August 2, 2008

It was a busy day. I got up when Michael went to work this morning. Yes, I think we are back in the cycle of him working every Saturday. I got the bank records updated from when we were on vacation. That took a while, but gosh it feels good when that is done.

The kids and I then went to Kidsmart. Kidsmart is a store that teachers who work in districts that service low income families can go to to get free supplies for their students. We are allowed to go and "shop" there once a month. We are given a list that tells us how much of each item we can take at the time since supply inventories go up and down all the time. Then, we have an hour to get what we need. During the school year we have to work at least three volunteer hours in the "store" to "pay" for what we "buy." It's really a great set up.

I was able to get folders, notebooks, crayons, pencils, glue and scissors for my students today. I also got a couple calculators, a bunch of pens, some markers, a couple staplers, three binders of teacher resource materials, and a few other miscellaneous items. It filled up a really big box. They had to help me put it in my van.

Then, tonight we went to St. Louis Mills Mall to look for shoes for Michael. Clothes are included in the tax free items during the tax holiday weekend. We went in through Cabela's because Michael would break out into hives if we did not. They had signs up saying they now have a "Bargain Cave." It's in another store front down two doors from Cabela's so we went in there just to see what they had. I ended up getting two shirts for my brother. My brother wears 3XL Tall, so clothes for him are usually not cheap. These shirts were on sale for $3.88 each and they are really good quality material. I would have bought more if we'd been able to find more in his size.

Next, we stopped at The Children's Place. I just love that store. We decided to get the kids' their outfits for picture day. Michaela got a cute little blue plaid jumper with a shirt that matches to go under neath. Caleb's we were able to get off the clearance racks. He got a really cute dark blue Hawaiian type button down shirt and some khaki shorts to go with it. I'm going to probably get them both new tennis shoes before picture day, too.

Finally, after going into three shoe stores, we found shoes for Michael at Sketchers. He needed some that were dressy enough for church, but he could wear to work, too. He found a pair he really liked and felt comfortable. I saw a couple pairs that would be good for Michaela, but we had spent enough money for the night. We may go back and see about getting them in a couple weeks or so.