Ever since I was a little girl (never mind when and YES they had rubber wheels, on cars and everything, back then!)  I've had this thing for office supplies.  Perhaps, it's because my mom kept her desk in my bedroom (I grew up in a 5 room house, enough said!)  and, every now and again, she would allow me to go nuts with her roller stamp:  PAID, CANCELED, COMPLETED, RECEIVED...URGENT!

[blank stare]

I was a senior in high school, when I got my first job working for the board of education as a file clerk and you'd think they'd given me the keys to the geekdom of office supply heaven: I collated, color-coded and stapled the hell out of those nasty little pendaflex folders.

[sound of crickets, chirping]

After graduation, I worked as a secretary, then a bookkeeper and moved onto customer service (back when you actually spoke to a live person, I mean)  where I slowly developed a thing for post its, dry erase boards and pens of many, many different colors.

[shiver]

Then, I had kids and, well, I recently found a stack of Gooseberry Patch wall calendars dating back to 2003, the year I developed an affinity for mail order catalogs and prettiful wall calendars.

The thing is, now that my kids are older (me, too, dammit!)  and having spent a small fortune on back-to-school supplies, for the last 13 years, I've grown a bit...ummmmm...stingy when it comes to the kids borrowing (with the intent of never returning)  MY office supplies.

Related:  ask a teen where he(she) left his(her) coat/hat/scarf/head and you'll get a blank stare, however, he(she) WILL find that extra pack of whatever it is you've been hiding, wherever it is you thought he(she) would NEVER think to look for it.

 So, this morning, I was NOT pleased to find we were ALL out of pens AND needed a new wall calendar....I was THRILLED!!!...YAY!!!!!!!...time to go to the office supply store, i.e. IKEA, for geeks. 

I love the smell of fresh, new office supplies in the morning!

 I got there before the doors opened (Monday-Friday 8AM-9PM; Saturday 9AM-9PM; Sunday 10AM-6PM)  and even the store manager was all, like:

"Gooooooooooooood morning, it's a beeeeeeeeautiful day here in geekdom!"

Flash-forward 2 (give or take 20) hours, later:  I got home and immediately began to re-organize my desk, label folders for 2013 and was about to collate, color-code and staple the hell out of my new and totally nasty little pendaflex folders.

Then, a family emergency erupted (SIL has a wicked case of the flu, she'll be fine)  and I later came home to find someone...who shall remain nameless...HOPE!!!...wrote all over my brand new wall calendar.

So, after reprimanding the child (relax, she's a bigger geek than I am)   I reminded my youngest that she has her own calendar (see previous parenthesis)  and then asked her to erase all her bff's birthdays off of MY calendar.

"I can't!"

[one beat, two beats]

"I wrote it in Sharpie!"

Note to self:  find a better hiding place for the damned Sharpies.

"I also saw you got new pencils, pens, push pins, binder clips, white-out, tape, staples AND colored chalk, thank you Mommy!!!"

On the other hand, she's gonna make a great office geek, I am SO proud!

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