Calling all supply junkies....

[specialmama]

I just smelled my daughter's new whiteboard eraser. I had to. The urge was simply too strong to fight. :001_tt1: She looked at me like I'd lost my last few marbles. :lol: When in a department store, I make a dash to where all the sharpies are displayed. :hurray: I admire them. They're so pretty, aren't they? All in their perfect packages, neatly standing in a row... such bright colours... ahhhhhh. :drool5: Oh and I simply *must* touch and smell every eraser and I *must* try every single gel pen out the moment I bring them home. Pages should be shiny and smooth, and the fact that I soon get to shop for next years supplies and curriculum severely interrupts with my sleep! I wake an hour before the alarm clock, but instead of turning over and going back to sleep, I hop out of bed and run down the stairs in order to do more research, in hopes of confirming what I believe will be a *perfect* fit for our family. If I'm uber lucky, I'll find some "look inside!" samples on Amazon, or a great new review on a homeschool site.

 

Why? Because I'm a suppy geek... a junkie... a girl who is wondering if she's the only one out there. Please tell me I'm not alone! If there are many of us, perhaps we can figure out why we're like this! Did you play school as a young girl? I must know! It's got to be a link!

 

P.S.: I just know some of you are *dying* to find out: the whiteboard eraser smelled like a marriage of chemically treated felt and styrofoam. :w00t:

 

P.S.S., or is it P.P.S.?, ah no matter: If you are NOT a supply geek, a simple response of "you're all nuts" will suffice. :lol: Thanks!

[Chris in VA]

Me! Me!

 

I love the supply closet at the preschool where I work now--I was just telling a co-teacher how "strangely attracted" to the sharpies I am! (As long as I'm not sniffing those, I should be ok!)

 

Maybe some day, when kiddos are all grown, I'll work as a curriculum specialist for homeschoolers! Wouldn't that be fun? The research would be very satisfying.

[melissel]

ROFL!!! I don't generally smell them (I'm a book sniffer instead), but yeah, I can spend an hour or two in office supply stores, just wandering around and petting things. My kids hate it! I go a little insane during the back-to-school freebie/cheapie period. It's the promise of all that order and organization. I'm also hooked on planners, though I've managed to hold myself back since I designed my own (only took two years! :lol:).

 

So no, you're not alone.

 

ETA: Oh, and the curriculum!!! That's bad too, although again, I've managed to cut myself off for now. But I was in our local teacher's supply store (it's new) looking for Easter basket fillers the other day, and I'm lucky to have escaped with only $67 worth of stuff. There are two things I want to go back for, actually. And yesterday we were at the library for DD's literature group, and there was a newbie HSer there. She had to run out to the store while her DD was in with the group, and she left her catalogs there, but they were under her planner and keys and other personal effects. It was just about all I could do to keep myself from pulling the catalogs out and rifling through them :rolleyes: I had to keep distracting myself...with my planner :lol:

Edited April 14, 2009 by melissel

[JudoMom]

Yes, I am a junkie. I have always been a junkie. I used to save my money to buy school supplies. Trapper Keepers, new spiral notebooks, folders, pens, pencils...

 

I'm already lecturing myself that I don't need to buy any more supplies for next year. But I have a horrible time resisting the back to school prices...

 

I don't really smell them, but I do love the smell of a new book. There is a Rod & Staff bookstore near my inlaws in Wisconsin, and they print books or tracts or something there. I LOVE the smell of that place.

 

I played school when I was little. One of my favorite memories of when I was little (before I went to school, so I must've been 4/5) was when my Mom somehow got a huge box full of discarded copies (the kind of with the purple ink) of worksheets from the school where my brother went. And I used to sit and watch PBS--they had teachers on that taught cursive and printing and other school related things. I was usually the student, although every now and then I was the teacher. I loved to visit my cousin in KS over the summer and play school with her (she was the teacher). She's 6 years older than me and she's a special ed teacher now.

[Chris in VA]

copies (the kind of with the purple ink)

 

 

OOhhhh... mimeographs....I LONG for the smell of mimeographs!

[melissel]

Trapper Keepers, new spiral notebooks, folders, pens, pencils...

 

Oooh yeah! I forgot all about that *sigh*

 

I don't really smell them, but I do love the smell of a new book. There is a Rod & Staff bookstore near my inlaws in Wisconsin, and they print books or tracts or something there. I LOVE the smell of that place.

 

:lol: I prefer the smell of old books, myself. I'm in heaven at library book sales. That old book smell takes me right back to childhood. And did you ever notice that old textbooks smell totally different from old regular books? I found some elementary reading textbook at a thrift store recently, and when I cracked it open a wave of school memories washed over me. It must be the different paper.

[Rhonda in TX]

was as a child for office supplies. I was probably 7 or 8 years old. I took some divider tabs. ????? Anyone care to psychoanalyze that?? It obviously is a sickness that started very early. :D

[Rhonda in TX]

School kids today don't know what they're missing.

[nukeswife]

I don't generally smell the supplies, but I love to look at them all shiny in a row on the shelves. I love to buy in bulk even though we'll never need that many. I probably have enough crayons and markers in my closet to last until my grandchildren need them. That's saying something since my oldest is only going to be 10:tongue_smilie:

 

I'm not a lover of old book smell (probably my mold allergy) but I love the smell and feel of a brand new book we get in a Sonlight box or from a trip to BN or BAM.

[Carrie12345]

Oh, I used to LOVE making up grade books. I'd assign grades to made up students in nice little columns and average them out for their marking period grade. The funny thing is, I don't give my kids grades now, lol.

 

We do own enough spiral notebooks to last us a lifetime. But I still can't resist buying 30-50 more when they hit 5 cents. They're just so pretty and new!

 

And my favorite thing in the world is a fresh box of crayons. Did I mention how close I live to the Crayola factory? :D

[OnTheBrink]

Ooooh, I love the smell of crayons! And paste! Falling only behind Christmas and Easter, School Supply Buying Day is the best day of the year!

[H.S. Burrow]

OOhhhh... mimeographs....I LONG for the smell of mimeographs!

 

 

Oh, yeah! :svengo: Kids today don't know what they're missing!!!

 

Oh, and new sharpies, and dry erase markers, and folders, and notebooks, and colored map pencils :drool5: I LOVE colored pencils!!! And new box of Crayola Crayons...

 

 

....and dividers, and file folders, and glue, and new textbooks, and colored index cards!!!! :lol::lol::lol:

[Mom-ninja.]

Today I received two packages in the mail. One was my new SLR camera that I've been coveting for months. The other was the new All About Spelling curriculum I ordered. Guess which box I opened first, ripping it open like a mad woman? Not the camera.

 

 

If we're in a store DH knows to take my arm and keep me from the office supply section. Even in the grocery store I try to sneak down that magical aisle.

 

DH says it's not normal about how excited I am that a Staples is opening 5 minutes from our house.

 

I'm already so excited for the back to school season. I'm also excited that, while devouring the above mentioned spelling curriculum, I discovered that I need to buy an index card box. Maybe I'll get dividers too. In different colors!

Edited April 15, 2009 by Kleine Hexe

[Mama Bear]

I lurve the clearance sales after school starts, but have a horrible time making myself wait! :D I watch ads for deals on bulk pencils, good erasers, prismacolors, and etc. My all-time fave is creative uses for post-its and tabs. I'm a school/office supply junkie.

[Strawberry Queen]

Yeah, I'm addicted too.;)

I always used to like looking at the back to school flyers as a teen. I would go through all of them and figure out what neat stuff I would buy with my own money. I still have a mechanical pencil from back then that I use daily.

 

I'm seriously considering buying a coil binding machine, just for fun. I would use it but I seriously doubt that it would justify the cost. then there's my long arm stapler. I was absurdly happy when I got that. It's just too much fun.

 

Oh, something else to look for at the convention. Really nice crayons. Hopefully someone will sell those cool beeswax crayons. Beeswax..:drool5:

 

I remember getting a blackboard for my b-day when I was 5. It was on an easel and had the alphabet across the top. I *loved* that sooo much. I remember writing and erasing and setting up my dolls and teddy bear so they could learn. sigh ....such fond memories.