They’re my Crayons. I’ll show you exactly how to use them. But I won’t let you.
This is how my husband described my childhood issue with my Crayons. I think it’s pretty accurate. Let me explain.
As a kid, I loved to color. For the longest time, I got along with my little box of 16 measly colors (I was a spoiled kid), wishing I could color Cinderella’s gown Cornflower when all I had was Blue. Then one day my mom came home from a shopping trip with that magic box of 64 Crayola® crayons – the one with the built-in sharpener on the back. (I’m hearing a choir of angels right now just thinking about it.) I carefully opened the lid – how cool was that lid? – and beheld the majesty of the 64 different colors. Maize! I had a Maize crayon! They were packaged so carefully, with the crayons subdivided into four smaller boxes. It looked to me like the people at the Crayola® factory arranged the colors into four coordinated and happy groups. It was just beautiful.
gocksfrocks.blogspot.com
And that’s where my issues started.
Any time I used my Fantastic Box of 64 Crayola® Crayons, I would carefully select the color that was exactly appropriate to the item I was coloring, gently slide it out of its spot in the Smaller Box Inside the Big Box, color with it lightly (after first meticulously outlining the section to be colored), then slide it back into its appointed space. Thus I maintained the order and beauty of The Fantastic Box of 64 Crayola® Crayons the way the fine people of Binney & Smith had worked so hard to provide.
Then the neighborhood kids came to my house to color.
We headed to the basement where my little kid-sized table & chairs were. There was the Fantastic Box. As I spread out the selection of coloring books, I watched in utter horror as my friend Beth opened the Fantastic Box and dumped the contents out onto the tabletop. I was speechless. But not for long.
“WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!” I shrieked.
Beth was just as dumbfounded. “Coloring.”
“NO!! YOU CAN’T DO THAT!! THEY’RE IN ORDER!!” Panic was beginning to rise, along with the pitch of my voice. Binney & Smith were never going to allow me to have another Fantastic Box of 64 Crayola® Crayons if I didn’t fix this fast.
“DON’T TOUCH THEM!” I hollered. I tried to envision that pristine box. Was Cerulean next to Brick Red, or Indian Red? Or was that Blue Green?
Beth just stared at me. “You’re weird,” she pronounced, and picked up a crayon & started coloring. Roughly, too. I lost it.
I have very little memory of exactly what I said and did right then, but I think it involved some pushing and grabbing. Poor Beth got disgusted and left. I did my best to put the Box back together the way it was, hoping that Binney & Smith would forgive me.
And thus it happened every time one of my playmates came over to color. I would hold tightly to the Fantastic Box of 64 Crayola® Crayons, and instruct my little friend in the acceptable usage of my crayons: take one at a time, do NOT peel the paper, and put it back in the exact spot that it came from. God help the child who broke one. They were banished from my basement indefinitely.
It’s safe to say that I lost more than one friend over my fascism. But it didn’t faze me.
Here’s the sad part: I see this quirk raising its horrid head to this day. I’m very picky about how my classroom equipment is used & stored. (This can be quite a problem, as I’m in charge of several video cameras, tapes, microphones, and headphones for our broadcast program.) I have two pen/pencil holders at work: one that is for anyone to use as they wish, and one that is MINE. I get very uncomfortable when anyone mistakenly takes something from the MINE holder. I manage to not yank whatever it is out of the hand of the poor unsuspecting student or colleague, but my stomach is slightly queasy until it is back in its home in the MINE container. I even prohibit students from touching anything on my desk. I keep it light, and thankfully they always comply, asking before they come into the Magic Space (as they call it.) I’m also responsible for the maintenance of the school’s laptop carts. Just close your eyes and imagine what kind of stress that causes me. I keep a large supply of Tums in my desk.
The Crayon Fascist lives.
Speaking In Pictures, Hearing in Color 
You…absolutely…crack…me…up! I was one of those kids who never had a box of more than 16, maybe even 8 for a long time. I have made up for it now in life; now I’m with you. NO ONE…touches my violin or bows. NO ONE…better touch anything on my violin workbench, messy as it is. I suffer terribly when my wife cuts into a metal pan with my good kitchen knives. Other aspects of my life, not so much. My cars? meeh… My garage workbench? meeh… My yard? BIG meeh… Course, I live out on the naked prairie, antelope and deer in the yard.
I enjoyed this!
A violin? I don’t blame you. Those are expensive.
Even the cheep ones caust an arm and a leg – and
if your serious about playing – finding a good one
is hard.
how would you cut metal with kitchen knives?? my pet peeve as a chef is when people put knives in the dishwasher or use them on glass cutting boards it dulls the knives.
I found an easy solution to people mesing with my fabric scissors. I put a lock through the finger holes and locked them. Anyone who goes to the trouble to sneek my keyring and use this ONE last pair of good scissors will be banished. I mean I have a whole coffee can of scissors that used to be fabric scissors until someone cut paper with them. ( 9 pair are in the coffee can – this is after throwing away several and donating several) At this point it is a matter of blatant disrespect if my fabric scissors are used. I hate to be a witch, but you know how much good scissors cost. And I left 9 pair out for anyone to use.The good pair is hidden.
🙂 Thanks! I’m glad (?) to hear that I’m not alone with my neurosis. And the kitchen knives! Oy, I forgot about my kitchen knives…AND the pans as well…
You might enjoy my Christmas eve post about my college orchestra experience. Go back a couple of posts to Worst. Sleigh Ride. Ever. and let me know what you think. Sound familiar at all?
Yes, the knives. Definitely. They must be kept clean, sharp and lined up smallest to biggest with all the sharp sides facing to the back on the magnet strip I went to a restaurant supply house specially to get.
Also scissors. Don’t forget scissors. Woe betide the thoughtless wanker who even THINKS about using my FABRIC ONLY blades on … omg … anything but fabric! I’m a smidgen less militant about the food-only scissors, but only because they can be washed and sterilized, while the fabric blades have to be sharpened professionally to undo the damage inflicted by cutting NON fabric. brrr.
NOT the fabric scissors! Who in their right mind thinks it’s o.k. to cut paper, coupons, wrapping paper, etc. with MY SEWING scissors. I’m with you on this one!
~ To Happy Fabric Cutting
Sophia
So true, my Mom tied a string around the handle of the paper scissors. One day when I caught my ex husband using my good scissors for a remodeling job, I knew it was the beginning of the end. I am an art teacher, but I have to say I am not uptight at all about the crayons, breaking them is unavoidable, an unpeeled crayon unusable, and sharpening absolutely necessary for careful work, however I have a replaceable supply!!
Here I was, reading comments, chuckling to myself, thinking I was fairly normal until …. ScIsSoRs!!!!!
It’s nice to know I’m not alone on that!
Oh, don’t start me on the scissors! Using my age old fabric scissors to cut Christmas wrapping paper…………point me to the divorce judge!
Scissors! Um hm! Meeeee too! EX-husband always looked at me with a confused expression, head cocked to the side when I ranted about not using my fabric scissors for ANYTHING ELSE!!!!!
He never got it . . . . . Needless to say . . . .
My mother used to come completely UNGLUED if we used her fabric scissors… as kids, we’d occasionally use them to cut paper and carefully put them back in place. Somehow she ALWAYS knew we did this…
That could have been me, with the crayons and I still feel the same way about my space and certain other things. There’s ONE frying pan that nobody else but me can touch.
Maybe my next post should be about us Kitchen Nazis? 🙂
Thanks for the read!
Totally! I’m a kitchen ‘specialist’. Do Not cook in my kitchen. this is why my partner and i work… he cant cook, and i have no desire to teach him as is his desire to learn. therefore he stays out of my kitchen and if i need a night off cooking, he cooks takeaway. There is nothing in my kitchen that it is ok to use without asking, and if someone comes to stay and really wants to cook for me to say thanks, i leave the house!! I was and am still the same with crayons and art things, i have a small desk in the corner of my house and if i catch you near it, you better be ready to die! my partner says i just dont like sharing!
thanks for your post, its good to be reminded to laugh at ones self!
Maybe my next post should be about us Kitchen Nazis?
Thanks for the read!
As a child I hated it when children abused their toys. I learned quickly
that certin toys just weren’t made any more – and starting stealing
from my friends who didden’t appriciate what they had – nothing was
ever missed. I met a nine year old boy who felt the same way, he
taught me how to use a dungeons and dragons point system to
determin which action figures won a fight, so as to avoid bashing
them together untill they broke.
I was the same way about crayons – though they were seldom my
crayons. Mother had a grown aunt who was fond of her coloring
books. She had the best collection and woulden’t let children near
them. Only after weeks of coloring boot camp was mom even allowed
to look at them. Finally being allowed to color with her aunt was the
greatest honer she had ever known – for she had studied with the
master.
Recently I was given a huge set of prismacolor pencils. The kind
used by professional illistraters. Every one of their some 200 colors
was represented, as well as a guide for how to organise them – I keep
them in a locked safe. 😉
NO-ONE is allowed to touch my Prisma-colour pencils. Ever. I will never share them and I willl never apologise about it. Not those and not my Derwent Ink-tense pencils either.
Touch my fabric scissors and you die and do not drink out of my favourite coffee cup.
Anything else though, including my SLR cameras that I use for work and I’m pretty sweet about it 🙂
I just take all the crayons out of the box and dump them into a big pencil box. Every time they go on sale at the first of school year, I buy more and dump them out with the others. They get broken, some go short. I hate the paper coming off. My son does not use colors anymore, but I still like to draw art and do colors with crayons. I always liked color pencils better though. Crayola has the best crayons. The other brands are not that great. Once all the crayons melted from the heat. That was a giant mess.
I shrieked just a little reading your first sentence. Then, as I read further (practicing Calming Breaths all the while) I realized that your big pencil box of color must be a beautiful sight to behold. All those colors, mixing and swirling in a never-ending hurricane of color…and the melted ones! Did you break them up & use them?
To be fair, I always kept the beautiful crayons in the box when I was little too. Boys do not do that. My son could care less if they were in order so they all went together. I threw away the melted ones, they were one ugly color, all melted together, probably brownish.
My eldest was like you with her super deluxe plastic opens like a big binder bazillion colors of Crayola set. I think she still has it. (She gave birth for the second time in October.)
My own mother would not have tolerated a crayon fascist in the house. She dumped the crayons herself into a wooden bucket. One summer, I left it on the porch and the sun moved. It was rather wonderful, all those colors melted into a big lump. Not that my mother was any too happy about all those crayons becoming not crayons.
Years later, I still yearned for my old wooden bucket, so when my kids were little and I saw one at a yard sale, I grabbed it and dumped in a bunch of crayons. But I also let my little fascist have her personal nobody touches them box. 🙂
A few years ago, I took a picture of my crayon bucket, which I have for me and those fantastic grandkids, and did a little meditation about them. (I’m disabled now; the “raggedy” crayon was one way I found to cope with being useless and expensive.)
You can see it here:
http://family.webshots.com/photo/2726651500056011884lucuBO
I absolutely LOVED reading this post!!! (see Chrissy’s reply, as I am her daughter…) I got my “super deluxe” box of Crayola crayons one year when we were given a dollar amount we could shop for ourselves with for Christmas. I chose a desk and my crayons 🙂 for many years, I kept them organized exactly how them came with the name facing out and everything. I don’t believe I shared them with anyone! (maybe my mom, b/c she appreciates organization) It was a very sad day when that plastic container finally died…I really couldn’t keep using it for fear of my crayons getting broken! so now they live in a plastic bin, but it smells sooooo good when I open it 🙂 recently I bought a new box of 64 so I could get the code to use their online picture maker, no need to use the crayons since I have the other ones…therefore I finally have a box of pristine crayons again 🙂 I am totally one of those people who are super organized with certain things (including my kids’ toys!) and yet there are messy piles of stuff in my house “waiting to be organized” lol!!!
My teacher once turned all our
old crayons into candles – they
were reddish brown to purpelish
to blue to almost black – with
the occaisional swirl of rainbow,
it depended on the ratio of colors
used.
You can do anything with Crayola
pencils – I just use prismacolar as
they are easier to blend – crayola’s
are better for precision work – as
are Faber Castells. I mix many
brands – as some don’t have
the right colors – when all
else fails you can mix
them.
If your curious about what
me and my pencils do on
the weekends – visite my
sight and check out my artwork.
I’ve got some scenes from
a children’s book I’ve written
about the dark zone – the
very deepest parts of the
sea – there an intelligent
fish creature named Ruke
dreems of exploring “The
World Above.” And builds
a reverse submersible to
help him do so.
Reading this is like reading a piece of writing written about me. I was just the same as a kid, everything in order and tidy. To be honest, I am just the same now. At the end of each day I tidy and order my sons toys. He messes them up the next day (which irritates me slightly, but he is only two so that’s his perogative) but that just means I get to re-order them that night! I like to think I do it so he can find everything the next day but it’s really for me.
Natalie, that is a wonderful way to approach the Toddler Hurricane Cleanup, as I used to call it! Funny thing – this OCD issue that I have with Crayons, video equipment, file drawers and pens doesn’t really extend to any other facet of my life. Just ask my very patient husband. 🙂
Thanks for the comment!
I am the same way. Some things in my life have to be “just so” and heaven forbid if anyone touch or re-arrange them. And I have been known to go back over the Christmas tree and adjust the spacinf of the ornaments!
Then there are other parts of my life that I have no attachemtn to neatness or order at all. Wonder what kind of personality issue that is?
Wonderful post!!
I loved this post and so identified with it. I didn’t do the crayons thing, but I’m aware, as an adult, how neurotic I feel when someone invades my personal space and wants to use my stuff. I realize that my initial reaction is usually, “get your own stuff.” Then I remember that its only stuff and do my best to back away and let it be. Since I’m a Crone in the process of growing into the fullness of who I am, I give myself latitude to notice my fear of invasion, while watching my responses. Thanks for a great post.
Thank you for your kindness! I love the way you’ve chosen to address your fear; mind if I “borrow” it?
Absolutely fantastic…keep coloring!!!
Thank you so much ~ and I do still love to color!
Lol, thanks for the smile in reading this. Sincerely, the spice rack fascist.
:B) Ah yes, the spice rack…!
I’m chuckling…just ask my husband about the consequences of moving my herbs and spices…
Too funny! I think you could be ever so slightly OCD!! I loved my crayons too. Especially the gold and silver. To me they were magical!
Those were the best!
Ohhhh, I’d *forgotten* about the magical gold & silver. Thank you for reminding me!
Ooh, the trouble-maker colors! If you have a friend over coloring and you need gold, you can’t just trade them for a similar shade. I will never forget the horror of telling my friend, “No, I need the gold. It has to be gold.” SNAP! “Here, now we can both use gold.” I still hate her. I know some of you just cringed.
I memorized the exact order the crayons came in.
I tried sliding broken crayons out and melting them back together.
Ouch, I just cringed at that. I remember in primary school I went too, this other kid and I was colouring a rabbit and we both wanted grey. The Sister there kept advising one of us to use brown and the other could use grey but then we ended up debating which one to use.
I recall we ended up breaking both brown and grey and then crying over what we did ^_^
I still have that rabbit picture somewhere I think , all I remember it was some mutated greyish brown rabbit.
I got a box of 64 Crayola Crayons for the year I was born and when I was little, my mom would not let m use them. Once, in a fit of seven-year-old rebellion, I colored a picture with them, in exactly the careful way you described. But further than that, to this day I have not used them, because I was always afraid I would ruin the rounded tips, or crack them from the middle. So, they still sit in a Christmas tin, all perfect and unused.
I hope you at least SMELL them from time to time. =D
I could only DREAM about this kind of self-control…
I did the same with a box of coloured pencils I received when I was 12. They’re still in their box, perfect, almost unused. I can’t bear to think of ruining their perfection, or misplacing the perfect order in which they lay… My beautiful pencils! I can’t imagine what would I do if anybody touched them!
As the middle of 5 kids, my entire childhood was a lesson in having nothing to myself. I had a few years of adulthood living blissfully alone and almost got used to having things exactly as I like them. Then I had a kid, and I’m thinking my middle-child status will come in handy 🙂
Oh, yes it will! I had many monumental adjustments to make when I had children, as I was an Only Princess growing up.
Oh my Lord! Absolutely perfect. You are my long lost twin, I was the exact same way; although I really haven’t changed much. Thank you for this post.
Thank you! Glad you enjoyed it. (I think we do look a little alike.)
I would have been able to play nicely with you. Strangely though, my tools to this day are kept in great condition, even though they may be scattered about in random piles. I wish I had been able to hold onto the ability to keep things organized.
Same here, actually. If you could see my desk right now, you’d think I was lying in the blog. 🙂 But if anyone ELSE touches my piles…
I doubt that your desk is anywhere near as bad as my desk at the moment. I’ve always appreciated order, but when life moves beyond the crayon box, things get complicated. Thank you for a wonderful post and initiating some good thoughts. I enjoy your writing style. It is very appropriate for the start of a New Year, as I plan on restructuring my office space.
May your crayons stay sharp, with only enough paper removed as necessary and all of the duplicates resigned to their proper place.
My God-daughter has had a box of the Crayola twisty crayons for about 3 years, kept in order, which she probably gets from me! I gave the same present to my boyfriend’s nephew, and in about 2 months they were all broken or lost or eaten! Panic!!!
…e a t e n….?? Oh, my…
Thank you for the comment!
Show those kids the computer game called Crayon Physics. It’s like you’re drawing with crayon, but with the cursor on the screen. I love it =)
Oh, wonderful. Now I have yet ANOTHER way to while away time I should be using to fix computers. (I can’t wait to check out Crayon Physics. Thanks for the heads-up!)
I can smell a newly opened box of crayons now… There is nothing else like it.
You’re so right! I think I’ll have to get out the box I keep in my desk (next to the Tums).
Thank you for the comment!
…except a new can of play-do
Reading your material took me back to my childhood memories. Enjoyed the writing!
Thank you! Glad you enjoyed it ~
All I could think while reading this was…. I’m not the only one!! =)
🙂 Good to have company with my neuroses. Thanks!
LOL love this post! I still have my crayons from elementary school in perfect condition and I am 26. No one is using my crayons…EVER! Congrats on being FP!
Thank you!
It’s like you come onto this planet with a crayon box. Now you may get the 8 pack, you may get the 16 pack but it’s all in what you do with the crayons – the colors – that you’re given. Don’t worry about coloring within the lines or coloring outside the lines – I say color outside the lines, you know what I mean? Color all over the page; don’t box me in! We’re in motion to the ocean. We are not land locked, I’ll tell you that.
Waking LIfe movie
Maybe you could give me some lessons on letting go?
Ha, you almost sound as OCD as me. Can I just say that I love the smell of crayons too?
Me too ~ thanks!
I’m a retired special ed teacher, and this had me in stitches! One of the great jokes around the building was that I related so well to the autistic students was that I was one of them, at least insofar as the organization of my “stuff” was concerned. Some poor soul borrowed my stapler one day and put it back on the wrong side of my desk, which nearly causd me to have a heart attack. Thank you so much for the laugh and the assurance that it’s not just me!
You make me chuckle. I can totally relate to the stapler thing. Thanks for the comment!
wow…this was totally me when I was little (and I may still be slightly the same when it comes to Sharpies). Thanks for sharing a great post and helping me recall the beauty of a fresh box of 64 Crayolas 🙂
Ohmigosh, the Sharpies. If there is one thing a high school girl loves, it’s Sharpies. I have the hardest time holding on to mine – they ask to borrow them and somehow they walk out the door. 🙂
Thanks for the comment!
I am exactly like this too! And I hate when they get dull! But I definitely outlined first too, like you do. Oh, and I LOVE crayons. Btw, did you know Demeter Fragrance has a perfume that smells like Crayola Crayons??
That is awesome! Although, really – I wonder what type of person one is intending to attract by smelling like Crayola Crayons?
Haha I know how you feel! I was the kid who never let anyone color in her coloring books unless they followed my rules: 1. Sign your name somewhere on the picture (so I could remember who had colored it), 2. Don’t rip any pages out (I needed the completed book!), 3. Don’t color with markers (they bleed through, and then I can’t color the picture on the other side!), 4. Finish the ENTIRE picture, even the background (this one came around because I hated the kids who would color in one part of the picture then get bored and stop coloring, leaving the page forever unfinished.)
brandimiller, the only differences between the two of us are:
1. i never thought of having them sign their work – BRILLIANT! and
2. BACKGROUNDS! Again, BRILLIANT!
I believe crayons/color does feed the OCD thing – i attempt to organize everything by color code….but crayons were truly magic to me. I had very artistic uncle who showed me how to dump them out, rip off the paper and (you might want to sit) blend the colors together and do rubbings and textures. My Cinderella coloring book was full of multi- colored gowns with patterns rubbed from tile or fabric. (take a deep breath)
ooohhh…that sounds fun and beautiful! I think since I have my nice box and my messy box now (instead of just one nice box) I should show my kids how to do that! Being that they are 2 years and 2 months, they have fortunately not been missing out 😛
I agree with MamaBuzz (below) – this sounds positively beautiful! I must try it – with someone else’s crayons, of course.
Thank you!
Thanks for sharing! Your post made me think of this… http://www.marthastewart.com/267304/crazy-crayons.
this sounds awesome! (even though I cringe at the idea of cutting up crayons) I want to do this with my kids 🙂
Ohmigohs, I have to try this! After some guided meditation, of course.
I had to try… thanks for the inspiration.
I relate to this oh so well. I too, had the fantastic box of 64 and a set of Derwent pencils in a tin box that was completely out-of-bounds to everyone. Heaven help them if I found someone in possession of even one pencil or crayon. To this day, I cannot bear to see lids off textas ( I will throw them away if they have lost their hat), pencils laying around and anyone touching my Parker pen because, well, it’s mine 🙂 A great post. One day I will tell you about the pegs.
I cannot wait to hear about the pegs. 🙂
Thank you for your kind words!
I was so intrigued by the title I had to read. I’ve been accused of the very same thing! Only, I went out and bought the biggest box I could find, which was 96… and I was 22. For the longest time, I had to have them in their appropriate sections–primary colors went in one, and then the next was all the extra colors like cerulean, all the neons and sparkly colors were late releases and so shared a box, etc., all according to what came with each expansion of the box. I got so frustrated by them not staying kept in order (which only I seemed to understand) that I eventually divided them up by color. Reds and pinks, oranges and yellows, greens and blues, purples and the darker blues, etc. It works a little better, but I still get irritated to see how roughly people treat my crayons! “Um, do you really need to sharpen it that much? Can’t you just turn it over and use the flat edge?” Also, I generally have to take them all out and reorganize them after other people use them, anyway, to ensure appropriate color distribution.
Loved the read, congrats on being freshly pressed!
Thank you! My mind is now reeling at the thought of 96 crayons. I’m not sure I’d get anything else done. But I love your system – I’d love to see that box after you’ve sorted it.
Hi! I’m happy to hear that I’m not the only one strange who likes to keep her things in order and in My order! It can be sometimes difficult. Fortunately I have my own working/sewing place! If I’m painting my colours get mixed but then I enjoy again fixing them nicely in order!
Sunny wishes from Greece! x Teje
Thank you, Teje! I have tried painting, but I don’t do well mixing colors (gee, I wonder why?!)
Thanks so much… I loved reading your post. Like so many others, this article could have been written about me as a child! I loved that big box of crayons, with all the perfect tips, all in order… Can’t say that I’m really all that much different… I’ve just moved on to a different medium (markers)… Nobody touch! LOL
🙂
Thank you for the compliment!
I had the same issue, also with pastels. You can imagine my berserkedness when, at age 10, I dropped the box & all my pastels broke into pieces & dust. I never got over it. I’m amost 58 & I will never forget that day.
Kudos to you for at least trying to share. I never shared my crayons! 🙂
Ohhhhhhhh, Kathleen. I think I would have cried. I can fully understand why the memory is so vivid. I tried to work in pastels, but their softness & tendency to break really was more than I could take! (I’m really starting to sound like Adrian Monk. I’m really a pretty easygoing person otherwise…)
Thank you for your nice words!
I always wanted one of those boxes of 64 crayons. You’re very fortunate that your mother would buy that for you. My mother wouldn’t let me have play-do either, or a slinky, lol. I liked your post.
I haven’t forgotten being a kid.Those crayons really mean something!
I fully acknowledge that I was a very spoiled kid. My crayons & play dough were my favorites, although I never really got the allure of the slinky.
Maybe you should get yourself a box of crayons & some play dough, make something wonderful, then take a picture and post it here ~ I’d love to see it!
This sounds like me too! Hilarious in retrospect, though really not much has changed. I still organize my pens and post-it notes that compulsively. Great post!
TrishaDM, thank you!
This was seriously, an awesome read. What a nostalgia rush. 🙂
Seriously, an awesome comment. Thank you, Rocket!
I had a ‘rocket’ of crayons (they came in separate compartments which formed a rocket). I always remember mum telling me not to take them to school. I did. People borrowed them. People broke them. That was the end of my rocket. Sadly I remember it!
Oh, I’m so sorry. Sounds like a completely cool way to get one’s crayons, in a rocket. If only we’d all have listened to our moms! My kids didn’t listen to me, either. It’s a disease.
I can understand you soooooo much! I am a Faber-Castell junkie. Before the wall came down I collected Koh-I-Noor crayons. Since 1990 I added Faber-Castell ones and I only use crayons by these two companies. It is like a drug. Whenever I need new junk, I get into one paper office supply shop and by me some crayons. 🙂
I feel you. I seem to have transferred my Crayon habit to pens. Lots of colors, several brands – but they must all write smoothly and have a fine point.
Thank you for the comment!
Snap! You were describing me! I can smell those beautiful crayons from here……ah, Laser Yellow, Wild watermelon, Hot Magenta & Blizzard Blue…..never forgotten 🙂
Happy to provide you with some nostalgia, Niki, unifiedspace!
OMG! I was nodding the whole time, shuddering in empathy as you were forced to endure the crass and completely unacceptable behavior of your childhood neighbor friends. Are you kidding me? They dared to peel the paper? Or crush the crayon roughly against the page? How did you ever survive the trauma? It’s surprising that you didn’t end up laced into a straight jacket, mumbling something about periwinkle and carnation pink being forced to huddle against mahogany and goldenrod. I don’t want to send you over the edge, but my younger brother once ripped the top off the box, and then proceeded to gouge away at the container until he managed to extract the sharpener from the box, leaving a huge gaping hole in the back of the box. I don’t think I was able to come up for air for at least a week. I still shudder to think of it.
Found you by way of Freshly Pressed. This has to be one of the funniest and cleverly written blog posts I’ve read in a long while. Thanks for making me laugh in harmony with your weirdness. Please do your best to be brave in your current circumstances. You have my utmost sympathy. Brave woman. Carry on.
ntexas99, I love your style ~ “…mumbling something about periwinkle and carnation pink being forced to huddle against mahogany and goldenrod.” What a visual! And, might I add, that those colors DEFINITELY do not belong in the same Smaller Box Inside the Big Box.
Thank you for my smile today!
one smile deserves another … your post really had me laughing … it might even prompt me to go out and buy a brand new box of 64 (not sure I can handle the 96 yet).
those boxes were damn special. my sister and i, in our 40’s, still joke about them.
and, blue-green is really green with a little blue added. just as orange-red is really red with some orange added. the second color is the real color, and the first one is the influence.
Cool ~ I never knew which color was the base, and which was the “addition.” Thanks for the education, rmv!
oooh love this post!!
i’m mildly OCD – i have an order to how things are arranged on my desk – an invisible one, an order which no one understands & i used to (don’t work fulltime anymore) cringe every time someone came over & borrowed something & didn’t put it back in it’s place. Now i do this in my kitchen 😉 & bookshelves ;)… i have learnt to restrained myself & not yell every time something is out of place. i just breath & move it back…
btw Crayolas are my fav crayons & how i love the way they look all in the rainbow order in their lovely box 😀
oh I forgot about the bookshelves! I like to organize mine, somewhat like they’d be in a library…I have had to loosen up a little because my two year old likes to take my books off the shelves and then put them back. He is very good about only doing a couple at a time, so they stay on the same shelf, but not in the same order…However, he definitely has inherited this gene b/c he puts them back neatly and rightside up! also does that with DVDs…AND when he bothers to put his toys away, he puts them away in the places I have designated as home!
hehehhee… he’s such a cutie for putting them back neatly & rightside up. My little guy isn’t like mummy, more like daddy – but he does put things back in the boxes which i have assigned to different types of toys, eg. Legos, flying things, vehicles etc…
Thank you so much! Nice to have company.
To some degree, I am like that with my art supplies. I won’t let my two year old who loves to color use my Prismacolor colored pencils, that would be madness. Even my wife, who is reasonably adept at using equipment and such, and, knowing my attachment to my art supplies, uses my stuff very seldom, perhaps for that reason.
So, yes, fascist but I think so some degree, we’re all a little fascist. Good post. 🙂
🙂 Thank you!
I identify! I remember that and those days and the peeling of paper! I would do it to someone else but I hated it when they did it to mine. I always wanted them sharp.
That’s hilarious. Thank you for the grin.
I too loved the big box when I got one but I could never be as neat with them as you. The joy in having all those wonderful colors and smells all over the place was just to much fun to take the time to worry about anything but the coloring. Though oddly enough I would try to put them back in their proper spot in the box once I was done. But it was a glorious mess up till that point:)
This makes me happy. Even the mess part, because you thought it was glorious and it made you happy.
Oh my heavens, what a wonderful post! I’m totally with you. I was the same way with crayons, and now as an adult, that little obsession has carried over into my closet…which is organized by color. (All of my clothing hangs grouped together by color.) I also enjoy making art with ink and colored pencils. I have little plastic drawer boxes, and each drawer contains pencils of a specific color.
Really, your post made me smile.
lol!!! I not only hang clothes by color, but by type! so nice to see how many of us there are out there!
This makes my day. Thank you for the compliment!
That was funny. But oh heck, this sounds like my daughter
Thank you, and you have my sympathy. My daughter was a tiny carbon copy of me, and Oh, the MELTDOWNS when things didn’t go as she wanted…
This reminds me of one night at work when we had to prepare sample crafts for storytime the next morning. There were a lot of little pieces to color, and my friend and I soon found ourselves going through the Crayola 64 box trying to find our old faves to use on turkey wings, piglets, and horses. Mine was “Tickle Me Pink”.
That was one of my favorites, too! I assume that was for the piglets?
Haha this sounds just like my childhood… and a first world problem. In third world countries the children worry about whether or not they’ll be fed, have a house to go home to, or whether or not their parents will be alive. In first world countries our children worry about the order of crayons, who skipped who in line for a game, and what Justin Beiber song is really the best one. Too funny.
-III
http://www.CardinalPlaylists.com
http://www.TheWandererFL.com
Not at all! I come from a third world country, and in poorer countries, money is hard to find and time is abundant. People are a lot more obsessed about how the kitchen knives are sorted, how much water you add to the soap, and whether the plastic bags are folded neatly.
I too was also quite obsessed with how my crayons were sorted, but eventually it was a choice between crayons and friends. So I got another pair for my friends to mess up 😛
Brilliant. This really took me back. I can smell the crayons! And I had completely forgotten about the paper… and cornflower blue and brick red. Thank you for this.
You’re welcome. Thank you for the nice words!
It is so annoying when others mess up the order of thing, isn’t it? I have OCD and I am always getting annoyed when schedules never go to plan, or when someone messes up the order of my pencil case!
Oh, schedules are the bane of my existence. NOTHING in my life goes as it’s supposed to. I feel your pain.
I had these tendencies as a kid, but with two older brothers who lived to torment me, little of my stuff escaped unscathed. To this day, I go postal when someone goes near my shit. I don’t mind at all. 🙂
Happy to hear that you survived the Older Brother Torment. Must’ve made the OCD part of you just a little crazy!
Wonderful post. So funny in a “Rainman” kind of way. Anyone that does not have a mine line just hasn’t found it yet.
I love it – a “Mine Line”!
Thank you for the compliment.
Oh oh… I was the Beth in your story so I can imagine how your freaking out freaked her out. I had five siblings so we shared the boxes – from 8 to 64…oh wait, they came in a box! By the time we got them they were in a ziploc baggie or something… Most were broken in half so we actually had 128! LOL!!! Gotta love childhood memories!!!
msdee, you’ve made me laugh. Talk about finding the silver lining in the broken crayon dark cloud!
I used to be the same. But striving to be a young artist, I challenged myself one day by dumping all the crayons out, and seeing if I could put them back in a color coordinated order. It was good practice for my sense of color and my patience. I became proud of my own ‘spectrum’ of colors instead of what the factory created. After doing that a few times, I didn’t care if they were dumped because I could put them back in my order. That’s what happens when your a little ADD some times, and a little OCD at other times. Great Post!
Great idea, Geek Soul Brother. I might try it if I’m ever feeling strong enough to survive the initial dump. Thank you for the nice words!
I loved my crayons
Me too – still do!
I am the exact same way when it comes to my Crayola products. Every crayon, marker, or colored pencil has to be in the exact spot from whence it came or else I have a heart attack. I even took my big box of 98 and color coded it in terms of the rainbow, so there’s no excuse for why any person doesn’t place the purple crayon back with the other purples.
Oooo, I’ll bet that box is really pretty!
I love this. At first I thought I could TOTALLY relate because I was like this as a kid and then realized that I wasn’t like that as a kid so much as this is me now. Sad but true. I can’t STAND sharing my crayons even with my kids. Great stuff!
Uh-oh…who’s the adult in the room when one of your kids takes your crayons? 🙂 Thank you!
You are my new favourite person 🙂
That makes me very, very happy. Thank you. 🙂
Yes! I loved Cornflower. I actually still have a problem with pens. When anyone in my family takes a pen and leaves it elsewhere in the house or car, I feel violated.
Same here. It makes living with the Borrower and Not Putting Back-er that I’m married to very difficult. I feel your pain!
I can soooo relate to this. You are soooo ‘J’, just like me! (Look up Myers-Briggs personality inventory if you are unfamiliar with this)
My earliest memory involves a crayon. My third birthday, I got a colouring book and a box of 8 crayons as a present. I got busy colouring immediately, and soon had most of the colours worn down a little. When I agonized that they wouldn’t work anymore my father showed me how to peel down the paper. I was horrified. Now ruined, I scrubbed away at my colouring book with the hopes that once they were diminished to unusable stubs I would get a new box. Then I hit upon a great idea and slid the last 1/4 of my least favourite colour up my nose to ‘finish off’ the box. It resulted in a trip to the ER when a pair of panicked parents were unsuccessful at extraction attempts. I still remember the image of the remainder of an orange crayon, sans paper, in the garbage can and me screaming bloody murder because the ER doctor/nurse(?) refused to return it to me.
I was much more protective and careful with subsequent boxes, and to this day own an unused box of pristine crayons. There are few things so sad as a box of rounded off, paper ripped, out of colour sequence crayons.
Congrats on being FP!
Thank you! It’s pretty exciting.
Your story had me laughing out loud. I feel like we would have been great friends as children, although I probably would have fainted if I’d seen you trying to hide that orange crayon nub.
And they accused our ex-president for writing with crayons.
Like the way you described your obsession for crayons. Fun read. I had that for my train collection.
Thank you! And I love trains. What gauge did you have?
I’m glad I’m not alone in the world. *sigh* Except I would take all the colors out of the box & organize them by shades/hues. Seriously. And no one was permitted to use my box of crayons. I had a different bunch for “guests” or my brothers. I’m still like that today, but not quite so bad. Still have lots of color, but I moved on to colored pencils which are delightful. Unfortunately my daughter is a bit like me & at 15 she asked for the 150 set of Crayola crayons in the caddy. It is a wonderful site to see 150 sharpened crayons waiting for their first use. 🙂 *I know I’m sick* LOL
Oh, how I’d love to see that set of 150 pristine crayons… 🙂
I loved your story and completely understood where you were coming from and how til this day you still act a certain way toward your things. But that’s ok. You take good care of things and you are a respector of such: a steward who can be trusted. I completely get you.
val
http://valentinedefrancis.wordpress.com
Nice thoughts. Thank you!
I totally understand! I’m an artist order is everything as a kid and as an adult!
http://www.causnfx.wordpress.com
Absolutely. 🙂
I’ve been meaning to try this craft (where you melt crayons) but I can’t bring myself to destruct such precious tools.
Oh, that is SO COOL. I wonder how they did that? The crayons at the top appear to be fully intact. It’s so beautiful! Thanks for sharing.
Fabulous story with candor and honesty! I think I would have “turned out” the same way had I ever been allowed to have a new box of crayons. When I asked, my mom would say that as long as there were some ‘grimy nubs of anything’ left in the crayon box, then I didn’t “need” new ones. If I had ever been given the luxury, I can only imagine I would be a fascist like you! 🙂
I was such a spoiled little princess. My parents always told me that I “didn’t need” whatever new thing I asked for, but usually came home with one sometime within the week. The only exception was a puppy. That took me a couple of years to get, and then Santa brought it!
it’s good to know i’m not alone. not crayons necessarily, but the belief that everything has it’s place – and i know where that is. good read.
Thank you, andrewsmeyer!
This is…great! My stomach churned as I read your post, although I think I’ve managed to let (a little of) my controlling nature go. I have to admit that I have a whole drawer of my son’s old crayons, as well as my own, most without the papers and broken in half that, I use for crafting, when friend’s kids come over or when I had my preschool classroom. Although I prefer the pristine, I let everyone else use these. Thanks for sharing…
Thank you, abootlover!
This post was wonderful. I understand very well the feeling being Obsessive Compulsive over crayons. I never struggled with putting them in the correct place, but keep them looking nice was imperative (paper always intact, ends nicely sharpened and cleaned off, etc.) I hated it when my mom bought me Roseart crayons to use, because they were the cheap kind and broke SO easily, no matter how careful you were. Crayola was definitely the best.
Thankfully, Lacey, when I was a kid Crayola was the only kind available. I tried buying Roseart for my children, and they always complained. One day as I colored with my daughter, I understood. No more Roseart for us!
Thank you for the kind words.
Omg! It’s like being talked about me 😀 but thankfully my obsession end with the coloring items 😀
Good for you, Sreeja!
Gaah! I feel the pain! I’m an OCD math teacher, and the students at a school that I taught at a few years ago used to love to relocate my books (ever so slightly) by switching the order that I had them in throughout the classroom, or one better yet… remove all the lids on the dry-erase markers, and reattach them to THE WRONG COLOR MARKER!!! Then they would all giggle and snort to each other until I discovered the trick they played on me, and I would try not to have an aneurysm 😉
Thanks for the laugh, and have a wonderful day!
my “friends” would move a few of my carefully alphabetized DVDs, and switch around some of my figurines. One day I happened to notice when they were there, and I flipped out! They were of course thrilled that this happened while they were there and took great delight in telling me they’d been moving things around for quite awhile…one or two at a time each visit. I waited until they left and then checked every single shelf to fix them! did I mention, we are all supposedly adults?! lol!
Oh, my goodness, that is *hilarious*. Wish I could’ve been there!
Aren’t kids just *wonderful*?! Seriously, though – my students mess with me like this as often as they can, and I LOVE it. (No, really. I do!)
You’re so welcome – glad I could brighten your day!
I’m so totally with you! Peeling back the paper – ugh! Who does that?!
I’m a book fascist these days. I have a rule that I don’t lend books – it’s just easier than containing my rage when it’s returned with a broken spine or a slightly creased corner.
Oh, babelclaire, don’t get me started on books! I have actually enjoyed reading on my nook, because now I don’t have to break the spines OF MY OWN BOOKS. lol!
Way too funny. I remember being the same way. I loved having everything organized in juuuuust the right way. Plus, I’m an only child, so I was spoiled in a completely different way, as well. Not a good combination.
http://www.glamkittenslitterbox.com/
Twitter: @GlamKitten88
I was an only child as well, Bonnie. Heaven help the poor guy I married. 🙂
Long life the Crayon Fascist! I never played well with the other children, but I still have issues with pencils and crayons to this day. I bought myself an awesome set of 72 drawing pencils, but can only take one out of the tin at a time, before returning it to the spot the manufacturer deemed appropriate. Only once this obsessive process has been completed can I select another colour. I should probably speak to someone about that.
Thank you for a great read, and congratulations on being Freshly Pressed!
That should probably read “Long live the Crayon Fascist!”
I’ve tried therapy, disseminatethought. I don’t think the therapist was doing it right. 🙂
I’m happy you enjoyed it! And thank you!
Oh my gosh. This is so me! I had two boxes of Crayola 64 (had to be Crayola)–one for me to use and one for my friends to use. I would hide mine when they came over. I still do the same thing, but now it’s with my nieces–one for me and one for them. And the colors have to be in order, like a rainbow, lightest to darkest. Obsessive? Yes. Controlling? Maybe. But is everything in order? Always. 🙂
And I’m betting that you sleep very well at night, too. 🙂 Unless, of course, something is out of order somewhere in the house…
OMG! This post was amazing! I’m not OCD with my crayons…but when it comes to pretty much anything else, watch out! I cringe at the sight of a piece of paper not being folded neatly so that all the edges are lined up. My little brother could fold an entire load of towels, put them away…then I’m right behind him, refolding and restacking.
Can we talk about the closet next?
You’ve made me laugh, as I do the same thing when my kids or my husband fold towels. I mean really – what difference does it really make? But I cannot help myself.
I’ll let you take the lead on the closet thing. It would give me a headache, I think.
it does make me feel good to find people just like me. i have an order to my pans. i freakout if the cutting board is on the bottom shelf of the island and not the top shelf. i could loose it when the knives are in the wrong hole.
Sheherzada, I can’t tell you how many fits I’ve thrown when something is not where I expect it to be in the kitchen!
I loved my crayons. I had the same awesome box. My mom finally got so sick of me yelling at my “friends” that she got a smaller box for us to use when I had friends over. To this day, I know exactly when some one has touched (even if they put it back) something of mine!
Lovely post. Congrats on FP!
As a fellow teacher with a touch of OCD, plus one of 9 kids, I, too, want things to be put back where they belong and in good condition. Memories….
Thank you, Tar-Buns!
(I’m taking a second or two to relish that statement…”Thank you, Tar-Buns…” Don’t get to say that very often…)
I noticed you are still on the front page and 547 comments! Wow!
That’s one hell of a ride 🙂
The name is an old camp knickname, modified by one brother, and voila’ – Tar-Buns.
Hello! I am a supply lover! From led pencils, to pens, to sticky notes, and ofcourse the wonderful section of colorful crayons! I have to admit that I like the twistible ones more… but being original isn’t too bad!! I appreciate knowing that lots of people share my love and sadly, obsession, of supplies and know that I am not the only one!!
Supply loving addicted teen(:
K.YOUSAF
I have not yet tried the twistable crayons yet. I have a set, though. I should dig those out.
I have to admit that office supply stores are almost as magical to me as the handbag section of Nordstrom. Glad to hear I have a kindred spirit!
I understand your plight. When I was little, I coveted the order of my crayons, too. However, I would dump then out, then sort them by color, then mix them up and sort them alphabetically, then sort them again. I’m not sure how often I actually colored with them.
And almost 20 years later, I still have the box.
-Sarah G
Okay, now that sounds fun, actually. I used to amuse myself by tossing a full deck of playing cards onto the floor, then putting them in suit/number order. (I was a lonely child.) (Probably because of the Crayon Fascism thing.)
I have such a need to colour in with crayons right now! I may have to go buy some. I too liked to start with an outline followed by shading.. ahh the memories.. 🙂
Thank you for reading my post!
I’m assuming you send your students a lot of e-mails that explain the correct procedure for putting equipment away. I went to film school, and my classes always got 1-2 a semester. I inadvertantly caused one by informing my teacher I couldn’t find an accessory for one of the soft boxes after checking all three cases.
Yes! Hail to the Crayon Fascist. How it pisses me off when toys or supplies last a lifetime in my car only to be demolished in five seconds from some snotty neighbor kid.
I keep a tupperware box of broken ones for the play dates. 🙂
that was supposed to say in my ‘care’ not ‘car’.
i absolutely loved Crayola crayons when i was a kid and lived for the day when i could save my hard earned cash to purchase the hallowed 64 pack…just like you I didn’t like tearing the paper and still have to sit on my hands when my son does it to his…still he has plenty of OCD tendencies of his own to make up for it. 🙂 Keep colouring indeed!
No one respects the crayon order. Someone needs to. They don’t carefully select all those creative names so their product can be abused!
I think you’re all crazy 🙂 Who cares what order they’re in? They’re all going to be nubs in time anyway.
I too had this magic box!
And my daughter, who is coming up on 19 months this weekend is in a “mine” stage. I can’t colour with her because they are “mine” 😦 to our daughter.
What a fun story! Coloring is great at “any” age
I hear the choir too! And that first whiff of colored wax delight…I still sniff and sort the Crayolas.
Haha! I have all my cds and dvds in alphabetical order. And every single one is placed neatly the right way in its cover. We all have our perks..
Love this blog. Did you ever hear the Kristin Andreassen song, “Crayola Doesn’t Make a Color for Your Eyes”? I love it – youtube link here http://youtu.be/EELEjeYzfjM
This sounds everyso borderline OCD, toward the light, pastel shades end of the Autistic spectrum, somewhere between “Nothing phases her” and “She’s got Aspergers, but you could NEVER tell…”
I’m 47 and have a plastic case of coloured gel pens arranged in color order – each one carefully used and put back into its pre-ordained place. I’m not generally well organised – my desk is cluttered, but I know where everything is… If I want something, I know whether it is in one drawer or another, or in the big pile on my desk! 🙂
My colleagues at work know not to touch my cup unless they want to make me coffee. Woe betide anyone who “borrows” it when I’m away!
It’s strange how often one comes across a person such as this who works in teaching, or scientific research, or IT… but seldom in professions outside the “Nerd”-type sphere. It would make a fascinating study…
I’m in IT, btw.
It certainly would, Ruben. Let me know if you find one.
Here’s the really funny thing: I don’t think a single one of my colleagues would believe that the child in this story grew up to be me. The two terms I hear about myself most often are “laid-back” and “easygoing.” Even when I’m called on to drop everything and come & fix a non-working printer that, it turns out, WAS NOT TURNED ON – I don’t get fluffed. And your desk sounds just like mine, except there are piles beside it, too, because I am both a teacher of three different production-type classes AND the I.T. Queen.
Thank you for the comment!
I actually hated crayon boxes I loved the crayons themselves but the box had to go. I always had to dump out my crayons and line them up in along row by color. My father had a video of me getting a new box and immediately dumping them.
Not to mention that Crayolas are the only brand worth coloring with. When we’re sitting at a restaurant with our kids and “coloring,” aka “smearing colored wax around” with the crayons provided, I always miss my childhood color-ordered box of 64!
(found you at Freshly Pressed)
http://sibleyweb.wordpress.com
“Just close your eyes and imagine what kind of stress that causes me”
hmmm…. 🙂
As others have lauded, this is a hilarious post! And, I too, ever so truly remember being the same way. I think my problem was more to the aesthetic order of things side than the sharing side. As a child, I remember having an early morning departure (for camp, to visit family abroad), and fixing my bed the night before and sleeping on the floor because I knew I would not have time to fix the bed pristinely in the morning. My mother would then come into the room, jump on to my mattress, (destroying my work, of course), and crying, “This is not normal! This is not normal!”
Now I can tell her it IS normal – at least in this one side of the blogosphere!
I was always so jealous of the 64 pack.
I was also always disappointed when the owner wouldn’t let me use a crayon.
I now know why.
:]
Ooh, and how I can relate! I don’t do art, for sure, but pretty much everything else. I colour-coordinate the pegs which I use for my underwear. But don’t dare to peg my socks! My dishwasher is always filled in the same manner, with the same items going into the same slots. I blame my German genes.
Unfortunately, I see my son develop the same tick. Everything has to go into the right place, in the right position, in the correct order. Except, with me it’s a quirk; at 2 1/2 he shouldn’t have one yet. Oh well…
2 1/2 year olds are _all_ quirk! I swear I spend half my time trying to teach my kids how to deal with their quirks when they intersect with people who Don’t Get It.
what a great post.. I teach Art now.. but my favorite thing to do is still coloring something so soothing about it.
I would have hated you as a child. I was the absolute opposite. Everything was in chaos all the time. A sense of chaotic order though. If my shirts weren’t in the right part of my floor it would bother me, and if my markers were still in a box instead of dumped into my tub of coloring supplies i was pissed. I always wrecked evrything, but i knew exactly where it was. Even in high school my backpack was wrecked but i could easily find my assignments crunched up in the bottom of the big pocket.
Hey! You should all go check out this new blog!
http://ponderingprocrastinator.wordpress.com/
Great story! Brings back my own coloring memories!
I was exactly like you. lol I definitely lost a few playmates as well being a Crayon Fascist.
Wow. You are me. I also got ticked when friends didn’t wash out their brushes before switching watercolors.
As a result, I’m now a teacher who hangs up every student’s work equally, but secretly loves the ones who colored inside the lines best.
So funny! I’m definitely somewhere in between…I think. I just basically take care of my stuff and don’t really like for anyone to borrow it in case they don’t. I see this rearing its ugly little head in my kids as well. I want them to share their toys, but then other kids come over and destroy stuff. Am I wrong to teach them to put their nice things away and out of sight? I think I may be feeding this compulsiveness… ; )
I was the same when it came to playing as a child, especially when it was with my TOYS. There is a certain way to do things, and a way not to. Hahaha, I am the same to this day with my school supplies and people in the office. Don’t be ashamed.
I hear a chorus of agreement here, and here’s my voice to add to it. 🙂 I was just like you–wanting to keep them in pristine condition. I still have that box today, actually, and it is the BIG box with 96 glorious colors. Two of my crayons sadly broke and are kept together with toothpicks and scotch tape, like a mini crayon brace. And as few of them as possible have the paper torn, although black is admittedly well-used. For outlining everything, you know. Everything has to have a distinct outline! I enjoyed reading your blog and learning that I am not alone in my Crayola OCD tendencies. 🙂
great story! keep writing!
To this day the Fantastic Box calls me from the shelf.
God help the friend of mine who would color too close to black with my yellow crayon and mar the pureness of the yellow.
I wasn’t as worried about the order of my crayons, but oh the feeling of a new box of 64 crayons. I still would enjoy it today, BTW I wasn’t a crayon dumper either.
Shared your joy (gettin’ that 64 box) & felt ur pain dealing w/other kids w/my things. I reordered mine in a flowing color-wheelish order making it easier to find the right one, though. I too tended to like my things orderly as a kid, have lost that since college & career w/my horribly messy desk, lol!
here… here.
I was/am exactly the same. I still have boxes of crayons that are for use and those cheapie ones from the 99c store. I gladly share the latter with anyone and hide the fact that I have ‘good’ crayons myself. People just dont’ know how to respect them
I feel like you wrote this with me in mind, right down to the two separate mugs of pens/pencils Thanks!
Oh my goodness, I was the EXACT same way. Me and my best friend even got in a huge fight at a restaurant once when we were little due to how she used the crayons they provided to color on the placemats!
Thats a funny story and to think one of the first things i remember about kindergarten is how i made my first enemy. i first made her my enemy when she stole my crayons in kindergarten. since then, i was always a little protective of my coloring utensils. not anymore of course… sure you can have that pen its not even mine go ahead. congrats on being freshley pressed. Awsome story.
Man, were we twins separated at birth!? I’m the same way about Crayons, pens, and other things that need to stay organized so I can remain sane. And let’s not even TALK about my books. I nearly went bat crap when they weren’t re-shelved correctly after a move! Great post!!
You feel queasy when someone uses your pen? Your life must be very stressful. =)
I love those giant crayon boxes, too. Cornflower blue was always one of my favorites. I hope the person who invented the sharpener in the back of the box got rich from the idea.
wow, great post! i must say, i don’t feel alone. at work i have to make sure that everything is in it’s place before i start my work day. at work i divide the highlighters, markers, pens and pencils… not only that but i’m the only one that keeps our storage neat and organized. i tend to voice my opinion about people don’t put things where they believe. thanks for posting this. 🙂
Crayons remind me of my daughter when she was small, she doesn’t like broken ugly crayons. So everytime we visit the mall, we would definitely take home a box of crayons.. as in always. Now in her teens, her obsession is buying notebooks.. i wonder what’s next. Congrats on being FP.
Excellent post. My best friend and I practically came to blows over ownership of the magenta colored crayon, and my daughter hoarded every red crayon in the house, refusing to let anyone use any of them. I got a box of Craypas once (crayons/pastels) and they were so beautiful, so vivid and waxy I just couldn’t bear to use them. There just wasn’t anything that so lovely that it deserved to be colored with them, they were so perfect just lined up there in the box.
Sarah at
LettersHead.com
I truly think everyone has a little crayon fascist in them in some way….
I understand completely. I feel the same way about crayons and colour pencils … TO THIS DAY!!! Everyone must be in their correct positions!
I can relate because I was a type A personality child. I remember one time when the neighbor kids came over and either spit in my sister and my coloring books or sprayed water on them. I totally lost it.
I would yank it out of their hand.
I have pretty bad OCD about things being in a specific place or arranged in a specific way (except for my office right now which is in a horrifying transitional phase) and believe me you do not want to be the person I catch putting things in disarray. If Im trying to work or drive or do any other task and something is out of place, I cant concentrate. Ill have to stop what Im doing and fix it or Ill obssess over it until I have a panic attack. I also have severe seperation anxiety when it comes to be belongings. I cant let anybody borrow anything. If I let somebody take something out of my house I will literally lay awake at night wondering how its being treated and if Ill ever get it back.
Many people said it here in their comments, and yeah, it’s my story also..
A nice read, reminded me of my childhood days..
Keep it colorful.
You are my kindred spirit. There is NOTHING wrong with needing crayon order in the world. In fact, the world could use more people like us!
When I read about how you cared for your 64 crayons, it was a comfort to know I’m not alone. I had two sets of crayons – my big box that only I used and an old cigar box with broken, paper torn, unorganized crayons. When I colored with friends, the cigar box came out. But, my best coloring was with my crayons. Same with my match box car collection. I had my cars that only select friends (those who knew how to play correctly) could play with. Other cars were set aside for those rowdy kids who liked to bang them together…
Good post 🙂
I SO know what you mean. I was exactly like that as a child (I distinctly remember a huge fight with my then best friend) over Yellow Green versus Green Yellow, and I think this resulted in my obsession with school supplies. Congrats on being Pressed!
Oh my gosh! This is too funny! I am a high school science teacher and have to share “my” lab with “the other” science teacher who never cleans up after himself, never puts things back where I think they should go, lets his kids break “my” glassware, etc. I know exactly how you feel! I really enjoyed this read!
This is hilarious! I can relate, I have similar issues with my school supplies. You just put so much effort into doing something and then someone comes along and treats it like its nothing. I got anxiety just thinking about it!
Sounds like your a neat freak who happens to love Crayons =) Fun story but i did feel bad for your little friends who were just trying to hang out and have a good time with you? Too bad they
did not share your by the numbers outlook in life ha ha!!
LOL. The sad part about this article is that…It reminds me so much of my self. i’m EXTRA PARTICULAR over my things. I don’t like for people to touch my laptop, Ipod touch, Camera, Cell phone anything that holds any type of value to me! lol
Lol…that just exactly reminded me of my first 64 crayola crayon box! I can remember how happy I was when I received one! I just love the gold and silver crayons too~ 😀
I just found you vis “freshly pressed”; this post made me smile so much! I’m very much like this – I run an office and am in charge of the stationery ordering & storage… Everything has its spot and I get really miffed if the boys leave a mess anywhere or use the tape that’s specifically marked “do not remove from reception”, when there’s another tape dispenser clearly marked “communal tape”. Hahah. We all have our quirks 😉
I feel we have something in common 🙂
I always wanted one of those 64 crayon boxes as a kid, but my mom (a kindergarten teacher) only gave us the box of 8 fat crayons she had leftover from school. Now I see where my drive to help needy kids came from. I totally have seen the light. (This also explains why my first box of 64 still sits pristinely untouched under my bed. j/k) Love your dramatic writing style! Thanks~
I can relate to this on so many levels! 😀 When I was a kid, my crayons always had to stay in the same order they were when I bought the box. As an adult, I still like to color and I take my coloring supplies very seriously! I have jumbo box of 120 crayons, twistables, markers of every shade, and a large box of 100 colored pencils. People are only allowed to borrow them if they promise to put them back in the right place. Hahaha!
Great post! Congrats on being Freshly Pressed!
LOVE LOVE LOVE IT! Not only do I completely understand but this crayon fascist now has a child. A two year old child that doesn’t know how to properly use crayons or color! Poor thing – I tried coloring with her the other day and she scribbled all over my beautifully half finished Winnie-The-Pooh page. It took everything inside of me to hold it in. I gave my husband the look of torture and thankfully he understands. I had to put the crayons down, walk away, and let her be a child and enjoy it, but boy was it hard!! ❤ Thanks for the awesome story!
Hahaha! This cracks me up…mostly because I relate in my own way. My deal is the kitchen. I have the way that I cook things. I like the way that I cook things. When my roommates decide to cook something differently, I have to bite my tongue. I am also particular about my coffee cups. I will share all of them…except for one. My roommate used it one time. I think my tongue bled 😉
I’m the same way about the order of things in the kitchen! I always complain that my boyfriend never helps me clean or cook…but then I think: he doesn’t know what goes where in the dishwasher, or even what does or doesn’t go in the dishwasher. He doesn’t know where I keep my baking bowls versus everyday bowls. He doesn’t know the order in which I have organized the pantry. Needless to say, his only job is taking out the trash and periodically bringing in dirty coffee mugs from the desk in the office.
I sleep much better that way. 😉
Pingback: Bookish Joy « Blessed be the Lord,
I’m an art teacher and I have very similar childhood crayon memories. Imagine my horror when I began teaching art 2 years ago and found that when I put out lovely, orderly boxes of crayons for the students to use, they instantly DESTROYED the orderliness and actually broke several crayons in each box (within the first few minutes). It was hard, let me tell you. And it still is, although I’m working at being at peace with it!!
Hilarious and yet so relatable (for want of a better word).
I am the same, while my daughter is a true artist and sees these as tools to express her creativity, no more. Imagine my level of day to day stress when we do art together.
I thought I was the only one who was that particular about my crayons. When I first got my box, I organized it by color. Darkest colors in the top left all the way down to the lightest color on the bottom right. I used to color with the flat end so the tip would stay beautiful and straight. I would only use the point for special pictures or parts of picture. And those crayons were mine! I never let my siblings or friends use them. On the rare occasion that they did use them, They were made to color with the flat end, and NEVER EVER the point.
This is FANTASTIC, and it totally took me back to my childhood. And, till this day, I still refer to a certain blue as “Robins Egg Blue”….ha. Awesome, awesome post!
hahaha ohh i just love this… im not that extreme but i like everything in a certain order (i have my own way of doing everything from folding clothes to sharpening pencils) and when someone disturbs my order i have an uncomfortable urge to fix things. ps your story telling is fantastic!
My girlfriend is exactly the same. not with crayons, but with everything else. I value my 64 box too. I only use it when inspiration hits me. My daughter has been stalking it. I’m afraid I have to get her own. Watch her go O.C. like her mother. Good post. very good post. I will forward this to my girl.
I totally identify with the thrill of the crayons. As a mother, I took great pride in being fairly generous (not to get carried away!) with my children in the crayon department. As long as they showed appropriate respect for the privilege, I supplied them with 64-packs. Even a new box every couple of years! I feel a success as a mother for having given them this opportunity. (P.S. They turned out pretty good and I credit the training in crayon organization, in no small part.)
I still have my box of 72 derwent colour pencils that I got 22years ago… much shorter, and much used, but still all there, and whenever my kids colour with them I spend twenty minutes resorting them. The thing with derwents is they are all numbered…
This is to funny and had me laughing out loud. I was the same exact way with my crayons and still am at the age of 40. When I used to buy my children crayons, I also ALWAYS bought a box for me to, since I knew their paper would be torn, and some would be lost. They never knew where to find mine. 🙂 I thought it was just a form of OCD. I also learned to color in a way that sharpened my crayon as I was coloring. Hehe It’s nice to know someone else appreciates that beautiful box of treasure! You are so funny. Thanks for the great read.
…and I always outlined my pictures first when coloring. Why did we do that? I think I just thought it looked so much prettier and cleaner. ??? I even signed the bottom right corner of my coloring pages.
lol thanks for the great reminder. I love it!
You are so hilarious! Great post!
….try to relax a little, eh?
Congratulations on making freshly pressed!
I love your writing 🙂 I think it is wonderful!
Ohh, I loved that Crayon box so much! I would always organize them too and try to get them exactly where they should be and all that. I have the mine area at my work place too and I hate it when things aren’t put back where they are supposed to be!
I was just looking for sample themes for my future blog on the WordPress.com site and I clicked on yours. I’m glad I did. This post resonated. I always had to share crayons with my two younger sisters and they always messed them up. We’re all 50 somethings now, but reading this easily dredged up some feelings, so I think I have been repressing some resentment lo these many years. I don’t like people using my desk. Even if it’s messy, it’s messy my way. I also have a Nazi handle. My children and husband call me the “Heat Nazi” for insisting that if they’re cold they need to put on a sweater or sweatshirt of parka. We are NOT turning up the heat.
OH I can relate! I got a large stand up plastic box with 120 or so all lined up single file in rainbow order when I was 6 or 7. They stayed that way. I went as far as not letting my friends use them, they were only allowed to use the 64 count box! It is still at my mothers house, only missing a few now. It drives me insane how my 2 year old treats his toys and crayons, but he does refuse to use broken crayons or ones with peeling paper! Maybe it’s hereditary.
AMEN! I am like that whenever my school things are so new. Crayolas are huge part of everyone’s childhood and coloring is one of my happiness that back then.
Seems like i’ll have fun reading your posts.
First post, i’m hooked. What more to others?
i am new to blogging and by reading yours gives me more interest!
Thank you!
-Ken, Philippines 🙂
My apparent Fascism manifested in my Sharpies (I’m more of an ink person). Getting them out of their correct order produced verbal tirade. If someone smashed the tips, I would cut a bitch.
This was hilarious! Reminded me so much of myself. Thanks for sharing
You are not weird or controlling…or a facist. You are my queen! …and I bow down to you.
I can soo… relate to these memories. Heaven help the one who touches my colors. I’ve passed this “quirk” down to my children who are now college age. I have to ask their permission to use their art supplies, and I do so, with the respect their art colors deserve. Do unto others crayons as you would have them do unto yours…
Oh my, this is so cleverly written! I immensely enjoyed reading it, and I so closely relate! I would always organize my 64 box of crayons according to the light spectrum and because nobody else seemed capable of complying to my rules, I simply didn’t share at all. To this day, I color that way. Anyways, lovely bit of writing here! 🙂
Thanks for the laugh! I can relate, I have a very special box of 72 Prismacolor pencils. My son wanted to use them and I just laughed, (then made sure they were hidden and out of reach). Nobody touches my prismacolors! Nobody! I have kept this box in pristine condition (replacing the used colours) since I bought it back in ’99.
Oh my word! I thought it was just me! Maybe not about crayons, but books! I order them by genre first, and then by author. And if people mess it up, I get so angry!
I really enjoyed this. Thank you!
when you get a moment, feel free to visit my blog.
https://sites.google.com/site/10cents2home/
Oh, how lovely, I understand you! I’m the same fascist as you! With Crayons, Giotto felt pen, every kind of colors in my desk. I don’t care about other stuff, there the caos can build his reign. But for colors, none can touch without permit or putting them back in the ight way. My oldest friend remember this, and also 16 years later she’s afraid to pick my colors and put them in the wrong place.
I feel for you, I do … but buy a new box of crayons and dump them out just for the fun of it. Free yourself. I understand perfectly about the infringement of my/your personal space and belongings, however, I had to relax, breathe and share (of course all the rules apply). Ha.
*gasp* I’m not the only one! I sincerely enjoyed this blog, so much so that I shared it on my ‘Facebook’ page.
I can completely relate to your story. I have several treasured possessions than may only be handled by a select group of other persons if they use the utmost care (or not at all). Examples include books, writing utensils, cd’s and art supplies. I heard that this desire to control part of our environment is actually a mechanism to manage fear of some sort. Be that as it may, they should still stay away from my books if they know what’s good for them 🙂
I so love crayons, as a grown up I tried melting them in my oven to blend some of the colours -(not Crayola) and nearly passed out with the fumes when I opened the door. They are the most amazing things and still so reasonable. Cheers Sue
You just accurately described my childhood. And now I feel a little less anal retentive and a little more justified because, it’s the Big Box. The idea of just–dumping the contents willy-nilly still makes me shudder.
Great post. I probably was as anal with my 64-crayon box. I’m now like that about how my kitchen cabinets are organized, especially my pots and lids. Everything has a place or nests a certain way. Hey, I can get it to fit that way and always know where things are.
Oh, I rarely let anyone use my laptop.
this pagee is very good very nice…..!!!
http://www.omnibazar.com/
What a brilliant story! I was laughing out loud over a coffee whilst reading this, over your propensity to make sure all 64 colours were placed in exact order. I could relate to this, not only from my childhood, but also now.
In about 1985 at reception class, I was trying to draw a Class 47 diesel locomotive in the British Rail rail blue livery. A fellow classmate helped me out and committed the cardinal sin of colouring the cab in blue, instead of the statutory yellow end! Needless to say I was a bit riled (along the lines of ‘How Dare You! BR locos NEED a yellow end at the cab’).
More recently, I make sure any of my sets of Cumberland pencils (coloured or non-coloured ones) feature in the same order. The colouring pencils are numbered, which is manna from heaven to me.
Stuart Vallantine.
I think if I’d come round to do colouring at your house as a child you would have punched me in the face!
thanks for cheering me right up!:)
Oh man… I’m twenty-four and still like this! I bought a big pack of crayola twistable pencils or whatever they’re called… and my six year old niece wanted to use them. I had to watch as she messed them all up and stop myself from yelling at her for doing so! lol
I would have to say that this, in my opinion, is one of the most interesting posts chosen on Freshly Pressed. I read it from the first word to the last one and it really is worth reading. Thank you!
I love your post as I can identify with it. I used to take art classes as a child and I would be extremely annoyed if any of my friends used my crayons/water colour set in a way I deemed inappropriate. Even until today, I see some of these traits, especially when I am working in a group of people who may not meet my ‘meticulous standards’. Good job on this post! 🙂
Absolutely loved this post; very funny indeed!
I was always like that (and still am) when I got something new, thing is, is that I do not stick to it. When something newer comes along, the not so new thing is allowed to be used or shared. I hide my favourite new thing from people too! At the moment I have a pen in my bag, one of those 4 colour ones, at my desk I have a generic biro. My pen will stay in my bag incase of a pen emergency, such as when my pen gets taken away (as it always does)
Shit. I have a feeling that this might be me in the future. I’m so OCD about my stuff, I make a mental note whenever someone borrows anything, even a pencil, and only lend it with a pointed reminder to please give it back. And then I hound them as soon as the class gets over. Stationary is the WORST. Just can’t imagine losing any of my pretty pens and pencils. My whole batch knows this, because I’ve gone around the whole of the computer lab looking for a missing clutch pencil, even shouting out loud, asking about it, and then checking the log book to see who came in and *might* have taken it (by mistake, of course).
Great post!
Bhavika
I was that child. Crayons were a HUGE Luxury, and when I got the box of 64 (paid for by me, with hard labor), I rearranged the colors in chromatographic order. It was like a box of rainbows. It wasn’t even used for 2 weeks, just set on my little desk and admired.
I have the exact same issue.
I’m new to WordPress, and this post was on the front page..the best of the best or something like that, or freshly pressed. Anyways, since I’m an amateur artist your photo of the crayons invited me to your blog. Great post. Keep up the good work. I’ll be back to explore old and new posts of yours. 🙂
I LOVED this! You remind me of me! I’m like that still with my books – I even rearrange them periodically according to various systems, just so that no one but me knows where each one belongs and I can instantly tell if someone has touched one! Same with CD’s and my record collection. And woe betide ANYONE who dares to touch my piano. 🙂
http://elrincondelasdivas.wordpress.com
You are me, except I’m in my bedroom refusing to let my friends brush my barbie’s hair. I enjoyed this!
Is it bad that I still won’t let anyone play with my crayons?
Don’t worry, I think my OCD tendencies started at a very young age too. Brushing my teeth was a real routine – it HAD to be done in my exact way, and if my mum tried to rush me….oh wow….
Loved this post! The 64 box was a thing to worship back in my day, too. I suppose I am a recovering Crayola fascist too, still VERY picky about who gets to use my ruler or my scissors at work. I have a 90th anniversary tin from Crayola with an 8 pack in it that I have never used. 🙂
This was a great blog posting full of humor on an element of all personalities. My wife’s thing is that our closet be arranged by colors on the clothes that are hung. Mine is light blubs that burn out, at both my home and our insurance agency. All of this, when it is being dealt with, is very important to each of us, but still full of great humor when you think about it. Laughing at ourselves is most important in life.
Love it – great idea, great writing and great vulnerability (isnt that what blogging should be?!?) Shared on Facebook… Thx for posting.
That’s so funny – I am exactly the same way about crayons!!!
Hahaha omigosh. Crayons are precious!
hey. nice poste .
take a look at my profile thanks ?
http://www.amiarting.wordpress.com
I loved reading this…and my childhood-self could totally relate. My grandma bought me the 96 pack and I thought I had died and gone to heaven.
I had a similar feeling the day I walked into the M&M’s store in Las Vegas and saw a rainbow WALL of hundreds of tubes of sorted M&M’s – color heaven!
I recently blogged about a similar disorder – I didn’t let my kids have my box of 64 crayons until recently…my oldest is 8. And my three-year-old daughter is not using them properly so I may have to go buy a new box that no one else is allowed to use. I totally understand how important it is to keep those crayons in order!
I just have to admit that I was not only exactly that way about crayons as a child…I am that way now as an adult when I am coloring with a child. In the very recent past I took a 2 year old’s crayons away because he kept jamming them into the box point-first and yelled at a three year old who reached over and scribbled on my perfectly colored picture. And while I knew that it was ridiculous for me to be that angry, I admit that in that moment, I truly hated that 3-year-old. I’m not proud of these things, but what can I say…some kids don’t understand that some things are sacred.
Amazing!!!!!!!!!
Yes! I felt your anxiety as I read this. That was me! Only I was a quiet, timid child and would not make a big deal about it to the other kids, but I would sit there in silent anxiety and disgust over what was happening to my crayons! And, yes, I’m the same way today.
As a stay-home mom, I would have playdates at my house. At the end, I would watch as the other moms tried to be helpful and clean up before they left but just grabbed everything and threw it in the toy box. I would insist cleaning up wasn’t necessary, then watch with anxiety as they did it anyway thinking of how much harder it was going to be to take everything back out and put it where it belonged than if they just left it.
It’s a problem. I’m working on it.
this made me laugh! keep writing!
So funny!!!! Noone takes care of your crayons the way you do….They color way to hard and make the tip a mess. I love it!
sounds like OCD…but it’s hilarious…I was like that about my notebooks. Harriet the Spy was my favorite movie…
Oh dear…
FINALLY!!! Someone to prove that I’m not crazy when I do all the same things with my stuff…still!! LOL, Well done.
Nice story, thanks!
It makes me remember of my first pencils bought for myself from some spare money – my mom was stunned about as I went home with them, because they were very expensive for our conditions: 50 Hungarian Forint for a 12-pencil set, as my mom earned as a school administrator about 2.000 Forint per month then.
Since then, as I grew up, I always make halt in front of the pencils when I’m in a store, and I often buy some, too – but at home, the pencils will be then very quick “stolen” by my little daughter and then all of them reside in a huge box full of them 🙂
I have to tell I hardly ever had any time for coloring for years now, but always enjoy the moment _getting_ the pencils… and _having_ them.
Well – have a nice time coloring !
Greetings from Hungary!
Tom
This made me laugh so hard. I have issues with this too. All of my books in my personal Library have to be alphabetized from the author’s last name. I lend so many of my books because . . . well, I have so many. They have to go exactly where they were if not I have to reorder them from scratch.
Oh my goodness I am Culinary Arts major but even before that I am like this in the kitchen. When I am cooking and someone is over and “helping” that is all they are aloud to do. If God forbid I forget to get the butter or salt or milk out they are there to get that, If I turn my back and they start cutting my onion or mixing, stirring, adding stuff into anything I am making, even if it needs to be done. I flip. Its on of those things, you just don’t do!
Heather
frommycorneroftheworld.wordpress.com
Hilarious! Beautiful blog name as well 😀
Truly enjoyed this read!
I used to be a crayon fascist. Then one day in a fit of disgruntled impatience as he was helping me do ‘homework,’ my father dumped them in a plastic shoebox and forced me into compliance. Today I am merely a pen fascist; do not touch my Uniball Vision Micros…a colleague once pulled one out of the package before I was ‘ready’ to use them and I almost stopped breathing. She happened to be my best friend as well, so she probably would have understood if I lost it and she did notice me paling and hyperventalating, but I kept it together, snatched it back when she was done, and replaced it in its plastic and cardboard packaging until I was ready to summon it to battle grading papers or writing out lesson plans.
can you follow it up with something about the old venus color-by-number pencil sets? i think #8 was navy. # 3 was red. #27 sky blue. they were cool too.
I had Laurentian coloured pencils – they were wonderful too! 🙂
Baaahaha! I’m still laughing… best work moment all day (probably because it isn’t my work)… You realize I must now go out and BUY THE LARGE BOX OF HEAVENLY CRAYONS!!!!
I think you may be a kindred spirit. 🙂
I’m right there with you and have been for a very long time. And no, Rosart Will Not Do. And yes, coloring outside the lines Does Give Me Panic Attacks. My desk in my dorm room is meticulous. My desk organize has four convenient sections. One for markers. One for highlighters. One for pencils and one for pens. Yes, I’m THAT anal undergrad.
Haha. Quite similar in the anal retentiveness, — I used to arrange all boxes by color category to the color of the rainbow. Lovely post. Rock on!
I can truly feel you sister!! =) I feel really quizzy too when it comes artistic materials. And I really love the part where your students have named your desk Magic Space … Shows the the idea of total personalization =)
I know how you feel! I still collect anything that I can use to write in a paper 😉
Anyway,Crayons were enough to make kids happy before but most kids nowadays treat crayons like a tool for school only. They prefer more advanced instruments for joy such as gadgets. Life was more colorful when kids played with crayons. 🙂
I agree. Now a days it’s all XBox, Wii, Ipod…you name it. Kids barely even play outdoors anymore. I know when I do have kids, I wish for them to treasure the small and artistic aspects of life
I love love love this post. I also found joy from the 64 pack of crayola crayons. And honestly, the sharpener on the back of the cartoon – GENIUS!
I have always said that my dream job would be to work at Crayola and come up with names for the new colors they invent!
I like color so much!!
OMG….I am the same way. I still love to color even til this day, and I am 29 years old. I’ll always be a kid at heart. Love your story!!!
Iyeshia, I have been volunteering at our local children’s hospital for 2 years now and spend Friday afternoons colouring to my heart’s content with other patients who are mobile and can visit the play room where I work. I’m turning 40 in a few days. You’re never too old to get in touch with your inner Crayon Fascist! 😉
I still like to keep my crayons organized. It’s impossible with a 3 year old, though. And when he starts mixing play-doh…? ARGH, kill me!
My mom and I used to eat the crayons when I was little. She would always claim the Gold, Silver, Brass for herself.
i too. it is fantastic. keep coloring!
Totally understand. There is something almost holy about Crayola crayons–one must treat them with respect. I was always disappointed when we got stuck with RoseArt products. Even as a kid, I knew they were the cheap wannabes in the coloring world.
I so relate to this. Crayolas are nothing short of gifts from God. Dumping them out is simply intolerable!
This brought back memories. I remember treasuring the gold, silver and copper colored crayons — and like you, the cornflower blue was also among my favorites. And who can forget carnation pink?
Congrats on being freshly pressed!
There is nothing like a brand new box of 64 count Crayola Crayons with the built in sharpener. I used to freak out when my toys or crayons were not played with “properly” quite often I was subbed a weirdo by friends.
Great post!
dubbed.. ugh. I shouldn’t rush!
Crayon Communism, ha.
http://midnightwatcher.wordpress.com/
I’ve only had that small box of crayons when I was younger and now I have a HUGE box of crayons and Hello Kitty crayons – that I’ve only used once or twice (29 years old by the way). My sister (21 yrs old) has come over to my place and when she saw the crayons, she wants to color and like you, I watch her to make sure she puts the crayon back to the spot it came from and to not color roughly. Lol! Glad I’m not alone!
I used to be crazy about 32 colour sketch pens .. Another one of my favourites was ‘animal-head’ shaped crayons.. Then came the glitter crayons … Ahh.. those days.. 🙂
Uber awesome post ! (btw, that crayon picture is so eye-catchy . Even after so many years , I feel like grabbing them and start colouring with them right away…) .. Congrats on freshly pressed 🙂
There’s something about that pristine box of 64 crayons. I’m an artist and totally understand how you feel about your supplies. Love the post! It brings back such great memories.
What a fun post to read! I remember that exact box of crayons all too well, and I felt the very same way. It was so p e r f e c t. You are most definitely not alone, I am of the kitchen nazi persuasion, both at home and especially at work in professional kitchens – “don’t EVER touch my shit!!” They all know the law, and think I’m crazy too;-)) Thanks!
I’m glad I’m not the only one who is super picky and OCD about their crayons. The joy of a new box of crayons or colored pencils is pretty much unrivaled. I still go out and buy a new box every now & then if I’m having a bad day. lol
I like this article 🙂
http://www.disave.blogspot.com
I love your post – as many others have observed here, I too was a crayon fascist… and still would be if I had the time to color! I have two boys now, and when my 13 year old was a toddler, my husband started dumping all his crayons into one empty baby-wipes container. My 2nd son is now 6, and exhibits that same wonderful desire for perfect crayons, so just last weekend we dumped out the old “crayon box” (hooray!). One particular thing for me was “sharp” crayons – I NEEDED that sharp point on the crayon to do the “fine detail work”, and once a crayon wore down, not even a sharpener would do – I’d rather throw out the entire box and start over. Wasteful? Absolutely – and I never got away with it. 😀
My 8-year-old son has autism, and for him, all crayons *must* be peeled. This creates no end of stress for my 6-year-old, who believes the intactness of crayons is sacred.
Thanks for a great post!
I never had the 64 box, but I was, and still am, very particular about how and when people borrow my things. Woe to any friend who cracked the spine of a treasured novel. I nearly lost it when a former roommate did it intentionally, in front of me… because that’s what she did to every book. Needless to say, I never lent her another book.
Yes! Finally, someone who understands me. I bought myself a Crayon tower for my birthday several years ago, and I don’t let anyone use it except me 🙂 Great post! Congratulations on Freshly Pressed!
My dog once ate a whole box of 16 colors and his poops were as pretty as a poop can get.
Thanx for sharing.
Ah, the subtle, yet exciting difference between orange-red & red-orange! The gold, silver & COPPER! I too shared your awestruck devotion to the 64 Crayola Crayons — what a FABulous gift that was to me!!!!! And how many hours I spent, putting them in rainbow order, or groups of color families, or in combinations that titillated me. And the SHARPENER in the back of the box!!!! Oh. My. Goddess.
Thanks for owning up to the Just-So-ness of your experience with this wondrous creation, haha
thanks on the subject i love to buy illustration copybook and learn sketch is beauter thing learning
the human in his life but is i want advice him to using the magic crayon and not wax owing does
finish quickly it,s important subject does start now even and for the all follow so anythings.
your tag line is amazing, “speaking in pictures, hearing in color” lovelovelovelove
Sounds like a very colourful OCD, pardon the pun.
I remember writing with crayons when I was a kid but I uses to obsess over black fineliners, with the little black pen nip at the end. I loved how precise it was, how it followed the lines of my pencil drawings.
And it lead to who I am. Ha, who’d have thought a post about crayons would have made me think this much!
You must be a wizard.
Oh goodness, as a child I was the exact same with all of my toys and things. . Once I let my neighbors niece come over and play Barbies with me. I explained to her which brushes she could use for their hair and how to brush it, and where to put it when she was done with that Barbie. Then I went inside to get something to drink, when I returned she was holding in one hand a cleanly decapitated Barbie head– with the brush still in her hair– and the body in her other hand.
It was this point I started yelling at her, “you have to hold her head when you brush her hair… YOU HAVE TO HOLD HER HEAD, OTHERWISE IT WILL POP OFF!!!!”
Needless to say she was banned from my Barbies, there was nothing worse than a Barbie with a re-attached head, they always had no neck.
I am laughing so hard that my mascara is smearing. Really. My husband thought I’d lost my mind. This sound so familiar! Especially that brush-still-in-her-hair part. And not only did a Barbie with a re-attached head have no neck, her head never really sat right or stayed on after that.
Stupid children.
Thank you for the best laugh of my day!
I can relate! I used to put all of the crayons in order by color, and then I had issues deciding whether to put them in order via color or size (after they had been worn down)!
You have quite a burden to carry there. I am definitely the kid who dumps the box out- sorry
Pingback: Childish Traits: Quirky Or Problematic? « sevemanzoor
I inheritted from my uncle a box of crayolas, lightly used, 1940, (I think). The colors are no longer in order, but the care and love he had for the crayons is definately seeable. I don’t think the blue-violet has ever been used.
Hilarious! You would probably die in my classroom. The colored pencils are all thrown into a box, there are packages of markers sitting all around on the book shelves, and the desks are in complete chaos. I love the craziness of it all. Great blog, by the way.
I was just like you when I was litlle! It was like I was reading MY story. Hahaha. Hilarious. My mother actually scolded me for being so and I eventually gave up this extreme-organizing habit (just a bit). Very well written and congrats on being freshly pressed! 🙂
I too have OCD when it comes to my crayons, pens, pencils, paper clips and other stationary items. My family knows, we’re cool with it. But I totally feel your anxiety and recall similar situations from my childhood at my coloring table.
Pingback: STOP, and Color « Invisible Shadow
Well…my name is Beth…sorry. I’ll never forget the time my cousin, David, deliberately took my green crayon and snapped it between his mean little fingers just to watch it break. Gotta go now. I’m hyperventilating…
I just wish my s/o could/would make efforts to understand and recognize that it’s HIS issue, the way you have. Thank you for this post. It gives me a little insight, I think.
Hahaha! I was very much like this…. but with ALL my toys. And I, too, am still battling with the MINE traits, because no one else knows how to care for the things as well as I. … *sigh* … I blame my parents. (we can do that, right? It always goes back to them for one reason or another)
First, a nice way to use crayons that somebody has mauled. My son’s preschool would put them in silicon cupcake trays (heart shaped, but there are others) and melt them just enough to make a new block, but not so much the colors all mingled. You get a multi-colored crayon (marbled if you do it right) in the shape of the tray.
Now: Ohhh… the memories!
I am NOT a very neat person at all (my poor husband is – how he puts up with me, I don’t know). There was a time though, when I was truly compulsive about certain things. My brother and I were once each given a Crayola caddy (2nd picture in this blog: http://madmommoneysavers.blogspot.com/2010/12/our-favorite-childhood-toys-part-2.html ) by some indulgent relative. I thought it was beautiful. I don’t think I even would touch the watercolors for fear of dripping color on the pristine white plastic around the little ovals – although I was only about 4, so I don’t remember entirely.
(sit down for this & take deep breaths)
My older brother got a giant marble stuck in the center part, crayons were broken, paint and marker were EVERYWHERE. I kept mine even nicer (but I did use it) just because I didn’t want it to look like his.
Somehow, he got ours switched. He liked mine because it was all nice (and the paint wasn’t dried out). He convinced our parents that his was mine. I never touched either again.
On the other hand, it cured me of my neatness issues… although I still like to keep markers in their order if they’re in a big set…
A very nice post!
I SO enjoyed this one! Although I’m perhaps not quite as obsessed about the order you most assuredly need to treat the 64-box with respect! 🙂 Last month I went to an art therapy class and the first task she assigned us? Take a crayon from the 64 box on the table and (I hope this doesn’t make you too squeamish) BREAK IT! Acck! It was like assigning a claustrophobic to meet you in the elevator. 🙂 I supposed there was a certain liberation to it (and I did learn a lot from the class) but that trauma is still pretty fresh.
What a fun post!
Oh man. Thank God you blogged this – I thought I was the only one!! It drove me crazy when other kids would just dump crayons all over the place. Why?? They were so perfect and beautiful in their spots. 🙂
I identify with so much of this except for one thing. I hated the way the crayons came in the box. To me they made no sense. So as soon as I got a glorious new box I immediately dumped them out and arranged them by color. Yellow, orange, red, green, blue, purple, brown, black.
I loved the day, as a very mature college student, I was given a 115 pack! That’s a fun one. I don’t use it as much anymore but I still get antsy when my little siblings use it and don’t put the crayons back correctly.
I feel your pain! Lol
This is one of the best ones yet 🙂
my awesome profile
For me it was always colour pencils. I had a beautiful flat metal box in which they were lined up beautifully, in order, like little soldiers; and the smell! A divine woodsy, waxy, heady ‘I’m all yours’ scent. One day my sister wanted to use them because she’d dropped hers and the ‘lead’ inside (all of them) was broken. Everytime she sharpened them another bit of the inside would fall out. My mum said I had to share! Had I known the outcome I would probably have screamed. The metal box was dented after one session, they were no longer in order, she put them back without sharpening them, sometimes upside down and always with the writing facing the wrong way…oh the horrors I could relate! To this day I refuse to tell the children where I keep my coloured pencils.
Loved your post. I still have my box of crayolas in my “artroom”. I am the oppostite of you in terms or being a neatfreak but I totally got your horror at the idea of someone tipping that box out. What were they thinking! I had a similar freak-out as a child when a kid came over to draw at my house and I showed her my sisters drawings and she wanted to copy them rather than do her own original drawing. I couldn’t conceive of wanting to copy exactly rather than come up with your own original drawing and spent about ten minutes lecturing her on the moral depravity of copying. Poor kid.
Recently bought my 3 year old a small box of crayolas and was so happy with the quality of colour over the other cheap ones he had till then.
LOL you are fighting an uphill battle with entropy. Good luck! The best I could ever do was long for those first few days when my pristine box of crayons shone brightly under the fluorescent light of my playroom. Looking at the torn waxy paper with its faded and chewed Crayola logos, the dead soldiers – twisted, broken and melted remnants of their former gleaming glory – I would quickly realize I couldn’t cope, and would run outside to play!
I remember every time I got a new box of markers, I wanted to make sure I put each marker back just as it had been, so I would make a little mark to designated the proper place for each one.
Eep! Reminds Me Of How My Siblings Would Dump Their Crayons And When They’re Done, Just Leave Them There And Sometimes– STEP ON THEM! It Made Me Insane.
i Can Just Imagine Now, A Brand New pack Of Crayons.. Shiny… Varied Colours…
i Hate Using Them When Their new…
Life’s too short (as are used Crayons!) to sweat the small stuff !
Funny! I cannot tell you on how many levels I relate to this. I struggle often with the “mine” stuff and wanting it exactly how I want it. Of course, if I decide to mess it up, that’s okay, but if anyone else messes anything up, Lord help them. It does not help that I was an only child. I suspect many only children wind up with these sorts of issues.
I think at some point everyone has had one of these moments, I remember mine vividly – I was at school and I had a brand new packet of felt tip pens and the other kids weren’t using them properly and I had a bit of a meltdown in the middle of our year 6 class room! I still have my moments even now.
Brilliantly written post! There’s just something about the smell of crayons that invokes instant happiness. Until some bastard comes and ruins them. 🙂
Loved this. As a grad student in art therapy I couldn’t really relate. I am kind of like a mad scientist when it comes to my art supplies. I grab, use, drop, find something new, grab use and drop. Oy vey! You should see my apartment. It is pure luck sometimes that I remember to wash out my paint brushes. Although I am rather particular about my brushes and I do remember bringing a new set of markers to school after I lined them all up in their case in correct color order (reds, oranges, yellows, etc.) and letting classmates use them. I don’t think I need to tell you how THAT ended up.
Bravo, good post.
As i’m reading this post, an art project I’m working on for a competition is sitting in my personal drawer. I know how much you love your crayons, but crayons can be used for more than one thing. You may enjoy coloring neatly, but I enjoy using a blow dryer to melt them , allowing the wax to stream down my canvas freely. I hope I didn’t cause too much anguish!
This sounds so familiar. Not with colors, but with other things. I find comfort in consistency and simplicity. Things done a certain way every single time they are done. I find myself for example sorting my son’s toys into zip lock bags when I pick them up. Armors and swords into one, insects in another and so on. When I see my husband just putting them all mingled in the big box ignoring the zip lock bags I want to intervene, but I manage to turn away. I think your post has touched a deep chord that runs through many hearts, thank you for touching mine. Wishing you calm!
myhappyhats.wordpress.com
OMG I love this post! You are too funny! I am so like this. I totally recognized myself. I am still like this to this day lol
This is great! I don’t keep my coloring materials in order.
Oh my, I was NOT a fascist kid in ANYTHING. Not as an adult either. Although sometimes a meticulous monster peeks out. I don’t realize it is a reality until someone upsets the visual. Like the towels. Everyone reaches for one everyday. Don’t they see they are NOT folded half and then half the other way? and don’t fit on the shelf folded half-then-half? I mean, they pick up a half-over-half and the tri-fold the opposite direction EVERYDAY. Yet they fold them their way and their way is the same way for each of them that do laundry! They all match in how they fold a towel. Or the bedspread. Three sides have trim, one side does not. Don’t they see the blank side goes at the the head of the bed? Really. How do they miss that? Is it the curse of my genes in them? And I ponder where did these two quirks come from? I am chaos to the max. What if this baby monster grows up?
Wow! Your post brought back sweet memories. I loved my magenta, cornflower blue, and periwinkle! My 64 box of crayons opened worlds to me.
I was able to read quite smugly, congratulating myself for sharing my crayons so willingly with my friends.
But then you described your desk, your pencil cup, your pens. I have been every bit as guilty as you.
Are you by chance a firstborn child?
Debby, I am an only child.
Please try to hide your surprise.
Thanks for the comment! 🙂
I got a 96 pack for Christmas and have, thus far completely color-coded them (yes, I am one of those) and won’t let anyone touch it for fear of them ruining perfectly good order and pretty crayons.
I loved this, and I definitely see myself here. About my books. They are shelved by genre, then author. I give specific instructions on how to treat them and NOT get crease marks in the spine when I lend them out. Once I watched in horror as my husband casually walked past one of my carefully propped-open books and, without thinking, pressed it down so the spine bent. My memory is a little blurred here, but I think I went into full Harpy mode and almost divorced him on the spot. (*I* can prop open a paperback and still leave it looking brand-new when I’m done, unlike my father, who is not allowed to read my books.) I even keep the books that are Too Good for Other People to Touch on the tippy-top of the bookcases, so the kids can’t touch them. (They’re mostly children’s and YA books.)
The Crayola box–oh yes! My children are not so fastidious, and it drives me crazy. My solution is to dump their crayons into a pencil box so I don’t have to watch them cramming dulled crayons haphazardly into the Little Boxes until they stretch and bulge. My heart shrivels a little when I hand that Fantastic 64 Box over to them, but that’s the one I have to buy them. Because it’s the best.
OH I loved this! I remember exactly where I was when I was given the 64 crayon box. Not only did I love the colors but the names! To this day I could still distinguish orchid from thistle from carnation pink. My mother called me the Binney & Smith graduate. I don’t ever remember coloring with friends. Must have kept the box WAY under wraps. And What A Hoot, I too don’t know how anyone can miss placing the untrimmed edge of a bedspread at the head!
Oh my goodness this is beyond hilarious! When I was very young I hated when children would come over and wreck my doll house! I had my beautiful little Barbie home so perfect a home stager would have been hardpressed to improve on it. So needless to say I always suggested that we play outside (where nothing could be messed up)! hahaha awesome post!
My brother got the big collection – huge box and the rest of us were not allowed to use them or mess with his stuff. He kept them all neat and lined up too. We had none and only got to use them at school. Now I collect crayons, colored pencils, art pencils and pens, paint and brushes, pastels, chalk, you name it. Each has a nice fat drawer were I dump them unceremoniously. I pull them out and play with them and share them willy-nilly. Take that! Ha ha!
I enjoyed your post. I know a few crayon fascists. My worst thing, is my fabric scissors being used to cut paper. Or someone tossing recyclables in the trash. Or not cutting out codes or labels to help school before tossing something. I wasn’t that bad in the past, but my closest friend, and even my mom are either perfectionists or OCD. So it’s rubbing off. Have a great weekend!
Darling Cat
lol! I was the kid that dumped out your crayons… but I would have also proceeded to snap them in half and lose them. In short, you would have killed me! Random fact – the creator of Crayola crayons was colourblind!
Wow…you hit a nerve with a lot of people here. Me included! My crayon trauma actually is more of a crayon envy. I’m the oldest of 7 (every year another kid….good Catholic parents). Kid #6 was actually the baby for 5 whole years and while the rest of us were in school he got to go to the grocery store with Mom who bought him a new coloring book and fresh box of crayons *every week*!!! Ok, maybe not every week. But often. Fifty years later we still give him grief about it!
I’m a teacher too–and my desk and desk chair are totally off limits. It’s a territorial thing (back to the 7 kids thing). My students know that all they have to do to get me riled is to *look* like they’re going to sit in my chair.
My real freak out thing, though, is family members who leave things at the edge of the counter or the table. They don’t seem to believe in gravity.
Loved the Sleigh Bell piece too!
Congrats on being freshly pressed.
I am a total slob in almost all ways, but I loved and cared for my crayons. My two children take after their father in the crayon department, and when they destroyed their big box they only got small boxes ever again and never seemed to care. DS was this way about his match box cars, and would take mine away because I didn’t “play properly”. DD on the other hand we called destructo baby and she seems to exist to this day only in chaos. If things are too orderly she will “disorder” them very quickly. Her favorite thing at age two was to shake the videos out of their boxes, both at my house and my sisters, and we would let her do it because at least she was creating her chaos in one place for like ten whole minutes. She would pull all the videos off the shelf one at a time and shake them until the tape fell out and then drop the box into the pile and get another. My sister was her babysitter and finally got tired of it (caue the phase never ended) and put all her videos into a locking cabinet. Laughing that we were the only people in the world who had to lock up their videos. Now that I look back the really silly part is that we would take time to sort them all back into the right boxes to have it done again the next day, what would it have matter if they were going to be dumped out tomorrow if we had put the in the nearest box and not worried about it. I don’t think she has one single toy left from her childhood, now she’s old enough to laugh about it and I tell she was the “bad” kid from next door in the Toy Story movie who destroyed all his toys.
Anyway, loved your blog will have to read more sometime.
Reblogged this on Annette's Little World and commented:
Ok I can relate this was a great read
what a beautifully written post! i was never much into arts as a child but my 7 yr old daughter is crazy about it.. we get boxes and boxes of colors of all kinds.. Oil pastel crayons, plastic crayons, roller crayons …. there was a time when my house was swamped with them.. then i got her a big set of drawers to put them away in.. now we get space to walk around! will make her read this post for sure.. maybe it will inspire her to organize them better!
Oh wow! I bought my toddler son an art set. It would drive me really nuts whenever he throws the contents around and fails to return each coloring material to its original (straight-from-the-manufacturer) slot. And I thought I was really…different.
I freaking LOVE you! 🙂 i am totally like this and people look at me like I’m the bad girl!? i just like things in their place and if it happens to belong to me or if i am in charge of it then why not keep things nice and easy? just saying. i myself try hard to put things back where others keep them so why can’t they do the same with me? great blog!
Great read! I can remember longing for that beautiful box of 64 crayons as a kid!
Bahaha! My stomach turned and I cringed when I read the part when the box was turned over…..aaaahhhh lol.
I have that problem with markers… Why on earth would you press down with the tip of a marker as hard as you can – the color isn’t going to come out any differently, and now I’m angry! I was a camp counselor (crafts) for a few summers, and it miffed me how kids had no regard for the proper treatment of their utensils!
Haha It seems I didn’t share that same organizational trait with you as a child. I bought one of those machines that melted crayons and made new colorful swirly crayons! Very cool, but of course, I broke all my crayons into itty-bitty pieces, put them all into the machine at once, and then they all melted together into brown, poop-colored messes. So then I had no crayons except for my poop-colored ones. Needless to say, I was coloring very ugly pictures for a while and my parents were smart enough not to buy me any new crayons.
*Grateful sigh* I am not the only kid who was nuts about their crayons? I got to the point that I got my own box that no one but my grandma, aunt, and I were allowed to use because we knew how to. Admittedly I still am nuts about my writing and art supplies and am very selective on who gets to use them if at all and I still love my 64 colors.
The built in pencil sharpener! I’d forgotten how great that was. I also love how Crayons smell. Sometimes I will go to the art supplies aisle in the grocery store just to take a sniff.
I am currently living in Hungary, and although they have Coke, Snickers chocolate bars, and Lays potato chips, they do not have Crayola crayons. It is tragic.
Thanks for a great post!
So funny!! I actually, reorder(ed) my Crayola crayons… I think whoever puts them in the box has had a huge lapse in judgement!! They should be color coded…
Hahahaha, this is hysterical and yet so informative. That box of 64 crayola crayons was the height of sophistication in the realms of childhood, sharpener in the back included. I remember mine and absolutely loving it, the possibilities were endless! 😀 In the scheme of things, I don’t blame you for being a crayon fascist, honestly I believe I am at times as well. The way your post was written here just brings you to life in such a funny way, and I thank you for making me laugh tonight, I needed it. 😀
I use to be the exact same way as a kid, but then one time someone dumped out all the colors and I didn’t know how to arrange them the same way so I just ordered them alphabetically and tricked myself into thinking that’s how they were put together in the first place.
Thank you! You inspired me to write a reply to your Crayons 😉 Thanks http://wp.me/z4FZ
Nice post 🙂 and yeah I can relate to this though not for crayons but a toy. I go frantic whenever my favorite toy was touched by another playmate..NO TOUCHING MY TOY!! 😛
i know exactly what you speak of. i always kept my crayons in ROYGBIV order whether there were 8 or 100 colors (which i rec’d one fated christmas in its fantastic plastic carrying case!!) and would absolutely let LOOSE on any kid who happened to want to use them in a coloring session. it got to the point where all the kids in class heard about the crayon nazi. 😉
Nice post. I am the same way with my micron pens and pens (all of them one color: black), however my roommate’s cat, Patch, likes to run off with them and hide them in her nest with her other trinkets. While I think she’s cute, it does get to be a bit of a drag.
Exciting news!
Very nice article.
http://www.growth-flexpro.com
64 different crayons, I didn’t even realise there were that many colours! I know I always just had the standard box of 6 or 12 or something 😦
Loved ur post, made me nostalgic abt my childhood fascination for colors. Even i loved my color pencils, crayons and water colors – though this love was nuthing compared to urs..lolz..but ya even i get kinda nervous when somebody borrows stuff from me…it has to be returned in time and in d same condition, which is usually nt the case and it freaks me out too..
Great funny post I was exactly the same and till this day you better not mess with my stuff!! Check out my colour post 🙂 in a different way. Really enjoyed your read. http://arhitekturaplus.wordpress.com/2012/01/13/splash-of-colour-on-a-friday/
Ha, very funy! I’m the same, but with pots and pans. “NO, don’t DRAG it across the hob!”, “Make sure you clean the bottom of the pan too!” and other such phrases.
whenever my dad goes abroad, i ONLY ask him to buy me coloring materials. I have this one set since 2000, and it’s hardly used! 🙂
Great story. I am the same way. I get upset if someone uses my “stuff”.
so true! i get upset and look how the borrower uses my stuff!! oh yeah, and instead of buying colored pens in a set, i prefer buying them one by one. although i can afford the whole set, i prefer just buying one at a time.. and every time i decide to buy one, i spend minutes deciding which one to buy! :))
wonderful color
http://www.alasifpackages.com/
I am a crayon fascist – I really like things to be neat and in order which is impossible with 200 or so students using classroom space.
I really like ordering the paint into a gradient, but it doesn’t stay that way for long xx
Hahaha! I was exactly the same, and still am actually…only I don’t attack the person as I would of done back then!
lol I must admit I use any excuse to use my daughters crayons and ‘colour’ with her 🙂 Crayons will never loss their charm.
My sister and I both finally received the 150 Crayons fold out displays. You could put the crayons in yourself. So, my sister and I would just take them… and sort them by color, and shade.
All our blues, yellows, oranges, greens would meticulously be put together by shade.
Now I have boys… they just dump them in the box. Torn papers and all lol.
wxxsw
Ah, I still remember the smell of a brand new box. Pure heaven. I share your love.
PS There was a fantastic Sesame Street video in the early 80s of a girl looking at a Melon colored crayon (I loved that color) and then it flashed to the Crayon factory where they made that crayon — it showed the wax being rolled and cut. I sincerely wanted to dive into that big vat of orange wax and live in it.
Nice surprise on a Friday the 13th. Well written cute little post You sound a lot like my woman, you’re not a librarian by any chance? As she has discovered I’m a dump the crayons out kind’a guy lol…
Anyway good read
I was a crayon dumper, I have to admit. I needed to see each one laid out and spread across my table in order to truly choose which one was perfect for my project. 🙂 Sadly, it sounds as if we could have never been friends. (Kidding…I suppose I could have respected your crayon order)
I do remember the magic of the 64 color box though. That built-in sharpener was a big deal.
Long live the Fascist!
I can truly relate to you pursuit of an organized classroom. Some would call my passion about organization a disease. haha
This post is amazing. I was kinda the same way in my youth — except, instead of keeping them organized the way the good people at Binney & Smith intended, I instead had to keep them organized in each of their little boxes by color. All the reds and pinks in one, blending into the oranges and yellows, and so on. God help my little sister if she used one and didn’t put it back in color order…. hoo boy. 😀
Now, however, I’m much more “devil-may-care” with my crayons (yes, I still occasionally like to color – it’s soothing). Now they’re all thrown into a box and I have to dig for the color I want.
You’re awesome 🙂 I was also upset by my brother who got into MY pencil/marker set. Everything had a holder in a molded plastic case, everything was in order. That only fueled the fire for other arguments.
Great post for Freshly Pressed!
Oh, this is lovely. Packaging is so wonderful. I also like to replace presents back in the wrapping paper after I’ve opened them. Sadly (and also happily) I live with children who have inherited their father’s untidy, imprecise attitude to belongings. I’m with you on the scissors and the saucepans too!
i have to go buy a 64 box of crayons now… i thought i was over that part of my life *looks back with fondness*… apparently i was wrong…
Pingback: The Crayon Fascist–By Deep Blue Night « ElephantsWind
Frankly, I am stunned that so many people would have or comment on crayon neuroses.
They say, “It’s the little things…”
This could have been written by me. I wish it was. I’m having flashbacks! Beautiful, beautifully arranged crayons…all the same size…people who colour in/write roughly to this day irritate me!
Really cool post, very funny. I guess you have to let things go though, otherwise they own you.
Ok, even worse, imagine a friend opening the box from the bottom, or egads, ripping it open. My heart pounds just thinking of it.
And what about people who chew on your pencils or pen caps? Ugh!!!!!
So glad I’m not alone on this… 🙂
That is hilarious.
Love this!! I never had a box of more than 16 until I went to college. Then I went all out and bought the BIG box of 96! I hate, hate, hate when my picture books get roughed up, or pieces are lost to board games. I want the complete set, not fill-ins. Unfortunately I have to stuff those feelings down because I am an elementary teacher, and after all, the kids to have to use the materials!! 🙂
I LOVE this story as I was an artistic child and still am but I certainly know what it feels like when someone ruins something you treasure so deeply it’s so frustrating and somewhat tragic crayons are scared when you are a child the last thing you want is someone to destroy them it was a good laugh. 🙂
Oh how I remember doing something so very similar. I was very OCD as a kid … still am… but I also wanted to be an artists and all my things had to be JUST right. my friends hated coloring with me because i always colored better then them and they couldnt understand why my pictures had to be SO perfect. Guess Ipassed this on, my oldest daughter is an artist now and …. the same way.
Thanks for this!
Thoroughly delightful read ! (Made all the more so because I was the same kid, and am, to my occasional shame, the same adult!) Congratulations on being Freshly Pressed! You deserved it!
I have this issue, in a way, at my house, on an adult level. For me, it’s simple economics.
I grew up in a working class family. Odds of getting another box of 64 crayons any time soon would have been….low. After all, what did I need 64 for anyway? I can hear it in my head now: “Back in my day, we had to make-do with three crayons, and they were all the same color, and we had to walk uphill barefoot in the snow to use them, and beat our coloring books clean with our heads.”
Yeh, okay, not really. But you get the idea. Those crayons would have been treated as if they were sacred, along with everything else. Because they would not (and could not) be replaced.
My husband grew up in a home where he was able to have 64 crayons anytime he wanted.
Now, we are like our own private sit-com.
In any event, I’m with you. Your stuff will last longer. Call in the economic approach. : )
Oh my! I had to laugh at this. Gave me flashbacks… to my desk @ work. I have my basic fountain pen (I can’t afford the thouand dollar beauties), two mechanical pencils, a set of ultra fine point Sharpies & one chunky Sharpie for boxes. These are MINE. For everyone else who has to take off with pens/pencils, I have a small stack of Bic pens, wood pencils & the second chunky Sharpie that someone used on a day I was out sick (the clip was broken, GRRR). I don’t mean ‘borrow’ — I refuse to have a chewed or bent pens/pencils in my space. I use an exacto to trim up the edges of crayon wrappers when I finally have to remove them to continue coloring… used to carefully peel the wrapping & rewrap when done coloring, but I found that the wrappers got mixed up (by the philistines) & people (the philistines) felt free to borrow, break & otherwise mangle my poor crayons if unwrapped.
As a former Art major, I pay a hefty amount on quality supplies, so don’t even get me started on color pencils, markers, paints, etc…
“I’m CDO, it’s like OCD except all the letters are in order like they should be” (love this t-shirt)
This blog entry rocks my socks off!! Finally, someone gets it. I have my old tin can of crayons that are okay for my piano students to use, and then I have my OTHER crayons (the ones that have not had the tip compromised by a sharpener and are arranged as I see fit by color) that are hidden when children come to my home.When I was a kid, my mom made me let someone else color in MY coloring book (I was NOT happy). He took my precious crayons and colored so forcefully with them that not only were the tips completely dulled, but you could scratch off an entire layer of crayon on the coloring book itself and the picture was STILL colored in adequately. Talk about wasteful!! I won’t even talk about his inability to stay within the lines. When he left, I promptly threw out both the book AND the crayons. I mean, I have standards! Oh, and P.S. Cerulean is my favorite shade of blue.
Great post. When I was a kid I spent ages lining up my pens and pencils in colour order, like a rainbow! Other kids said that I was weird and messed it up 😦 I remember that my favourite crayola crayon colour was always periwinkle. Whilst searching for an image of periwinkle, to fuel my own nostalgia, I came across this blog that you might find interesting http://artisticanomaly.wordpress.com/2010/06/page/2/
I really enjoyed reading this! I can definitely relate. However, whenever I buy my new box of crayons or huge pack of Crayola markers I have to rearrange them by color (like a rainbow). It drives me insane when someone pulls out two at a time and then puts them back in the wrong places. Seems silly, but it’s one of my quirks I guess.
I can so totally relate to this…. peeling the paper–GAAAA!! Sent shivers up my spine. And, I too am this way today with my desk at the University where I work.
I think it is quite possible that you are actually ME! I am the exact same way! I am a terrible untidy person but when it comed down to equipment like paints and craft materials I have the worst OCD behaviour. I dont even want to mention my box of sketching pencils.
I used to have that same 64 crayola box and when I saw that my brother had used and abused it, I had a tantrum. He snapped my crayons in two and broke the box with the built-in sharpener. i was devastated, so I feel you, been there, done that…
I loved this post! My six-year-old daughter is hyper-protective of her crayons both at home and at school. Yesterday she brought home an “I Have a Dream” project from school. On each sheet they were to color a picture and fill in the blank of what they wish would come true for their home, neighborhood and school. Her dream for school stated: For more sharp crayons. I think I have to save your post for future reference. Thanks!
Oh, my God, you’re my Crayola fascist twin! I, too, have come to be in charge of the laptop cart and have a fair number of classroom supplies … and I’m sure I drive everyone around me insane with my managing of said laptops and supplies. But really, their wanton sloppy behavior is just plain unacceptable!
Loved this post!
Nothing like a fresh Crayola box of crayons…I am partial to lime green…You hilariously explain your tendency to be a bit territorial…. like my husband…I think it gets worse the older you get…But not to worry….When you run out of your stuff, someone will be around to share theirs with you:-)
You and I were cut from the same bolt. I turned out to be a scientist though which kind of validates a compulsive life force. Nicely written. I love the idea of speaking in pictures and hearing in color.
I love your blog thanks for sharing yourself with us!! T
In kindergarden we were each issued a box of eight chunky crayons. I shared a.table with five other students, including Dorothy. Every so often Dorothy would set her crayons out for all of us to see because she kept her crayons in the correct order. Me and my table mates would then, happily, have the opportunity to set our crayon colors right. I always have grateful for Dorothy’s generousity.
I can SO identify with you and your Crayola box! I grew up in India and on a visit to the US I had made up my mind that I could not return home without my box of 64 crayons with built in sharpener! I am certain that box still resides in the warmth and safety of my parents home.
Terrific read!
this is hilarious! i too have a mild case of ocd. oddly enough crayons were a big issue for me as well. at one point, in an attempt to consolidate all our crayons (my sister and mine), my mom dumped all the boxes into a tupperware container. i cried claiming that my crayons were sharper and cleaner and better kept. it was horrible.
http://www.icouldntmakethisshitup.wordpress.com
I too loved my 64-box, until a friend brought over her 120-box! Could it be?! Then I had my own children…. and not just children–boys. Boys that just don’t care and actually break everything. So now I buy them a 64-box and myself a 120-box. Life is good as a grown up–at least when it comes to crayons.
http://www.kzackuslheureux.wordpress.com
Funny! I work as an art teacher right now and,,,,you would not believe the arguments over the hoarding of the “sparkly” crayons! Thank goodness Crayola had not introduced those yet when you were a kid. Could have been worse! lol
I’m loving the fact that you had so much initial trust- like: “Hey want to color?” under the complete assumption that they would treat your crayons the same way you do…. hmmm… I see an excellent pop psyche quiz here: How did you treat your crayons when you were little
a) dump them
b) dump them & break them
c) fastidiously arrange and carefully keep them
d) lose them
e) dump break lose and steal them
Says a lot about people I think, and look- I’d like to play and be friends with more C’s
Loved the post! Thank you!
Oh. My. God. I completely forgot that I even had a box of Crayola crayons with a built-in sharpener until I read this post. I LOVED them! I too insisted that they remain in order and at an even level of sharpness. I wonder if my mum still has them somewhere? She better not have have messed with the order…
Pingback: 7 childhood indications that lead to the inevitable nuerotic-anal-retentive-Jessica. | I just want to go home.
I liked getting the two crayons at the Restaurant and sharing my two crayons with my sister, who usually got one of the same colors as me, and coloring in the paper placemat.
I just read sections of this out loud to the other people in the room because I was the EXACT same way .. They didn’t quite get it they way I did, but they probably peeled the paper off of their crayons. 🙂 Thanks for the great post!
I love the idea of having a pristine box of crayons, and everything in its place. However, as the youngest of four girls I NEVER had a new box of crayons that I remember, and if I did it didn’t say NEW, or MINE, for very long at all. When I married, for some reason my [now ex-] husband treated anything belonging to me exactly the same way. I had to wave goodbye to any OCD tendencies long long ago. A mate who recognizes and honors your personal belongings and quirks – even if they tease – is a wonderful thing.
Gosh I’m a little like this too and some friends think I’m “strict”. Its MINE stuff, what can I say? At least you’re funny… 🙂
Why didn’t you buy several packets of crayons and keep one of them for your use only? Then the other kids could use a different one (:
Haha! This is brilliant! I’m the same but with my bedroom, I get so uneasy when someone try’s to tidy it or touches things. Nice to know I’m really not alone haha!
Many people never learn the simple facts of deferred gratification:
If you take the time to put each thing back in its assigned place, you won’t waste time in the future looking for it.
I’m not the most orderly person in the world, but I understand the concept. Many people don’t.
Pingback: Of Journals And Crayons | Ramblings of a Misguided Blonde
I shamefully admit, I kept my crayons in a color order and shit bricks when people messed with them…
Hilarious. I completely and totally relate to this. I am so glad I’m not the only one who’s irrationally neurotic about stupid things. It’s comforting no? I’m not so naive that I don’t realize I have control issues….lol…but it’s nice to share the burden with other. Too freakin’ funny! Nicely done.
i still have a box of colourful soft pastels that i dont use because it would spoil their fine square form. I guess I understand your fascism then. Well worded 🙂
I’m glad I’m not the only one who reacts like this. I lost many friends during my childhood due to my finicky nature, including my beloved crayons and pencils. At least now, when I tell my coworkers to not touch my things, they usually listen.
Now, to teach them to wash their greasy food-handling hands before they touch my things.
I freaking love this! i can relate. Do you remember the Jumbo Crayons in Kindergarten..i love them but when I was in the 3rd grade and my mom purchase my 1st 64 pack of Crayola Crayons I fell in love, as well. Do you remember the smell of them? So fresh..so colorful.. The best part was definitely the built-in sharpener..what genius would have thought to build such a thing. Thank you for sharing..those were the days. but now i have Crayola Color Pencils that i draw and color with..my childhood passion.
Oh, my goodness! I can completely relate! When I was a kid, someone gave me plastic crayon case (with a built-in sharpener) that held 100 and something crayons. I was in heaven! I spent hours organizing them in their color groups according to the rainbow. With 4 siblings I had to learn to share, but oh how I cringed when they messed up my order!
When my daughter was in pre-K, she brought home “homework,” which was a worksheet of a map of the United States. She was coloring in each state with her beautiful, luscious new Crayola crayons. I was seduced. “May I help you?” I beseeched. “No,” Mom, “that would be cheating.,” she replied. The pain. The pain.
I freaking love this! i can relate. Do you remember the Jumbo Crayons in Kindergarten..i love them but when I was in the 3rd grade and my mom purchase my 1st 64 pack of Crayola Crayons I fell in love, as well. Do you remember the smell of them? So fresh..so colorful.. The best part was definitely the built-in sharpener..what genius would have thought to build such a thing. Thank you for sharing..those were the days. but now i have Crayola Color Pencils that i draw and color with..my childhood passion.
Reply
Ha-ha! This post totally made me crack up! I was like that with a set of colored pencils my mom’s friend gave me, except that one had 100 pencils to order! Of course, it eventually got messed up when my friend came over, but I happily discovered that there were numbers on the side, saving me from having to rack my brains for a photographic memory. Loved your post!
K
OMG! I found my Crayola twin! My parents and two brothers thought that I was crazy when it came to my crayons. They knew that there wasn’t going to be any sharing. So my parents got them markers- the ones that smelled like fruits! I had one box that went to school – the 16 pack but the 64 pack with the sharpener stayed home hidden under the bed.
Loved the post! Bought back memories!
A little bit of OCD going on there, I suspect. Laugh out loud funny, though!
Congrats on being FP’d.
As a child, and a lover of creating,I was stuck in a family that were self absorbed, and they only noticed my art years later. I was not afforded any items to aid me in my efforts. I found what was used, a back of a gas bill, napkins, ink pens, even school issued #2 pencils were my tools. For years I drew on the back of resturant place mates and let my work for the bus boys. Even after I grew older I stayed to form and gained a scratch method, using what I had~ of course . Not until I meet my wife and her side of the family did I branch out into all the amazing mediums that I could play with… They helped me go from index cards to beautiful water color paper and English Canvus,,,Every birthday Xmas Etc., I recieve atleast two art gifts..Fast forward, I have two sons, and from time to time I would forget my tools and they would fall into the tiny, destructive hands of those boys. At first I was greedy, I would gather up everything and hide it, leaving them with those cheap Wal-mart imagination enhancers. One day I saw myself in those little blue eyes, in those little minds crisscrossing the pages coloring out of line, or not even on the paper, I saw myself creating… Soon I open my tool chest and my mind to those little creative minds, and am glad that I did, so be it hundreds of dollars of supplies are gone, I gained priceless amounts of smiles and wonder fathers day gifts from my willingness to share… Loved your story, it brought back fond memories!
hello good web !
vist news-
http://www.lunetteraybanpaschere.com
I have a set of Prismacolor art pencils. 120 colors. I also have an electric sharpener. Don’t touch.
I know exactly how you feel. My Mom is that well and passed it on to me. She even wrote my initials on each crayon in my box so they wouldn’t go missing. I got made fun of, but no one stole a SAM crayon!
Great post, looking forward to more.
I can’t believe there are other people like this too! I swear, this is the reason I have a hard time sharing my arts materials with my classmates because I think my crayons and other materials are too perfect to be ruined by others. I guess you could say that my stinginess has led to my interest in art though.
Awesome post! This made my day 🙂
This was hard to read – is that a little sad?
The moment Beth got hold of your crayons I seriously contemplated leaving the page and living the rest of my life safe with the image of all crayons in tact and in order. I wish I had.
I’m exactly the same – right down to colouring technique. I work on a reception desk and have a three pen system. There’s my pen, there’s the pen for everyone else to use and then there’s the spare pen for when the guest pen inevitably goes missing…and yet I am forever handing over my pen with a smile whilst internally screaming at the rest of the office for their inability to do anything correctly. It’s tough.
This is me — still. It hurt me inside to read about that Fantastic Box being abused by Beth in that way! I don’t let people touch my crayons still, and I’m twenty-something.
I completely understand. This made me laugh in that sickening “I’m laughing at myself now” way. I was so crazy about the 64 Crayon box, I got too stressed out to use them, and that behavior follows through to this day. My art pencils, charcoal, pigment pens… they barely even get used anymore due to my insanity. If I use one up completely, the others in the set get shelved, and I buy a new set. Haha
Ouch… sorry about your pencils… that hurts…
One would have to wonder what is the best behaviour from us, parents, towards our children when it comes to lending them our belongings…
When I was 10, I was given a box of 24 colouring pencils. Excellent brand , they were so smooth to use…
I made numbers for them so they would always find their spot in a shading rainbow like arrangement. I don’t remember having a case at all fro them but recall clearly taking them out and displaying them neatly, always following the numbers. They always had to be in that order. I didn’t like people using them and always made sure I was the only user. People, drop them, forget to bring them back, let alone put them in the colouring order!!
Now, being a mother of two, I’ve had to go through the dilema: “lend or not to lend”… ?
I did. I did lend them my pencils. I waited 10 years though… just to make sure!! lol
They loved them right away and quikly became their favourite for they are so great to use.
For 20 years I have kept my best pencils in great shape, my rubber collection in their special case, and many other fantasy stationary items…
It’s been one year now and only 3 are left!
Today… they’re all scattered, lost , damaged, broken…
Now what did I teach my children by doing that?
what did they learn?
what did I learn?
😉
Peeling the crayons is like breaking the spine of a book … oh I relate! Lovely post!
I loved this post! It is funny yet true for some of us. I too was a crayon fascist. It went so far that I made a list with all the colours in my good coloring pencil set for high school art lessons to show the order they were supposed to be in, at all times. I wrote their identification number and I colored it with the correct pencil, and it really does make me feel better.
As a kid I started that way with a new box of crayons . I loved the perfection ,but being who I am it was not long before I would pull more than one from the box ,peel back the paper and this box of perfection was soon a jumbled mess.
I can totally relate to this blog post. I had to beg, for months, for my mother to buy the set of 64. My dream came true and I transformed overnight, into a ten year old Hitler. Those crayons were my world. Sharpener on the back? Talk about modern technology…
I spent hours arranging the colors, trying out different concepts and patterns. No one was allowed to touch a single crayon without authorized permission (from me of course) and then only under supervision (me again).
I’m proud to share that today as a grown woman, I treat my multi-colored highlighter set with the same reverence. My children ask to use them. They are denied. My agenda pages are breath taking.
Genius creator or cry for help? Lol…
Ha! Ha! This is so me! I guarded my crayons as a child. Hated it when someone would break one of my crayons or put it in the “wrong” space! I was one with my crayons! As an adult with grandchildren, I have grandma’s box of crayons and grandchildren’s box of crayons. When I use color words like periwinkle, my husband retorts, “I didn’t have the 96 color box! You did!” and laughs. In defense of Crayon Hoarders United, I am very generous to a fault in buying new boxes of crayons and paper for any new child I meet. Need to spread the love of creativity and color.
And there was me thinking I was the only one.
Great post. If you want to see real art, 99% done with those 64 crayons, please check out my art site on wordpress. http://www.stushieart.com.
BTW, I still keep all of my colors in order too….:)
So brilliant and such nice memories! 🙂
I’m not very careful about crayons (though I love them, they’re sooo pretty!), but I am quite the fascist when it comes to toys. I want them handled in a particular way which is non-negotiable!
oh my goodness i absolutely loved this!!
hilarious……..
I’m kind of similar, i used to work in a nursery and i was a house keeper, i had a trolley with tea and coffee making facilities i.e water canisters, cups, saucers, spoons and biscuits,, well the point in my story is i had to set it up daily on my own and I’m glad of the help of others but they would always come and set it out differently!!
now they figured out that this made my skin crawl and would get to my trolley before me!! but i was too polite to rearrange my trolley, it’s safe to say i was flustered when they helped!!
XXX
Please tell me – how to raise my daughter. The two boys on either side of her are just like me. We are easy-going, we share our stuff, we don’t pay particular attention to where things are located, not possessive or meticulous, and mostly carefree. But my 8yo daughter is strict, structured, strong-willed and intense. Every panda bear on her bed has its own spot. I know these things are great qualities down the road. She will be an ambitious and strong woman. But some days, I am at a loss as to how to harness her intensity and help her flourish. Got any wisdom on the matter?
reason with her, let her help you daily with decisions it will make her feel important as well as give her some confidence in her knowing u want her help on certain things.
and stand your ground!
xxx
This is great! Haha I was exactly the same way with all my little art supplies. They were like GOLD to me. Every vibrant color had to be perfectly thought out in the best way to use it so that it would not be wasted. 🙂 So glad i found this blog. made me smile! 🙂
LOL, so funny! I was homeschooled and my brother and I were a bit crazy about normal sharing standards… And hey, who would want to mess up the order of the crayons? It’s way better when they fade from light to dark and shade to shade.
As a former educator and lover of crayons myself, my spouse will attest to similar behavior on my part. These are the crayons my kids could use, this is mom’s box. I blame my grandpa for always having new boxes of crayons for me as a kid.
Oh my god, I was like you. I was freakishly protective of all my drawing stuff and would freak out if ANYONE touched it. Awesome article. XD
Haha! Thank you for the smile this morning – I needed it!
I was an outliner, too. =)
I am so with you on the crayon front. I still have a box of crayons I bought I think it is a box of 64. I never use it, but because I never had one as a child I had to own one as an adult. I hate to admit that my OCD may have caused me to rearrange the colour scheme where all the reds, greens , blues, metallic were grouped together.
I have thought many times that I should get rid of my lonely unused box of crayons, but I just cannot do it. They are special to me because it represents a piece of childhood I missed out on.
I also have plastic baskets in my freezer, so that everything in there is organized as well. I have two for meat, one for wraps and breads and one for veggies. Even my “junk” drawer has little baskets to keep things organized.
I embrace my neurosis’ and if anyone has an issue with them then sorry that is your problem, not mine.
Thanks for writing about your organizing obsessions.
I love my giant box of crayons too! I will NOT sharpen them! They are NO good once the original point is used up.
I feel every word of your obsession with the crayons. I know how each color has its significance in the picture and its special spot in the box. Sadly, I was never able to keep rules about the box, I was one of many. There is no control when it comes to a large group of rowdy kids.
Then, years later, I stocked up on about 15 boxes of crayons for my children, a 64 limited editions pack with sharpener out back, and still they have not gotten them. I gave them a small 25 pack and I watch them in horror as they peel all the papers and crack them into bits and pieces…. It is scary.
The rest are for me. They can’t touch it. Now that I see how 3 boys can demolish a poor pack of crayons, no more for them.
Congrats on FP! Great post.
Dang. I love crayons! You seem very passionate about your crayons. interesting post.
I also have fond memories my first box of 64. It was probably the greatest of all prestige items a child could own. I guarded mine ruthlessly, too. Terrifc article.
Great post!
I really like your blog! Would love for us to follow each other in our journeys! I am chronicling 2012 with a photo a day and insight to follow.
http://aphotoaday2012.com/
Beautiful photos! Your blog will give me something pleasant and inspirational to look forward to every day. I *love* taking photos, but I’m not very good at it yet. But I’m working on it!
I always arranged my crayons in what I believed to be rainbow order, starting with white, shades of pink, etc. and winding up with colors that didn’t belong on the rainbow at all, like the browns, and finally grey and black. I didn’t like it when other kids messed up the order either, but at least it was *my* order, and I could always figure it out again!
I love this post! I never knew there were that many others that couldn’t/don’t handle that crayons and scissors are not organized, and that also applies for my clothes and my CDs and much more, really. I even keep my bookmarks on the computer organized into topics and pages. When I was younger I organized my pencils in order of color or length, and got all crazy when my best friend (maybe needless to say, no-longer best friend) threw all my pencils on the table and started dipping them in water to smudge out the color like as if she was painting. True torture to me. Really dreadful memory. I still cringe when I think about it.
Anyways, thank you for this up-lifting post! Keep up the good work!
Pingback: Versatile Blogger Award « jodiebethinhercrystalroom
Oh Lord… There are more of us! Enjoyed reading and can relate so much, don’t get me started on my colored pencils and my new paper…. I have a brand new leather bound drawing book my son gave me and can’t even bare to draw in……good to know I am not alone!
I still love that box of 64 crayolas – and I’m 49!
Pingback: Super Sunday SpecTACULAR! | musingsoftheamusingmuse
Rolling on the floor laughing with recognition! You, my crayonly retentive friend, are not alone.
I would never trust myself with a 64 pack. They always seem to be disappearing on me. I’m fine with my little posse of chromatic delight. 8 little sticks of wax in a battered cardboard box.
I used to be quite anal but then I realized that I was taking out all the fun for myself and others involved.
Did you know you can grate your crayons and melt the flakes into patterns you arrange on your jeans? Just lay wax paper then regular paper over the sprinkle gratings and iron it with a warm iron. Remove the paper and wax paper as soon as the crayon bits melt and let it cool. Walla! Crayon art on your jeans. You can melt bits of broken crayons in the cups of an old muffin tin to make big blocky mixed color crayons! See, all those broken crayons are useful! =D~`
I am the exact same way and my students learned very quickly not to touch my stuff. When I left my job as a gift to my teaching partner, I told her she could now put the stapler wherever she wanted! I was a nazi about where the stapler went.
This is perfect. I never let my sister use my box of 64 crayons for the exact same reason. And I might have gotten worse over time. For Christmas, my daughter got the coolest crayon set. It’s, like, 100 crayons in this three-tiered, circular container…but they were not in any kind of order…at all. I let it go for almost a month. I would cringe everytime I walked by the art supplies. But yesterday, I finally sat down and arranged all of the crayons according to the color wheel. (Why would you have a circular container and not arrange the crayons according to the color wheel? It’s called a wheel!) They look much better now. It makes me sad that it won’t last. My daughter is only two, and I think it’s a little early to put so much pressure on her…but I will probably add “arrange crayon set” to my monthly chore list…That’s pretty messed up.
Great story! I am almost tempted to take a trip to Walmart at 2:30am just to see if each box contains each color in order. I look forward to your next post.
the smell of a new box of crayons is epic
My exact thoughts!
that smell brings back lovely memories!
Ah yes, the fights a new box of crayons would invariably lead to in the playground…
Thank you so much for this post! It brought a smile to my face and reminded me a lot of myself as a child, a teenager, and even to this very day! 😉
As I was reading this, I couldn’t help but think, ‘This was me. This still is me.’ I used to do it with my crayons and colouring pencils as a child and I still do it with everything and everyone: my work colleagues when they ask if they can use my stationery, my boyfriend when he’s pouring coffee from my cafetière, the cashier when she’s putting my debit card in the chip & PIN machine… They just don’t use my stuff how it’s supposed to be used! I used to think that there was something up with me but, after reading this, I feel so much more ‘normal’!
Wow, this post is about me and how I feel about the things I own! I even lock my stationary in my desk after work everyday, leaving only a stack of post-its. I just found out last week, that the team who sits near me, has been using MY post-its (I’m the only person who has pink, square post-its in the office), to stick all over their cabinets and use on their desks!! I was seeeeeething and needed to take a walk. I completely feel your pain and it’s comforting to know I’m not the only one out there who feels like this 🙂 Thanks and congrats on being Freshly Pressed!
I LOVE this.
So many of us can relate to this.
I try to control myself—but —-now figured out a little solution—I BUY TWO of everything that is precious to me.
I save one for just my use and the other one –frankly I don’t care LOL
You are not alone!
“Maybe it’s from a parallel universe, and it’s actually YOU writing that, Mom.” – my son, after listening to me read aloud The Crayon Fascist. Meanwhile, I’m impressed that he understood the words I was reading, since I was laughing so hard.
Love this post! you made me laugh so hard.
You are not alone…I confess I still have a box of crayola crayons from my school days and a box of pencil colors from junior high….my treasures! ha ha ha
This definitely beats getting an iphone as a six year old for Christmas. Kids nowadays…..get off my lawn!
The only reason I kept them in the box was so I could find the ones I wanted quicker without making too much of a mess. I recently redid my art caddy of coloring pencils and various type pens for that reason. They never seem to stay organized as long as I want them to. 😦
Enjoyed your post, amazing how many of us like to keep our crayons organised. I too still have a couple of boxes from way back with all pencils in the original order!
I was this kid too! Such a funny read!
I’m like this with myself! I got so mad after I used my christmas present for the first time! (a 48 colored pencil set) I got so sloppy I mixed the pencils out of order! Now they’re a mess… and I still use them. Come to think of it, I don’t think I have this problem… sorry. LOL! great post btw!
Funny! I’m Obsessive Compulsive and a perfectionist and I do things just like that. My friends learn to frogive me,though. I was reading that whole post and just going NOOOO in my head. Once I was writing a rough draft of one of my novels and I carried it to my folder were I keep them. I took five million 3 centemiter steps being so careful not to bend or wrinkle the page. It was halarious!
I enjoyed your post! I’m not sure if I ever owned a 64 box of crayons! That being said, my daughter taught me a lot about this over time. You’ll see a picture of my daughters crayons here. I hope you enjoy. I prefer your method but learned to keep an open mind! 🙂
I can so relate to this post and the 64 Crayons. I thought I’d died and gone to heaven when I got my box of 64 Crayolas…. thanks for the post!
I love it! My name’s Beth too, but I’m pretty sure I’m not the one who came to your house and messed with your crayons – or did you live in Glendora or Sacramento ?!?!?!?!?
Hello Beth! Thankfully for you but unfortunately for me, I don’t live in California. So you’re safe. 🙂
Hello. I love your blog and wanted you to know that I have nominated you for the Versatile Blogger Award. You can find the details at the following link:
But seriously, do you have synesthesia? A number of great composers did/do. I haven’t gotten around to blogging about them yet, but I find it very cool. My synesthetic thing is more sounds and emotions 🙂
shira, I always wished that I had it! (Oh. That’s weird, isn’t it?) Certain sounds do evoke colors for me, but I don’t think it goes as far as true synesthesia. I’ll be looking for your blog post about it. Thanks for reading!
I loved this. When I was younger, I didn’t really play with my dolls. I “arranged” them. Barbie’s Dream House was completely organized and if anyone bumped it (in turn knocking over furniture in the meticulously decorated rooms) I would lock myself in the upstairs room and cry. Now, everything has it’s own proper place – whether in the closet or the kitchen. My frustrated boyfriend is absolutely not allowed to help me put things away unless he’s being supervised hahaha
Your boyfriend has a kindred spirit in my husband. Just ask him what happens when my herbs/spices aren’t exactly as I need them!
Brilliant post. I wasn’t really into crayons but all my coloured pencils had to be rearranged so that they were in the right order – rainbow!
And I would find it hard to play with other children sometimes, not for games with dolls but pretend games, because I had everything sorted in my head and I wouldn’t like my friends suggestions for what to do haha. A family friend told me that once when I was little (she’s about 6/7 years older than me) she asked to join in with my game and I told her very sternly ‘no!’ I don’t even remember it but I know why I did it: I was too involved in the game and worried an outsider would ruin the magic of my imagining. So I guess I’m an imagination fascist?
I TOTALLY get that. 🙂 Thanks for reading my musings!
Oh, my gosh. I love this. It’s so completely true. Even now I have a box of 64 crayons that I won’t let anybody else use. The thought of somebody messing up my crayons makes me shiver, and not in a good way.
I really enjoyed reading this! It made me smile(:
I’m happy to have made you smile!
This was hilarious! I was (and still am) the exact same way! I hate it when people touch my thing, not just my crayons… I never even thought it was transcend into the classroom, I’m an aspiring English teacher, those students better watch out!
So I read this the other day and came back today to comment. Because I found myself almost linking to it while writing a post of my own today. I can TOTALLY relate. In fact I currently own, at age 29, a large box of crayons that I keep in order. I don’t know that they’re in the original order, but they are in rainbow order.
Don’t feel bad. When you mentioned the 64 Crayola Crayon set, I remember the feeling I had when I would get one of those as a gift. I too let OCD set in when it came to the colors. It’s funny, when you mentioned the neighbor kid dumping them out, I literally cringed. I felt my skin crawl. To be honest I don’t remember ever using one because I loved how cool they looked in the box.
I still have the 64 pack (with sharpener!) stowed away in my closet. I have used it maybe once or twice, but I hate the thought of them being less than perfect! When my husband and I were cleaning, he pulled it out and asked if we needed them. I snatched them from his hands and said, “Of course! Why would you even consider throwing them out?” …. or something to that effect. 🙂 Great post!
I loved my box of 64 shades with their beautiful arrangement of colours and the lovely poetic names. In art school, learnt to use oil pastels in the dirty, touchy feely way of art. (Tear the paper off, use them not from the tip but break and colour thickly by rubbing the sides of the crayons on the paper. Mix and blend) But my Crayola 64 remained beautifully colour co-ordinated and arranged as they had been when new.
Finally clicked to here from the Freshly Pressed page. So glad I did. This post absolutely cracked me up. I too did not share well, because the other kids wouldn’t treat my things the same as me. When Crayola retired some of the colors from there box of 64 (15-20 years ago, maybe) I bought one of the commemorative sets in a tin. I have opened the tin, but haven’t broken the seal on the box of crayons. They are special and must remain perfect.
It does carry over to pens too. I have my pen, then I have loaner pens. So I can share, without that feeling of nausea waiting for my pen to get back to me. 🙂
Ugh, and I’m a their/there/they’re Nazi and went and screwed it up! I meant *their box of 64…
Words. Sometimes too many, rarely too few.-I like this. So true..
brilliant post. will return to read more 🙂
Hi Tess, Oh I so relate! There was something about those new boxes and the way the colors were organized that was so delicious! I definitely was thinking about Binney & Smith when I wrote this post: http://raxacollective.wordpress.com/2011/11/15/the-colorful-point/. Cheers!
I actually have 2 sets of Crayons, one has been untouched since I’ve gotten it, and the other, well that’s the one I use. 🙂 No one, not even my daughter, can use the other box, which is still on my shelf, along with a set of washable markers and watercolor pencils, all of which are still unused up to this time. 🙂 and I also have 2 sets of identical pens, one which only I can use and the other which is free to be borrowed and used by anyone (although it does have my name on it). 🙂 yes, I know, weird much. 🙂
Hi Tess!
Your post made me remember my childhood and my painting habit(which I have left years ago). Even I had my own crayon and sketch box ,which I used to protect like a treasure of mine. I used to keep them so co-ordinated and in the same order they were when I purchased them. And now I see my niece doing the same. She gets cranky whenever I touch her painting kit. I found it weird;I thought it was some kind of weirdness running in my family…but its not;after reading your post and others comment.
Brilliant! You brought a smile to me face! 😀
I feel like the built-in sharpener is a winner here!
Brilliant post, I just finished a University module on Italian Fascism so it’s interesting to see a later…offshoot of the movement
I loved this post. You have such a way with words… Especially liked the way you kept referring to “The Fantastic Box of 64 Crayola® Crayons” and “Binney & Smith”. This was a Freshly Pressed well deserved and I’ll be coming back for more. x
That’s some entry you have there. I was so inspired, as a kid to keep on drawing. because I really lost my skills in art.
🙂
You remind me of my sister, can’t even go into her room without permission, she always knows when you move something, even if it’s the curtain…
Pingback: Links Lundi « Ruby Bastille
I loved your post but I can not identify with it at all! I was definitely a crayon dumper outer with no regard to order. My 6 year old is terrible with crayons! They’re all broken, paperless…bits and pieces of colorful wax. I crave your ability to be so ordered.
Wow – thats a lot of replys, I gave up on reading them *blush* but I still wanted to leave you comment, cause I truly know how you felt – for me it wasn’t crayons – it was in a way ALL my toys, but mostly my magazines and books, which I felt like people ruined when they they read them and were not as careful as I was. Anyway – I’m going to follow your blog from now on, caus I really like the way you write.
*K*
I just had to reply to your “crayon o.c.d” it so strikes a chord as I had the same problem with felt tip pens. Having bought a wonderful packet of felt tip pens in a fabulous selection of colours if any one had the nerve to mess up the nibs with another colour by scribbling roughly on top of a darker colour then I would deem the whole packet ruined and act as if that person had destroyed my life.
Art is a serious business to a six year old!
Loved the blog by the way…the best of nostalgia.
love this. i still appreciate the beauty in perfectly organized [or utterly chaotic, so long as they are not mine] art supplies. paints, crayons, colored pencils…PENTEL markers! oof. takes me back.
Yourpost made me laugh. It’s cute. I can be like that over some of my things. I have a special place for everything. No one can ever clean for me because I’m so picky. I loved it! (:
I’m so glad someone else has this problem. I still have my crayons, exactly as they were, and I can still only use Crayola. When I see children peeling the paper off their crayons, or breaking them, I can’t handle it. I, too, am crayon OCD.
I was the same way about my crayons. I still am the same way about everything. Even if there’s a mess everywhere else, certain things just need to be in perfect order. My books, my yarn, anything that I solely use. My poor daughters don’t know what they are up against. Once my husband dumped my 4 year olds crayons into a ziploc bag.I almost lost it.
This is way too good to be true! I am totally obsessed with my crayons. Heck, if a piece of paper flies it IS the end of the world. I am definitely OCD. Even worse, one time I discovered a crayon on the dinner table. Oh snap, right?
WOW! That is quite the story to tell! So funny and definitely gave me something to laugh about today as I sit in my office, trying to organize every little detail of every invoice/work order that comes through! I may not be organizing a crayon box, but I most definitely know how you feel! Haha!
i simply love crayons. i will admit still now i will sit and watch hundreds of crayons to see each subtle shade change and how incredibly colorful our world is. this is amazing to me. crayons – simple, yet satisfying.
Love it! I remember well as a child my first box of 64 Crayola Crayons. I was so proud of them. I was even worse than you when it came to sharing them. I didn’t let anybody else use them at first! I loved coloring. At one point, I had a fascination for Connect-the-Dots coloring books. Crayons were an important part of my childhood that gave me that warm, fuzzy feeling all over. I miss those days.
I love this story! Our crayon jar was full of broken crayons, all peeled, some without paper sleeves, used by six kids. For me, colouring is about together. I live far away from my siblings now, but just the thought of that activity makes me smile. Nostalgia I guess! I buy my grandkids boxes of 64 with all the wonderful shades of colour you mention and enjoy the colouring as much as always. My crayoning box now is full of colourful words.
Ohhh my. I want to write as beautifully as you. 🙂
Love the article. You are NOT neurotic, in my view (and i am a licensed psychotherapist). What i see is a person who held a special, secret sacred, space within as a child. The crayons are just the physical expression of that sacred part of the self. In a world that increasingly profanes life’s most special, intimate moments (ala reality shows, etc.) I interpret your guarding of those crayons as an adult (and they are YOURS, providing US and MY pencil holders is a very great and mature way to both share and hold private) as a metaphor for the priestess at the temple gate, turning away the profane from those secret, sacred places that deserve to be honored. In my humble opinion, having boundaries is very, very healthy.
I like the way you think. 🙂 Partly because you’ve told me that I’m not crazy, but mostly because I love your words. They are beautiful and comforting and quieting and centering. I need much, much more of that in my life. Thank you.
I can’t pretend to know how you feel about crayons, but I knew someone who felt similarly. My mother used to tell me a story about the crayons she had as a little girl. She took meticulous care of her crayons and was very proud of them. For this reason, she was especially proud when one of her teachers asked her to bring her crayons to school so the teacher could do an art demonstration. To my mom’s horror, the teacher began breaking the crayons, tearing off the paper and generally putting them to rougher use than my mom would have liked. I don’t think she ever lent out her crayons again.
i had forgotten my love affair with 64 colors. the pleasure of the box and the sharpener. how i would arrange them and rearrange them – by the color wheel, by their use, by their hue, by boy versus girl colors. and how i agonized over the peeled paper and the short ones. at the same time having pity for the lonely ones who were tall but not pretty enough to be useful. i could have written an animated movie about my crayons’ secret life. the basis of my success in protecting their existence: keeping a spare box of mismatched crayons for the philistines who wanted to color outside the lines.
I think I’m the same way with my books. I never borrow them, I just like them to be neatly aligned on the shelf above my bed. I also think I’d rather lose one of my friends than one of my books.
I love the way a box of crayons smells when it is first opened. I have several boxes of crayons and colored pencils stashed everywhere. I used to dump the box then reorganize by shade so the reds were all next to each other, then purple, blue, green, etc. and all the metallics and neutrals in their own Box Inside the Box. I wonder if I always bought new boxes of crayons because I didn’t want to peel the paper… hmmm… When I was in high school, I was in a magnet school for future teachers, and most of our projects were directed towards elementary students, so we called ourselves the Crayola Kids for how often we used crayons in our 11th grade classroom. Awesome. Now I have a 2 year old daughter who has finally learned not to chew on the crayons, but she has her own box of triangular Crayolas to ruin. 🙂
What a fun post, love the way you describe it all.. like forgetting what happened next but it probably involved pushing and grabbing!
Great post. I still have my set of 60 Faber-Castell Polychromo colour pencils from high school art (over twenty years ago). They are still in their padded fold-out case, in perfect numerical colour coded order. My desk on the other hand …
I also have a container of coloured Sharpies at work (given to me by my boss, also a Sharpie fan 😉 and I get very cranky when they disappear.
[And if you’re wondering about the ‘u’ in colour, I’m Australian, and that’s how we spell it. :-)]
While growing up in a large and poor family I longed for the box of 64 crayons. We had broken peeled crayons all tossed together in an old butter tub. Now as an adult I am the same way about crayons….I have my very own box and don’t let my kids touch them. Your post brought back some great memories. (:
I can remember a similar story. Although mine involved a younger brother and my mother settled it by mixing our crayons together to ensure that we had one of each colour in our boxes. I ended up furious and wouldn’t use them until I got a new box.
Oh my this makes me feel very queasy. I have issues with most of “my” things. I think the worst is my computer. I bought my first one in 2003. My soon to be out of my life forever ex-boyfriend asked to use it before I even had it out of the box. Then my next bf would download all sorts or things and yell at me for using my own computer, because the bandwidth was needed for his stuff. When I got my Mac nobody and I mean nobody was allowed to breath on it. My again soon to be out of my house ex-boyfriend wanted to use it immediately.
I have no idea why but all of my ex-boyfriends wanted to be the first to use my computer. Ohhhhhh I see now the key here is they are men and wanted to be the first. I get it now. Anyway three years later and grad school completed (that was why I bought the Mac in the first place) and I am over most of my possessiveness. But I still want to be the first to use whatever it is I just bought. I do not think that is too much to ask is it? Oh and crayons, yeah my mom used to reorganize them into color shade boxes. She had a weird method, but it seemed I had no choice in the matter. Lucky for you you mom didn’t do the same thing.
haha I was the exact same way! Gotta love childhood neurosis! Check out my blog on natural health/wellness http://manfonhealth.wordpress.com/ cheers!
I can’t stand peeled crayons.
This is so funny! What a relief that there is someone else out there like me. If anyone touched any of my Barbies, which were neatly organized, I would go off! I am still a neat freak!!! LOL
hehehe.
Well, this is weird. I did the exact same thing. I wanted them to be in the order they were purchased in. The CORRECT order. I especially liked the silver, gold, and bronze ones to be all in a row. That pleased me very much. So, yeah…I get it! 🙂
My gosh, I absolutely adore this post!! 😀
I totally understand I was exactly the same…hang on I AM exactly the same. Embrace all that it is that comforts you….it’s not about pleaseing everyone all the time.
i never had my own box of 64 crayola crayons. but i’m telling you i think we are so the same. nobody dares to touch my stuff at home. i don’t keep everything in a drawer or a cabinet but i always remember where i left things lying and how it looked. i enjoyed this post a lot.
It’s nice to know I’m not the only Mom/Wife/Business owner on the planted who feels the need to control the things in my life. Kudos.
Through her entire elementary career — when our second daughter would receive a box of colored pencils, before presenting them to her, we would carefully make a mark of each color – in the order they came in the box – very subtly on the interior of the folded lid. That way, when the melt down of disorganization reared its ugly head (which it always did) we had a solution. You are not alone.
Glad I’m not alone in this. It’s actually gotten a little worse now that I’m older. I hate when people just ham-handedly use my things, with no regard for order. But eventually, everyone learned not to ask me for anything, especially my crayons. 🙂
Pingback: A Kindred Spirit… « tinyartroom
I read this twice… just to be sure we aren’t long lost twins. LOVE. THIS. In my classroom I have a shelf of student supplies… their own stapler, tape, sharpener, pens, pencils, etc. And MINE must never be touched or disordered. I loved my crayons in order as well.
Ahh. I love the smell of crayons. Especially mixed with construction paper.
Too funny… I understand though. I only had the measly 16 color box, but when my daughter got the 64, I almost wanted to keep it for myself. B/c I knew that as soon as she touched it, it would be in disarray and there would be breakage.
Thats too funny. Now Im only 19 but i still have my first 64 in mint condition. never used it!!! its in a crayola tin too to protect it, sitting in the top corner on the top shelf of my closet, no lie!
Hilarious! I’m so with you! I used to re-arrange them all the time so they would look like they did when I first bought them. I was a HUGE fan of the scented crayons! Then kids started eating them….damn kids!
Wow. This sounds exactly like me. I was totally a crayon fascist. I still have a little bit of crayon fascist in me to this day- especially with scissors and art supplies. I like things to be neat, tidy and the way that I left them. This behavior helped me attract the perfect friends- ones that respect you and your things and expect the same in return. Good luck with your school duties!
Haha, so funny. I can totally relate! I was just like that as a child 🙂
With my messy way of painting/drawing, I’d probably drive you totally insane if I ever were to use your crayons… I kind of see myself beeing that kid that just emptied the box on the desk, for quick access to any colour of my choice.
My “fascism” instead reaches into other areas, like my extensive dvd-collection for instance…
They’re sorted alphabetically, failure to put a title back where it belongs must mean that you’re severly mentally challanged in some way and therefore probably won’t enjoy any of the films I own. -Hand it over!
If I trust you enough to let you borrow a few of them, and I get them back with any wear on the cover other than what was there before, you cut off!
If I get them back with – and my god, the horror! – fingerprints on any of the discs…I’ll call the cops on you, you reckless, out of control bastard!
Luckily – or maybe the word is “understandably” – not many people ask to borrow any films from me anymore… 🙂
I have a large wooden box of Derwent pencils, each arranged in order of hardness / softness, all the leads pointing the same way. All resting on the foam strip at top and bottom. AND NO-ONE ELSE IS ALLOWED TO TOUCH THEM!!!!!!!! Oh no. Never! They are MY best pencils and that’s the way they’re going to stay!
As a child, I also had issues with kids coming over and dumping my box of 64 crayons all over the place. It drove me crazy! I mean, those things are precious! Be careful, kid! lol!
Such a great post! Congrats on being Freshly Pressed! 😀
I can totally relate to your comments on pens, which is one of the reasons I use fountain pens. Nobody I know would have any idea whatsoever how to use one so I can safely use my pen stash at work. Plus, if they did walk alway I could find them easily. Congratulations on being Freshly Pressed and giving me a smile after my dentist appointment.:)
Wowa, and I thought I loved my stationary. My kids are forever pinching it, so I now have special hiding places they don’t know of.
oh my i so love this post! I was that way too! I am one of those lucky ones who got crayons that many..and yes like you i don’t like anyone using my crayons..no peeling and must be put in place too! hahahah and it is also that way till now… i teach my kids to do that as well. Whenever i see their crayons a mess..i turn into a monster…lol
I had a really great time reading this and although I’m not as particular about my crayons I sure do love them. I was once particular about a certain Flinstone phone when I was younger.
Come and admire my crayon pyramid-if you don’t have one I think you need one: https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/108736720802109656924/albums/5631965993829237441/5667224984570366242
This reminds me of many events in my childhood. If it wasn’t my crayons, it was my pencil case (pens in one part, pencils in another with colour pencils separately), my neatly organsied coloured card in my bedroom, or my CDs, DVDs and books in alphabetical order.
I’ve slightly grown out of it, but it keeps me organised which helps so much being a college lecturer. My mum had always told me that these traits also known as “skills” according to her, were a sign that I would be working in education.
Lovely post, filled me with memories and inspired me on a potential post. Thank you. 🙂
I would be very, very afraid. I remember having a complicated relationship with crayons. My parents told me I used to munch on them… When I look back, I was a weird kid. Maybe that’s why I never moved on from the 8 crayons. Hahaha.
I’m definitely like this about my good kitchen knives!
AND I too love my Crayons and have a Limited Edition tin box of Crayola Collector’s Colors. It features some crayon history and says in 1885, “Edwin Binney and C. Harold Smith formed the partnership of Binney and Smith to manufacture carbon black, printing inks and later, slate pencils.” Probably good that they went for “Binney & Smith” and not “Edwin & Harold’s”!
In 1903 “The first box of Crayola crayons was made and sold for 5 cents. It contained 8 colors: brown, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, violet and black.” In 1958, “The company introduced the largest Crayola crayon box in its history, the 64 box, featuring a built-in sharpener.” In 1990, “For the first time in crayon history, eight colors were retired: green blue, raw umber, orange yellow, violet blue, maize, lemon yellow, blue gray and orange red.” (Sorry to bring bad news about Maize!)
The last time I used these was just about a week ago when I colored swatches on white paper so I could discover the true crayola color of some weird but somehow familiarly green paperclips I had. Turns out they were “olive green.” Never would have guessed!
Liked your blog so much, I linked it to mine for a while!
There is someone somewhere named Beth, writing a blog about her psycho-crayon OCD childhood “friend.” She’s breaking the hell out of some crayons.
I hate her.
I used to be a lot like you! now I really don’t care about my stuff!
What you described reminded me so much of myself as a child (and of how I feel now in certain situations as an adult)! I was the same way with my Barbie dolls (I had a huge collection) and all of their accessories. Now when anyone uses my laptop or iPod I get that same ball of stress welling up inside me. Not in fear that whoever is using it finds anything they shouldn’t or anything like that, but because it’s mine, everything is exactly as it should be (all of the files are in order and in the correct place etc.) and if anyone else touches either my laptop or iPod there is the potential that everything (or even one piece of information) could be moved or *gasp* deleted or altered throwing everything out of whack and stressing me out like you wouldn’t believe!
Random comment here, but I feel the exact same way about my stuff. I drive my Husband up a freaking wall with it all. He will go to grab something and I’ll be like “Nooo!!! Don’t touch that! It won’t be this or it wont be that” and he will just look at me like I’ve grown three heads. To him, it’s just another object. To me, it’s the world. As shallow as that sounds, I don’t idolize it, don’t get me wrong, I would just prefer that no one touches it/fondles it/looks at it with longing. haha.
I am in desperate want of a Kindle Fire; I am terrified to buy it because HE may want to look at it. The horror! LOL!
Nothing wrong with a little order! Lol
Fabulous post. I love your writing style, I can picture everything as if I’m watching it on a television screen. Congratulations on being Freshly Pressed!
Thank you! (For both the compliment and the congratulations.)
Written absolutely wonderfully~
I didn’t seem to develop this problem until this last year when I moved into my first apartment and Dear goodness does it irk me when my roommates don’t put the cups back in order or nest the bowls properly.
I read this a few days ago and it really stuck with me, so I had to come back and read it again. Thank you for the wonderful piece.
I’m so happy that it made you smile ~
Uh-oh, I think I would be banned from your Crayola box. 🙂
Oh, I’d probably let you *watch* me color… 🙂
Personally I favored the Crayola box of 48. It had a nice casual air about itself. You knew it wasn’t going to brag, or lord it over that puny set of 16, despite its obvious superiority. The box of 64 scared me, it was far too formal!
I don’t know if I was a Crayon Fascist back then..but I CERTAINLY am now!
This is me exactly! Only that I got to the point where I was so frustrated about how -I- handle my crayons (and other creative things) that I’m paralyzed with stress from using any of it. I just wish I could get out of this, I really want to create again.
Fear of failure, fear of imperfections. Self-sabotage all the way. 😥
Oh, I feel your pain! For me, it’s fear of failure, intolerance of imperfections, *and* fear of success. Try sleeping with all that in your head. 🙂
you and i would’ve gotten along just splendidly. amazing post.
Thank you for your kindness!
One of the best post I have ever read!!!
Wow – I’m humbled. Thank you so much!
Sent from my iPhone
Sounds exactly like me as a kid. Actually, I’m still that way.
I collect crayons. I don’t use them, I collect them. I have 64 count boxes, I have normal boxes, I have those select few boxes that contain a crayon or 5. I have a box of mismatched crayons that have no homes. I have broken ones and torn ones. I have ones that have never been opened or seen the likes of a coloring book.
I get upset, very upset, if people touch my crayons. They are mine; only mine. No one else’s, no one can touch, no one can be near them.
And when my Husband and I have children; they will collect their own crayons. They will not touch MY crayons.
I’m glad someone else has a slight problem with crayons too. It makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside! Thanks!
This makes me smile, for two reasons: first, I’ve given you a warm & fuzzy. Second….I believe I may have found a brand new hobby…
I’m glad I’m not alone with my obsession with order. 🙂 I was worse about the crayons though, I had to take them all out of the box, re-organize them by color.. white to yellow to orange to red to pink to purple to blue to green to brown to black before I could even begin to think about coloring. this spilled over from crayons to color pencils to markers.. everything had to be in order. I had a “family” of pencils in my desk when I was in elementary school that I organized by least used to most used. For some odd reason the color organization brought me comfort..still does. Thanks for sharing. 🙂
Reblogged this on janezzz.
You: CRAYONSCRAYONSCRAYONSCRAYONSCRAYONSCRAYONS!!!!
Other kids: …..crayons?
You: NO!
LOL! You’ve nailed it.
Pingback: The Crayon Fascist | Speaking In Pictures, Hearing in Color « Sarah Rann
I didn’t find this post funny. It was inspiring. I’m making my entire family of six read this. “This, children, this is how I feel about my yarn, seeds, card paper, (insert latest obsession). See, it’s perfectly normal.”
I’m so happy that I could be of service. Although I’m not sure “safety in numbers” applies to neuroses… Thanks for reading!
Reblogged this on The Paisley Carrot and commented:
This is EXACTLY how I feel about my yarn. I wind it a certain way. I sort it a certain way. Don’t touch my yarn! Please.
Pingback: The Crayon Fascist. Everyone has a "thing"
I do trust all of the ideas you have introduced to your post.
They are very convincing and can certainly work. Still, the posts are too quick for newbies.
May just you please extend them a bit from subsequent time?
Thanks for the post.
Pingback: The Book Fascist | Soweird666's Blog
I don’t feel like they look right so first thing always do always have with magic box was dump them out and orgnize how makes sense to me. Example blue can’t be with the reds but blue can be with purple or green. Red is usually with the pinks. Brown can go with orange. You get the idea.
I do. It wouldn’t work for me, but I certainly understand the impulse! Thanks for reading – Tess
This isn’t impulsive I know cause am ADHD I do plenty of impulsive things. This is something I have to do. Untill I fix the crayons my brain says you can’t use them. The big pack of crayons are only thing I am like that with.