a bouquet of freshly sharpened pencils

appropriate You've Got Mail quote: "Don't you love New York in the fall? It makes me wanna buy school supplies. I would send you a bouquet of newly sharpened pencils if I knew your name and address."

What is it with school supplies? How can pens and notebooks be so exciting? They just are! At least half of my girl friends are obsessed with school supplies. Maybe that's why we are friends.

School supplies signify not learning so much, but doodling the names of your crushes, practicing your new and totally way more cool handwriting (come on, I'm not the only one who did that), writing poems or songs and designing floor plans. Yes, I did that. Since seventh grade. I love a good floor plan.

I am not looking forward to the expense of future school supply lists, but I get all giddy at the thought of picking out fun-colored folders and tricked out binders with my future kids. I'll let you in on a secret: I've already bought my future child a notebook. It was too awesome not to buy. It has tiny robots all over the cover! I added it to my "hope chest" which is really a cardboard box that used to house a printer. Now it holds little things that I've bought over the past couple of years for our future children.

Children is a REALLY ugly word.