Back to School

Hallie over at Moxie Wife is rounding up Five Favorites. Here are a few of my back to school favorites:


1. JC Penney $25 Kids' Glasses

This sale goes on until Saturday. There is no catch.  Frames up to $120 and lenses included. No eye exam required. Two year warranty on breakage. Age limit: 16. HT: Ami.

2. Lands' End

So we're down to the wire getting gear school-ready. I say to one of the boys: Please try on your school pants. He hears: We are about to embark on root canal without benefit of anesthesia. Brace yourself.

Darn, if the pants don't fit.

I pull out my trusty Lands' End receipt only to discover that I ordered the wrong size. And this is a problem, see, because these slacks are not cheap. I, therefore, combine discounted gift cards and 25% off coupons and  free shipping to get $30 trousers down to a much more palatable price of about $16.

And it's hard to do that twice.

I contact Lands' End with my dilemma and fully admit my error. The ever-friendly customer service rep says, "No problem. We'll honor the sale price, and the shipping's still free." She let me order a third pair at the same low price.

For all this and more, we are willing to overlook the gross misuse of the apostrophe in the name. Lands' End rocks!


3. Old Navy Girls' Socks

I like white socks. White socks with a simple scallop. Ainsley has two pairs of John's hand-me-down socks. She has never worn them, and she probably never will. It took me twelve years to produce a girl, and she's going to look like one.

Walmart sells jumbo packs of socks that are cute and surprisingly high quality. But the package has two white, two white with pink trim, two pink, and two purple. I want white. Just white. Remember Steve Martin in Father of the Bride tearing open packages of hot dog buns so that he's not forced to buy more buns than dogs?

That would be me.

But then I stumble on an awesome deal at Old Navy: white, scalloped socks for $1 per pair.

Problem solved. I bought ten pairs.


4. Ticonderoga Pencils

They claim to be "The World's Best Pencil," and they are. Not cheap. Absolutely worth the extra money. HT: Danielle Bean.


5. Back to School shopping.

I really do enjoy back to school shopping, but this year I attempted to take advantage of the tax free weekend. This is quickly morphing into a Black Friday wanna be. Nearly all the traffic, but none of the trees or twinkling lights, and, let's face it, Christmas presents are far more fun than glue sticks and composition notebooks. Oh, and August is horribly humid, too.

Head over to Hallie's to add your favorites.