He usually takes Tommy garbage can to the road and brings it back. He was returning it to us. I had things to say and questions. He told us two weeks ago he was going to drive his bus RV to the northwest two weeks ago. Well, the story is he became ill in Arkansas, returned home, tried again and never made it out of Alabama even though he was going to be gone six weeks. While he was here, I asked him about the grill. I was doing it right! However, he said the gas was not coming out right. He used a lighter. He told me to get one of the long lighters, which I can do. The guy from Lowe's has offered to come by, so I think I will take him up on the offer.
At the store, Tommy went in and purchased $20.02 or 11.18 lbs. of boneless skinless chicken breasts. I told him to get at least ten pounds and ask for still-frozen packages. He said they were all frozen rock-solid. I suppose the meat guys had restocked the meat counter before they left for the day. Four packages are still in the refrigerator and two are in the freezer. My back was hurting badly before I made more room. If I can clear out more room, I will get more bscb before the ad ends.
If I can get two more packages in the freezer before they thaw, I will. Otherwise, I will bake the four packages and freeze one breast to a bag. Yes, I will need to clean out more of the freezer. I found a frozen package of American cheese, about an inch thick pack. Tommy was screaming that there was some in the refrigerator...lol...well, now there is more.
At Publix I saw what appeared to be a mother and her three children. The mother could not take her eyes off her phone. The teen had his eyes glued to his phone. A five-year-old little girl was carrying a fat little baby that looked to be young enough not to be walking. The teen boy ran into the little girl carrying the baby. He was engrossed in his phone. The little girl stumbled, almost falling down with the baby. The baby was being tossed to and fro like a rag doll as the little girl stumbled and valiantly tried to regain her footing and thankfully did. And, all this was in the front of the store in the road! My heart stopped!
Between an inhaler and guaifenisen, I hope to get my breath back. I was too weak and feeling breathless to go in the store. Really, I need to use two inhalers, maybe three different ones.
When we came home and exited the car, the air was so much more comfortable for me to breathe. It must have rained around here since it is not so hot.
I suppose we will cook the steak in a skillet tonight.
I bought Truvia Monk Fruit. It was bogo, so this is a cheap way to try it. I wanted just Monk Fruit. However, this has erythritol. Well, Tommy brought it from my list.
He washed my towels and such, so I have to hang those up no matter how I feel.
Every year, I refresh my stock of school supplies. It just seems the right thing to do for fall. I now have Crayola Washable Markers. As I see sales, I will get other items. Many of the items, I will give away.
Dinner: Tommy will have steak, potatoes, carrots, maybe tomato. I will have steak and a can of green beans.
Do you still buy school supplies at the back-to-school sales? What do you buy?
Do you juggle items in the freezer to add a good buy?
Do you see frightening instances of phones almost causing accidents or actually causing accidents?
Di
too much phone use is a sickness. children are needing speech therapy because their parents don't converse with them enough to support normal development.
ReplyDeleteI am always, always juggling things in the freezer to support good buys or changing circumstances. I wish for a separate freezer but I know I would just fill it with more things to forget
kylie,
DeleteI am not at all surprised that children are lacking in speech skills due to parents not conversing with them. Let me give you a bit of advice--no, you cannot remember what is in there! Make a list and check off things as you take things out...lol. Ask me how I know.
I have a friend who is a pediatric occupational therapist. Our district now has OT's in each building. Those therapists will tell you that much of the issues they deal with can be traced to device usage/paperless curriculum.
DeleteWhat issues?
DeleteLack of eye had coordination/fine motor skills, (they look like they are wearing mittens) lack of tracking (looking from, say, a blackboard to a paper and being able to write) and cognitive skills, such as sorting, alphabetizing...in short, trying to break bigger jobs down into smaller tasks...and this then transfers to a lack of skills which require speech therapy--short term memory, for example.
DeleteMeg,
DeleteThanks. I was not aware. Devices certainly handicap children.
Since I no longer have kids in school I do not buy things on the back to school sale aisles. I use a very specific type of pen and it is never included in the sales and there is nothing else I want or need.
ReplyDeleteAnne,
DeleteThat is certainly a good reason. The pen I like is always available even if it is on a 25% discount for all school supplies or something like that. Donating and using in tutoring probably has me buying more. Plus, I donate.
No need to buy school supplies in this household. Kids are all in college, and all they need are pens, papers and notebooks, which we are silly with! Our school district provides all supplies for the k - 5 students. Honestly, the supply list when my kids were in elementary school had become outrageously long and stupidly specific. It was really a stretch for some, both financially, and, since we are in a rural area, in terms of the shopping. Our school's principal cut it markedly when she took over the position. I don't know what it is now, but I DO know that I never, ever had a supply list in my k - 12 years. I actually think they are a bit of a joke...someone is making money off of that. As far as I am concerned, the schools should not be shills for, say Crayola and Papermate.
ReplyDeleteAs a child, we went to school with a pad if we were in first grade, notebook paper after that, a pencil or two, and a pack of crayons before high school. The lists the last few years for grandchildren is long.
DeleteMy daughter's children had to bring packs of paper towels!!! I think the brand thing is good. The CrazyArt brand is toxic smelling. The pencils with pictures on paper wrapped around the wood are cheaply made and are never centered, so they break often. Dixon is the only brand of pencils I ever bought.
My friend had to send two dozen 70 sheet spiral notebooks to her son's school. He only used three but the teacher refused to give any back, saying he used all of them. I wonder.
If they want brand specific, they can provide it, and not force families to purchase it. I understand some products are higher quality than other, but the supply list serves as advertisement to a captive audience, and I resent it. Better to say, "Pens, crayons, pencils, paper." Not, "3 Papermate erasable pens. Two packs of washable "Crayola" brand markers." It's a public school, not a commercial.
DeleteIt does cause a hardship on students and teachers to use inferior products.
DeleteI never suffered a hardship from using off-brand crayons. (Though they didn't have that recognizable smell of Crayola.) I was never required to have Magic Markers either, and somehow managed to get a stellar k - 5 education. I think the supply list creates a fabricated "need" and hinders problem solving. And talk about a hardship--THE COST. Last year's supplies work as well as this year's, and off-brand crayons color perfectly fine. If the school wants a specific brand of crayon, or folder, or glue sticks, then they can jolly well provide it themselves, otherwise, my kid will have to learn to make do with what *I* can provide, and the teacher had damn well better respect that. I work on the presumption anything product sold in the local stores meets safety standards. You can't teach "You get what you get and don't pitch a fit," then have a hissy fit about the brands they have in their backpack. (Number 2 pencils for Scantron type sheets excepted...but during standardized testing, those were provided by the school.) I remember in kindergarten the student teacher breaking crayons in half, (the thick, triangular ones) and the teacher explaining to the class that it was to make twice as many, so there would be a piece of each color in the box for each student at each table. That in itself was a valuable lesson. And, funnily enough, now that the district provides the k-5 supplies, the amount is much smaller--a box of 8 crayons, a box of pencils, a pink eraser, two pens, all in a plastic pencil box. Also a pocket folder and a composition book. That's it. That's less than half of the truncated list our principal created when she took the position when my kids were in elementary school! Funny how that happens when THEY are providing the supplies.
DeleteHeh...since you made me remember, I thought I'd share: when my youngest was in first grade, on the last day the teacher and students cleaned the classroom, and she offered up leftover used supplies. He came home with a bag full of glue sticks, and was so happy to give them to me, telling me he knew I used them a lot when I made cards, so he raised his hand when she asked if anybody would like those. There had to have been about 50 glue sticks in that bag, all different brands--some were purple but dried clear, some were Elmer's, other store brand, some partially used. I used the last one this past Christmas when I was making Christmas cards!
DeleteMeg,
DeleteSmart kid!
It is amazing how the need was less when the schools were buying everything. Amazing!
DeleteYep. Shocking. Also, when my son was in kindergarten, the supplies were all put in individual universal bins...pencils, crayons, glue sticks, etc. I was livid. Had they ASKED me to donate supplies for the class, well, I probably would have bought several kids' worth of supplies. So, there went the supplies my son and I carefully picked out, chucked into a bin for every other kid to use. In subsequent years, (before the new principal truncated the list) I sent in partially used stuff for the class. The stuff the kids and I picked out together stayed in their backpacks or their desks at home.
DeleteOh...on school supplies--I DO still provide this to each kid at the start of the semester--filled with favorite candies, special pens, cosmetics, and a preferred type of pen: https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/the-secret-of-german-education-giant-cones-of-treats
DeleteMeg,
DeleteGreat idea!
I despise the idea of throwing it all in together. I would strongly object since I see the quality some people buy. I heard of a child who brought pencils with her name on them and was forced to put them in the pencil bin. The idea was that anyone who lost anything could go to the bin and get another pencil or whatever. They had to learn communal supplies were always available. Pooh!
DeleteI have heaps of paper and pencils; happy I don't need more for now.
ReplyDeleteUrspo,
DeleteWell, they are on sale if you develop a need or urge for school supplies...lol.
I buy socks and underwear if we have the money at back to school sales. I don't need any office supplies usually we buy a lot at garage sales.
ReplyDeleteThat Mother and children would have bothered me too!
Vickie,
DeleteOh, a sale anytime is a good time to stock up. I would buy them from garage sales, too. Definitely a bother.
I never found school supply lists annoying. But I would have been super annoyed to learn that my required purchases of school supplies had gone into a communal bin. That does nothing to teach personal responsibility--which needs to be constantly reinforced at every age.
ReplyDeleteI differ on the crayon front: Non-branded crayons from the dollar store are garbage and don't lay down color consistently. Any materials that don't give decent results are frustrating and discouraging. Quality does matter! Why would I send my kid to school with ANY substandard materials? Crayons that are too waxy, scissors that don't cut, cheap pencils that don't sharpen evenly and splinter--why set your kid up for the hassle?
My former SIL was so cheap about her kid's school supplies. She once refused for furnish a floppy disk (this was back in The Ancient Times, LOL) for her kid. It would have cost her $1.20. She said she didn't have a computer at home, why should she buy a disk for the school? I could not fathom her taking a stand on such a stupid issue--and at her kid's expense, who had to deal with her mother's idiocy and cheapness. She was an aggressively ignorant, miserable beeyotch in so many ways. The sun shone brighter the day my brother divorced her. But I digress...
I still have child-sized-, blunt-nosed scissors! One is in the laundry room for clipping threads, another is at my sewing table, one in my bedside table. LOL. Quality endures!
That is my point--Quality. The children frustrated by pencils without graphite not centered, spent time sharpening their pencils only to have them break the first time they tried to write.
DeleteWhen I moved here and Tommy was angry when I breathed, I tried to put child scissors in the car console. It made him furious. Now, he reminds me of the scissors and gets them out for me when I want to clip a coupon and am making a mess. I had dozens of pair when I had craft camps in the summer. So, I will never run out because I bought quality instead of going for cheap.
So, the sun shone brighter when she was gone. I would have sent the floppy disc just so my child would not be embarrassed.
Ooh--good idea to put one in the glove box!
DeleteTeachers don't ask for specific brands because they are getting a kickback or are succumbing to Big Business or trying to covertly indoctrinate your children. As if they've got TIME for that conspiratorial nonsense. .
Teachers ask for specific brands because they've learned they perform well & consistently. In a class of 28+ kids, you can't be dealing with frustrated kids squalling that their pens stop writing, their pencils won't sharpen evenly, their markers dry up after 4 strokes... Don't make a teacher's job harder. It's not the hill to die on, no matter how budget-minded you are.
And yes, my former SIL was all about how SHE felt, not how things might impact her children. Good riddance. I'm sorry my brother ever married her. Narcissistic piece of work if there ever was one...
Sue,
DeleteI put those little scissors everywhere! Scissors are an arm's length away around here. Tommy has become accustomed to scissors now. He sees me cut chicken, pizza, everything with scissors. Of course, I use larger scissors for chicken and pizza.
Not for a minute have I ever thought teachers were getting a kickback. I hated poor performance from things my children were supposed to use for their success.
Well, I am glad he got rid of her. I hope he did better next time. Narcissistic people are charmers at first.