I love school. What I might love more is school supply shopping. In elementary school, I would spend August pining over the date when the class lists would be posted on the school windows. I’d make my mom drive by the school nearly everyday just to “see” if they posted early. Always, along with the excitement of seeing which friends would be in my class, would be getting the school supply list.
Bags for pencils and pens, boxes to for tray-top desk organization, notebooks for every subject, and folders for homework. And the pièce de résistance…the TRAPPER KEEPER.
Now, the Trapper-Keeper was never actually listed on the school supply list. As we got older sometimes “binder” was listed. And the Keeper, that took some work on convincing my mom that I needed one…a new one…every year. (Because come ‘on, you’d write little love doodles on them or trace the holes with a pen in a fit of boredom.) The convincing was needed because they were dubbed “expensive” by the mom (Mom, I will die if you buy me an ugly, on-sale, fake one. Do you want a dead daughter?) Yes, I pulled that shit.
The Trapper Keeper defined my elementary years and is the reason I became the obsessive, yet stylish, organizational freak that I am today. I have multiple notebooks on-the-go at all times, organized by which type of thinking I’m doing. I alternate between analog and digital note storage devices. I believe in color-coordinated filing systems, but believe more in electronic storage. I have been accused of not doing work because my desk is void of excess paper and is “neat”. I actually think I bought my house because there was a built-in bookshelf with individual cubby-holes.
The mania of school supply shopping makes me giddy – whether I am the student or the teacher. Today’s trip to Staples was evident of that. Thank god there are supply designers and marketers who know what I value – bright colored “Trapper-like” binders with multiple inserts and tabs. Ahhhhhh…..
Notebooks and Trapper-like Keeper = Girl's Best Friend
This September, you can be sure to see me walking that streets looking oh-so very studious with my new Trapper clutched close to my heart.
I really want to make fun of you like younger siblings are supposed to, but sadly, I’ve been trying to scheme my way into getting new school supplies too. You can find me browsing the big bins of fresh school supplies with every weekly “superstore” trip I make.
And seriously, do you still have your trapper keeper because I can attest to the fact that the photo you have posted for this blog looks identical to one you had growing up.
I did have this Trapper Keeper! But no, I don’t still have it; found the photo online. I do think I might still have my Chandler’s and assignment notebooks…that’s a whole other nerdy post! Can we blame the parents?