Julie and Julia, Redneck School Supply Shopping tips, what's going on in little boys' heads

I am reading JULIE AND JULIA: 365 Days, 524 Recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen: How One Girl Risked Her Marriage, Her Job, & Her Sanity to Master the Art of Living
by Julie Powell. This book is blowing my mind. The protag randomly decides to cook every recipe in Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Child in one year--as the title says, 524 recipes in 365 days. Only these aren't recipes like I make. These are complicated French recipes that take hours to prepare. I love to cook, and I'm just shaking my head through the whole thing. Of course, we know this ends with a book and movie deal, so that helps me read through the very painful process. But still...it's a great read. Makes me feel lazy, all the stuff this girl is doing. And her husband is a saint. Check it out, especially BEFORE you see the movie. Now, of course, I'm DYING to see the movie. Anyway, it's the perfect summer read. I highly recommend it.

Yesterday my 6yo said to me, "I know how to turn down the volume in my ears."
"Oh, really? Tell me about that." I'm thinking...whaaat?
So he plugs his nose and holds his breath, presumably applying pressure with that breath until his ears 'pop'. And I tried it. It does, in fact, turn down the volume in your ears. Interesting fact.

My 8yo woke up this morning, and said he'd dreamed all night about an invention for a fishing contraption. He's sure it will work, so sounds like we'll be making a fishing contraption out of a can today. Now to find a can big enough to catch a 'huge tuna' as he did in his dream...hmmm...

Yesterday we did a little tax free back to school shopping. Now really, this whole tax free thing is sham enough. I'm convinced the prices will drop back down today now that whole thing is over, but that's another subject. We're at a large office supply chain, you know the type--the only place you can get all the random things the teachers want (like one blue folder, one yellow folder and one red folder??? Does red with kitty cats count? Blue with star wars? I think not..so we have to hit the big box). They had advertised some great deals on computers and as you know, mine crashes all the time, ALL THE TIME, so we've been looking. To make a long story short, after filling out all the paperwork, etc. for them to get the darn computer from the mystical 'back room'--this took an hour, no kidding, the place was crazy busy--they announced that they didn't have the computers they had advertised. Someone shipped the wrong thing. Hmmmm. WOULDN'T YOU HAVE CHECKED BEFORE YOU PUT OUT ALL THESE SIGNS, ADS, ETC.??? Truly, every computer on the floor had long handwritten signs detailing all the features, etc. Wouldn't you have checked to see if you actually HAD the darn computers first? So during this whole process, I slipped next door to the grocery store to pick up a few things we needed for dinner with friends, so I'm now waiting by the car with a basket full of groceries. My DH heads out of the store, aggravated for waiting all that time with no computer (and he also has a cart full--school supplies), and we realize that our keys have been lost somewhere inside this darn store. Long story short, they weren't found for HOURS. I'll spare you the details except that waiting by a hot car with melting ice cream while your husband looks for his keys is trying at best.

SO a family goal of ours has been to go on a big RV trip with all the kids before our oldest starts high school. Now she's about to go into 8th grade, so we're down to the wire. Has anyone out there ever done this? We're doing a lot of research, but I"m wondering if any of you has first-hand experience? This plan began as a six month travel the country thing, but now I think we're down to a week--ha ha. Or something in between. So please share if you have any thoughts or advice.

Here's my redneck mom tip for getting school supplies (aside from hang on to your keys).
1. Start at Dollar Tree--really--best deal on things like pencils, erasers, glue, kleenex, hand sanitizer, etc.
2. Go straight to the back of the store and get the largest basket-type container you can find. Pull out your trust Sharpie (you should have one with you at all times, moms) or find one in the store to purchase and go ahead and open it. Label baskets with your child's names, one basket per kid.
3. Go through the list and fill each child's basket with his or her needs.
4. When you go through the register, ask the cashier to bag items by basket, then place bag back into basket into your trunk. Then, when you get home, it's still organized. This technique is a MUST when you have more than one kid.
5. Do the initial shopping ALONE. I insist. Even if you have to go in the middle of the night. Go alone. THEN bring the kids out to choose a few key items like the color of their notebooks, for example, or maybe some fun pencils. But trust me, you don't want/ need their help on things like glue, markers, notebook paper, kleenex, etc.

Have a wonderful day. The ocean on the Outer Banks has been just beautiful this week. Calm, late shore break, clear, impressive. My DH set down a rule that it would be us and the boys ONLY this week-end, no guests, no visiting, just some time with the boys while the girls are away. We had a great week-end, and the ocean cooperated beautifully. Lots of boat time, beach time, and card-playing with the boys. Great fun. Weather has been perfect, if a little hot, but always breezy and comfortable. Just the sayonara our family needs to leave on Thursday. It's been a great summer.