Taking A Break

Over the last few weeks I have been wrapping up the back to school shopping. The last items to be bought were the "List" items. One of our fellow bloggers recently expounded on the horrors of five dollar notebooks. Little did I know what I was in for.

I decided to try shopping at Wal-Green's. I figured it would be less crowded and I could get in and out pretty quickly. So I took The Drama Queen's list and off I went. Not only are retailers scamming us into paying 5 bucks for a notebook, they have also decided that 5 five dollars for a box of colored pencils is the way to go. I know everyone has their own opinions about Wal-Mart. Well let me tell you as a single mother on a budget, I am a frequent Wal-Mart shopper. However, this fine Saturday afternoon I just didn't want to deal with it. Until I saw the box of 5 dollar wooden colored sticks. Not no, but h-e-double hockey sticks no was I paying 5 bucks for that. So in defeat off I headed to the local Wal-Mart. I still ended up spending about 40 bucks for an assortment of pens, pencils, paper, folders, binders, etc. What in the world are they doing to the kids at school I ask you?

They don't give out lists for the high school kids so Sissy had to wait until her first day of school to find out what she needed. When I got home from work that day, we had dinner and once again headed back to the Wal-Mart. All three of us were tired from our day, I think my eyes were glazed over and red.

Let me tell you, three tired, cranky females at Wal-Mart on a Monday evening is no joke. The girls were snapping at each other and I was snapping at them to stop snapping at each other. We did manage to make it out without anyone assaulting the other one. Sissy recently got her permit so I have dubbed her my personal chauffeur. It wasn't until we were almost home that I realized that I had been completely relaxed on the way home. I did not sit straight up and monitor all the traffic, waiting for either Sissy to hit someone or for someone else to slam into us. Oh no, I was for the first time since she started driving completely lucid during the entire drive. It was like someone had given me some Valium. I have not yet decided if this is because she is improving so much, or I was so dog tired that I just didn't care if we ran into a stop sign or ran some poor jogger off the side of the road.

Nana, thank you so much for all your help with the girls' school stuff. I am so lucky to be able to call you Mom. Your love for all of us is such a blessing in our lives. I finally have the Mom I always wanted. We all love you very much.