Using Highlighter Ink (Caleb Learns to Write)

Some of you may remember a while back when I got one of my favourite pens, a sort of translucent yellow green Sailor, as part of the Sailor "Highlighter" Set - the pen along with a bottle of yellow Sailor highlighter ink. It's truly a fluorescent yellow, and I didn't think I would ever use it - in fact, I contemplated giving it away while I could still consider it a completely new and unused bottle.

Well, good thing Marie Kondo could not break through the likes of me.

I actually started using it when Caleb started becoming more interested in practising his writing. I sometimes try to carry around a Field Notes with letters for him to trace. Now, after several months of practice at school, he can form letters on his own, but tracing is an easy and meditative task for him to do while in waiting rooms for appointments, or to keep him busy for a few minutes at the shop. I'm hoping that strengthening his fine motor will also help him as he learns to sound out words and string letters together into words.

And on the plus side, I found that I've actually been using my highlighter pen all over. I'm someone who much favours rifling through paper catalogues over online PDFs. Online, it takes forever for things to load, and I have a hard time scrolling from one item to one several pages earlier. Also, it's very hard to mark up online catalogues, or leave post-it notes on it for me to refer to months later.

I realize for many smaller companies (like, for example, some of the greeting card companies we carry) it's expensive to produce, print and mail catalogues, but I'm way likelier to look at a paper catalogue and place an order over someone emailing me a catalogue. Afternoon coffee break with a new catalogue and a good snack?? One of the best things about this gig.

That's neither here nor there. My real point is that I was previously tended to circle items that I wanted, often crossing my pen through items below or above what I wanted. Also being someone who is a bit careless, I often circled things haphazardly, resulting in crossing out item numbers or references in brown or blue black ink - things that I (or Jon, really) would later need to refer to, squinting to see if it's a 5 or an 8.

But now! My catalogue marking has been revolutionized by the highlighter pen. While previously I might not have thought it was worthwhile, or that I would have enough to highlight before the ink dried up in my pen, now that I usually have a pen inked up as a highlighter already, it's tremendously useful. Counting inventory so my check marks don't clutter up the page (especially when I check the wrong things), going over Caleb's homework to show him where things should be, circling numbers on invoices.

And just because Sailor makes some of my favourite nibs, here's a photo of the music nib on my Anchor Grey. There is nothing like a Sailor nib. And that tipping! Ugh.

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In other news, Caleb forgot his Blue Jays' hat at his grandparents, who live about an hour away, and it's been a really difficult time at home.

Jon and I are waffling between "Caleb needs to learn a real life lesson" and "the Eaton's Centre is a 15 minute walk away and can't we always use a spare everything with children and we can also pick up some tasty danishes while we're there."

Also we got some new special edition stationery in from Life, notebooks and washi tape (ugh!), but I can't get started on unpacking it because I have to pick up Caleb from school and then he's got music lessons. LIFE! (in every sense of the word).