Staples has it right...

After our July travels things have been kinda busy. Preparing for the "most wonderful time of the year" has me in a tizzy. Alexa's supply list is pages long, one piece swimsuits are in short supply and it appears private violin lessons will be added to the after school activities.


Mill Middle School


Today is the 5th grade picnic and parents aren't invited, works for me! I do have to pick up her "supply pack" that I ordered to help take the pressure off and prevent a potential meltdown over buying school supplies. This huge package with over 45 items comes in at $74, not including the additional $6 for her Mill Agendamate - a requirement for every Mill student. This is just the tip of the iceberg! Each subject area ALSO has a list - thankfully much smaller, but still more supplies to get!

Remember when we just used to worry about spiral vs. three ring binders? Our school supply shopping happened AFTER the first day when our teachers told us which type of binder was acceptable and whether we were allowed to use pen in their class vs. kiddie school pencils? Gym, now called PE - required uniforms. Those lovely, one piece, slightly bloomish in the leg fashion no-no's that our mom's had to embroider our names on the pockets. My mom embroidered my name in script! I was mortified. What happened to simple block printing like everyone else!

Middle school at McKenna Jr. High School in Massapequa was pure hell! I hated and dreaded almost every minute of it. Mind you, our jr. high was 7th and 8th grade. I was about as dorky as you could get. My hair was always limp because I walked about 10-15 blocks to get there or I rode my bike (couldn't get much dorkier than that!) My stylish bookbag was one like lawyers carry - easier to fit into my bike's twin baskets (over the back tire). For the first year, I could walk with Dolores Devine to school. Dolores was a year ahead of me, but after that first year she went on to Berner Sr. High School and I was on my own.

McKenna Jr. High School, now McKenna Elementary School!

The only thing that made coping with my geek existence bearable was the black and red checked lumber jacket (as we called them) that my parents gave me for my birthday. I can't begin to tell you how important that jacket/wool shirt was to me. It made me a little less geeky, a little more able to blend in with crowd. It was the one piece of "cool" trendy clothing I had. I had that shirt for over 15 years. It was my secuity blanket and my favorite piece of comfort clothes for many, many years. I think it finally when to teen fashion heaven when I wore the elbows out beyond reason or repair and my husband finally put his foot down and said it had to go!

Don't let me mislead you that nothing redeeming happened in jr. high. One very, very, good thing happened during my 2nd year. I met Barbara, Sandy, Sandy, Janet and the gang that would become my best friends and anchors in high school. Oh, and I think I may have learned a thing or two, maybe...

Addendum: After spending the last two days getting the other thousand or so things that are required and not in the supply box, and dealing with my know-it-all diva, I'm ready to buy Alexa one more thing...a one way ticket back to China! ARRGGGHH!!!!!