Another New Year has begun and like the last 35+ years I am making goals for myself. There are some that seem to be made every year....eat healthier, get organized, loose weight... and some over the last few years started adding in...maintain my blog, read the Bible, keep our school days full of quality learning...and then there are the new ones thrown in...focus on creating notebooks/journals (for me and for school), practice art weekly, knit more. Usually I start out good but then as the year progresses I become lazy, this blog is a prime example. C'est la vie.
Over the last few weeks I have been looking at myself and at how I do things and I see there are areas in need of great change while other areas just need more focus. In the personal column the "eat healthier, loose weight" will always be there, but there are some things I really want to concentrate on. The idea of journaling has always intrigued me. When I was little my dad made us write in a diary every night. He said we will enjoy them later on and he was right. Emma and I sat reading the old diary and laughed at the day to day adventures a little girl of 7 had. I have another diary I kept during middle school. Oh the emotions a girl of 13/14 can have. As the years went on I would start several more but things tended to get busy and I would stop only to start a new one with promises to keep that one going. Sadly, I broke those promises.
This year I have plans to take the idea of journaling and make it part of my life. I have been doing extensive research on the art of journal writing and can see this working for me. One thing I plan on doing differently is not feel like I need to write daily. This has been what gets the ball rolling on journaling failure for me. I skip a day or two and feel guilty. I would even try to go back and write an entry for the days I missed plus write an entry for that day. It would become too much work and eventually I would stop.Another thing I plan on doing is keeping several journals going at once. This sounds like more work and juggling more then one will lead to failure...I was failing trying to keep one going but now multiple ones, I must be nuts....however, by having journals specifically for different areas in my life it will help those areas get organized and between the two I might just keep them going. Besides, what I have been reading on journaling, this seems to be the norm. So I will have:
gardening journal
nature journal
home organizer journal
common place journal
reflections journal
and possible a knit/projects journal
I found these beautiful journals (set of 3) at Blick that will be perfect for my garden journal. They have a black cover with a nature study collage on the cover. One has a study of plants, one of flowers and one of mushrooms(I think). The set had a red string and a paper band around them. They just had an aura of old fashion-ness about them that I had to own. With the plants and nature goodies on the cove I knew I had to use them for something with a similar theme and I had just read about a garden journal...perfect combo. My plan is to write what I plant and where, how they are doing, and about future ideas for the garden. Troubles and solutions and anything else pertaining to my gardens and plants (outdoor and in). Since we moved into a new house where the former owners had no sense of gardening (house was surrounded by weed gardens), I have my work cut out to form some sort of visual delight of botanical display. I might as well record the adventures and pitfalls I come across. I only wish I had started the journal when we moved in. I am sure reading about the jungle of weeds I had to remove, the war on chipmunks I campaigned, and the reshaping the yard to include a dry river bed would have been quite entertaining once the blisters had healed. Oh well, I can only go on from here.
The gardening journal is not to be confused with my nature journal. The nature journal will be observations I make about nature, all kinds, from air temperature to clouds and weather, sighting of new bird to spotting a neat mushroom, and mapping out places we hike to drawing the details of a butterfly.
The Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady was a big inspiration for me. It has poems and weather, musings and drawings. Besides it is a true delight to look at. Coupled with the
Keeping a Nature Journal and
Illustrating Nature, I am renewed with the spirit of nature journaling. My interest in drawing (which needs much work) and nature will go together.
The home organizer journal will be my aid to getting organized. We moved into our new house in June and it is time to organize and deep clean this place. The first few pages will contain a cleaning schedules. The rest of the notebook will be in several sections, one will be a month by month breakdown of a detailed cleaning of each room or floor. An example is January is my month to clean the kitchen from top to bottom, I wrote the ideas for January on a page titled January and then I am keeping a daily account of cleaning, organizing. January 1st had: vacuum under oven and dishwasher, wipe dishwasher gaskets, side panels, and front, wipe down oven, vacuum under fridge and around coils, wipe down all sides of fridge, clean air duct. I will dust/clean every surface of the kitchen. Also during this month I will make decorator changes, organize cabinets and drawers, buy new flat wear and towels. I plan on doing the same thing to every room of the house one month at a time. So by the end of the year my entire house will be clean and organized from top to bottom inside and out. Another section will be for house plans I have, things I may have to wait for such as building bookshelves and painting my room. Hopefully this journal will help me get this house organized. It probably will, however trying to get those who live here to keep it organized is another matter.
The common place journal is just a place I will put my thoughts about nothing in particular and lists of just about anything. It will be a place to put the miscellaneous things I want to jot down. I even wrote a few pages on the different fountain pens I am trying, each page written about the pen and it qualities and failures. Silly but it gives me a place to write...and I like to write.
The reflections and knit journals are pretty much self explanatory. The reflections journal might get morphed into the common place journal though. The knitting/projects journal is one I have been wanting to start for a while. I had one started when I first started making things for Jacob when he was a baby. I have the pattern number and a picture of the finished product. I renewed it when I was making clothes for Emma. Making notes on future dresses I wanted to make and finished dresses. But those were sporadically kept. I want this one to be about all the things I am making with notes and pictures, either drawn or taken. For instance I made 3 pairs of fingerless mitts for Christmas presents this year, I should have taken a picture, made notes on the yarn and needle used as well as the size and pattern and any changes I made. Also add in who they were for and why. I think as a knitter and fiber textile artist (souds impressive but it just means someone who works with fiber textiles:yarn and material) it is important I record my craft.
This all sounds like a lot of work but I think it will be a better system for me. I will become a more organized person I believe. But the most important outcome of this new direction in journaling will be the need for more notebooks. I have a tiny obsession with notebooks and anything I can do to feed this obsession I will. Now I have a good excuse.
