My Pencil Dilemma

It's Monday morning in our home, after clearing the breakfast dishes and getting myself a second cup of coffee, it is time to get back to school-- Mondays ugh. I printed off a cute pumpkin activity for Bophie to keep her out of my hair as I begin Math with the older girls. Math and Monday, not a favorite combination in this house.

My dilemma? Inevitably, as soon as I want to get down to task, neither girl can find a pencil. I am an organization junky. I strive to be sure there is a place for everything. I have a pencil basket to return pencils when finished. The only pencil in the pencil bin this morning was a nub of a thing with no eraser and all of an inch long. BTW, it is not a nub because I work my children to the bone. It is the way it is because some of my girls get too much of a kick out of sharpening the things. The eraser is missing because other girls chew on anything they get their hands on.

I buy pencils by the truck load. Last week, I pulled out at least a dozen new pencils. Where do they go? Are they eaten? I wouldn't think my cooking was bad enough my children would resort to eating pencils. Still, this morning, no one could locate a decent pencil. Last week, I gave each of them two of my favorite mechanical pencils. I let them choose a color so they could keep track of the pencil. Banana chose blue, Bear purple, Bophie of course chose pink, and I was left with orange. This morning, none of those eight pencils are in the bin. They even lost my orange pencils!

Being the frugal (dear readers know I am cheap) mom I am, I purchased hundreds of pencils when the school supplies went on sale in September. I have a secret stash of pencils, some traditional number two's and other coveted mechanical pencils. I know this morning I could pull out new pencils for everyone. I could replenish the stash again. I could get everyone to work, but how long will my stash last under such conditions? If I put out 20 pencils today, will there be any there on Friday, let alone next Monday?

So, here I am at 10 AM, asking myself what to do about the pencil problem, when it occurs to me that there must be other more important things to dwell on... I think the next time I'm out, I'll buy a thousand pack of pencils (do they sell such a thing?), then maybe I won't care when there are no pencils to be found. I am also making sure my favorite mechanical pencils get a new home, safe from grubby, pencil-hungry girls.

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