Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Random Moments of Life

Today was a day full of random little things.  Nothing earth-shattering.  Nothing terrible.  Just little things all day (good and bad) that amounted to this post tonight.

It began with bacon and pancakes and blueberry sauce:




And it ended with the kids engrossed in Uncle Stevie's presentation of "Twinkle, Twinkle" on his iPod:






And then Uncle Stevie showed me the fun goodies that Aunt Marsha sent for the kids which included the following kit from Trader Joe's:







 And, for the record, yes, there are THREE so they can each decorate their own gingerbread man!  How much fun is that for everyone?!?!?

Randomness all day.  Nothing remarkable in itself.  But all memories for another day. 

And speaking of memories:


This is my "book journal".  I started it back in 1999 when I spent a summer on Cape Cod.  I had a lot of time to read and decided that I wanted to remember what I was reading and somehow remind myself if I even enjoyed the book.  It is sort of a tacky little sunflower design on a sprial-bound journal that I picked up at a yard sale for 50 cents.  In 2007, I read 32 books.  I was trying to get pregnant and then was carrying triplets and books were my means of escape (as was "Will & Grace" and every bringing-baby-home show offered on TV).  During 2008 (when the kids were born), I read ONE book that I documented.  Anything else (which I seriously doubt) never made it into the journal.  At the time, I think I spent any time reading on the internet about diapers, developmental milestones, feeding issues, sleeping patterns, etc. 
Recently I thought I would make the transition from a written journal to something on my laptop.  A file that could be manipulated and sorted at my discretion seemed like it would be a great resource for me.  I could sort by author or my incredibly subjective ranking system.  My idea was that it would help me find other books I might want to read and I could even create a list to keep up with that information as well. 
And then I found Shelfari http://www.shelfari.com/ (no, I'm not paid to suggest this site to my readers).  I just think this is a super-cool place to maintain my book list.  I can look up other titles by the same author or books that are similar (subject, genre, etc).  I can indicate which books I have read, am reading or intend to read.  I can place tags for my book listing (and they offer  some suggestions) so that I can look up specific subjects, etc.  It also allows the user to write a review and even publish that review for others to read. 
Right now I am working to move my information from my written journal and my Excel spreadsheet to Shelfari.  What I find interesting is that I just haven't been able to retire my written journal.  I know right where I keep it and it's handy.  I don't have to turn on the laptop and find a file or login to a website.  It's there for me with it's archaic charm.  I've had it for eleven years and it's comfortable.  I love the ease of typing rather than writing at times, but I really am struggling to let go of my little handy-dandy book journal. 

I guess that is all of my randomness for today.  I'm looking forward to whatever random moments will become my tomorrow and will then become the following day's memories.

2 comments:

Karen said...

I say don't retire your handwritten book journal. Nothing more special than handwritten words. Your kids will thank you one day. :) Love ya sis!

Deborah said...

I was going to say just what Karen said! Keep your sunflower journal. I've been keeping a book journal since 1988 and every once in awhile, I flip through it and remember some of the things that were going on in my life when I see what books I was reading.