Unless you’re unattached (physically, not emotionally) to another person, you are probably aware that today is Valentines Day (should it be “Valentine’s Day” in the possessive form?). That means for the last few days, commercials have bombarded us with portrayals of lazy, procrastinating boyfriends and/or husbands busily running over to Target and/or the Hallmark store to find some last-minute doo-dad for his lover.

Generally speaking, I pride myself on not falling into this bucket. And since CareerMom and I sort of celebrated V-Day at the Ritz-Carlton last week (see: Wouldn’t You Like to Get Away for a complete play-by-play), I didn’t put too much thought into getting anything for actual Valentines day until I realized that I should probably get something for the boys to give to Mommy. She’d like that.

So, I trotted over to Target yesterday figuring I’d get her a card from me and one from the boys and if I was lucky, I’d find one of those candy ring-pops CareerMom had explained to me last week was her favorite candy as a little girl.

I walked into Target and the cards are pretty much the first three rows you encounter as you come in and let me tell you folks, the commercials leading up to Valentines day are waaaay off. There wasn’t a single guy there yesterday. It was all women, who, one would assume, were all getting their last-minute Valentines Day shopping done. And pushy! I darn near had to get rude just to get near the rack. Between the plus-sized models covering several square-feet of rack space, to the purse-laden carts that women won’t let get more than 8” away from their bodies, it was like trying to touch Sammy Hagar at a Van Halen reunion concert! It just wasn’t happening.

I muttered, “Forget this!” and walked around to the other side where they keep the nondescript cards that just say, “Love” on them and grabbed one, figuring I’d just fill in the rest. I also grabbed a card from the boys that they could color and give to her.

Having gotten my cards, I looked all over the store for ring pops—couldn’t find any. As I was walking back to the other end of the store to the one checkout open on the side that didn’t sell groceries, I peeked in all of the candy racks at the checkout counters-to no avail. There was one open checkout on this far end of the store and as I got in it and moved closer to the checkout, VOILA! There was a small box of ring pops. I triumphantly grabbed two of them and moved up to the counter. The clerk rang up my two cards and ring pops and announced, “That will be $11.37 sir.”

Eleven dollars for two ring pops and two cards! After paying, I scrutinized the receipt and realize that the generic “Love” card I grabbed in my fit of exasperation, cost $6 even! Wow!

Either they have some REALLY smart people over at Target, who knew that guys like me would get fed up with the crowd and opt for a more generic card—without even looking at the price—or cards have just gotten waaaay expensive. But, like I’m going to complain to CareerMom about it right? Fat chance!

Happy Valentines Day all!