aarrrghhhh!

I really think that shopping for school supplies is one of the most stressful things you have to do as a parent! Not only is it bloody expensive, when you've got three kids, but some things are almost impossible to find! I thought I had it all licked because I managed to order most of the things from Staples, but even then I still had to go to four different stores to get everything else. Zellers had most of the other things, but they didn't have any duotangs left! I was looking all over the aisle to see if there was a hidden stash, and parent after parent came, stared blankly at the empty shelf and left. So I was forced to go to Superstore, which I dislike intensely, to get duotangs and luckily they had some of the more elusive exercise books that I needed. Some of those things are so specific! "80-page Hilroy Redi-Tab exercise book (not coiled), interlined, (not half and half), 27 cm x 21 cm." And there were thesaurii galore, but not the Roget's one that was specifically needed for Matthew's list. I ended up driving to a Chapter's store just for that one item. And do you think I could find oil pastels anywhere? Noooo, I had to go to a craft store to find that elusive holy grail.

And to top it all off, I miscalculated the number of duotangs so I have to go out and find more.

Does this mean I'm a folkie?

I bought a ticket just for last night because I wanted to see Loreena McKennitt. I had never heard of any of the other announced acts, but one of them did a reggae, trumpeting version of Led Zeppelin's Black Dog, if you can imagine that.

Loreena came on stage when it was almost completely dark, with a new moon. There was definitely magic in the air. Along with the usual whiffs of cigarette and pot smoke, someone near me was burning incense.