Shopaholics Make Fantastic Teachers

I love shopping.  No, I am absolutely infatuated with shopping.  When I am not crafting, I am shopping.  The wonderful nameless one with whom I live, finds this my biggest character flaw (and certainly makes the joint checking account thing somewhat awkward.)

"Babycakes? I thought we had $250 more in the account last I checked."

"Oh, that... well, did you see my new J Crew jacket? It's super cute."

Well, the perfect remedy for those relationship-damaging kinds of conversations is to hit the back-to-school sales and the teacher supply stores instead of (or in addition to) the mall.  This alleviates the issue of the joint checking account, and issues of closet space, since I use my credit cards for school purchases and keep it away from the house.

I must admit, I'm one of those teachers that spends a lot on her classroom.  I want it to look just so, and I want the kids to have everything they need to learn! It's really important to have every tool available at my fingertips.  I mean, if I need yarn, and I need it now- I want to know I have it on hand.

My teacher-buddy and I went shopping yesterday afternoon.  Okay... morning, afternoon and evening.  We had a day-long shoppingpalooza.

We went to:
Target
Dollar Tree
Lakeshore
Wal-Mart
Barnes and Noble
Staples
Costco
Michael's

Here's my loot:

I'm going to use the magnetic white board (which is hidden under all that stuff) for a daily graph chart.  Each kid will have their own zombie magnet, which I plan on making by taking their photo on my iphone and using the zombify app to transform them.  It's also going to be the way we take attendance each day.  I also got Zombie Fluxx (a fun game) for a math center,  and a book of Zombie Haiku for some inspirational writing ideas.

More fun stuff!

I got tons of sets of stamps for word work and math centers, pocket charts, plus a couple of movies to watch for class rewards.

I spent $329.64.  I figure it takes money to make money, right?  I think I am pretty close to maxing out my Visa... if I do, it will be on to my Master Card.  I still have borders, bulletin board supplies, my calendar, and word wall to purchase things for.

Now, after a long day of shopping, how can you treat yourself? I chose to spend some time with my best boyfriends, Ben and Jerry!