School Supplies @ MindSay

*sigh* I can't believe that it's the last week of June already. Summer vacation is just flying by. Pretty soon I'm going to have to go school supply shopping and with an actual paycheck that's gonna suck. I mean... I'm going to blow all my money on Hello Kitty school supplies! o///o this won't end good at all.  Dani found this cool kit that comes with folders, a notebook, a notepad, pencils, erasers, a sharpener, and a pencil case. And it's all Hello Kitty!

*pokes fingers together* I want to go to Hot topic and get a Hello Kitty tote bag. I mean for god's sake I'm staring at the adorable stuff on Sanrio.com. I don't need a Hello Kitty lace umbrella, but I want it anyways. [[I wouldn't actually buy it though << *cough*]]

Have you ever noticed that when school first starts off and the teacher askes you to write something down in your binder that you're all excited to use your brand spankin' new school stuff? The first page of your binder has your best hand writting and by page 3 it looks like shit. Personally... my hand always cramps up on the first day of school from writting. So far this Summer I haven't written anything long enough. And you organize your stuff for the first day of school sooooo perfectly! And by the next month your binders have writting all over the front and some weird stain on them from when you were hanging out with your friends at lunch. Your bookbag is a mess and you can never find anything inside of them. Yep... happens every year.

http://shop.sanrio.com/hello-kitty-pen/80487-200703,default,pd.html
Look at that! If you're a guy you probably think this is the dumbest thing in the world. But I totally want that! >< it's so cute! *gasp* they have Cinnamoroll pens and pencils!

I still can't believe that some people have graduated from Springstead. I'm gonna miss doing stuff with Danny... who's going to give me piggy back rides now? And who's going to play paddy cake with me?!

Hot Topic is have a really big Clearance.... :X or the website has a lot of stuff on sale. I need to go to the mall.

Who thought up this nightmare scenario anyway?! It wasn’t as though the mad rush to get school supplies the weekend before school starts was not already bad enough BEFORE tax free weekend. It wasn’t that I put that much value on the savings of tax-free weekend, it was just that we’ve barely had enough money to EAT since my last pay day, so shopping any earlier was not an option this year. I know all the moral objections and social stigma associated with shopping at Wal-Mart, but when it’s crunch time, it’s the only store open 24/7 for the overworked general public, and they are SURELY in cahoots with the local school systems, as they really DO have absolutely EVERYTHING on those lists the schools send home with the kids every summer – those lists that clue you in about the small fortune you’re going to be expected to spend on school supplies later in the year. And that’s not even including whatever fees the SCHOOL is going to charge when we go register on Tuesday – God only knows how much THAT’S going to be.

Then of course, the kids MUST have at the very least, a few new clothes and shoes. In Kendall’s case, it’s not so much a matter of fashion as of necessity – clothing and footwear have a peculiar tendency to literally disintegrate on him over a very short period of time. Because he eats like a bird, he’s skinny as a rail, but that doesn’t seem to stop his feet from growing, or slow down the UPWARD momentum of his growing skeletal system.

So there we are in Wal-Mart late on a Friday night (because I really didn’t want to pollute my weekend with elbowing strangers in Wal-Mart for school supplies. Friday had already been muddied up by a workday – might as well round it off with tax-free shopping in Wal-Mart).

Several isles were generously stocked (or at least looked like they HAD been generously stocked) with all manner of school stuff – a virtual cornucopia of book bags, notebooks, papers, glue sticks, pencils, ink pens, markers, highlighters, pocket folders, etc. Studious Wal-Mart employees were helping to direct poor lost parents and enthusiastic kids through skillful interpretations of the sometimes baffling supply lists. What is a 5x5 Quad Ruled Marble Composition Book? A tabbed pocket folder? And what in heaven’s name is a frickin’ PLEASURE book?! Do they actually sell stuff like that in WAL-MART?! Is this how sex education starts…with PLEASURE books?! Well, I guess that was where I got MY sex education, but we dared not take our ‘pleasure’ books to SCHOOL! We kept them discreetly hidden under mattresses and buried in closet floors for cryin’ out loud! What has this world come to, that ‘pleasure’ books are actually listed on the official list of SCHOOL supplies? GEEZ.

Flustered parents with those familiar ‘lists’ in hand, looked  to other parents who had full buggies, assuming they knew where everything was since their buggies looked fully stocked – “Can you tell me where you found the glue sticks and colored pencils?” – the pleading desperation on their faces was frightening. Kids were predictably drawn to the most expensive displays like magnets, while parents dug though mountains of tousled budget items for the cheaper versions of the same.

During a moment of respite as we stepped out of the crowd to access our progress with buggy items as compared to list requirements, I hear a coy, young female voice – “Hiiiii Keeendaall.” Kendall lights up like a Christmas tree and I turn to see some flirty, hot little thing that looks more like a 16-year old sex kitten than a 12 year old – long blonde hair, long tanned legs in short shorts – oh GOD, I really thought I was going to have more time to get ready for this sort of thing!!

Once we’d filled our list (a separate package of colored pencils for EACH class?! Whaaaa???!!!!!), we headed for the clothes and shoes. Again, adults digging through the budget shelves while kids buzz around the ‘cool’ (and expensive) stuff. In the shoe department, an exhausted father sits wearily resting his head on hands as his wife and 2 daughters buzz from shoe box to shoe box like sharks in the throes of a feeding frenzy. One isle over, 3 girls from ages 6 to 16 are giggling and trying on high heels that look like hooker heels.

Somehow, I lived through all the madness and mayhem and managed to safely drive us home. Following a wretched fast food meal (because Wendy’s was the only food place around here that was open past MIDNIGHT), Kendall bustles out to the car and begins unloading all his new stuff. (Why is he never this eager to unload the GROCERIES?!) Right now, the living room floor looks quite similar to one of the school supply isles in Wal-Mart did a few hours ago.

I don’t think this was supposed to be what grand parenting was all about…

*slumps over on sofa as visions of notebooks and glue sticks dance in her head*

A good idea gone bad

 

This weekend is my state’s first ever sales tax holiday. Where I live, we pay 9.25% on every purchase, so taking that off the bill can add up to a good piece of change. But after looking at the items exempt from the tax and those not exempt, I’ve decided that our state’s legislature is completely out of touch the concept of back to school.

 

Consider that items such as tape, scissors, glue, crayons, and chalk are on the exempt list, but clay and glazes, paints, paintbrushes, sketch and drawing pads and watercolors are not exempt. I see this as discriminating against high school and college students while catering to elementary school students.

 

Also consider some of the clothing items that are on the exempt list: coats, gloves, and jackets. This is August. August in the South means sweltering heat. I suspect you couldn’t find a coat, jacket or pair of gloves in any store in town.

 

Moving on… if you buy a computer bundled with a monitor, keyboard, mouse, speakers, cables to connect these items, and preloaded with software, you are exempt from paying taxes if the purchase is less than $1,500. However, monitors, keyboards, speakers, and scanners sold separately are not exempt. Also if you need to upgrade your word processing software or purchase a Spanish tutorial, plan on tacking that nasty 9.25% onto the price. In addition, printers and printer supplies such as paper and ink cartridges are also not exempt.

 

Certainly having any sort of sales tax holiday is a relief to some extent, but there are so many inconsistencies in the list. The list of exempt items strongly favors elementary students. Indeed, many high school students don’t even get their supply lists until after the first day of classes – long after this tax holiday. Nonetheless I will try to drag Matt into several stores this weekend and stock up on basic notebooks, notebook paper, pencils, pens, and perhaps get him to try on a couple of pairs of jeans to replenish his frayed ones from last year. I might even get him to find a pair of school shoes, but I hope he can still wear his cross country cleats from last year because these are considered sports equipment and our legislature must not see them as a back-to-school item because we have to pay the full tax of them.

 

Hmmmm. I wonder which lobbyist wrote the exempt list.

I remember when 'back to school shopping' meant new shoes, a new notebook, and a new pencil box.  My friends and I all oooh'd and aaah'd over our "new stuff" on the first day of school. Sometimes, we got a new lunchbox with the latest sitcom stars all over it or something.  Holly Hobbie was also popular.

I remember when the big bucks we spent were for maybe a new coat in the winter. We had to save up for a nice one.

I remember when "school supplies" meant getting a box of tissues for the teacher, and maybe bringing in your own pencils. That's when I was the teacher.  Sometimes, a nice parent brought lined paper.

Tonight, we have just returned from Back to School shopping.  Our list isn't even finished and we've already spent $80.  The art supplies we're required to buy will add even more.

Oi!

Now, we've already bought school uniforms and a school backpack from the charter school Cyclone will be going to in a couple of weeks. I didn't include that in this amount. I realize that other people have to pay for their own books, too, in public schools.

I am relieved beyond words that isn't the case here.

YET!

We'll get art supplies soon.  I just don't think I'm up for another round of this, yet.

Have I mentioned I hate shopping...?  <smile>

Whew.  I'd say "It's Miller Time" if I drank beer.  But I don't (it tastes like mouldy bread!) so I can only sit here and take a long, long pull on .....

A root beer.

:)  I feel better already.