Getting Ready 4

Teachers aren't the only ones preparing to go back to school. But we may be more enthusiastic than the average twelve-year-old. And Wockerjabby discovered that this is "school sucks weekend," at least according to popular radio.

the SCHOOL SUCKS announcement was followed by a series of commercials about how ohhhhh, you have to go back to "that... place..." but at least you get to have a new wardrobe. and you get a trip to the mall to buy some fun stuff along with "the stuff your parents and the school say you have to get." one last fling with consumerism before you have to back to "that thing that happens in september!"

watch out, teenagers of the world. I am THAT THING and I am going to HAPPEN TO YOU! september is only a week away!

I had one last fling with consumerism myself today, despite my current need to not spend any money. I'm having one of those months when every time I look in my closet, I see that yet another item of clothing is looking really old and worn out, and probably should be replaced. Why is it that all my clothes reach that point at the same time, even though I buy them at different times? Anyway, I got a corduroy skirt to wear back to school which can also be dressed up for going out, a long-sleeve Western-style shirt with embroidery around the collar that is going to be my favorite shirt ever when the weather cools down, and a pair of jeans that were $25 off at Esprit and will allow me to retire my old pair of going-out jeans.

And then I went to Staples and got 5 bottles of glue ($0.09 each! but the limit was 5 per person), 6 boxes of markers, a package of nametags for use during orientation, a package of manila folders to use to collect absent students' work, and a package of hanging file folders to help me stay organized. And I wondered once again why I have never actually received a teacher rewards check from Staples, despite having and using my card regularly... maybe there's something about the card that I don't understand?

I'm going to the Howl Festival Bluegrass Ball - cross your fingers that I win the banjo they are raffling off! - but when I come home, I have to:

• iron a week's worth of clothes
  
• buy/bake a cake for a colleague's birthday tomorrow
  
• type & print out some extra information for the sixth grade team to use with the kids tomorrow
  
• set up classes on our eChalk system
  
• make lunch for tomorrow
  
• decide whether to have the kids make their own nametags or print them on the computer
  
• several other things that I'm forgetting right now