The weekly “little of this, like of that” feature here at Like Mother, Like Daughter!
My mom got into the topic of journals and notebooks this past week. A favorite topic of mine!
I have witnessed her sticky note/to-do system in action. It is sleek, it is intriguing, and it makes sense and is clearly very effective for her. But, in a rare case of like Mother, unlike Daughter, I have to say no stickies for me; this girl has to write everything in bound notebooks, forever to remain in ink. Hand me the commitment-y journal and let me fill it in from cover to cover, please!
Here is the stack of journals in which I am currently writing:
From top to bottom:
My prayer journal (small size; for reflections, intentions, and Scripture verses I record) —
My Peabodee journal (I discovered that I felt I was carrying a boy when, while about seven months pregnant, I allowed myself to choose this very blue journal in which to record my thoughts to him while in utero and during his infancy; I write down notes about him and notes to him, and intend to hold on to it and then hand it over to him when he's grown up) —
My daily planner/also my “to-do” tool (see photo of inside, below; it was a requested gift from The Artist this past Christmas; had an extremely appealing cover, until a certain little two year old decided to venture into Naughty Pen Use territory all over its cover; will have to give it a fresh brown bag cover I think…) —
My personal journal (where I write out my longer and deeper reflections and records of events. I have been keeping a journal faithfully since I was a young teen about which time I realized that, while I will never forget a song lyric, I have pretty pathetic long-term memory about my own LIFE; it is important to me to make a record of my days, even if it's hard to get around to it more than a few times a month) (it has a magnetic closure, which I enjoy) —
My Log/5 Year Journal (the latest addition to my collection; a Christmas gift from my mom about which I am stoked; in addition to its other attractions, I think it will help me to recollect things for when I want to get into detail in the personal journal [above]) —
My Finnabee journal (Starting when I was pregnant with her, I kept a journal of notes to and about her, much like the one for Peabodee, mentioned above, but that got filled up by about the time she was 1. Since then, of course, she's only grown more noteworthy, with her own thoughts and hilarious comments and things she can request me to write down for her; her other grandmother gave it to her/me this past Christmas).
I let The Artist know that I did want to start using a planner, but I definitely needed something with lines to write on (read: journal-y), not too scrunched or just in calendar form. He got me the perfect thing. It now functions as my spot for recording meal plans, dates/appointments, and my daily to-do lists. We'll see how it does at keeping me abreast of birthdays and other important dates. (Clever that it started with the last days of 2015, right? I didn't get around to opening it until after Christmas, but I appreciate the thought from whomever designed it.)
Inside view of the daily planner:
Love me some paper goods! Especially the ones that stick around! Feel free to call me crazy.
On to this week's links!
Being organized and feeling happy in the home:
- Auntie Leila suggested that I post this, which I found amusing because I know that I have posted it before (and at her suggestion!), and that it's one of the b&p items that I recall most frequently! So, even though it's been here already, I figure it has earned a re-sharing: How to Stage Your Home for Living. That is: don't “stage” it just to move away — enjoy it! We don't want to move away from a home full of defects that, we find, we were living with for no reason. (Which is why a to-do list is so helpful.)
A kind of bonus LMLD archives section, all about organizing:
- How to Declutter – Shelves in the Closet; Happy Thought Indeed!
- See your home the way others see it – How do Others See Your Home? [You know I love my Chesternest but oh how I wish I had an entryway — any kind of an entryway! — especially now that it's winter. Folks coming through our door tumble right into our main space, with nary an inch available for hanging a coat nor tossing a purse. It's tricky.]
- Scroll through the Cleaning Section for further instruction (NB: it's the one section in the menu bar (so far) in which the posts are organized in nice, approachable thumbnails! {Are you so proud of us?})
Theology/Philosophy:
- Ever wonder about Confession? Or you know about it but you're not sure if you're doing it right? St. Francis de Sales' Guide to Reconciliation.
- What Narrative Theology Forgot. Some deeper reading on “narrative theology,” aka conversion stories.
- Written by a fellow alumna of mine: We're All Trapped in the Twitter Cave. Some good thoughts to ponder when we're getting a bit unmoored out there on the webs.
Fun Miscellany:
- I was surprised by how interesting and enjoyable I found this to be (perhaps partly because I've dropped off, these past few years, in listening to Classical music, so many of these themes seemed like old friends):
From the Archives:
Just in case you needed some more LMLD reading, on a random basis:
In the Liturgical Year:
Today is the feast of St. Marcellus and St. Honoratus!
Carolyn says
Planner talk is fascinating to me right now. Jen at Wildflowers and Marbles has a great post today about planners and people’s temperaments. How to plan with the temperament that God has given to you. http://wildflowersandmarbles.com/2016/01/15/planning-series-know-thyself-planning-with-the-temperament-god-gave-you/
Deirdre says
Thanks for sharing! Two of my favorite things: journaling and temperament stuff! Looking forward to reading!
Amy A. says
The idea of a bullet journal appeals to me but I don’t think I would keep up with making it. Right now I have a to-do list on my phone, divided into short term, daily-type tasks, (schedule oil change, make and freeze meatloaf, etc.) and long term, which are more like projects, even if they don’t take much time (move cabinet from living room to bedroom, organize baby clothes).
Several years ago (2011 maybe?) I started doing Ann Voskamp’s 1000 Gifts project, but instead of counting 3 gifts a day I only counted one, and it became my habit of writing down something I was grateful for every day. Now it’s a single line, thought, or memory that I record before going to sleep, which gives me a lovely record to look back on. I do like the 5 year journal format though. Maybe once I fill my current “gratitude book” I will switch to a format like that.
Does anyone else use a perpetual calendar? My mother gave me one several years ago and it hangs above my kitchen sink where I am reminded daily to pray for friends and loved ones on their birthdays, anniversaries, etc. It also helps me remember to send cards on these occasions. It would be very easy to make if you wanted to use personal photos, old cards, etc. After we were married I introduced my husband to the concept and he loved not having to transfer his family birthdays from one calendar to the next every year!
Maureen says
Ann, tell me more about the perpetual calendar! Every January I transfer from one calendar to another all the birthdays and anniversaries from both sides of our not-small family as well as friends’ weddings we’ve attended.
Maureen says
Of course, I meant “Amy”! Sorry to read your name wrong!
Amy A. says
Haha, please don’t worry about my name, my best friend in high school was Anne and we were frequently called each other’s names 🙂 A perpetual calendar is basically a list of days in the month; they are not gridded out into days of the week, so it can be used year after year for things like birthdays and anniversaries. I saw below the suggestion for adding death dates, and I think I’ll start doing that too. I Googled it and saw that they are available at Barnes and Noble, and I’m sure that most stationary stores would have them. I really think they are an underutilized memory aid . . . maybe I will make some for Christmas gifts next year!
Dixie says
Deirdre, do you have a link for the planner? Or a name and brand? I’m really picky about layout and that one looks just right!
Serena says
I second this! Would love to know the brand of this planner and where to find one 😊.
Deirdre says
Hi Dixie! The brand is Eccolo (www.eccololtd.com).
However, The Artist got it at TJMaxx. I happen to know this because a) I know my TJMaxx merchandise when I see it and b) he took Finnabee to the store with him when he went Christmas shopping. Later that day I asked, “So, can I know where you went?” To which he replied, “ummm…. No,” and Finnabee proudly chimed in, “T-J-Maxx!” I know it was a modest price there… maybe they still have some?
Dixie says
Thanks, Deirdre! We don’t have a TJ Maxx here (more’s the pity), but I’ll look up the brand. Finnabee is too cute!!
Laura Jeanne says
Well, that Youtube video was just wonderful! I have listened to classical music all my life, so I could recognize most of the melodies in there. Brilliant!
I also want to say that I totally understand the discomfort and frustration of having no entranceway to your home. We live in an old farmhouse which is a pretty good size, but the front door (which nobody uses) opens right into the small living room (the old parlour) and the side door (which is off the driveway, so everybody uses it) opens right smack into the middle of the kitchen. The countertop where I do most of my chopping and such is literally like 2 feet from the door. It’s the cause of much embarrassment when say, a delivery man shows up, or a neighbour or whatever, and they get full view of all the mess in my kitchen! Oh well.
Deirdre says
Yep, that’s how it is here, too Laura Jeanne — right into the kitchen, right into the middle of everything! Sigh.
Mrs. B. says
I just have to wonder how so many find the time to write down so much, and often in multiple journals! I know one makes the time to do what one loves, and it may very well be that I am not a journal person (I do have a lot of the same anxieties over committing as Leila, even when it comes to hanging pictures!), but right now I really just wonder at how people find the time to do it! It makes me think I may be even more disorganized than I already know (I’m the one with the shopping list pad on the fridge, all filled with things, then forgotten at home… My to-do lists are mostly in my head – which may be why they never get shorter??) Gosh, maybe Leila picked the right series for me, about Getting Reasonably Organized!!
Deirdre, we don’t have a proper entryway either… when it rains, we have to leave our wet shoes right there by the door, which is something I hate… Technically the door opens to a “hallway”, but the “hallway” has no walls, only stairs on one side and a step down into the living room on the other side… ah, to be able to design one’s home!! We’d never skimp on things like entryways and laundry rooms! (I don’t have a proper laundry room either…)
The Alan Jacobs article needs a more careful reading, but I found it surprisingly appropriate for a post that started with thoughts about journals!
Deirdre says
Haha, I have recently been obsessing with friends about what the ideal laundry room layout would be! It’s pretty much one of my favorite topics at this point. Amen to entryways and laundry rooms, properly designed!
I should clarify about using all my journals: with the exception of the planner and the 5-year journal, I don’t update any of them on a daily basis (I have even missed a few days with the 5-year, and caught up later!); rarely do I write in two of them in one day, but it happens. I just have them on hand so that, when I get the time and I feel moved, I can put pen to paper. And I don’t worry about how long it takes me to fill them in. Some personal journals I have filled in a matter of months, some have taken me years. I figure I’d rather have some record, and an irregular one, than just forget everything (which I am seriously in danger of doing, because my memory is weird like that, as I mentioned).
emily b says
I love this post! And all of your organizational posts. I (like many others, I think) am one of those people who was relatively organized, list-wise etc., when it was “just me” ploughing through law school and what not… but now that I have going-on seven children and am homeschooling things have quickly grown WAY out of my league! This is so helpful. Revamp is in order!
xoxox
Emily
lisa says
I’m always so inspired when I read through your posts on Reasonable Cleanliness in the home. It’s so encouraging to realize that “clean” doesn’t have to mean every nook and cranny is shined to perfection; during these years of raising and homeschooling children, a made bed, clean counters and sink, and clutter away makes a bigger difference in the atmosphere of our home than I ever realized.
And, I’ve kept a home notebook for years. A designated place for list-making and week-planning. Coming ’round to the idea of making these notebooks pretty, inside and out! Thank you for these ideas!
Laura says
Hi Deirdre! I was just wondering about the lack of any entry in your Chesternest. Several years ago, our first little house ( bedroom 1 1/2 story on 1/4 acre), the front door came right into the living room. We adjusted things by arranging the furniture as much on the OTHER side of the room as we could, with the back of the couch facing the door. Then we set up the area by the door like an entry. We put up a strip of coat hooks, a small table/stand with a basket for keys/mail etc. there was no actual barrier of any kind, but doing this helped somewhat with the feel of the room, at least. Is that possible or does the arrangement or size of the room (or windows or whatever) not work for this? We have a hall way in our current house, but it is so narrow that there is very little space for entry things… though we do keep kid shoes, and kid coats there… Good luck!!
Lisa G. says
I’ve been having this same thought for our living room. I’m on the lookout for a medium sized mirror for that area.
Deirdre says
Thanks for the thoughts, Laura! Because we’re in an appartment, and the door from the shared hallway opens right into my kitchen (which is the center of the place and from which all the other rooms open), there’s really not much to be done. Anyone coming in is stepping into a space right between my stove and a doorway into the living room. I’ll show pictures sometime – it is truly a befuddling layout! oh well. 🙂
Suzette says
A lovely post! Thank you!
Janet says
I hope you’re joking about putting a ‘fresh brown bag cover’ on that new planner you got for Christmas! I have discovered the best way to cover my planners and books is to go to one of those stationery stores like Paper Source and purchase a sheet of one of those gorgeous papers they have on display. I have even covered my prayer books like this. Also, I have made plenty of beautiful fabric covers by using some of my fabric scraps. There are plenty of instructions online on how to do this.
Deirdre says
Oooh I love Paper Source! I don’t know that there’s one around here though…. But don’t worry, I make pretty brown bag covers. If I do one I’ll show you so that you can be at peace about it. 🙂
Polly says
I’m another journal-lover. I have journals for each of my children (Moleskine, as they are easier for me to use as a lefty than other brands), my commonplace book (a la Charlotte Mason), my daily to-do list (just a straightforward cheap one-subject notebook), my planner (lemon yellow Moleskine this year), my ‘morning pages’ book (a la Julia Cameron–just another straightforward notebook) and my own journal where I record my musings.
Hopelessly devoted to journals over here!!!
Deirdre says
Love it. How many children do you have? I need hope and inspiration that I’ll be able to keep this up — it’s definitely much harder with my second than it was with the first!
Polly says
Ohhh, I just saw the comment about the perpetual calendar! I have one of those also–I hang it up in our schoolroom. It contains birthdays, anniversaries and death dates (maybe strange to some, but for me that’s a form of commemoration). Very useful!
Helen says
Yes to ‘death dates’. It’s important to me to be able to remember anniversaries of deaths in order to be sensitive to people who are particularly missing loved ones, sometimes to send cards for those occasions (especially the first anniversary of a death) or just to remember to refer to the fact in conversation. I know it meant a huge amount to me when a few friends did this after my father died, and so I have been doing it ever since.
Dixie says
I kept a journal for awhile for my daughter but I was too aware when writing that she might read it — get ready, it’s about to get morbid — after I’m dead. So I would end up getting all super-saccharine and weepy every time I wrote, and wrote as if I would never have the chance to tell her important things.
So, I’m no good at it! Oh, well. Just have to go quilt or something instead!
bobbi @ revolution of love says
I love journals and notebooks and have a shelf of blank ones that will keep me going for years. When I was pregnant with my first I started a journal addressed to “my little one” that I knew I would one day hand over to my first child when she was an older teen. I recorded everything from how I felt when I first found out I was pregnant, how I told her dad, to the first time I saw her on the ultrasound to how I was feeling as the weeks passed by. I loved reading through it and remembering and I am hoping one day she will love it just as much. I kept a journal for each of my pregnancies and although I am not sure if my 3 sons will appreciate it as much as my daughter, I have their journals for them too. I’ve added notes each year on their favorite items and what they were like at each age. If they get married and have kids I am sure their wives will enjoy knowing that they walked around with Jedi robes and light sabers as a kid or loved to cook spaghetti in the kitchen with me or danced on the table to their favorite songs while their mom snapped an IG photo before making them get down. 😉 I love keeping track of little memories like that to pass along. 🙂