I did a major clean up of my work area because I’ve got a 2-day workshop beginning this afternoon, except that now I can’t find anything.

This happens more often than you might think. With the best of intentions I do a massive clean-up, methodically putting things away and then begin to work and can’t remember where I put things like my 6″ ruler or my chalk refills for my chalk pencil. So then I go on Amazon and purchase more.

Bohin Chalk Pencil Refills

By the time they arrive I’ve discovered where I put the other refills, the ones I spent at least an hour looking for and the whole reason why the I-need-to-do-a-major-clean-up idea seemed like a good one in the first place, and not only that, but realize I’ve got about ten more refills squirreled away in various places, like this little treasure trove. Who would have thought to look in there?! Seriously. And do you notice all the chalk pencils? They sell them as a 2-pack. Just saying. Obviously I’m not alone. These, the ones below in the photo? They’re the ones I carefully stowed away in this zippered pouch that I made last summer.

Here are the others, oh so carefully placed in this basket that I purchased from a lovely Senegalese man on the street here in New York City whose family makes them. (He doesn’t have a website, I asked.)

So now I have enough chalk refills to last a lifetime. Except that I’ve got them on “subscription” because they’re always breaking, which means I have to go on to Amazon and figure out the labyrinthian system by which they do those subscription orders and spend at least an hour trying to cancel the chalk refills. When finally I’ve figured it out and am about to hit the “cancel” button, another more ominous button comes up asking, “are you sure?”

What? No. How can I be sure? Who knows when I might lose them again and anyway they break so often. So then I decide at the very last minute that maybe I should just keep them, because you never know when they might come in handy and anyway I can’t be sure and that little button is asking me if I am, and now that I think about it, I’m not sure. I’m not sure at all, in fact I’m sure of very little these days.

Oh! And while I’m at it, it wouldn’t hurt to get another chalk pencil, because in this last cleanup I couldn’t find those either. And they do come in a 2-pack, how thoughtful, so… Let me purchase another one of those and I can even save a dollar by adding them to the subscription, except that’s silly because really how many chalk pencils can one reasonably use in a lifetime?

Evidently quite a few, if you’re me.

So there’s that.

Addendum: I resisted the urge to put the chalk pencils on subscription, though I did leave the refills on. I just thought you’d want to know.

Now where did I put all my wool roving?