At first, Uncle Peter asked me to make sure Andre had a sharpened pencil ready. Sounds easy enough but I swear, the pencils unsharpened themselves. By the time Uncle Peter's weekly visit came around again, the only available pencil would be the blunt one... that is, if he could find one at all. And of course the sharpener would be missing or faulty.
So Uncle Peter tried another tack - he asked me to get Andre a mechanical pencil. Which I did. Except, somehow the mechanical pencil always disappeared into a Bermuda Stationery Triangle, never to be seen again. I'm not kidding you, I must have bought him three mechanical pencils on three separate occasions - I even made him pay for one himself as a punishment for losing the other two.
Uncle Peter is a super nice guy. He never once told me off, even though he must have privately questioned my ability to provide for my children. I mean, he's only asking for a pencil, for crying out loud.
Finally, after many months of this rigmarole, he came bearing a gift for Andre:
Resourceful fellow, Uncle Peter! Not just a sharpener, a GIANT sharpener with moving parts. Andre loved it - he was clamouring to sharpen pencils all day. Dig that brisk arm action!
Why didn't I think of this before?
I should get one of these too, but always find them quite pricey.
ReplyDeleteUncle Peter is a gem!
You have to make sure Andre doesn't find every opportunity to sharpen, skali sharpen until you go Eh? how come pencils used up so fast, but there's always a mountain of pencil shavings in the wastepaper basket...
Haha, the first few days, he kept looking for new pencils to sharpen! Even the Powerpuff Girl one that nobody wanted...
ReplyDeleteBut I think the novelty has since worn off. At least we still have sharp pencils around, the last I checked!
Uncle Peter is really wonderful lah.
Heh Heh ! My mom bought my kids one of these sharpeners and she thought by screwing it onto the side of the study table it would be well used and would not go missing. Wrong ! After a few rounds of use, the sharpener dislodged, kids got frustrated and now its back to the "Mommy-sharpener" ie. every week I try to gather the pencils together for a sheering session. Last week I sharpened 5 pencils and they have all mysteriously disappeared..
ReplyDeletetogether with a few half used pieces of sad-looking erasers ! :)
Jo
Haha Jo, you are more conscientious than me. At least you remember to sharpen the pencils for your kids! But it's good to know I'm not the only one with a pencil malady...
ReplyDeleteMon, this post is funny lah, the 'Bermuda Stationery Triangle', LOL.
ReplyDeleteI always wondering why I have a black hole in this house that I didn't know. Things just went missing mystically.
Chris
just buy him the electric sharpener... it's so cool... he'll never even lose it coz it's even bigger than the one that Uncle Peter bought! And it sharpens efficiently too!
ReplyDeleteah. boys and their toys.
ReplyDelete(it's true, the electric ones are even more fun. i bot my first battery-powered sharpener from mustafa.) eh, one day u free, we go shop-shop at mustafa, want or not???
you are all so funny! electric sharpener? shhh... don't like andre hear you...
ReplyDeleteThe once-in-a-while anal me love the big sharpener's sharpening effect. I like the adjustment on it, "fine" or "not-so-fine" sharpening which you cannot get on a regular sharpener. :P See how anal?
ReplyDeleteqx
LOL, QX, you sound just as obsessive as I am! Except my obsession is not with pencils...
ReplyDeleteAiyoh, your post sets me checking ALL the pencils I have at home, plus visit to POPULAR to get another 2 dozens of pencils to sharpen. I am the one to sharpen all the pencils at home, as I don't trust my little ones to do a good job, and even when they do it, it has to be under my close supervision. I really hate when they have to spill the tiny shavings and powdered lead on the table or floor. My eldest has fingers sensitive to pencil lead and so I provide him with two mechanical pencils and one wooden pencil (with a funny improvised cap made with paper) and ask him to stay away from my sharpener.
ReplyDeleteSC
LOL Mon..wonder what is your obsession.. I like to think I am only once-in-a-while obsessed but I probably have more obsessions... Bwaaahh..
ReplyDeleteBtw, your "Bermuda Stationery Triangle" definitely exists in our home. And top of that, we also have "Toy Story" syndrome in our house, many things(toys and non-toys) without legs can "walk" while we are not watching. No, not only the 7th month...throughout the year. Never understand why some things can end up in places which they should not have been. Sounds familiar? Kids & Maids!! You cannot have them and you cannot do without them!! LOL
qx
Haha... any luck that one day Uncle Peter would come bearing gift at my doorstep too?
ReplyDeleteLike, errm, a piano?! ;)
Ya, I know... a keyboard isn't enough.
Need to go look for one... but this Sep break is way too short! Hardly had time to catch some breath and it's back to school again. But am secretly relieved... siong to have kids at home 24/7.
Love this post.
ReplyDeleteYes! yes the Bermuda Stationery Triangle - It is at my house too! It swallows all the new pencils, just bought-pens and erasers and correction tape in the house, no matter whose desk it was on (including Mummy's) plus there is also a wormhole through which all the old pens with dried up ink, pencils with leads missing, little stubby penicls only 2 cm long, out of order mechanical pencils, sharpeners with dull rusty blades and empty reels of correction tape get spit out the other end and appear in the stationery boxes.
I toss them all in the bin and buy new replacements and the next week when I need a pen they're all gone again and the broken ones are there instead!? How???
BY the way I did have 3 of those mechanical sharpeners - broken or lost after 2 months. Also got the electric one, same story.....
ReplyDeleteHahahaha!! I love it - so this Bermuda Stationery Triangle is pervasive across Singapore homes huh? Here's my conspiracy theory - when you buy something from Popular, it's tagged with a homing device so when you sleep at night, it magically disappears. No wonder Popular is so successful!
ReplyDeleteCindy: LOL Good luck waiting for Uncle Peter to drop a piano for you! Err... I think it's gonna be a long wait...
Erm, as for me? I got tired of people swiping other people's pencils and erasers that were better/sharper/cleaner/not lost... so I COLOUR CODED all their pencils/erasers...
ReplyDeleteSo I bought pencils that came with a plain one-coloured body in the colours red, green and blue... then bought erasers that were made up of the same colours (solid erasers that is entirely one colour, not just printed on the surfact), so that I could always tell from far if each child had his/her own stuff, and whose pencil shavings/eraser dust was littered around the bin each time.
Mwahahahahahahahahahaha!!!!!
LOL, now THAT'S obsessive!!
ReplyDeletejustpassingby:Hahaha...so funny!What a great idea, though. Hard to get the kids to own up. I did that for their cups, so I know exactly who has left his/her cup behind.
ReplyDeleteMonlim: Love your write-ups.
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