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And Since We Are Talking About Pencils…

Image from art.com

My friend Carl D’Agostino and I often have Vulcan mind-melds. This week while I was tapping away about how much my Monkey loves his Ticonderogas, Carl simultaneously posted a pencil related comic on his blog, “I Know I Made You Smile.”

Check out Carl’s funny here, then come back and tell me about a mistake that could not be erased.

I’ll start: Congressman Anthony Weiner’s decision to send photos of himself in his grey underwear via Twitter. Whooopsie! Good luck with that one, dude.

24 thoughts on “And Since We Are Talking About Pencils…

  1. OH my. “Mistakes that cannot be erased.” The list is soooooooo long. Let’s start here:

    *Palin insisting her version of Paul Revere’s midnight ride is the correct one. Even Wikipedia is having a hard time with this – they’ve had to lock the page to fight the onslaught of updates between people who insist Palin is right, and those who want our history to remain untouched by Palin.

    *Mentioning a former classmate’s former long-term boyfriend to her, in front of her husband. (Can you say “Awkward”?)

    *Totally blowing the end of a Harry Potter novel by revealing who dies, when you’re certain the kid you’re talking to has read the novel already because he’s such a voracious reader but then he says, “REALLY? DIES?” And you have to say, “Uh…NO, that was just an EXAMPLE.”

    The list is long, but I’ve blocked out a lot of things – so you’ll just have to make do with what I’ve posted, here.

  2. Accidentally putting your husband’s favorite, blue t-shirt (one that’s from college so irreplaceable, yet in remarkably good shape) in a load with lots of bleach. This just happened this morning. The shirt is now tie-dyed. I’m not sure if I should hide the shirt, leave the state, or chalk it up to tornado damage? (I guess honesty should be one of my options too.)

    I just read your pencil post. Love it! I’m also an office supply addict. Hello, my name is Amy …

    1. Hi Amy:
      Ouch! I will assume you are okay if you post on Friday. If you need assistance post under the name, “Husband Put Me Out in the Trenches.” I will find you and send help. (I’m guessing that after the tornado, the beloved college t-shirt might feel like small potatoes, but I could be completely wrong. What do I know about surviving tornadoes?

    2. Amy – I’m an office supply addict, too – http://momcrusades.blogspot.com/2011/06/office-supply-junkies-unite.html. Renee’s post about Monkey’s Ticonderogas prompted me to repeat a post I’d done a few years ago.

      You have my sympathy, re: bleach accidents. I always splash bleach on some article of clothing that’s needed for work.

      Here’s a “can’t be erased” moment. My sister’s neighbor wanted to impress her husband with really stiffly starched shirts, so she used liquid starch instead of the spray can stuff. She put his dress shirts into a wash tub with liquid starch in it – didn’t read the directions – and the shirts came out stiff, all right – stiff enough to crack.

  3. How about Bill Clinton’s cigar issue?

    That I didn’t stay focused in school and failed to get my teaching degree.

    The Governator’s love-child

    There really are too many to count.

  4. Politicians seem to be notorious for non-erasable mistakes.

    John Edwards’ “mistakes” can make a book! The affair (while his wife was going thru Chemo), having a “lovechild”, denying the affair, then denying the child. I’ll even throw in the $800 hair cut.

    My favorite is Biden saying “This is an “F**ing big deal!” on a live mic. at the signing of the health care bill. You gotta love Biden!

    1. Mark:

      I know, those moments hurt. There should be a “Wait, I Take It Back” Button. In fact, yesterday, I was in a store that sold fake keyboard keys that said things like “Doom” and “Fail” and “Error.” Alas, they were too raised to look like the keyboard of my Mac.

      It’s good to know that Kristen Lamb is a premature button pusher, too. If it can happen to the queen with her 14,000 followers, well… take heart. 😉

  5. So….. I have been thinking of switching from mechanical pencil to old school and your post pushed me over the edge! I made the plunge today and bought a 48 pack for 7.99 from Office Depot – i am going on Monkey’s and your’s recommendation. As for an error or misjudgment (how that sounds so presidential) that I could not erase, it is the occasional remark to my wife about something trivial (I am a SLOW learner). I need a reallly BIG eraser to wipe that one away!

    1. My husband seems to be slow in this area as well.

      Here, let me help.

      “You know what, honey. I see your point. What was I thinking?”

      That’s a really good line. Feel free to borrow it and to share it with others. And by “others,” I mean “people with non-girlie parts.” 😉

  6. Every single example I can think of makes me smile . . . but would generally be considered morbid/horrifying!

    I’m sure I can think of something. Like, maybe, law school? Try as I might, I can’t think of a way to erase that debt . . . ! Must be due to the fact my brain’s melted from not actually working as an attorney. 😉

    1. Hi Deborah! I love that you are writing YA’s! Something I would like to try to do. Someday. You know, when I’m done giving birth to this manuscript. (It hurts.) I would love to know these examples that would be “generally considered morbid/horrifying.” Your my kind of Closet Monster!

      Sorry about the law school thing.

      They probably made you write in pen, huh? 😉

      1. Those bozos not only made sure it was ink, they made sure it was in ink–in nine separate places!

        The only anecdote that I can recall from earlier involving leaving my mom’s bedroom about a week before she died and saying, “Ugh! I’m dying here!” (I was taking care of mom and my then five-month-old son while working full-time remotely.) The instant the words left my mouth, I gazed at my sisters in horror and said, “Oh, g-d, I’m so sorry!” I said something properly self-flagellating to lighten the mood and left with shame burning in my heart.

        After that, you can bet I was more careful to make sure to choose my words wisely!

        Those words couldn’t be erased, but they were–I hope–more than made up for by the many times I told her I loved her afterward, or by my phone calls each morning (after I flew back down to L.A.) telling her all the things I was thankful to her for. She couldn’t talk by that point, but I know she could hear; a harpist came and played for her about an hour before she died, and my sister texted that it was so beautiful and the pain and mom’s face so eased, she fled the room crying.

        So, those words can’t be taking back . . . but they were a blip on the monitor, in the end!

        Sorry for the somberness and length of this comment. And thanks about the Closet Monster thing–yeah! I was afraid of the dark for a looooooong time (any longer and I couldn’t have said I conquered that fear as a teen, *cough*), until I decided the monsters under the bed and in the closet were probably hiding out in these places ’cause they were just as scared of me as I was of them.

        Here concludes this novella! 😀

  7. Oh happy day! I love your posts and blog and so I just nominated you for the Versatile Blogger Award. If you choose to accept my nomination, the strings that come attached are well worth the recognition. Do you accept my nomination?
    Here are the rules:
    1. You must create a blog about your acceptance in which you mention that I nominated you, you accept, and provide a link to my site.
    2. Give 7 random facts about yourself.
    3. Provide the links to 7 blogs YOU wish to nominate for this award.
    4. Notify each blogger that you nominated them and ask them if they want to accept the award. If they do, just share the rules with them.

    Keep up the excellent work. You have a loyal follower and I hope you get many more from this gesture.

    All the best, Lorna

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