Gathering Supplies

I swear that no less than 10 times this summer I have asked the teenager to look at his upcoming class schedule and determine what school supplies he needs. Finally, today, on the 11th try, we got somewhere.

Looking at the calendar, I realized that school starts this week! Where did the summer go? So I looked at Carter and said, "School starts Friday. We are going shopping now!"

Technically, I guess it's not really "last minute" shopping since we have a few days to spare. It was still plenty picked over, though.

We found what we (I mean HE) needed and after watching the dollar signs add up in the cart, I was quite grateful we don't have to mess with the markers, crayons, colored pencils, rulers, glue sticks and such, that always add up -- even though individually they seem like sweet deals.

Probably the major purchase was some khaki pants and jeans. Although his dress code allows him to wear shorts through October, there may be a day or two before then that he needs the dressier khaki pants. Or, if by some odd coincidence it gets chilly (unlike today's 95-degree heat), then he'll have the jeans for dress-down occasions.

School supplies look so funky cool these days, I'm kind of jealous. Back in my day (says old me), we pretty much got our notebooks and a new shirt and jeans. We'd get shoes if ours looked pathetically worn out from the previous year or, if by chance, our feet actually grew. The only purchase I can remember is my new lilac-and-white Kangaroo shoes with the zip pockets. Nothing was cooler. Ever.

I just hope we got everything a sophomore needs. Because if we go shopping again, I might just be tempted to get that Hello, Kitty mousepad. Just sayin'.