Sept 1 = a new box of pencils

photo from marthastewart.com

I have a thing about pencils. In the cup on the desk, they all need to match. And they all need to be sharp and have erasers. Why would you have pencils that are NOT sharp??? That makes no sense to me. I also like for all the pens to be the same kind of pen.


My husband buys different pens every time he goes to the store, and then I have to throw out all the old pens, because they don’t match. WHY? WHY DOES HE DO THIS TO ME?

Marriage is a compromise, people.

More proof of my pencil craziness: when I go to my parents’ house, I usually sneak off to Wal-Mart and buy packages of pens & pencils and I throw out all the unusable ones in their pencil cup by the phone and replace them with new. Because I’ve answered the phone at their house and stood there for five minutes just trying to find a utensil that actually writes in order to take a message.

I’m not saying they’re bad people. I’m just saying I’m not sure who I inherited this pencil disorder from.

So here at Keeth Ink, in September, whether we need them of not, I buy new pencils. A new box of freshly sharpened pencils… the smell! The hope! The promise! The smell!

(Yes, I know most people went back to school two weeks ago.)

There’s something about turning the calendar over to September that just FEELS like back-to-school time. I’m not in school this semester, due to my being due to give birth in October. I’ll go back in the spring, but “Back to School in January!” just doesn’t have the same ring to it.

Of course, I don’t actually use pencils for school. I use uni-ball Vision Stick Roller Ball Pens, in either Micro or Fine tip depending on my mood. I have a fountain pen, but I find that it works better for slow, leisurely writing. For fast-and-furious note taking, the Uniball is my writing utensil of choice.

But I still buy new pencils. I like Paper Mate Mirado Black Warrior Cedar Pencils. I like the sleek black look of them, and I like that they are called “Black Warrior,” because anything with that name has got to be one awesome pencil. I also like that they are $2.50 per box.

But if I had the money to burn, I’d buy these babies from See Jane Work.

photo from See Jane Work

Because they’re pretty. Pretty, pretty pencils.

As are these:

photo from marthastewart.com

Someone made these.

When I saw this tutorial from Martha Stewart, my first thought was, “That’s stupid. Who would spend that much time painting pencils?”

But then, after I thought about it, I realized that it could be an excellent way to keep some children (or adults) quiet for 30 minutes or so, with minimal expense or mess. And you would end up with some cute and entirely usable items.

If you decide to make them, I would recommend a piece of styrofoam to poke the pencils into while they dry. As long as the paint wasn’t too runny. You see, I’ve thought it through.

Wherever you are, please enjoy this lovely first day of September. And buy yourself some new pencils, while you’re at it.