10 Glue Sticks Must Be Enough

I went back-to-school shopping for my older daughter last week. And you know what? It's not as fun as I remember from when I was a kid. My daughter had no interest in participating in this endeavor even though I was shopping for her. So, armed with my list I headed first to Five Below and then Target. After two stores and almost $40, I still need one more thing! Why the hell didn't I buy the fundraiser kit back in May? It might have been a little more expensive, but it would have been a heck of a lot easier.

There are 19 "items" on the list but sometimes, you need to buy more than one of those items. For instance, 10 glue sticks. Twenty-four #2 pencils - sharpened (which you can buy but they are twice as much as the unsharpened ones). Two boxes of Crayola crayons (24-ct). Guess what, they don't exist. They are sold out everywhere. So she's getting Rosecraft or whatever that other brand is. Deal with it. And what are they going to do with 10 glue sticks each? If you have about 20 kids in a class (that's conservative) and they each bring in 10 glue sticks, that's 200 glue sticks. Are they using them for snack? Are they trying to set some glue stick record? I'm baffled.

I asked my mother if she remembered buying all kinds of stuff for back-to-school. She said no, just notebooks and maybe a pencil box with stuff in it. But definitely not boxes of tissues, Ziploc bags and hand sanitizer. I remember buying a Trapper Keeper notebook. It was blue with dolphins and it was (at the time) the coolest thing ever. (Do they even make those anymore?) I also remember my Texas Instruments Owl calculator. That thing was so awesome... I'm showing my age now...

Be sure next year and years after I will be buying the kit and calling it quits on back-to-school shopping!