That Time a Little Early

My last child is heading off to college in a few weeks and we've been shopping. I'm not a person who love shopping, but I have always had fun going to Office Max and Staples for school supplies. Target and Walmart have also collected some money for us as we picked up stacks of notebooks, folders, pens and pencils. And being a teacher myself, I always search out the perfect kind of pencils and pens I want.

I always use a clipboard at school and last year I bought a really nice one. Every year I've had to buy a new one. I am a PE teacher and that poor clipboard is always getting tossed aside when I join into a game. It gets stepped on, kicked and sometimes wet in the morning due outside. But the great one I used last year is still in great shape. And this is my last year of teaching. So I'll probably never buy another clipboard.

My daughter only wanted a few things. Highlighters, some nice pens, one pack of pencils and a few folders. We're done with shopping for backpacks and all those other things they want to organize themselves for the first week of school. She already has three little thumb drives and her new laptop we bought her as a graduation present. What more does a student need?

We walked up and down the aisles in Office Max, admiring the markers, the pencil sharpeners, a really cool stapler and planners of every style and size. We didn't need any of them. The only thing I really needed was a pack of pencils. My pens from last year will due me for another year. How much writing do I actually do by hand? At school? At my writing desk at home? Not much. So I still have a stack of 'post-it' notes from before. A cupful of pens. No need to buy any.

I love shopping in the office stores yet I really have no reason too. I'm thrilled my kids are done with high school. I'm excited for my daughter to experience college. But I'm sure going to miss that back to school shopping for supplies.

We're going to Walmart tomorrow for shampoo and other sundries for my daughter. I think I better pick up some paper clips for me.

Do you enjoy the office stores? Do you do much writing with pen or pencil? Are you going to take advantage of those back-to-school sales going on through the next month?

G: G-2 and Other Tools

I bet some of you writers out there know what a G-2 is.  For those who don't, it's the slickest, smoothest writing pen ever.  It comes in a multitude of colors and all glide across the page with such ease one looks for reasons to write something more. I keep a G-2 beside me on my desk at all times and intend to invest in more as soon as I get to an office supply store.

Office supply stores are my weakness so I should avoid them.  They always have something cool or new on sale but they're especially dangerous during those weeks of back-to-school sales.  Spiral notebooks for half a dollar, packs of cheap pens and pencils, note cards, sticky notes and all kinds of cute, clever clips.  The temptation to stock up is beyond my powers to resist. 

At the bookstore or craft store, I usually find some inexpensive journals which I already have a stack of at home.  And the craft store has reading glasses for as little as two dollars so I have to make sure I have enough pairs to have two or three in nearly every room of the house except my children's bedrooms.

Like most of you, nearly all my writing work is done on my computer.  So why do I need all those pedestrian tools like pens, notebooks and pencils? I don't know.  They're really cool though. 

Do you have a fondness for any of those 'old fashion' tools of the trade? Do love cruising the aisles of the office supply stores?