The Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

It’s the most wonderful time of the year!  I’m not talking Christmas.  It’s the beginning of school supply sales!  I love these times, because I have a fetish for paper and all things that go with it!  Staplers, paint, pencils, crayons – could it get any better?  YES!  Different colored notebooks!  Old marble composition books now in neon colors!  Textured paper, lined paper, college-ruled paper – do you see where I’m going with this?  I LOVE IT! 

Shopping in Wally-world the other night we saw the shelves were starting to be stocked with supplies.  We had originally entered this shopping establishment for two things – boat oil and a sympathy card for a wake that we missed.  However, once the oil was decided upon and we were on our way to the greeting cards we came upon the most amazing sight – school supplies in abundance on July 16^th, no less. 

By the way, I do have a problem with the stores rolling out seasons way before we are ready for them.  I think it is disgusting to see Halloween costumes and candy on the shelves at the end of August.  I feel the same way about Christmas stuff on the shelves at the end of October.  I also believe that if a store is going to sell Christmas items they should also play Christmas music.  I don’t know how many times I have walked out of a store because I want to shop for the holiday, but it has pushed me to shop on-line and either watch the holiday specials on TV or listen to Christmas music that I choose myself.  It’s just wrong that it isn’t played in stores anymore.  Is it like this everywhere?

But I digress.  My point is this – I got there before everything had been picked over so I got first dibs!  I tried not to go overboard and I think I did succeed.  I bought two sets of almost everything – notebooks in five different colors, composition books, colored pencils, crayons, markers, pencil bags – and then a couple odds and ends, like the fluorescent orange composition book and the teal one-inch binder.  The folders looked cheap, but weren’t priced as cheap as they looked.  I remembered a few years ago when I got folders for ten to twenty-five cents apiece.  Not the other night.  I walked away.  I couldn’t be persuaded to buy folders that looked like they would rip apart before their first use, let alone stay together for a full school year.  No, I will look elsewhere for my folders.  Glue sticks!  A six pack was 97¢ - not bad for something that goes to school and you never again see.

I could have spent more time browsing, much more time, but we were running late.  Dinner was waiting and we had already missed Jeopardy.  Happy with my purchase, we left the store.  As we drove away, I remembered what I was supposed to pick up – the sympathy card.  Guess I’m headed back to the store.  I wonder if new items have been added to the supplies.  This time I’m buying the card first!