Things you do (or love) that make no sense …

[Ann.without.an.e]

4 hours ago, Wheres Toto said:

I own more Sharpie markers than anyone should.   I use the excuse of my classes to buy them, and we do use them sometimes for various things there.  But I have the thin ones, the normal ones, the fat ones, metallic ones, neon ones, basically ALL the Sharpies.

 

I have no earthly idea why I have so many sharpies. Maybe we should have a count off and see who wins lol

[Kassia]

8 minutes ago, Ann.without.an.e said:

I have no earthly idea why I have so many sharpies. Maybe we should have a count off and see who wins lol

I love Sharpies!  

[Ann.without.an.e]

Just now, Kassia said:

I love Sharpies!  

@Kassia has joined the count off too lol

[Kassia]

1 hour ago, Ann.without.an.e said:

@Kassia has joined the count off too lol

I also love gel pens and post-it notes.  🙂  

[Clarita]

3 minutes ago, Kassia said:

I also love gel pens and post-it notes.  🙂  

I do love post-it notes. I love the colored ones, all the sizes, the fancy design ones... I got a little jealous of HR when I worked because they have the giant poster sized post-it notes and I couldn't come up with a reason why I would need it for work but I wanted it.

[LauraClark]

A small, pretty notebook with a gel-type pen and writing either neatly and tiny or writing in cursive-I use it for my Bible study time and it adds an extra level of enjoyment. 

[KungFuPanda]

On 7/22/2022 at 2:21 PM, heartlikealion said:

I don't always finish books... and sometimes I keep renewing it or return it late. But my library has a policy that started several months ago where if it's from one of our branches (as opposed to from one of our partners) there's no late fee. Right now I have like 3 audio books I haven't had time to listen to! One is for therapy about the method my therapist uses. And I just got a paperback book yesterday that I forgot I put on hold til I got the notification. 

These are primarily non-fiction books, where I'm reading for knowledge. So it's not like I'm left wondering what happened to a character. 

----

I have a pile of used ink cartridges that I keep saying I will mail off to a recycling place and get a small amount of money lol. Then I have some from my HP ink service which I'm supposed to mail back in sets of 2-3 and I just forget. Clutter. 

I check out tons of ebooks from the library then put my iPad on airplane so they don’t automatically disappear when they’re due. 😬

[Ann.without.an.e]

2 hours ago, Kassia said:

I also love gel pens and post-it notes.  🙂  

Gel pens 😍😍😍

[Ann.without.an.e]

2 hours ago, KungFuPanda said:

I check out tons of ebooks from the library then put my iPad on airplane so they don’t automatically disappear when they’re due. 😬

This is brilliant. We’re saying the silly things that we do that make no sense and @KungFuPanda has to come along and be brilliant 😂😂

[GailV]

2 hours ago, KungFuPanda said:

I check out tons of ebooks from the library then put my iPad on airplane so they don’t automatically disappear when they’re due. 😬

This is amazing, and I might have to go enter it in the thread about things we learned from The Hive

 

Edited to add that Ann.without.an.e and I were hit by this blaze of glory at the same time!

Edited August 20, 2022 by GailV

[Ottakee]

3 hours ago, KungFuPanda said:

I check out tons of ebooks from the library then put my iPad on airplane so they don’t automatically disappear when they’re due. 😬

I do this too with my library kindle downloads.  You just can’t download anything new though as that requires you to turn on the wifi again

[marbel]

1 hour ago, Ottakee said:

I do this too with my library kindle downloads.  You just can’t download anything new though as that requires you to turn on the wifi again

That's when a kindle app on the phone is helpful. For multiple books!  Read the overdue book on the actual kindle, the newer ones on the phone app.

Edited August 21, 2022 by marbel

[LifeLovePassion]

Art supplies. All kinds. 

Office supplies are a close second. Although now I pretty much know what I like and keep it minimal, but I still enjoy getting them. 

[Emba]

Planner stickers. I love buying them, but then I rarely use them because they’re on my desk and it takes a special trip to get them, because my planner is other places.

i also love colored pens, and blue ballpoint pens and vivid black pens, but only if said pens write  smoothly and clearly.

i like blank notebooks and journals, which I do use but not nearly at the rate which I buy and/or am given them. 
 

I’m absolutely fascinated by little things that wind up; toys or music boxes.  but I try not to have clutter, so I haven’t bought any.

[Ann.without.an.e]

So what I’m learning here is that those who love planners, post it notes, gel pens, notebooks, and office supplies are statistically more likely to homeschool or at least consider it enough to end up on a homeschool forum?

[Wheres Toto]

4 minutes ago, Ann.without.an.e said:

So what I’m learning here is that those who love planners, post it notes, gel pens, notebooks, and office supplies are statistically more likely to homeschool or at least consider it enough to end up on a homeschool forum?

I think those of us who homeschool are always trying to find those magic supplies that will make planning AND IMPLEMENTING those plans easy, enjoyable, pretty, and relaxing.

I haven't found it yet but I keep searching. 

[scholastica]

3 minutes ago, Ann.without.an.e said:

So what I’m learning here is that those who love planners, post it notes, gel pens, notebooks, and office supplies are statistically more likely to homeschool or at least consider it enough to end up on a homeschool forum?

Yup. Totally. I’ll bet you could prove this with a sociological study.

[marbel]

My kids have graduated from college but I still peruse the school supplies sales every July. I really have nothing to buy. We have so many composition books, pens, pencils, index cards.  The pens and index cards get used, but the comp books, not so much. I used to use them for bullet journals - sometimes would even cover them in nice paper to make them prettier - but after a while I decided I am a grownup now and while I still like pretty things, I can buy a nicer notebook for myself; even if it costs 10x as much, my $6.00 journal is not a luxury item. 

But, I can't stay out of that section. I WANT to buy school supplies.  OK, I mean I want to OWN school supplies. I have bought supplies to donate but it's just not the same thing. It gives me an odd sense of security that all is right with the world if I am fully stocked on index cards. It's kind of like my thing with running out of eggs - makes me twitchy when we get below, oh, a dozen. Or buying mason jars during covid - the world is ending, I need lots of glass jars? 

Oh we also have a billion sheet protectors. I use them for my recipe binders.

[Forget-Me-Not]

2 hours ago, Ann.without.an.e said:

So what I’m learning here is that those who love planners, post it notes, gel pens, notebooks, and office supplies are statistically more likely to homeschool or at least consider it enough to end up on a homeschool forum?

Hahaha yes. 

I’m another admitted office supply junkie. Paper, notebooks (especially cute or pretty ones), pens, pencils, colored pencils, post-its. Oh how I love post-its! Something about the color combos in the little packs. I have to restrain myself from buying them all the time because we barely use what we have. And I’m a sucker for the Pilot gel pens. Every time I go to Costco I look longingly at the big packs of black and color gel pens, but it’s just more than we logically need. 

 

[KeriJ]

Purple pens for everything! Not a bright, cheesy purple.  But a classy, dignified purple😄  And a quality,  but not expensive, spiral notebook,with off white pages, I found at Walmart.  I do all our school planning in it and then make random lists just for the fun of it. I do use other colored gel pens, but purple is my go to.

[Ann.without.an.e]

6 hours ago, Wheres Toto said:

I think those of us who homeschool are always trying to find those magic supplies that will make planning AND IMPLEMENTING those plans easy, enjoyable, pretty, and relaxing.

I haven't found it yet but I keep searching. 

Magic supplies and magic curriculum? I think homeschool parents (me included) definitely hope to find something to make it easier. Plot twist, there isn't an easy road and all ways are work, but gel pens and post it notes increase teacher satisfaction rates by 40% 🤣

Edited August 21, 2022 by Ann.without.an.e

[Kareni]

For those of you who enjoy school supplies ~ https://mymodernmet.com/cool-school-supplies/

Regards,

Kareni

[Arcadia]

23 hours ago, Clarita said:

 I got a little jealous of HR when I worked because they have the giant poster sized post-it notes and I couldn't come up with a reason why I would need it for work but I wanted it.

It is currently out of stock but I had this one on my office cubicle and at home a long time ago and my boss liked it enough to order for my engineers. My dad is still using the one at my old home.

Post-it Self-Stick Cut-to-Fit Unframed Bulletin Board https://www.officedepot.com/a/products/160366/Post-it-Unframed-Self-Stick-Bulletin/

[KungFuPanda]

21 hours ago, GailV said:

This is amazing, and I might have to go enter it in the thread about things we learned from The Hive

 

Edited to add that Ann.without.an.e and I were hit by this blaze of glory at the same time!

 

21 hours ago, Ann.without.an.e said:

This is brilliant. We’re saying the silly things that we do that make no sense and @KungFuPanda has to come along and be brilliant 😂😂

Thank you, but the dysfunctional part is that I hoard a big honkin pile of ebooks, more than I’ll read, on my iPad before taking it offline. Inevitably a few weeks go by, I want a new book on there, and have to decide it it’s worth 5 other books getting zapped away. I can’t handle the decadence of instant free books. 

[Kassia]

26 minutes ago, KungFuPanda said:

 

Thank you, but the dysfunctional part is that I hoard a big honkin pile of ebooks, more than I’ll read, on my iPad before taking it offline. Inevitably a few weeks go by, I want a new book on there, and have to decide it it’s worth 5 other books getting zapped away. I can’t handle the decadence of instant free books. 

I have that problem with the physical books I order from the library.  I order way way too many and there's no possible way I can read them all and then most of them are due back before I've had a chance to read them.  I've started putting books on hold and then immediately suspending the hold for another month or two to force myself to at least try to read the books I have here before getting even more.  

Edited August 21, 2022 by Kassia

[alisoncooks]

On 8/20/2022 at 3:02 PM, Tree Frog said:

I have an addiction to plants. It started during Covid, but now I need to back off. My latest obsession is Holiday Cacti (Easter, Thanksgiving, and Christmas Cactus). They're fun to trade and prop, but do I really need 50 babies? There's no space left in my window. I also have about 10 seed pods, 2 of which are ready to be opened and planted. Do I really need another 100+ baby plants that will take at least 2 years to bloom before I know what color the bloom is? I enjoy watching them grow, but sometimes I get tired of taking care of them. Then I feel guilty. I think it's mom-guilt. 😂

You and my oldest daughter.  My daughter likes to walk around the plant section at the big home improvement stores, find “dead” leaves from succulents on the ground, then bring them home and propagate them.  All of our kitchen windows are full of baby succulents. She has a grow light in her room, with several more shelves of plants. I joke that she’s raising an undead army. 

[Indigo Blue]

I love Rotring pencils. They are the Speed Queen of pencils. I kept looking at them online. So expensive. Reviews kept saying if you drop it, the tip will bend and the pencil will be damaged. I thought, nah, that wouldn’t happen to me. I’m such a very, very careful pencil snob. I put it off until, one day, I ordered one. I was truly euphoric. Such a great pencil. I had it about three weeks. One day, you guessed it….it fell off my desk. I wouldn’t let myself panic. Ok, so it fell. Surely no damage was done. I picked it up, and was sad to see the tip bent at at about a 20 degree angle. I tried to carefully bend it back. It is us usable, but it’s basically ruined. 🙁 So they are the best, but they’re very, very fragile.

Edited August 21, 2022 by Indigo Blue

[Indigo Blue]

8 minutes ago, alisoncooks said:

You and my oldest daughter.  My daughter likes to walk around the plant section at the big home improvement stores, find “dead” leaves from succulents on the ground, then bring them home and propagate them.  All of our kitchen windows are full of baby succulents. She has a grow light in her room, with several more shelves of plants. I joke that she’s raising an undead army. 

I’m so attracted to those succulents in Lowe’s. They don’t do well for me.

[Arcadia]

8 hours ago, Ann.without.an.e said:

So what I’m learning here is that those who love planners, post it notes, gel pens, notebooks, and office supplies are statistically more likely to homeschool or at least consider it enough to end up on a homeschool forum?

My husband is the school/office supplies junkie, he hoards them. I’m the kind who loves going to Kinokuniya to check out pretty Japanese stationary but is okay not buying anything. My go to for decades is a personal digital organizer, from the ancient Sony Clie (2000), to 3Com Palm Pilot M105 (2001) to iPod Touch (2008) to iPhone 6s (2015 and still using)

8 hours ago, Wheres Toto said:

I think those of us who homeschool are always trying to find those magic supplies that will make planning AND IMPLEMENTING those plans easy, enjoyable, pretty, and relaxing.

I haven't found it yet but I keep searching. 

I rely on Excel and Gantt chart. It is an occupational hazard thing though I have been a SAHM for years.

[Arcadia]

12 minutes ago, alisoncooks said:

You and my oldest daughter.  My daughter likes to walk around the plant section at the big home improvement stores, find “dead” leaves from succulents on the ground, then bring them home and propagate them.  All of our kitchen windows are full of baby succulents. She has a grow light in her room, with several more shelves of plants. I joke that she’s raising an undead army. 

 

On 8/20/2022 at 12:02 PM, Tree Frog said:

I have an addiction to plants. It started during Covid, but now I need to back off. My latest obsession is Holiday Cacti (Easter, Thanksgiving, and Christmas Cactus). They're fun to trade and prop, but do I really need 50 babies?

My husband loves cacti. If I didn’t give him my 😠 look, my patio garden would be nothing but large pots of cacti and aloe vera plants. 

[Kassia]

My son's gf loves plants, too.  He just sent me a snap last night of all her plants with the caption "Welcome to the Jungle."  🙂 

[Ann.without.an.e]

1 hour ago, Kareni said:

For those of you who enjoy school supplies ~ https://mymodernmet.com/cool-school-supplies/

Regards,

Kareni

llama gel pens? Gosh @Kareni that’s not cool. Showing me all the pretty things just after I determined to stick to a budget. 

[Halftime Hope]

8 minutes ago, Arcadia said:

 

My husband loves cacti. If I didn’t give him my 😠 look, my patio garden would be nothing but large pots of cacti and aloe vera plants. 

My husband went to AZ for a trip, and friends of his were returning in an RV, so he asked them to babysit home a cactus for me; I never owned or wanted a cactus. We named it Lethal. It sits on my high, high mantle to no one can accidentally bump into it, and I wear silicone oven mitts to water it.  Cacti and succulents are addictive like no other plants I've ever owned. 

[Ann.without.an.e]

30 minutes ago, Kassia said:

I have that problem with the physical books I order from the library.  I order way way too many and there's no possible way I can read them all and then most of them are due back before I've had a chance to read them.  I've started putting books on hold and then immediately suspending the hold for another month or two to force myself to at least try to read the books I have here before getting even more.  

Maybe it’s just their presence that you need 😬 Don’t feel bad, it’s for mental health. 

[Arcadia]

35 minutes ago, Indigo Blue said:

I’m so attracted to those succulents in Lowe’s. They don’t do well for me.

My husband’s issue with cacti was root rot (soil and pot drainage). He overwatered the cacti and didn’t put them in the sunniest spot in our patio. My only cacti was surviving happily with lots of offshoots and some flowers because I underwater. 
https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/ornamental/cacti-succulents/scgen/overwatering-cactus.htm

Our Aloe Vera plants however doesn’t like full sun when it is a heat wave. They turn brown and dry. So they go to to the shadier area of our patio when it is about 90 degF.

[Kassia]

44 minutes ago, Ann.without.an.e said:

Maybe it’s just their presence that you need 😬 Don’t feel bad, it’s for mental health. 

LOL, it actually stresses me out though - "I have all these books to read before they are due!"  I think I just want to read ALL the books because they all sound so good and interesting!  So many books, so little time!  

[Kareni]

47 minutes ago, Halftime Hope said:

...a cactus. We named it Lethal.

My daughter had a Venus flytrap when she was younger. She named it Vicious. Clearly you follow similar naming conventions!

Regards,

Kareni

[Forget-Me-Not]

3 hours ago, Kareni said:

For those of you who enjoy school supplies ~ https://mymodernmet.com/cool-school-supplies/

Regards,

Kareni

Oh my goodness, the elephant shaped paper clips 😍😍😍

[Ann.without.an.e]

1 hour ago, Arcadia said:

 

Our Aloe Vera plants however doesn’t like full sun when it is a heat wave. They turn brown and dry. So they go to to the shadier area of our patio when it is about 90 degF.

Oh this makes so much sense. I had an aloe plant I really didn’t know what to do with so I stuck it out in our darkish side room and forgot about it and it survived for like a year - no care and no water. I was so impressed and kinda felt bad that it held on so long so I put it in a different pot and put it in my window and I’ve been trying to care for it and it doesn’t seem to like that very much. It really would rather be left alone in the dark, I think? 😝

Edited August 22, 2022 by Ann.without.an.e

[Ann.without.an.e]

31 minutes ago, Forget-Me-Not said:

Oh my goodness, the elephant shaped paper clips 😍😍😍

Those and the llama pens and the snail correction tape are the cutest 😍

[Arcadia]

12 minutes ago, Ann.without.an.e said:

Oh this makes so much sense. I had an aloe plant I really didn’t know what to do with so I stuck it out in our darkish side room and forgot about it and it survived for like a year - no care and no water. I was so impressed and kinda felt bad that it held on so long so I put it in a different pot and put it in my window and I’ve been trying to care for it and it doesn’t seem to like that very much. It really would rather be left alone in the dark, I think? 😝

Ours are under our 6” rectangular patio table enjoying the shade. Our patio get the strongest sunshine between 3 to 6pm, and our scallions love the sunniest spot. My longest scallion so far was 52cm and we were very amused as my scallions are all regrown from store bought scallions.

ETA: https://www.almanac.com/plant/aloe-vera

”How to Care for an Aloe Vera Plant

• Lighting: Place in bright, indirect sunlight or artificial light. A western or southern window is ideal. Aloe that are kept in low light often grow leggy.
• Temperature: Aloe vera do best in temperatures between 55 and 80°F (13 and 27°C).”

Edited August 22, 2022 by Arcadia

[marbel]

1 hour ago, Kassia said:

LOL, it actually stresses me out though - "I have all these books to read before they are due!"  I think I just want to read ALL the books because they all sound so good and interesting!  So many books, so little time!  

So, tell yourself you are previewing them. Read a few pages with no intention of reading the whole thing.  Check out any photos or maps or whatever. Read the dedication, the table of contents. Then, if you decide you really do want to read it but it is due, put it on your list and request it in the future. 

This is how I sometimes decide if I want to buy something or not.  Plus, it keeps library circulation numbers up! So you are doing it for your librarians, right?  

I check out a lot of cookbooks. I rarely buy a cookbook without getting it from the library and trying a recipe, or at least going through it to see if there are several things I want to make.  When I say rarely, I mean maybe I did it once in the last 10 years. 

[Kassia]

48 minutes ago, marbel said:

  Plus, it keeps library circulation numbers up! So you are doing it for your librarians, right?  

 

Right!  Our county actually has the highest circulation numbers in the state and we're pretty rural.  I'm sure I made a big difference when the kids were younger and we'd go to the library and come home with stacks and stacks and stacks of books!  ❤️  Such a great memory.  

[Tree Frog]

3 hours ago, Arcadia said:

 

My husband loves cacti. If I didn’t give him my 😠 look, my patio garden would be nothing but large pots of cacti and aloe vera plants. 

My husband doesn't like the spiny cacti,. They have such lovely varieties, the flowers are so pretty, and they're so resilient when we don't get rain for months at a time with 100* temps that I can't help but have some.

[Arcadia]

5 minutes ago, Tree Frog said:

My husband doesn't like the spiny cacti,. They have such lovely varieties, the flowers are so pretty, and they're so resilient when we don't get rain for months at a time with 100* temps that I can't help but have some.

My husband’s all time favorite is bunny ears cacti, second is Christmas cacti. Our Christmas cacti love to bloom, two pots are red flame Christmas cacti and one pot is white Christmas cacti.

[Harriet Vane]

I thought of something I love irrationally: my own, gorgeous handwriting. 

Silly, yes. But it makes me feel so happy and satisfied to see a name or a line of poetry that I have written beautifully. Half the fun of writing schedules and lists is for the joy of seeing my handwriting. That goes double if I've used wonderful pens in bold colors.

 

[Kassia]

3 hours ago, Harriet Vane said:

I thought of something I love irrationally: my own, gorgeous handwriting. 

Silly, yes. But it makes me feel so happy and satisfied to see a name or a line of poetry that I have written beautifully. Half the fun of writing schedules and lists is for the joy of seeing my handwriting. That goes double if I've used wonderful pens in bold colors.

 

I don't think it's silly at all.  Beautiful handwriting is definitely a lost art!  It's so rare that I really notice when someone has beautiful handwriting and admire it (mine is terrible and I think that's the norm).  I'm glad you enjoy your own handwriting and that fun pens make it even more special to you!  

[Wheres Toto]

13 hours ago, Arcadia said:

My husband is the school/office supplies junkie, he hoards them. I’m the kind who loves going to Kinokuniya to check out pretty Japanese stationary but is okay not buying anything. My go to for decades is a personal digital organizer, from the ancient Sony Clie (2000), to 3Com Palm Pilot M105 (2001) to iPod Touch (2008) to iPhone 6s (2015 and still using)

I rely on Excel and Gantt chart. It is an occupational hazard thing though I have been a SAHM for years.

I do use Excel for most of my detailed planning.   Which is part of the reason it doesn't make sense for me to keep buying notebooks and journals.  

I used to LOVE writing in a nice, calligraphy type script in various notebooks.  Then I had a very bad broken wrist when I was pregnant with youngest dd.  Since I was 12 weeks pregnant, they didn't want to do surgery so it never healed well.  Now I can't write for very long, or very neatly without a lot of pain.  

Edited August 22, 2022 by Wheres Toto

[Wheres Toto]

I LOVE succulents.  They are so pretty and so easy to keep alive.   I do also like philodendrons, for the same reason.   

[GailV]

16 hours ago, alisoncooks said:

You and my oldest daughter.  My daughter likes to walk around the plant section at the big home improvement stores, find “dead” leaves from succulents on the ground, then bring them home and propagate them.  All of our kitchen windows are full of baby succulents. She has a grow light in her room, with several more shelves of plants. I joke that she’s raising an undead army. 

Younger dd apparently spent the end of her college career propagating pothos and aloe vera, among others. She moved them all back home with her, then promptly packed up and moved to the east coast via plane, taking only what she could stuff in her suitcases. I now have so. many. plants., especially pothos and aloe vera, I could open a shop. 

And my kids KNOW that I never get live poinsettias at Christmas because I feel so terribly guilty for throwing away a live plant after it's outlived it "usefulness" that I end up keeping them even though I'm too lazy to turn them back red again. In other words, they KNOW that handing me a plant and asking me to take care of it "for now" is a lifelong obligation. Sigh.

I've shared with dd the theory that plants actually rule the planet and we are just vectors for their distribution. I think she's embraced her role in that.