The Crap Fairy and a trip to the art store(s)

My friend Annie is a character. I had been lamenting the state of my house to her (disaster and no progress there I'm afraid). Annie told me The Crap Fairy must have visited her house cos there was crap everywhere.

Got me thinkin

So I made her a card with The Crap Fairy.

I did it with a digi kit by Kathryn Balint from scrapbookbytes.com (i'm likin this digi stuff - it's fun!) The snaps are real by the way as is the mesh like paper background.

Anyway - this past weekend my daughter needed to go to 2 art stores for supplies. We have Michaels and AC Moore nearby but they didn't have what she needed. Her art teacher recommended these stores - ones he frequents for his own work. My daughter is taking a portfolio prep class this semester - preparing for the inevitable portfolio she will have to submit to get into art school.
These art stores are in the same county as her school - which means they are an hour away. She needed my husband or myself to drive her. If she needed supplies for an automobile, she'd ask her Dad - she needed art supplies so she asked me to drive her. I did not need my arm twisted. The only part of the excursion i was not looking forward to was the actual drive. Navigating Northern Virginia - and in particular Fairfax County - is a nightmare. However we did quite well - didn't even get lost (and I have been doing a lot of that lately so i presume God was feelin a bit sorry for me and got us there directly).
So we're getting out of the van and my daughter says to me - you know I could've asked Dad to take me here. But he doesn't know anything about art supplies like you do Mom. As we walked into the store she continues - he'd just sit back and wait for me as I shopped. Then she adds - of course the downside to taking you here is that we may never leave! She says this to me as my eyes glaze over as we head down the aisle with all the lovely pens and colored pencils and I made an audible squeak! She laughed and so did I.
We stayed about 45 minutes. Only spent about $40.00. She was thrilled they offered her a nice little discount card which they immediately applied to our purchase - gotta love a kid who likes to get a bargain right? We headed on over to the second store which was not nearly as fun as the first. Possibly we were just tired and overwhelmed (so many art supplies, so little time) but i think it was more the lack of customer service at the 2nd store.
We headed home, pleased with our purchases (like Babar).
Oh - i got a brown 005 micron pen i hadn't been able to find anywhere local as well as Rapido-eze cleaning solution for my rapidographs - insert happy face here.