My big day out...

Although I still have roughly two and a half weeks of vacation left, other teachers in the area do not.  Trust me when I tell you that, as a teacher, it is no fun at all to have to settle for leftovers when you visit your local teacher supply store.  I decided to get a little jump on things and head to the closest one today.

I scored some pretty awesome stuff.  I decided that my "Welcome Back" theme was going to somehow incorporate fuzzy monsters.  Truly, they are adorable and I love them dearly!  I got border, letters, cut-outs, smelly stickers, name plates, and a poster.  I even managed to find monster birthday cards.  The coolest thing I found, though, were two small books of writing prompts.  I am moving up to fifth grade this year and I am planning on having my kids journal daily.  They will most likely hate it but it will be good for them.  My favorite one has a vocabulary word/definition for each day and then a question to answer that uses the vocab word.  Here's an example:

pandemonium:  wild uproar; complete chaos (noun)

Pretend you are a zookeeper who comes to work and discovers that all the animals have escaped from their cages.  Write a short story about the pandemonium at the zoo.

I LOVE this little book and can't wait to use it!

side note:  OF COURSE it's raining.  I went outside earlier and watered all the plants.  Hmph!

On the way home I decided to stop at Wal-Mart.  They have this wonderful pineapple-coconut flavored fizzy water that I love.  I got a couple of bottles and some other stuff.  Honestly, between Target and Wal-Mart I spend WAY too much money!  I was greatly annoyed at the lack of customer service at the Wal-Mart that I went to.  When I got in line the cashier said something to me but, because she spoke softly, I had to ask her to repeat what she said.  She got all huffy and told me that she couldn't give me cash back at her register.  I told her that was ok, as long as I could use my debit card I was fine.  She rolled her eyes and walked off.  I did a double take and just kind of stared at her.  I don't know what she was doing but she eventually came back and started scanning my purchases.  She didn't say a word to me but slammed a couple of my things down into the bags.  I was fuming by that point and just really wanted to get out of there.  When she handed my my receipt I said "I certainly hope your day gets better." in as frosty a tone as I could muster.  She looked a little stunned and told me that she wasn't having a bad day.  I said, "Oh, well that's hard to tell, then."  and walked off.  I contemplated finding the manager but decided against it because it never seems to do any good anyway.

No trip out would be complete without a stop at Dunkin Donuts.  Large, blueberry iced coffee with cream, anyone?

Finally, I rounded out my big day out with a stop at the library.  I got an e-mail notification yesterday that the second Hunger Games book I had requested was ready for me to pick up.  It's an audio book so I can knit and read at the same time.  Score!

Have you heard of Group Dealz?  OMG!  I have found some super-cute things there.  Today I couldn't resist ordering the "I love my state" pillow.  Texas, of course.  :)

Hope you are having a wonderful day, wherever you are!

:)