Saturday, August 11, 2007

school supplies- a rant

piss me off. okay- not the supplies themselves. i love to shop for jsut about anything and office supply-type things are a particular weakness of mine. but school slately take all the fun out of it.
remember when we were kids and the lsit was like- five pencils, a box of crayons, some paper, and a binder? and it was really exciting because we got to get like a Lisa Frank notebook or one with frogs on it or something cool like that?
not anymore. first of all the lsit of required supplies is a page long. wtf?? dont rich people pay taxes so that schools can provide some of this crap? ok maybe i am all wrong. but in addition to everything i have to buy, the last two items on the required lsit are checks- one for an emergency preparedness kit- and one for a social studies magazine or something. oh- and its not jsut a wide-ruled notebook they want its this- and this is verbatim: "3 wide ruled composition books (PRIMARY Mead Cow Print- no spiral)"
ummmmm. ok fine. be specific. because the type of animal print on the notebook of a second grader is a life or death matter, right folks?
ok so i have no problem with wanting it all. i mean- i do the same thing. BUT when i go to three stores- including an office specialty store- and cannot find the cowbook- i am pissed. my blood is boiling. i decide, that with gas being $3 a gallon- i am getting her the staples brand cowbooks and if they dont like it they can kiss my ass. which is exactly what i told the slightly frightened cashier as i doled out my money.
im sorry- $65 worth of required supplies- not counting a backpack ($20) and two required checks ($7) makes $92 i spent on required supplies for kk. not counting the fact that half the crap on her list we already had for some odd reason and didnt cost us anything. Not counting clothes- shoes- a coat... i understand all those expenses!
OK a couple of the items on the list are silly to me. A large box of Kleenex. Ten bandaids. I know these go into a classroom pool and are used as needed. ok fine- small ticket items the bandaids- probably free since i have leftover superman bandaids from when i cut myself assembling a bookshelf back in february. but Kleenex can be like $4. and my kid wipes her nose on her shirt for free! so i am paying for some other kid with allergies and hay fever. sigh. ok bad example but come on now.
last year i got really mad when jsut a couple of the items on the supply lsit were asked to have her name put on them and a note said to NOT put her name on the rest of the items as they would go into a classroom pool. that pissed me off too since i buy kk all crayola stuff. im sorry but anyone who has attempted to color with roseart crayons or no-name crayons knows the difference in quality and colorability i am talking about. why should the $3 crayons that work really good that i bought for my sweet precious daughter go into a pool with some moron kids cheapass crayons that his mom spent 48 cents on because she knows he will break them all anyway? i guess it is a little bit of my recessive capitalist gene i have that says- i bought the good stuff- i should benefit from my decision to do so.
i know im making a mountain out of a molehill... and i am a-ok with that. everything is bought, i am writing her name on every single flipping thing i bought tomorrow with black sharpie OOOH or maybe pink sharpie i dont know i have about 30 diff colors of sharpies since last month i took the 3 girls to old navy and we all bought matching white flip flops and i let them color on them with sharpies. fun cheap project- the markers cost more than the 4 pairs of sandals!
OK cool- getting to use sharpies cheered me up. because really as an adult how often do you get to use sharpies?
so my jaw hurts again- at least the timing is good i can take a perc and go to bed. night all!

9 comments:

Jamianza said...

You're too funny Leslie!! Have fun with those sharpies...... (o:

The Miller's said...

I share your sentiments exactly...just finished school shopping for my daughter last week and went through the same rant in my head.

The Miller's said...

Oh, and I hope you're keeping that appt you had to have your teeth looked at

Jennifer said...

...I can NOT believe they are taking the fun out of school supplies!!

Leslie said...

wow it really made me LOL that the most comments ive had on anything in a while was on school supplies :) how funny.
amber i cannot wait for my appt. its thursday. time off work is approved, daycare is covered, got my ride and mom will even be my nurse for the day. im set- and cant wait! pain pills are supposed to be fun- not necessary! joking.... :)

Jamianza said...

Hey Leslie.... just f.y.i...the cow print composition notebooks are on ad this week at Walgreens for .99......(o:

ABW said...

my complaint about school supplies is that I have to buy dry erase markers for the teachers. They should be given these things!

Leslie said...

abw- we did too- and they had to be expo brand. ok- if i dont get myself name brand things because i can get the same for cheaper- why do i have to get them name branmd things? argh.
misty- i see cow print everywhere but not Mead brand, and not PRIMARY, whatever that is. thanks for the heads up tho- i wish it was easier!

Anonymous said...

The cheap dry-erase markers (e.g. not expo) don't always come off the white marker board. Sometimes the best you are left with is a pink board after using a cheap red one just once. The classroom size white marker boards are really expensive to replace. I used to work for a teacher's supply store- even our cost to buy them from the supplier was ridiculous.

abw's friend p