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I remember last year (or was it the year before that?), I went shopping armed with my back-to-school list: crayons, glue, paper, markers, etc. I had a whole week before school started so I thought I was on top of my game.

I mean— it wasn’t like it was the day before and all of a sudden, I was like— OH CRAP. Don’t I need to send the kids to school with a pencil or something?

Nope. I was on it. Adulting, as they say.

I got my cart, sauntered in with pride and purpose, and was met with a frazzled mob of moms picking the rejects off of empty shelves. I stood there staring at the ridiculously small selection and realized nope, good moms had their back-to-school shopping done for weeks now. Lesson learned.

Then I wondered if Mazzy would be more upset by a Garfield notebook or one with a generic mountain landscape. I mean, what the hell was the Garfield notebook doing there anyway? Did they pull it from a back-to-school box that was lost in the ’80s and fell through a time warp or something?

I am a procrastinator by nature. When it comes to myself, I can deal with the options this character flaw provides me. But when it comes to my kids, telling them they are too late to get the good stuff, doesn’t quite seem fair.

This year I got a gift. Amex asked me to do my back-to-school shopping early to help promote the great deals they’ve got going on during the season, like getting $30 off when you spend $150 at the Container Store. Nothing like a little nudge for a procrastinator!

You know what you can get when you start early?

Flamingo shaped paper clips, that’s what.

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I got so excited by all the back-to-school goodies, I got stuff for the office too.

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I mean how can you resist a hot pink tape holder??? Or a turquoise lucite ruler?

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Mazzy and Harlow walked in, saw all the back-to-school stuff spread out on the kitchen table in a literal rainbow and got more excited about paper and pens than they have ever gotten about anything.

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Harlow even wanted to wear the yellow rubber bands as bangles.

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Except by that point, I was debating keeping everything for myself and then shopping for their back-to-school stuff at a later date.

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I mean, did you see the box of mini rainbow colored notebooks?????

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Obviously, I’m not about to part with those.

I think Mazzy will be just fine with Garfield.

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This post was sponsored by American Express, but my love of rainbow back-to-school items is my own. Click here to take advantage of Amex Offers.