Is anyone else thinking that they want to pay Barb to help them move next time?

SNORK. No, you really don't. I drive people batshit with my organizational tendencies (i.e., the tying together of peripheral cords so they don't show). I think msbelle's the packing/moving fiend among us.

I love unpacking. I am an unpacking FREAK. When I moved in, DAN was kinda unnerved by my freakish need to unpack shit as soon as it came in the house.

I may also have a bit of a blank journal addiction. I've found ten, so far, and I know there are more.

I love journals, but I don't allow myself to buy a new one until I'm done with the old one. My current journal is plain black; I was in a very minimalist mode when I got it. I've been working in it for several years, since I'm an -- at best -- sporadic journaler.

I use them for story plotting. A new story gets a new journal. I just found one from five or six manuscripts ago. Kind of freaky to see scene drafts and character info more than seven years later. And really interesting to see how much has changed and how much has remained as I originally envisioned it.

Oh, that's a good idea, Barb. Like Jenny Cruisie and her storyboards?

And -- ooh, that give me a great excuse -- er, REASON -- to get a new one. WEDDING JOURNAL! Heh.

Like Jenny Cruisie and her storyboards?

Sort of, except without the procrastination factor.

Not meant as snark, either. I love Jenny to death, but she's so crazed sometimes, about her personal writing rules and they often seem to contradict each other. Like she loves the subconscious aspect of the storyboards/collages, allowing The Girls in the Basement free rein to tell her what the story is about, then she writes her Don't Look Down draft, where she allows herself further rein but inevitably she writes herself into a corner where her "rules" are concerned. Then she goes and pokes and prods and shoehorns the story into the framework her rules have dictated, decides it's bland and missing something, goes back to the collage, allows the Girls free rein to tell her what's wrong, writes some more Don't Look Down material, then realizes it doesn't fit the "rules" again, lather, rinse, repeat. She's so thoroughly wedded to her rules and her OCD tendencies don't allow her to deviate from their framework at all. And it's worse when she's off her meds.

Which makes this a totally random off-shoot from the topic of journals other than to say, yes, sort of like Jenny's storyboards. I also storyboard in my own fashion, using pictures and compiling them into an iPhoto album dedicated to the manuscript.

Trudy, Dallas is one of the best-loved and cared-for (and cutest!) puppies in the world. And what's really great is, she knows it.

Emeline is quite the artist. It's amazing how she can't seem to focus on much, but she hyper-focuses when she's drawing or painting.

StY was the same way, only with clay. Before two he was chewing paper from the trash can into his own masticated papier mache, using it to sculpt surprisingly accurately modeled things. We quickly substituted Play-doh, but the bright colors and the grainy texture distracted him. By the time he was three we gave him modeling clay. I watched to make sure, but he never had an impulse to put it in his mouth. We gave him a quarter of a plastic shower curtain on the kitchen floor and all the Lego, toy baking tools, matchbox vehicles, and Fisher Price people he could use and turned him loose.

He was so distracted and distractable I honestly felt like duct-taping him to the wall just so I could finish a sentence or a cup of coffee uninterrupted--even both. At the same time. It doesn't sound like such a big thing till you realize it's been years since you had that privilege.

I timed him at five hours, once, with the clay. And if I hadn't ended his session he'd probably have fallen asleep right there. So of course clay-time became something he had to earn with good behavior--or at least the effort--at other times.

Emmeline's drawing is full of excellent detail and meticulous care--and a lot of pride in her work. It's awesome, and so are you for bringing that out, allowing her to do so.

Ryan! Go you on the tooth-having! And go, bt, on the job acquiring. Hopefully there'll be more buttons than snowglobes--those just ruin the line of a suit.

And again, I find myself a wee bit disturbed by the immense glee I'm taking in unpacking my books and arranging them just so. There's even a bit of hand clapping and squeeing going on.

Signed,

Sad little woman.

There will be a lot of that going on here, too. Just as soon as we get the built-in book(cd, dvd, etc)shelves built. And in. Nothing sad about enjoying all your jewels at once, love.

I may also have a bit of a blank journal addiction. I've found ten, so far, and I know there are more.

Pish tosh. The whole unit on the left and the bottom shelf on the right is blank books. The second to bottom shelf is filled blank books and bound journal pages. The ones I've found so far.

...I'm not allowed in the blank book section of bookstores any more, until I fill all the blank ones I have, or find them good homes. I admit, I stockpile, and use them as gifts. Or, you know, goads, depending.

10 journal? That's nothing. I really have made myself stop buying them because I just have way too many.