$100

Is that a little bit of money, or a LOT of money?  I guess it depends on who you ask and on what you're spending it.  That, my dear friends, is the amount of money we are given as teachers to spend on classroom supplies for the ENTIRE YEAR.  That includes paper clips, pens, folders, construction paper, handwriting paper, tape, staples, ETC.  You know as well as I do that that list goes on and on and on.  Don't get me wrong, I am grateful to get THAT much, as I'm sure some districts don't get anything.  However, when that goes to supplying 20+ kids for an entire year, it doesn't go very far.  You find yourself being SUPER stingy about when you break out the construction paper.  Do we really need to be artsy today?  Do I really need to have you write something down for this?  Each teacher gets this much, and I'm the person this year on our grade level who got to put all three of our lists today.  It came to $296.39.  HOLY CRAP, we have $3.61 left over!!  I scramble to get my list and find SOMETHING that we can use that is exactly $3.61!  I am not letting a PENNY of it go to waste!!  And don't you know I found something for that exact amount.  I'm good like that, I know.  :)

So somehow the county had surplus money this year.  I'm sure it's because they turn off the air conditioner/heat at 2:00, even though there are still people working in the building until 9:00 at night.  Somehow that doesn't seem quite right, but they didn't ask me.  So after we all sweat about 5 lbs or put on 5 lbs of extra clothes, depending on the season, we get that fabulous news that we EACH GET $100 MORE to spend on whatever we like (but it has to be from a certain company on a certain website).  So I bust out my mad shopping skills, and my total came to $99.44.  Don't you know I surfed the site until I found something that got me as close to my $100 as possible.  Here is the glorious 53-cent pen that I found.  :)


I think I hear singing again.  Isn't it the most spectacular pen you've ever seen??!  It has flowers on it.  :)  And it's ALL MINE!!  Well, once it comes in.  Anyway, there's my hundred dollars, I mean, two cents.  What office supplies would YOU buy with $100?