As I stated here, we completed the school supply shopping and purchased the girls shoes as well. I survived the experience and even lived to tell about it.

This was tax free weekend, and because I'm masochistic by nature, I took the girls out again to see if I could clothe them in something that was not riddled with holes, did not shout "Hootchie Mama," or was not permanently stained.

I bought those jeans for you last year and paid good money. I can't believe you are complaining that they are too short. Just roll them up and call them Capri’s. I don't know what it is about kids these days. I remember mom would by one pair of really big pants and we would all three wear them. At the same time. It made it difficult when our schedules were not the same but we managed.

As difficult as it may be to believe, I've gotten smarter over time. I've learned to take the girls shopping, one at a time. Saturday it was Chickie's turn and I came within a hairs width of me deciding she could spend the school year butt naked. She is that picky. The jeans weren't light enough. They were too light. They didn't have the right pockets. They didn't flair out enough at the bottom. They flared out too much. The shirt wasn't "fitted." There was too much bling bling. OMG Mom, it's pink! You get the idea. Nearly 4 hours later, we pretty much had her outfitted, at least until the next growth spurt, which I am estimating will take place within the next 39 days. Give or take a week.

All of that for only 5 pairs of jeans, and 5 shirts.

Sunday, Meelie and I headed out to pick up her clothes. We scored big time at TJ Max. To be fair, they didn't have a lot of stuff for Chickie (even though we did get a few things). All of that took a little over an hour and 45 minutes of that was her painstakingly trying on all of her clothes and then coming out to show me. It was that easy. I'm not dumb enough to believe it will last, but I will take it for as long as it does. It was interesting to observe how her taste in clothes has changed over time. In the beginning it was all things pink. If it has bling bling? All the better. Now, a little pink is ok. She enjoys the camouflage look to a certain degree. There's a lot more tomboy present in her than there used to be. I probably should have been ready for that because of her sudden love of all things Hot Wheels and Monster Trucks.

So we've survived another year of school shopping and I'm glad I have that behind me. Tax free weekend was a great help, and with all of the back to school sales, the financial side of things were even better. I must say that even though there were several times I felt like pulling my hair out, I enjoyed the one-on-one time I had with each girl. On the flip side Dad took over and did the same (took them to lunch and then the bookstore) with the one who wasn't with me.

All in all it was a very productive and wonderful weekend. Even if Meelie and I did have a wee bit of trouble finding the car when we came out of the mall.

Carry on.