I spent a ridiculous amount of time at Target the other night trying to purchase school supplies. Since we were gone for 2 weeks, I didn’t have the list from my son’s teacher. So, naturally, a lot of stuff was sold out. Indeed, as I was shopping the back-to-school aisles, Target employees were pulling stuff off the racks and taking down the signs. When I protested that school hadn’t actually started yet, they told me they had to get the Halloween stuff up.
So that part was a wee bit frustrating (I wound up ordering “marble composition notebooks” from Amazon), but one fun thing Target does have during any season is shoes. Everyone got new sparkly Velcro shoes, with 2/3rds of the kids’ shoes lighting up. They posed for pictures on the driveway this morning, and the bus, miraculously, picked up the 7-year-old on time. That’s good because he had appeared in my room at 6:30 this morning, all dressed and ready to go. School starts at 9; he was excited! Fortunately, he came home all smiles. It was a good day.
The 4-year-old and 2-year-old have orientation on Wednesday. The 2-year-old starts school for the first time on Thursday. She absolutely loved the day camp she went to there this summer, so I have high hopes for a good experience. I’m grateful that my children are pretty resilient, and seem to roll with new situations. Of course, shiny new shoes help…
I hope you’re faring well this back-to-school season.
In other news: USA Today ran my column on over-air-conditioned offices online over the weekend. It will likely be in the print edition tomorrow.
Fast Company ran my post on 7 Common (And Totally Avoidable) Mistakes New Managers Make. It’s based on Lindsey Pollak’s new book, Becoming the Boss, which will be out mid-September.
I guess you have to buy school supplies in July? Although I suppose you don’t have teacher lists at that point.
We don’t need a lot of the typical school supplies, but we go through a lot of the composition books you mentioned. And spiral-bound notebooks!
@The Frugal Girl – I guess! Halloween is a solid 2 months away at this point. Yes, it is the big fall holiday from a retail perspective, but still. Although it could be worse. They could be putting up Christmas decorations.
A Pier One near here had a Christmas tree up in August. The decorations had muted colors, but really? August??