go back to sleep when she wakes up hungry in the middle of the first night?  What will calm the kids when they're craving normalcy?  What will not smash or leak in my carry-on bag?  How many of these can I cram into my suitcases?

Movies

Yeah, that was another nonsense line item.  These broad categories really did me in.  How many movies will we want to watch in those first few weeks before we figure out how to get movies in Indonesia?  How much is a movie going to be worth to me in Indonesia?  Should I limit myself to the $5 movies, or will they be worth more than that to me within a few months?

Baking Items  They'll have flour in Indonesia, so that's a relief.  But how many chocolate chips should I reasonably bring along to our new house?  What about vanilla?  Does hand carrying half a suitcase of vanilla make me crazy?

School Supplies  By this point, I was way off the list.  I was just roaming down every aisle with a crazed look on my face, pulling my hair in wild directions and mumbling to myself.  I reached the big, bright, wildly discounted school supply section and stopped in my tracks.  I have no idea what I need in here.  The school hasn't given me a supply list - that means I don't need to bring anything... I hope.  So what school supplies will we want in our house for the next year?  Crayons and markers, that goes without saying.  What about pencils?  We always seem to have a million pencils floating around the house, so no to the pencils.  But they are always missing erasers, so I'd better buy a big pack of erasers.  And they're never sharpened, but the sharpeners never seem to work, or to be found, so I'd better grab a handful of sharpeners, too.  And come to think of it, I'm pretty sure those millions of pencils are all packed into our sea shipment.  So how many pencils will we need for the next 2 months?  Wait... I don't think I grabbed enough granola bars.