Target vs. WalMart

I generally avoid WalMart. The one in my town in particular has very poor inventory management, confusing traffic flow, and a tendency to re-arrange aisles every few months. For years I completed the on-line customer feedback surveys but obviously they do not use the collected information.

I much prefer Target. Everything is in stock, the associates know what is going on, and the only aisles that get periodic shuffling are in the expansive seasonal section. Target is twice as far from my house as WalMart, so I always put together a shopping list that takes me to at least two other stores in the same shopping center. I could drive past WalMart on my way home from work everyday, but even then I only go if there is something specific I need from there.

That event finally arrived this week. Or rather, I put it off until absolutely necessary, which occurred this week. I have a thing about matching flower pots on my African violet stand in the house, and the style I prefer (built in drain tray and watering port in the base) is of course at the dreaded Wally-World. They also carry the iron-on denim patches that I like, and I have about 4 pairs of jeans in need of help. I also need a few last minute grocery items for my dish-to-pass for Thanksgiving dinner.

I go to WalMart in the middle of a rainy, dreary, cold day. Given the weather and the amount of traffic in the parking lot, you would think that it's been relatively slow for business despite being two days before Thanksgiving. I go past the check-out lanes as I enter the store. All four self-checkouts are open with 3-4 people in line at each. Two express lanes are open as are two traditional lanes, each with 2-3 people waiting. I head of to garden/seasonal, hunt around for 5 minutes looking for the flowerpots. Most years they keep one indoor aisle dedicated to house plant supplies, but not this year. I walk past a team meeting of a dozen associates (who all look bored to death) to venture outside, and its a few more minutes before I find all of the flowerpots dumped on a bench. There are four left in the size and style I'm looking for. I only need two, but I grab all four because who knows if they will have any the next time I'm in. (When I moved here I went every week for two months looking for air conditioning filters which were never in stock. Now I go to the home improvement store, but that's a tale for another day.)

As I squeeze past the group of associates blocking my path to the rest of the store, I pause to get an amaryllis kit. Because of my bum wrist I struggle to pick up one of the containers and place it in my cart, with all of the associates watching. I head off to the craft section, which has been reorganized once again and I have to go through three aisle before I find the sewing notions. I find one package of the denim patches, darker than I remember and what I need, but who knows if/when the color I want will be back in stock.

Off to the dairy department! There is a huge display of boxed cereal  next to the egg case, completely disrupting traffic flow to the milk case. In baking needs, and there is an associate chatting it up with a customer, blocking the aisle and forcing me to squeeze by. I must have passed three associates in my search for canned pumpkin which I finally found in one of those temporary displays on the main aisle. Chicken stock display is completely decimated. On to produce, where half of the little plastic bag dispensers are empty, I can't tell the difference between the on-sale regular celery and the expensive organic stuff, and the carrots are only available in the big 3-lb bag.

I snag a pumpkin pie on way to the registers (hm, looks identical to the one I got at Kroger last week, but $2 more...). There are a few more people standing in line in the express and self-check out lanes than there were before. Three traditional lanes were now open, but the gift paper wrapping on the lane numbers made it difficult to see the illumination. My clue was the clusters of people and shopping carts.

I pull up to one where one person was paying and other had all of her items laid out and occupying the length of the conveyor belt. The cashier disappears momentarily and returns with more plastic shopping bags. When the cashier starts ringing up the purchases of the customer ahead of me, the customer grabs the "next customer" divider from beside the register and hands it to me because the cashier doesn't notice/care. I start putting my items on the belt (one handed of course) while another patron gets in line behind me. The customer ahead of me pays and wheels off, and it's my turn to hand the divider to the patron behind me after the cashier placed it next to the belt beside her register.

Items get tossed into bags based on the order the go across the scanner. The amaryllis and the heavy cream each get their own bags while the two cans of pumpkin and two cartons of broth share one bag. Mushrooms, pineapple and broccoli heads share another bag as do the bags of onions, carrots and celery. I'm sure that if I had not grouped my produce together the broccoli would have wound up with the fabric scissors and the carrots with the flowerpots. As bags get full the cashier places them on top of the bag carousel. I'm placing them in my cart while she shoots me a look because I'm holding up the line by not having my method of payment ready the instant she finishes scanning. I sign the tablet as she gives the carousel one last spin to make certain I grabbed everything. She mutters something resembling 'have a nice day' as she shoves the receipt in my face with one hand and starts scanning the next patron's items with the other, all while I'm trying to tuck my wallet back in my purse.

Now compare all of this to my Target run on Saturday afternoon. The parking lot is twice as full as I usually see during my after-work errands. A few associates are restocking in household supplies, only occupying half of the aisle at most, while apologizing for being in the way and offering to hand you something on their side. Several others throughout the store greet me with a smile and ask if I'm finding what I'm looking for. Double-Stuffed Oreos (my current weakness) are on sale; the display is partially picked over but one can tell that the associate has been moving product to the front of the shelf regularly. After spotting parchment paper in an end-display with other holiday baking supplies (and in it's regular location with the aluminum foil and waxed paper) and finding my vacuum bags (in the same location as they have been for six years) I buzz through home furnishings (with a nice winter-themed selection of new items) and stroll back to the check out lanes.

I'm wandering down the wide, uncluttered main drag trying to remember if I missed anything, and two associates stop mid-chat to ask if I'm ready to check out. There are over a half-dozen registers open, and they direct me to #8 which is open with no waiting. The others either have one person mid-checkout or one paying while another unloads their cart. The cashier says hello as she starts scanning my items and sorting them into bags by category: personal care items in one, household cleaners in another, and non-perishable foods in a third. As bags get full they get lifted off the bracket and placed on the low table at the end, except for the big bottle of laundry detergent and package of toilet paper because it doesn't make sense to bag items with their own easy-grip handle or that won't easily fit in the bag. She scans the giant bag of cat food (which was cheaper than WalMart and in stock!) in my cart and starts placing the bagged items in there while I search for my payment method. Once I have everything back in my purse the cashier hands me the receipt and instant coupons as she wishes me a nice weekend and a Happy Thanksgiving.

Have I mentioned I prefer Target?

Ow

I should know better by now...

Every major home/property improvement project thus far winds up involving a splint on my right wrist and a big bottle of ibuprofen. This project is no different. And theoretically the project is only half done.

It took until mid-day on Friday to finish the primer coat on the fence. I went through just over 20 gallons. I say "just" because there were a few accidents when I was moving the sprayer and the bucket would get caught on a big pile of leaves or a sneaky pecan causing it to tip a little too far. I now have a lovely white puddle in front of the barn. I'm hoping the leaves soak most of it up and not too much penetrated into the gravel drive.

The weather the next few days will be no where near ideal for painting, so my wrist is getting a well-deserved break from this task. Unfortunately, I have a ton of work-work to catch up on that I put off - paint fence while the sun shines, right?

But in the mean time I can enjoy the view.

Except I should really do something about all of those leaves.

Numbers, lots of numbers

18 - the approximate number of gallons of gas that it took to run the pressure washer to clean my fence

504 - the approximate length (in feet) of the fence surrounding my house; multiply by 2 because it is double sided

8 - the number of gallons of primer the guy at the paint store thought it would take to cover the fence

10 - the number of gallons of primer I thought I needed; and the same amount of paint

$600 - the amount I spent on the aforementioned primer and paint, and that was with a 40% off coupon

about 2/5 - the amount of fence covered by the 10 gallons of primer

15 - the additional number of gallons of primer I bought yesterday

10 - the number of gallons of "paint" I need to return, because it turns out the paint store employee sold me a latex wood stain and not actual latex paint; this was discovered when the manager checked my purchase history in the computer; good thing I never opened it up, and that it is off-the-shelf white; the manager was not pleased with his employee, and will honor the 40% discount on the right product

So much for a relatively "easy" DIY project

I'm sorry...

Wow, two months since my last post. What happened?

Let's see, I got bounced off my horse (but you knew that if you read the last post), I messed up my shoulder muscles by getting overly ambitious with yard projects, horse sliced open the bridge of her nose and got 8 stitches, survived hell-week-of-meetings at work, parents came to visit and deliver my new toy...

...made it through Super Big Project/Event at work, and now I'm on to painting the fence. All 504 linear feet of it, and because both sides are getting attention, really its 1,008 feet.

Ah, the fence. Since the day I first looked at this place I've been wanting to do something with the fence. And I honestly mean the day I first looked at the place, because I climbed the fence to check out the pasture while waiting for my Realtor, and the board broke. I replaced it during Grand Remodeling Project 1.0, but at the time all I did was put primer on the new board. The rest of the fence was peeling pretty good. Fast forward three years and tons of mildew later, and I am finally checking this item off my to-do list.

Not that this is by any means a simple project. I spent many a summer growing up scraping and painting board fences, and it usually took most of the summer to do it. So I've been planning my strategy for a while. My brother asked why I didn't tackle the house first. Truth is, I want to play with my new toy on something simple that people won't pay much attention to.

Yes, a new toy. I bought a paint sprayer. I've been researching sprayers for at least a year. I figure between the fence and the house exterior, not to mention the other interior remodeling projects that need to be done, it would be better in the long run if I bought a sprayer. I could have rented one, but by the time I add up the rental costs it would have cost the same as buying a new unit. It arrived on Saturday, and I spent Sunday evening gleefully unpacking it and watching the instructional DVD (because we all know women actually do read the instructions!).

I spent over 9 hours this weekend power washing the fence to strip off the loose paint and blast away the mildew and algae. And after 9 hours, I only got 570 feet or so prepped. Monday morning I had to return it, so it will be a few more days before I can attempt to finish the rest. See, I said this would be a big job!

Yesterday I dropped $600 on 20 gallons of primer and paint. And that was with a 40% off coupon.

This is far from over.