My Cheapo BuJo

I’ve fallen into the Bullet Journal trap, and I can't get out!

One of my friends introduced me to Bullet Journalling a few months ago, and being totally innocent/ignorant/clueless as to what a bullet journal actually IS, I did the most natural thing in the world – I googled it. 

Oh.  My.  Gosh.

I guess I'd been living under a rock.   There are a zillion posts on Pinterest and another zillion websites.  Just. About. Bullet Journals.

 Mine is a cheapo composition notebook with graph paper pages, and I've turned it into sort of a do-it-yourself planner/scrapbook/coloring book.  Lots of people use them to establish new habits.

Most sites I visited recommended starting with two specific pages – a table of contents and a list of 100 dreams, kind of like the Index and Maybe/Someday pages in traditional planners.

From that point, it’s a free-for-all!  

Some people draw their own monthly/weekly calendar pages and use them like a “normal” planning calendar.  Some people make workout logs, running logs, lists of books to read, lists of books read, weight logs, and a myriad of other list-based pages.  Some people use one color of ink; some use a rainbow.  Some people get fancy, using different decorative fonts, drawing pictures, and making artistic borders.  On Pinterest, the posts are overwhelming – so much artistic energy!

There are special supplies for bullet journalling.  There are notebooks with heavy paper that won’t allow ink to bleed through.  There are notebooks with pages that are blank except for faint dots in a grid pattern to help you draw boxes and lines, and to keep your writing straight and a consistent size.  There are notebooks with pre-numbered pages so you don’t have to do it yourself.  There are notebooks with pages expressly for the title page, table of contents, and list of 100 dreams.  There are special pens and markers and clear rulers and stencils.

Because I’m frugal (read "cheap"), I went to the local big box discount store and bought the aforementioned composition book and a pack of ten colored gel pens.

Here some of the things I've put in my bullet journal:

• Quotes I like

• List of 100 dreams (I’m an over-achiever – I have 120!)

• Couch to 5K tracker (I’ve had to stop for now – I’m recovering from a bout of plantar fasciitis in my left foot)

• Daily habits (like empty the sink/load the dishwasher or feed the animals)

• Weekly habits (like clipping a cat’s claws each week – I rotate, so each cat gets clipped every 4 weeks)

• Wish lists for planned vacations

• Daily steps

• Running mileage log

• Books read this year (for the GoodReads.com challenge)

• Bicycling mileage (for the Great Cycle Challenge in June/July)

• Leave tracker (so I don’t run out of vacation days!)

• Running streak tracker (not mileage, just whether I've run a minimum of one mile every day)

•  Pages read (for the library summer reading program)

• Ongoing projects (things I might forget to work on, like clearing out the so-called guest room so it can be used for its stated purpose)
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I use color, but I’m not big on fancy fonts or borders or pictures.  I like to color in the squares, instead of checking things off.  I can see at a glance how consistent I am with my habits.  Getting ready for tomorrow and laying out my clothes – nearly every day.  Vitamins – hit and miss.  I can’t lie to myself when I have the evidence right in front of me in ten colors!

Sometimes when I’m filling in my daily items, I notice I haven’t done something on the list, and I’ll go hurry and do it just so I can color that blasted square!  Mind games.  That's what it is.  

It’s everything in one place.  No more random sheets of paper stacked around or filed away never to be seen again.   No Post-It notes to lose.  No more bulky notebooks, each dedicated to one project.  No more pre-printed forms.  If I decide it doesn't work for me, I can change the layout it so it does.

Have you used a Bullet Journal or something like it?  What kind of stuff do you have in it?

It Was a Great Phone While It Lasted

During the trip to Williamsburg, my phone decided to have a tantrum and gave me all sorts of problems.  Of course, just when I needed it most for directions, finding restaurants, running the Colonial Williamsburg app, and all those things you need your smartphone for when you’re on vacation.

It just won’t hold a charge.  It has performed like a champ since I got it, and now, suddenly, it’s getting ready to abandon me!

Darned phone.

So I got irritated at it today, and took the plunge.  I ordered a new phone, AND got an unlimited data plan.  It turns out the unlimited plan is the same price as my old plan – what a deal!

I ordered the new Google Pixel XL.  I feel a little guilty.  My first smartphone was the original Motorola Droid, and I’ve had Droids ever since.  But there are no Droids available, Turbo or otherwise, and I’m not a fan of the Motorola Moto, so I caved and went with the Pixel.  It seemed the most like my poor old Droid Turbo II.

It should be here Wednesday!

ACK!

Not that I’m excited or anything.

I just have to nurse the old phone along until then.  It’s been a good ol’ phone.

Don't spill the beans and tell it what I'm up to!  If it finds out, you KNOW it will die early!

Williamsburg on the Half Shell

Earlier this month, I drove to Lexington, picked up my sister, and drove to Williamsburg for a girls' week of fun and frolic!

After settling in and figuring out how to navigate the city (it's divided by train tracks, and you're always on the wrong side), we took a day and drove up to Baltimore to visit The Girl and her family.  The Son-in-Law had told her Williamsburg was about 1 1/2 hours away, but as it turned out, it's 3 1/2 hours - ONE WAY.  Thank you, MapQuest!

We went anyway.

The Girl directed us to Fells Point in the Inner Harbor, where we caught the red water taxi and rode it round trip back to Fells Point.  It was a glorious day on the water - sunny and breezy, the boat wasn't crowded, and we got to eyeball all the sights of the Inner Harbor in comfort from the water.  Much better than trudging around cobbled/brick streets with a stroller!

After we left to head back to Williamsburg, I took a little detour to show my sister something The Girl had pointed out to me when I visited for the second grand's arrival.  Here's a picture:

These bushes are in a CEMETERY.  The carefully trimmed shapes are weirdly appropriate, don't you agree?  They must be the work of either a disgruntled employee or someone totally clueless.

We think it's hilarious.

Yes, my family has a twisted sense of humor.

Anyway, back to Williamsburg.  Planning this trip, we were ready for loads of Colonial and Revolutionary history, but we didn't anticipate seafood.  Restaurants serving oysters, crabs, lobster, and crab cakes were EVERYWHERE.

Upon further consideration, it makes sense.  Williamsburg sits on a peninsula, between the James River and the York River, ending at the Chesapeake Bay.  Archaeological excavations at Williamsburg and Jamestown have uncovered tens of thousands of oyster shells (yes, they actually count them).

By the end of the week, we had a favorite - Fat Tuna Grill and Oyster House.  I confidently ordered oysters on the half shell.  Our server asked what kind I wanted.  Well, raw, of course.  No, no, what KIND of oysters did I want - and oh, by the way, they were out of Blue Points.  Uh...what?  On the board above the bar, there were listed at least FIVE kinds of oysters - this one is fairly sweet, that one is the saltiest...  We'd had no idea!

We also ordered crab cakes, and they were nearly all crab - hardly any bread crumbs to hold them together - and HUGE.  A young couple near us ordered whole crabs, and when the bucket arrived, those peoples' eyes boggled!  I don't think they knew what part of which crab to start cracking.

And the hush puppies - oh my!

We went for the history and fell in love with the food!

We had made a wish list of places we would have liked to have visited, but we ran out of days and barely scratched the surface.  We saw Williamsburg, Jamestown, and Yorktown.  We visited The Girl and saw the Inner Harbor.  We went to a harpsichord/organ concert.  I took a short class in spinning wool into yarn using a drop spindle.  We bought running shoes at an outlet mall (you have to keep your priorities straight)!

So here's the list of leftovers for the next trip to Virginia (in no particular order):

• Virginia Beach
• Washington, DC
• Chincoteague Island
• Asateague Island National Seashore (wild ponies!)
• Fredericksburg
• Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge
• Monticello

I've got my work cut out for me!

Ah, Spring at Last!

It finally feels like SPRING!  Not that the winter was so terrible.  We had hardly any snow.  There were no ice storms.  The temperatures weren't anything to get excited about.  But winter in central Indiana isn't pretty.

Winters here are an ugly dark gray/brown, wet, and cold, with an occasional frigid day or week.  Snow makes things look bright and cheery for a bit, then it melts in the late afternoon and refreezes at night.  Or it rains during the day and freezes overnight.  Or there's freezing rain.  Or the ever-popular "wintry mix."  UGH.

Mostly it's hypothermia weather - wet and cold-ish.

Then there's the precursor to spring - rain and wind and mud - oh my!  Still not pretty.

But this past week - suddenly SPRING!  The grass glows with the color of a green crayon. Dandelions and violets have invaded the yard!  Daffodils and tulips bloom in their beds!  Peonies, day lilies, and hostas poke up from the ground!  Asparagus begs to be cut in the garden!  Fuzzy ducklings and goslings block traffic at the marina!  Tree frogs sing in the evening!  Magnolia, dogwood, and redbud trees bloom in a riot of magenta, pink, and white!  All at once!

Nature has had enough of winter, and as my dad would say, "Spring has sprung!"