Crayons Unite!

It’s that dreaded time of year again – back to school shopping time. Is it just me or have school supply lists gotten longer and longer? I’ll be off to hunt down composition notebooks, highlighters, two-pocket plastic folders, and the ever elusive “Expo Dry Erase Markers – 2 count, medium point, NOT low odor.” One of the lists that I saw was even specific about colors for notebooks and folders. They had to be Blue, Yellow, Purple and Green. Sounds like all the colors of a nasty bruise.

Ever notice that there is always at least ONE thing on the school supply list that is hard to find? Why is that? Retailers are great about making copies of supply lists available in stores, which is great. But do they actually read the lists and try to stock up ahead of time? I think they must not or else I wouldn’t have to scour the internet for dry erase markers. Sure – you can find lots of packs with multi-colored pens, broad tip pens, low odor pens – but that isn’t what I need.

And crayons. Can we talk about crayons? Do you realize how many partial boxes of leftover crayons I have? Is there a crayon recycling place where I can ship these? Surely they could be melted back down into their respective colors and made into new, whole crayons again. I know crayons are not expensive but I would rather ‘recycle’ the stubby ends than throw them away. Honestly, do you know any kids who like to color with the broken/leftover pieces?

There is one thing we used to buy (back when I was a kid, you know – a hundred years ago) that isn’t on the supply lists. Can you guess? Watercolor paints. Remember those rectangular boxes with the little ovals of color in them? Didn’t you hate it when some other kid would use your paints and get the colors all muddy?

I’m off now to Google “crayon recycling” and see what I can come up with. The stubby pieces in the art box are giving me the evil eye. I think they are conspiring with the leftover watercolor paints to stage a rebellion. Or maybe they are in league with the paper clips and rubber bands that multiply in my desk drawer. Whatever the case may be – I better figure out a way to take care of things before they watch Pinky & the Brain and figure out a way to take over the world.