Back To School Days

I'm an admitted back-to-school geek. I love this time of the year, when all the stores hawk the back-to-school supplies.........multi packs of ink pens, pencils, notebooks, etc., etc. For the first time in many years, I will not be buying myself a school planner – not because I have attended school, but because it was handy for work because a lot of what I did revolved around the school year.

It was always hard when my kids were in school to spend within my budget – I wanted to buy them backpacks, all kinds of school supplies, and plenty of stuff for home as well. I had to be careful to keep my spending within the amount of money I had available.

When I was in school, pre-school shopping wasn't as exciting........or maybe better stated, it wasn't as diverse. I would get a 3-ring binder with notepaper to go inside, pens, and #2 pencils. Not much else was required. But school shopping for clothes was exciting. After going barefoot for much of the summer – or wearing canvas tennies with holes in the toes – it was time to figure out what size shoes I would wear for school. We were required to wear dresses (no slacks, capris, not even culottes), so shoes were important. Even if you wore the canvas tennies with your dress, they needed to look decent as well as be functional for P.E. So at least a couple pair of shoes were important.

During high school, I made most of my clothes. So by mid-July, I would start checking out the pattern books on our weekly trips to town. JCPenney had a good fabric department. I would find versatile patterns, that would be made in several different styles, and then start stocking up on fabric. All mom had was an old treadle sewing machine. I did a lot of “miles” treadling that sewing machine! If I were lucky, I might get an outfit or two off the pre-made racks, but most everything was sewn by me.

When I was in elementary school, mom would chop off my hair as soon as summer break started. It was kept really short all through the summer, then she would start letting it grow out as we got closer to school starting. She tried to second-guess when we would have school pictures taken – usually very early in the school year – so my hair would be grown out enough for her to give me a home permanent just before school pix. It was nice when I got older and we didn't bother with the perms! Sometimes I got tired of my school photos having that tightly-curled hair!

Early in my elementary school life, my aunt made most of my clothes. She was one of those amazing seamstresses who could take one basic pattern and turn out so many different dresses – she would use a combination of plain and plaid fabrics, or yards and yards of rick-rack to decorate the dresses. It was always fun to go to her house to try on partially-finished outfits or get the finished product. My aunt had only boys, and I think she enjoyed sewing for a little girl!

Once my kids started school, I had to be so careful with that almost-nonexistent budget! I tried to keep them in clothes that fit, because it just cost too much to outfit three kids at once in the fall. My poor older daughter was born in late August – that girl was always short-changed on birthday presents because the budget was busted after getting ready for school, even with my careful planning! One year, when she was in high school, I ended up giving her two baby kittens for her birthday because a co-worker had kittens ready to leave their mama and I was out of money!

The 2013-14 Back-To-School information was in tonight's newspaper, and even with my having no one in school for many years, I felt a tinge of excitement when I saw it. I'm hopeless! But that's okay, if I'm a geek, I'm glad it's about school!