Thursday, September 09, 2010

Mystery Solved!

A couple of YEARS ago I was walking around the office in my summery business casual khaki pants when a co-worker came up to me and said, “Danielle, you have pen marks all over your bee-hind.” I looked back and could see, almost on my thigh, was a bunch of blue pen scribble marks. Weird I thought. Maybe I had a pen stuck in my chair? I went back and looked but didn’t see anything.

I didn’t think anything more about it until about six months ago…it started happening AGAIN. I went to a clinic where one of my DOCTORS (thankfully, a female doc) said, “Danielle, you have string on your pants…wait no, it’s pen marks.” They were brand new, I had never worn them. But, I had washed them and folded clothes on the kitchen table where Isabelle later went a little crazy with a ball point pen. So, I readily threw my preschooler under the bus for that one with a “You know how kids are…”

I started to think I was sub-consciously doing it to myself. I don’t know…scratching an itch? But then I noticed I didn’t have a blue pen…it was black. Na Na Na Na Na Na Na(imagine the music to Twighlight Zone here) Weird….
About a month later the same thing happened when I was in Cincinnati at a clinic. My nurse coordinator said, “Ummmm Danielle, your rear has blue pen marks on it.” What? How did that happen? Reviewing my very early morning, I knew I hadn’t yet touched a pen that morning. I thought, it must be stuck in my car seat. I later went out and looked all over my car. No pen. Weird….

A few weeks later I was walking somewhere with my trusty backpack (I know adults are supposed to have sleek professional satchels and briefcases, but if you had to carry the sheer amount of stuff I do, you would carry a Jansport too!) and I noticed something poking me in the side. I reached down and felt. I looked at my hand and saw blue pen marks! A pen insert had fallen into the lining of my bag and occasionally poked out to draw on my pants! I was so excited about this finding that I had to…well…blog about it.

I’m not crazy! Thank God…I’m not crazy! I wasn’t drawing on myself or haunted by pen demons! It’s the little things that make me happy, really.

4 comments:

Beth said...

Oh, that story is too classic! So glad you found the true culprit . . . maybe Isabelle should get a "please forgive me" treat? : )

So if you know of a laundry product that takes out ink . . . please let us know! : )

Shanygne said...

that is sooo awesome.

Beth, aerosol hairspray is supposed to take out ink marks... seems like i tried it on some of Kevin's pants and it did a good job...

Anonymous said...

That's too funny, I once had the same thing happen but my pen marks were showing up on the back of my jacket collar. Couldn't figure it out for the longest time. It was showing up on the back of the collar, and after a few months I realized I needed to stop putting pens in my hair without the lid!

Natalie said...

Glad you solved the mystery, hope you were able to get the stains out. Amen to the Jansport! :)