I was in Ikea yesterday and ended up with two pencils in a container when I got home. The culprit? My son of course! I also ended up with two paper measuring tapes. And a few other things I didn't need besides. Thanks for the info Rosemary, we all kind of knew it anyway didn't we? Especially those of us who have been on the odd diet or twenty.

Now we know who is responsible for the drop in IKEA's profits.

'Whispering'....... I think I have a couple of IKEA pencils somewhere too. And their really large totes (bought, not liberated) are perfect for transporting several quilts at once.

I admit it, I'm a pencil thief! Whenever I go to ikea one of those fab little pencils always ends up in my pocket! (Sometimes one in my purse as well :shock: )

Wendy, I learned to push the pencils in just long enough to get them sharp but not watch them vanish into the little machine.

Anyway, sharp and short pencils are not bad. They fit nicely into the smallest of bags or pockets.

Bet all her pencils are an inch long now

Too true, it takes practice to use a light touch with anything, and I guess that your bunch of students would need more parctise than most.

Rosemary, most of the kids I work with put too much pressure on whatever they are writing with. The leads in propelling pencils always break and I would end up with some very frustrated students.

The best description ever of trying to open a tin without a tin opener has to be in 'Three Men in a Boat' by J K Jerome.....

and like I say, I use propelling pencils - no need for pencil sharpeners of any kind

Blunt pencils???? Not for this girl, Rosemary! And it has nothing to do with OCD.

A couple of years ago my boys both asked what I wanted for my birthday. I asked for (and got) an electric can opener and an electric pencil sharpener. Nothing more annoying than struggling with a can of baked beans when hungry, or not being able to draw a decent line when doing geometry in Maths.

At least getting your pencil sharpened is useful. Wouldn't necessarily work for me I like to use propelling pencils that don't need sharpening , That said the pencils at school are always 'as blunt as a stick of rhubarb' as my class 4 primary school teacher described them.

I guess, Rosemary, that's why I will never be a world-famous quilter - not obsessive/compulsive enough.

Working with a lot of OCD teenagers is enough for me. One of them tells me every time I'm in a lesson with him exactly how many seconds I'm early or late, and insists to sharpening my pencil before we start working.

Which is probably why it fails for everybody sooner or later, real life gets in the way of being obsessive about the numbers relating to food, (unless you are obsessive/compulsive) and any way there are far more interesting things to be obsessive/compulsive about that will last longer than the next meal - like what can you do with fabric & threads?

Mmmmhhh..... Interesting. Thank you, Rosemary!

Fortunately the way I eat and drink now does not involve any calorie counting. If I had to do that I think I would fail. All that counting would drive me around the bend.

Very interesting, thanks rosemary