Expensive Addiction
Who told them to strategically place themselves IN BETWEEN my office building and the parking garage? Maaaaaaan, I tell ya - that owner is a friggin’ genius! When I get off work, I have to pass them on the way to my car.
Imagine This
You pull a 12 hour workday with no lunch break, but you manage to accomplish nothing. At 6:30 pm, you finally decide to peel yourself away from the computer and go home. However, you’re starving. The granola bar and yogurt you ate around 1pm is long gone, so you crave a quick snack to hold you over until dinner. But you decide against it.
Then…you realize WHY you haven’t accomplished a thing all day, which makes you frustrated. The mere thought of what tomorrow may bring only adds fuel to the fire. So now you’re hungry and cranky. Bad combination. But that isn’t all.
Now you have to join the licensed lunatics on I-495 for another 20 minutes. The distance between where you stand and your couch feels like a million miles away. All of this is enough to make you want to spit fire. *grrrrrrr*
But you attempt to calm yourself and try to think about what you’re going to prepare for dinner. Yes, you decide to cook dinner at home instead of stopping for takeout because it’s the healthy and frugal thing to do. *ahem* So they say. As you ride down in the elevator, you think of something that will only take 20 minutes from prep to serve and you pat yourself on the back for being creative. You can’t wait to get home. The elevator reaches the lobby, your mood lightens, and you exit the building with an extra pep in your step.
You decide to forget about the unfinished business. It’s time to go home. You’ll be there in about 20 minutes. You know what you want to eat. Dinner will be on the table in another 20 minutes. You just need to get to your car. Walk. Focus.
Then it happens…
You pass the forbidden place and 2 of your 5 senses are immediately invaded. The little green sign. The aroma. The sweet goodness that can make the whole world a happy place. At least until you can get home. Right? Right! Well…ok, just this one last time won’t hurt.
*sigh*
photo credit: basheertome
The Tall Double Chocolate Chip Frappuccino
Dayum! Another $3.54! Crackbucks got me again!
Maybe tomorrow, I’ll try to walk really fast with my eyes closed.
LOL!
~*~*~*~*~*~Work to achieve, not to acquire.
And as always, BE FABULOUS!
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30 comments:
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Fabulous Financials » 600 Starbucks Closing (Pingback), 17 August 2008, 15:36
[...] checked for mine…*sigh…let’s just say the addiction will [...]
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You are not alone!! Every morning I tell myself that I don’t need to stop by Stars and yet at least three days a week I find myself making sure I have enough time before I start my day to swing into my local Stars. They know me by drink, they start making it as soon as I get in line. How sad is that??!! I feel your pain Single Ma, I truly do!
I’ve fought that addiction myself
An accountant I used before calls them, “fourbucks.”
I was bit by the crackbucks bug today. I was out browsing my favorite hobby store nearby and got caught up ordering my favorite iced drink without using my gift card. So that means I just HAVE to go back LOL.
I’m good with this one. I only use starbucks gift cards which I get from doing online surveys. If I have no gift cards I get no drinks!
I don’t do coffee but the Lemon Pound Cake gets me everytime
Starbucks, along with the goodies they serve at our company cafeteria - and it is really really good!!, are the exact reasons why I think i’m gonna leave my money at home…I don’t need it while i’m at work and hey….I might just save a little bit more money! Whoduthunkit? LOL!
Two stocks I knew I should have invested in - Starbucks & ExxonMobil!
Shouldawouldacoulda!
I bet you felt real good during that drive home sipping on ya tall double chocolate frappuccino. LOL!!! You probably don’t even remember the drive home. (It has happened to me) That is how serious Crackbucks is. Make you forget why you were irritated in the first place.
You’ll need to keep walking, and walking, and walking to beat the calories in one of those tall double chocolate chip frappuccinos! All it took was one look at the nutrition facts on their website to steer me clear of them.
I suffer from really awful, precipitous crashing of my blood sugar when I have a day like that…I know how you feel. I’ve learned the only way to combat my hunger pain(s) without stopping at a fast food place is to keep a water bottle, several healthy granola bars, bananas, or apples handy–I carry around a backpack, so that makes it a little easier. i suppose professional wardrobes don’t have a handy place for bananas.
Better yet - SPEED WALK past it, pumping your arms while you go! Then, you’ll not only pass up on the empty calories, you’ll burn a few too!
RESIST THE TEMPTATION GIRL - Keep your wallet fat and the rest of you thin!
That was a good one! Lucky me, I’ve never acquired the taste for coffee, although I do love the smell!
Imagine this: you are taking a long-awaited, much-deserved mini-vaca roadtrip. You stop at a rest stop on the way and decide to try a Iced Chai Tea Latte, even though you barely EVER stepped into a Crackbucks before your trip. But hey, you figure you’re on vaca and it’s a treat, right? You consume the drink by the time you get to your car.
The instant addiction is such that you stop FIVE more times along the highway, just to get more.
By the time you get back from your vacation, you are using any and all excuses to get one. Gotta go to the grocery store: “Hey, it’s only two miles out of the way. I’ll just zip by on the way home.” Your son has Karate class: “I’ll be right back. I just need to run a quick errand”, even though it is five miles away.
After you have spent hundreds of dollars and are clearly suffering from your inability to stop, your husband stages an intervention and you finally get yourself straight. But sometimes, in the night, you can hear that drink calling your name…
The lesson from this tale of woe? “Just say no.”
LOL
Although I can’t resist a grande caramel macchiato I reserve that addiction for when I’m shopping. Something about looking at a cute pair of shoes while getting a caffeine rush is really satisfying.
However, my almost daily addiction is CHIPOTLE!!! When you’re single and really don’t have to cook dinner everyday these little burritos or bowls are the perfect little meal. The seasoned rice (not butter and salt) topped with beans (black or pinto) sauté veggies (onions and peppers) with choice of meat (grilled chicken or steak or braised beef or pork) topped with salsa (tomato, corn, or some hot stuff) sprinkle some cheese, drizzle some sour cream and add a dollop of guacamole. What more do you need? But at $5.65 that can add up on a sister. Not to mention all the calories.
That “fourbucks” is hilarious. What’s worse is that the Tall Double Chocolate Chip Frappuccino has 430 calories.
Hahahaaaaaaaaaa I purposely go out of a different exit when I leave the metro so I don’t pass it in the morning. I haven’t given in to that addiction to often with the EXCEPTION of competition the other weekend LOL
and now that summer is back.. they have that Mint Choco Chip Frapp.. Yummy…
BUT my eyes will NOT see that glory.. NOR my lips taste it..
for now LOL
I’m not a coffee drinker but I can understand the addiction. My current addiction is Jamba Juice and before that, Chipotle. True story. I was so addicted to Chipotle that I bought their stock on their IPO day @ $45. The stock has still gone as high as $155, but is now around $88. An addiction that actually paid off!
Oh no! We have a new sweetshop in town and I once I had been in a few times, the children were asking me to take them in. there is nothing like justifying chocolate than telling yourself that it is a ‘treat’ for the children. We have discovered that my eldest is allergic to chocolate so I cannot go in there any more….probably a good thing really!
Single Ma *hangs head* I, too, am a Starbucks Addict. My sad tale started long ago with something called a Iced Venti Caramel Macchiato. See, I have to have Ice Coffee - cannot drink hot coffee. Even worse, I cannot MAKE coffee. My coffee makes stale police station coffee taste like manna from heaven. I rationalize my daily “Fourbucks” trip (which now it shall be forever coined) as a break from the 9to5. I’ve learned to make calorie allowances and switches and that is my respite from the daily grind. However, it makes a gal happy. Sure, I can do without shoes (don’t tell anyone) but do without coffee. The Pope would convert to Scientolgy first before that happens. So if you need some “reasoning” to justify the expensive Fourbucks habit, just let me know - I’m pretty good with the creative excuses *LOL* And yes, I am a Fourbucks stockholder
leave off the whipped cream on the frap and ask for the light version, it helps cut down the calories. too bad it doesn’t cut down on the cost
I’m not sure about the double chocolate chips, but the Java Chip Frappucino Blended Coffee has
Calories 380
Fat Calories 120
Total Fat (g) 14 !!!!!
Saturated Fat (g) 8 !!!!!
Trans Fat (g) 0
Cholesterol (mg) 35
Sodium (mg) 240
Total Carbohydrates (g) 59
Fiber (g) 2
Sugars (g) 45
Protein (g) 11
Vitamin A 10%
Vitamin C 0%
Calcium 30%
Iron 10%
Caffeine (mg) 20
My Name is Louise and I USE to be a Crackbucks addict, between $200-250 a month Easily, every morning and every afternoon….but no more, I’ve been clean for about 2 1/2 years…
its do able, when i first kicked it i use to go in and just breath the smell in,…now I can go in and sit while my friends drinks no problem.
LMAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO @ “I’ve been clean for about 2 1/2 years…”
Your comment made me fall out. LOL [-SM]
I feel your pain, Single Ma. I do ok in the summer, but when fall rolls around I really want an iced chai, and at christmas i love those mint mochas.
I love sweet drinks, so I’m a big fan of GF Cappucino Coolers, a ghetto but somehow tasty alternative. They were discontinued in my area so I buy them on amazon.com while my husband ranks on my habit….
I have a GC to Starbucks. Regardless of the calorie intake, at least it is not crack! Sometime you need something to get you out of your funk. My drink of choice is the Vanilla Bean Frappucino. I have a recipe for an alternative too. But if I had a hideous night at work, and I am stopping by Target; I will get one. I still have 35 buck on it from when I got it. I think I may need a VBF fix next week.
Calories? What are those?
I drink hot, cold, it doesn’t matter. It just depends on my mood. But my favorite, either way, is the “Tuxedo.” It’s the Cafe Mocha, made with white chocolate. Delicious!
There are three Starbucks within walking distance from my office,
two within a 5 minute drive from my home, and a 3rd within 10 minutes that’s a drive thru. Makes it kind of hard to avoid…at the one closest to my home they know my daughter, and when I go in without her, the baristas ask where she is! (But when she’s in the car and I turn to go near one of them, she says, “Starbucks AGAIN, mom?”) She’s only 4!
I am elated when I receive gift cards! And I know, I know, like every other addiction, it’s mental, but oh I love it so!
I have been missing out on a few posts but doesn’t baby girl have a job? Are you gonna make her quit?
I like the name “Crackbucks”. It is so appropriate. I don’t know what in the hell they put in that coffee but I used to go five days a week. I haven’t been there in a few months but your post is making me think I should treat myself tomorrow on the way to work.
Too bad “Crackbucks” isn’t a franchise - I would have about twenty!!!! I loooovvvveee the Marble Cake. Yum!
Don’t you wish they had rehab for this stuff. What exactly do they put in it that causes to become addicted. It’s like crack one hit and your done. I even have my thug lovin boyfriend addicted. I love it when he goes up the counter in her work uniform and bandana on his head and ask for a Carmel Machhiatto.. makes me laugh.
Even it they had rehab I probably wouldn’t go..go..go.