Stuff

I spent $140 in Walmart today on classroom supplies. That's $140 spent on children who are not my own in a store that supports private school vouchers. That's private school vouchers: something that will never help my students, because they are too poor to go to a private school. It's like giving me a $25 gift certificate toward some nice Louis Vuitton luggage; thanks for nothing.

The annoying thing about Walmart is that it's just so freakin' cheap. I hate the place, but I can't stay out of it. You walk in and there is shit crammed everywhere, it's dirty, the lines are down the isles, people's kids are running around unsupervised (and in today's case, playing at vacant registers, turning the belt on and off and picking up the phone). It's aweful. For the last year or so, I was pretty good about avoiding it. I drove the extra couple miles to Target.

Sidenote: I am unsure of Target's stance on school vouchers. I googled "target school vouchers," and nothing of interest came up either way ("target" was always used as a verb). I then googled "walmart school vouchers" and got lots of negative press.

Now that I'm on my own, and you know, paying rent and bills and stuff, I have way less spendable cash. Cries of, "I will gladly pay the extra couple bucks that Target and other stores charge to avoid that shithole Walmart and to protect public education," have turned into "Whaaaat?! They want to charge how much for that??"

And so the cycle continues. People go to Walmart because the prices are low--> Smaller stores close down --> Their employees seek work at Walmart --> Walmart pays them minute wages --> They have to shop at Walmart because the prices are low

Incidentally, and kind off topic but kind but not, writing this made me sort of curious as to exactly how much of my income cycles back into classroom expenses. Since last tax season, I have collected job-related receipts that total $547.19. That does not include various book club purchases for which I do not receive a receipt (and did not think to put a copy of the cancelled check into the folder), items that were included with larger non-school related purchases, most of the candy and prize box stuff, and receipts I just forgot to file.

I wonder how much it would have cost if I bought everything at Walmart...

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I have discovered that you can throw a handful of frozen green beans into a skillet during the last two minutes of cooking just about anything, and they will cook up and make you feel like you are being a healty, well-rounded eater.

Last night, I finally started cooking for myself, after, oh, a month of living in my own place. It's not that I don't like to cook... I've just been busy, or going out to eat a lot, and then having leftovers from the meals out, or just snacking my way through the night, making sure to keep my stomach constantly full of string cheese, popcorn, and cookies.

But now I am officially a chef!

Meals so far:

1. Chicken and green beans with Thai yellow curry sauce over jasmine rice (This sounds fancy, but I assure you, it was not. I did cut up the chicken and brown it in a pan with the green beans, but I have Trader Joe's to thank for the simmer sauce.)
2. Lemon butter shrimp and green beans over (you guessed it) jasmine rice (Rice was leftover from last night, and the shrimp/sauce was all Gorton's.)

Meal planned for tomorrow:

• Dinner out with friends.

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There is a fly in my apartment and I have not yet bought a fly swatter. Nor am I really coordinated enough to actually use a fly swatter, or, for that matter, any other fly-swatterish objects such as rolled newspapers or flip flops. Flies only live for a day or two, right guys? Because the buzzing is really starting to get on my nerves.