Sparkle Booty jeans on the supply list?!?!?!

Some how every year the school supply list gets longer and more ridiculous. If I remember correctly when I was younger my mother griped about buying tissues for the class, but most everything else was just for my personal use, I must say though, I have seen a disturbing trend involving school supplies.  Part of the list is made up of specific items that are almost as impossible to find as the pot of gold that is supposedly at the end of the rainbow, part of the list is made up of things that I know my kids will use, but they ask for extra, and the rest of the list is comprised of items that make you wonder where your tax dollars are going.  Easiest way to explain this is by example, so here goes.
Specific and hard to find items---3 inch binder--now I wanted to buy a nicer one that would hopefully last the school year, but not spend an arm and leg (just the arm). After hours of searching and finding nothing under $20, I spent $12 on a binder with 2 sets of 1 and 1/2 inch rings...the equivalent to a 3 inch binder. It will have to do.
Items I know my kids will use, but they have asked for extras---3boxes of plain yellow pencils!!!!  So, I am buying pencils for every kid in class who's parents don't keep extra pencils at home!?  That is exactly the case!
Last but not least, the items that make you wonder where your tax dollars are really going--hand soap?! sanitizer?! They hold fundraisers for technology(like promethean boards) but do not have the funds for the children to wash properly?!?!! Hold a fundraiser for soap! and of course what school year would be complete unless I bought ziploc bags in various sizes, and lysol wipes?!  

Well, everything is bought, and I have to sit and separate everything and label it with each child's name, if for no other reason than to let the teacher know who actually got what was on the list so later in the year they don't come begging me for more.

Now for the fun, what school year would be complete without a few new clothes? NONE.  So while we were out today I found a couple of awesome deals I couldn't pass up and neither could the kids.  I found some nice shirts at walmart and khols, but I think the best find was at walmart. Monkey has had a nice growth spurt this year and doesn't really fit any of her jeans anymore, she has been wearing a lot of Toad's clothes because none of hers were fitting. While at walmart we spotted some jeans marked down to $6 a pair. Monkey HAD to spend almost 10 minutes looking through them all to find her size in the sparkly jeans. They fit her perfect and she is in need of new jeans, but I was a bit shocked to see how quickly school supplies turned into sparkly booty jeans.  

All in all it was a great day off. Enjoyed shopping with the kids, had lunch at taco bell, paid my car insurance for the month, went to the pool, had dinner and relaxed watching movies with the zoo. I am dreading tomorrow! First, I don't want to go to work, and second, I don't want to deal with the talking about my resignation.  I haven't gotten a response after sending it last night, but I am sure it was received and I can just hear the mess now... ugh! 

Goblins, Ghosts, and Pretty Kitties?!

What happened to the good old days when costumes were simple?  We took the kids shopping for Halloween costumes yesterday and oh boy is all I have to say...   We stopped by walmart, which of course did not have anything they were remotely interested in. Toad has decided she wants to be Hermione Granger from Harry Potter and that stayed as firm as cement, Monkey on the other hand wanted to be a cheerleader, then changed her mind while we were at walmart.  I thought I had her convinced to be something scary and gross, but that changed too.  We left walmart, grabbed Crankybear and headed to Party City.  Toad found the items she needed to pull off the hermione costume very quickly(robe, wand, tie, scarf) I have to find her a white button down shirt, but I have time.  Monkey found a Zombie Doctor costume that would have been AWESOME except it only came in 2 sizes med and large.  She is too tiny to pull off a medium so we kept looking. She tried on almost every mask in there and scared herself a few times, and then asked if we could go look at the wall of costume pictures again.  So we wondered through the maze of parents with children running crazy back to the wall. First monkey points to a cute sailor outfit, NO. She has a sailor costume she could wear from her last dance recital. They had a tap routine for "The Good Ship Lollipop" so I told her if she wanted to be a sailor she could wear her old costume. She promptly said no she didn't want to be a sailor and pointed to a Pretty Kitty costume.  Something went very wrong. Somehow we went from guts and gore to cheap black velvet and pink feather boa.  I am confused.  We found a person working and asked if she could bring us out a small(4-6) for Monkey to try on.  We wait and get in the dressing room, put the top and bottoms on her and she runs off to show Crankbear and Toad. She comes running back a few minutes later saying something about the headband and sure enough there on the floor of the dressing room is a small plastic bag with a headband and choker.  She is absolutely adorable. I think I am going to have to head to party city alone and pick up a costume for me.  The kids are getting big enough that I can dress up and in something hideous.  This should be awesome, I saw a great werewolf costume.  We will see how funds are when we get a little closer to Halloween.  The kid's cotumes tapped me out.....almost 2 hours and $60 later they are happy and ready for the holiday and I can't wait to get pictures.