Stuck On: Back to School Edition

On one hand, I’m thinking, “It’s just the beginning of August! It’s too early for back to school!” On the other hand, Bart started school on Monday. So, okay. Back to school we go.

1. A Bentgo Lunchbox. Bart, bless him, is a faithful lunch packer and has been for years. But over the last year, especially since reading Zero Waste Home, it’s become more and more irksome to me when his lunch includes four or more plastic baggies. I finally ordered him a lunchbox a few weeks ago (Ella is beside herself with jealousy), and I love it. It’s sleek-looking and not too big and not too small. I spent ages reading reviews on Amazon (which is why it took me more than six months to finally pick one), and I finally just went with one that 1) didn’t have ears – Bart drew the line there and 2) was one of the least expensive with good reviews. I maybe want one for myself (back when my parents decided to homeschool me, they asked me what I was most sad about missing out on at public school and I said a lunchbox. They bought me one and I ate my lunch out of it for a week or so before the novelty wore off. So maybe I won’t order myself one).

2. Since Ella isn’t doing preschool this year, I’m trying to do a very low-key version at home with her this year a couple of days a week during Ani’s morning naps. One part of my plan is reading chapter books. I wanted to start with Charlotte’s Web, but it was checked out of the library, so we went with Socks instead. I am a mega, enormous fan of Beverly Cleary, but I’ve never read this one. We’re about half way through and although I’m not certain that Ella is catching all of it, she seems to really enjoy it, and she almost always asks for another chapter.

3. Bic Cristal Blue Pens. These are my favorite pens of all-time. I pretty much don’t use any other pens (and neither does Bart). Even Ella will say, “can I have one of those blue pens?” I got some coupons in the newspaper the other day for $1.00 off any Bic product and, what do you know? A 10-pack bag of these pens is $1.00. I wish I got ten copies of the newspaper.

4. Kids Made Modern Mini Colored Pencils. Merrick sent these little colored pencils (in the cutest little container you ever did see) to Ella for her birthday. I love them. Possibly even more than Ella does.

5. Nicole’s Classes. Have you heard of these classes? They have classes in all sorts of topics (photography, Photoshop, Illustrator, watercolor, sewing, etc), and I’ve heard nothing but rave reviews about them. Since I’m not going to real school (hallelujah, thank you), I’d really like to take one or two of these.

6. Fuqua Fridays. This actually doesn’t start until REAL school starts in September (the whole month of August is for first-year MBA students only), but once it does, they’ll have a big dinner every Friday for all the MBA students and their families. Which means. . .I pretty much won’t be making dinner on Fridays for the next two years. I am really happy about this.