Guess what I did on Monday? I’ll give you a hint - It’s my FAVORITE activity in the WORLD that does not involve alcohol or nudity. Come on…you know what it is…guess!
School Supply Shopping!
And this year? I got to take Stace’s daughters with me because really, who better to go school supply shopping with than the Queen of Pens herself: Miss Zoot. Highlights from the day included the following:
- Captain Jack Sparrow spiral notebooks and backpacks. Yummy!
- Pulling up to Staples and hearing the oldest girl say, “I don’t think I’ve ever been here before.” LilZ and I both gasped in horror at such an idea.
- Me telling everyone in the car that Staples was my church and that I am the minister there.
- Sequined pencil pouches
- Getting mad at LilZ for buying plain bic ball-point pens. “You are a disappointment to me.” I then forced him to buy fancier pens at our next trip to Target. No child of mine shows up to school with boring writing utensils.
- Pencil Sharpeners in the shape of butterflies
- Buy One Get One Free Post Its.
- Calendars with cute puppies on them. It’s a double-dose of awesome!
Now, I am usually the Queen of School Supplies, but this year I had a little setback. LilZ is taking a home-economics class this year that had it’s own supply list. One of the things on the list was “Trigger Cloth.” I had no idea what that was, but since it was grouped with other fabric-related items, I asked the Fabric Lady at Hobby Lobby for some help. She smiled politely and said, “Yes. That’s another name for Popplin. We don’t carry that. Try Hancock Fabrics.”
Popplin? Am I supposed to know what that is? Of course, I didn’t ask that because she told me in such a way that she obviously thought “popplin” would clear things up for me. I didn’t want to seem like a moron when it wasn’t going to matter anyway because they didn’t have any. I wasn’t going to Hancock Fabrics since that place scares me. I’m saving that for another day when I have a bunch of courage. That is a real fabric store and I fear they’ll smell my ignorance of fabrics from a mile away.
So - this is the first time ever that I’ve had to go home without something on the list because I wasn’t sure what it was. It was a sad day in my school-supply-shopping career. A sad, sad day.
awww defeat sucks ass! I hate it when I cannot completely finish something - especially if it involves school supplies : (
I am jealous of your school shopping. I love school supplies.
I love school supply shopping as well. It is zen-like for me.
The Hancock Fabric store on South Parkway [I believe it's a Hancock Fabrics, it's in the corner of the L-shaped shopping center next two Arby's/Taco Bell] usually has extremely kind ladies working there, who are more than willing to explain and locate anything you need.
And, that’s coming from one fabric-ignorant person to another.
I bet you find some nice ladies at the fabric store (I used to be a fabric lady). They’ll help you figure it out.
Shopping with you sounds fun!
Poplin is a very common (and inexpensive) fabric. Just tell the fabric peeps you need some poplin, and they will point it out without judging you. I promise. Don’t worry!
Don’t be afraid of the fabric! Fabric is our friend!
Like the other lovelies have said here- I’m sure that there will be a nice person to help you there. Salespeople are rarely as judgmental of our ignorances as we think they will be.
I went school supply shopping last night and didn’t even bring my son with me. Thanks to the very thrifty Mir I even had a coupon for Staples. My problem is that I cannot find a yellow 1″ three ring binder! Oh queen of the school supplies, please help if you can!
I was at WalMart yesterday and looking at school supplies. They had 24 packs of crayons for 12 cents and I thought. Oh, Zoot must be happy it’s back to school time so she can look at office supplies.
Um, I think I’ve seen poplin listed in catalogs or something? Or maybe on a tag on something I own.
I’m with you.
This makes me think of You’ve Got Mail and they talk about school starting and bouquets of freshly sharpened pencils. (At least I think it was that movie?)
I always loved school supply shopping when I was a kid.
*Googles popplin*
I have not a clue what that is.
Wow! You ARE awesome. I don’t think I’ve ever gotten all the kids school supplies before school started. One year I remember coloring a folder with a Sharpie because we couldn’t find the right color. Now THAT was awesome!
I wondered when you’d hit the school supplies..This weekend here is “tax free”. Think I’m going anywhere near school supplies?
I pad that have just a letter and pic on them, so you can have the alphabet hanging all over your home. Or the montessori counting bear book that is a game and basic arithmetic all rolled into one. Or the teaching clocks. Or…
I had to leave the aisle with my 10 boxes of 24 ct crayons at 12 cents each, before my head exploded with all the possibilities.
your comments didn’t like my html… harumpf
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Ah, yes, we are having the tax free weekend here too! I don’t get to buy school supplies yet(next year!). I know I will LOVE it. I could not wait to shop for supplies when I was a kid.
I am so jealous!
So jealous! Now seeking a reason to school supply shop.
SEQUINED. PENCIL. POUCHES.
???????
I am SO going there.
…oh, as in, straight to Office Depot to get mine.
and I’ll knife the first 15-year-old-giggling-real-life-Bratz-doll who tries to get between me and them.
UGGGG I am soooo jealous of you. My son is only two and I’m so sad I don’t get to school shop yet. I want to go back to school just to buy stuff. Walmart has these extra cute pink and tan and blue (all seperate colors) binders and folders and papers and what not and I’m so sad i have nothing to use a pink flowery binder for
Are you telling me that they give you a LIST of what to buy?!
Toad’s in first grade this year - we’ve had no list yet - will this come with time?!
*sigh* I wish Staples weren’t over an hour away…of course, I’d probably go broke if it was closer
http://www.apparelsearch.com/Definitions/Fabric/poplin_definition.htm
seems to be a reasonable definition of poplin. Oddly enough, google doesn’t show any obvious page with a definition of trigger cloth, and one gets the sense that trigger cloth is relatively thin cotton while poplin is supposed to be heavy. So who knows! I’d just walk into the suggested fabric store, ask for the stuff, and look blank if questioned. (I guess that’s easy for me to say, being a guy…)
School supply shopping is one of the many reasons that I became a teacher! I told myself that I would not buy that much this year but everytime I go to the store they have something that is amazing like crayola markers for 88 cents, glue sticks for 10 cents…. I think adding it all up I have spent 50 dollars on crap that I don’t even need. But opening them up will be soooooo worth it.
Um … didn’t they wear clothes made of poplin in “Little House on the Prairie”? Maybe? But kudos to LilZ for learning how to sew!
Seriously I decided to get my Masters degree in Clinical Psy just because I wanted to have a reason to buy school supplies.
Let me just say, I have 5 children, all school age. Jealous yet? Not only do the 3 oldest come home with lists the beginning of every school year, but usually several lists each and wish lists for the classrooms.
School started Tuesday and Monday you should have seen me with my 50 (yes 50) spiral notebooks and 20 packages of paper. 10 cents per binder, can you believe it? 30 cents per package of paper. And yes, the weekend before that my Husband bought probably 30 boxes of those crayons from Walmart. The paper is for us, it’s a beautiful thing to not have to run to the store to buy a $2.00 pack of paper every other week when yet another kid runs out
The crayons, just got them to donate to classes along with the carton of spiral notebooks I intend to get and various other items off of the teachers wishlists, which finally arrived today.
I’m the one standing in the aisle at Walmart each year with a stack of about 8 school supply lists and a pen marking things off for at least a couple of hours. I get interesting looks with my cart full of cartons of spiral notebooks and over half a cart full of pencils, etc. It’s almost as spectacular to witness as when I Easter shop for them.
My first grader’s list specified a 10 pack of Crayola Washable broad tip markers, Classic Colors. I can find the 10 packs of those, but they’re not washable. I can find Crayola washable in 8 packs in the store, and in 12 packs online.
I tossed the brand request and grabbed Roseart 10 packs of classic color broad tips because they were washable.
I think the teach needs to check and see if her items are available before she puts them on the list.
And why, OH WHY, doesn’t Crayola make their 10 pack markers washable anyway?
Zoot, DUDE, you have to try this new pen I found and I love it! It’s my new “favorite pen EVAH”. It is a Uni-ball Signo 207. The pack I got is colored gel and it came in dark purple, pink, orange, green and blue. It really flows when you write. It’s also the pen that prevents check washing fraud incase that’s important to you. Happy Shopping!!! Oh and P.S. - Target had some cool post-its and page marker post-its in their dollar bin.