My $0.02 on School Supplies.

So....we got THE LIST.


Let me back up & give you a little info about me:
(1) I am a Staples Junkie. LOVE that place. Love office supplies....highlighters and pens and calendars and paper of every color...What more could a girl want!?
(2) Last year, I damn near peed my pants when THE LIST arrived.

This year....not so much.
My mom & I were talking, and we believe there needs to be a bar set up at the end of each school supply aisle at Target.
"Back to School, sponsored by Bacardi!"
(has a ring to it, doesn't it??)

So, 24 crayons for 20 cents is a heck of a deal....but WTF is a "chunky pencil"???
I'm on the school supply aisle, thinking out loud about the 'chunky pencil,' when another mom chimes in, "those are those fat pencils that WE had to write with in kindergarten. You're lucky. I've got to find velcro dots. Where am I going to find velcro dots?"
Yes, clearly, we could have all used a drink.

And now I must move on to the subject of folders.
Every year, I had to have folders with pockets & brads.
My child now has to have a folder with pockets & brads.
What could I not find: a red plastic folder with pockets & brads.
Some had pockets, no brads.
Some had brads, no pockets.
I vote we propose legislation that just makes it mandatory for all folders sold in the US to come standard with pockets & brads. Period.
All of those other folders----people just buy those by mistake, get home & get pissed because there are no pockets or brads. I'm fairly certain of it. I think that there is truly no demand for those such folders, and those only sell by mistake, or because they lure children in with pictures of unicorns, kitties, and super-heroes. Every truly functional folder has pockets...and brads.

Backing up a bit....to the "chunky pencils." For the life of me, I still can't find them. The closest thing I've found: those carpenter pencils at Lowe's. The sarcastic woman inside me wanted to buy those & send Gage to school with a package of those, a note, and knife. "Dear---TEACHER, I've enclosed a knife for you to manually sharpen the only "chunky" pencils that I could find for my son." ORRRR "Dear---TEACHER, In this envelope you've successfully found this note, and hopefully you've found the $3 enclosed as well. Next time you're out, please buy my son some 'chunky pencils' because I don't have an EFFIN' clue who has them in stock."

Hubby and I look forward to a time when we can pay the designated fee, and the supplies will magically appear on his little desk on the first day of school. That's just not offered at his little school now....

Current school supply status:
I found all but 2 of the school supply items at Target #1 last Saturday.
I found the folder (red, plastic, with pockets & brads) at Target #2 on Sunday.
I still haven't found the chunky pencils.

It's amazing the difference between my attitude last year, and my attitude this year....
...and he's only starting PreK 4. We've got YEARS of this ahead....