Pens for Bullet Journaling

Pens and Pen Roll Up, 2016

Bleeding Pens!

I own a lot of pens but a lot of them are not suitable for bullet journaling #bujo because they bleed through the paper onto the back or even worse, onto the next page. After reading reviews and searching blog posts, I have come upon only two types of pens (with colored ink) that are suitable. I was hoping for pens that I could use for bullet journaling and coloring. 

With a 50% coupon, I went to my local Michael's and looked at the Staedtler Triplus Fineliner pens. Known as the pens recommended by the famous artist, Johanna Basford, these pens are  "porous point", water based, metal tipped pens. They have a 0.3 mm tip (that's really small). I decided that this box of 36 was what I wanted. The smaller number of pens come in a very nice case but this one with the 36 pens was a better buy for me.

At Amazon, I found the pen/pencil roll-up case with 36 slots. Most of the roll-up cases have a tie system of closure and are only for twenty four pens. This one is the one shown in my photo and is currently "out of stock".

To my dismay, pens and pencils do not always have an identifiable color name or number printed on them, so I went in search of a blog post that I might be able to use to make my own color chart. Colour with Claire did an excellent job of the color names, so I made my own chart for my bullet journal.

At my husband's suggestion, I went to Michael's and looked at Johanna Basford's coloring books. I love her designs but I do not like that the pages are not perforated and the paper color is not always white. 

I will report on how I am going to use the color coding in a future blog post.

Words to Live By

Happy New Year 2017 (Erin Condren Web Site)

Words to Live By

There are motivational stickers and cards in each order that I place with my planner or journals (notebooks) that I have bought from Erin Condren. There are also similar motivation messages sprinkled throughout the pages. I have no problem with motivation but I do think that the ones that are telling me to "be fun" and to "enjoy" might be some ideas I need to pay attention to. 

I practice Project Based Genealogy and much of the time, my projects are thematic. That fits with my learning as an educator and it should work with my retired life too. In case you don't follow my gravestone blog, here are the two links to past blog posts about that.

• Project Based Genealogy Steps (2012)
• Project Based Genealogy Defined (2016)

I started bullet journaling this year as a way to have better control over my research plan. I also see a need to try and find a way to organize and record research that doesn't fit neatly into genealogy software.  I wrote a blog post last October that many people have read. In case you didn't see it, here's the link:

• Take a Bite Out of Bullet Journaling

It does take a LOT of time to set up your planner, notebooks and bullet journals and I have taken my time doing that and it will pay off. Yes, I need time to enjoy my life so that needs to be considered.

Have a great holiday season and see you next year!

Sentimental Sunday: Christmas 1963

Photo Collection of Midge Frazel, December 1963

Sentimental Sunday: Christmas 1963

Lest you think that planners, calendars and journals are something new to me, I will share with you this crop of a photo from my parents collection (original here). Taken on Christmas Day in 1963 and developed later that month is a photo of teenage me, at my Grandmother's apartment at the Rosedale Apartments in Cranston, RI. 

I can tell you that I am demonstrating my new scarab bracelet (which I still have) and in front of me is my calendar for the year 1964. It really would have been a good idea to put a calendar in all my personal photos to date them when it was forgotten to put the year on the back. Notice the very hip lettering on the front of the calendar. 

Bullet Journaling Video List

Video Presentations of Interest to Genealogists
Planners and Bullet Journaling

Photo by Midge Frazel, 2016

• Kathryn Lake Hogan's Bullet Journaling Session (12/13/12016) YouTube

• Dear Myrtle's Wacky Wednesday Hangout with Tami Osmer Mize (12/14/2016) YouTube

Monday Memory: The Packing Box

Photo by Midge Frazel, December, 2016

The Packing Box

For as long as I can remember, this box has held our tree ornaments. I realized when we moved here that this is not just a container; it is family history. We cut the leather straps, that held it shut, and replaced them with two bungie cords. That's as modern as it is going to get. I have lined it with clean paper and thrown out all the broken bits of glass in the bottom. 

I think that this box, and the 27 others that must have been before it, were the boxes that were filled with the paper covered clean laundry and shirt boxes and placed in the Victor Cleansing Company trucks to be delivered to customers. My mother worked in the shipping room and showed me the area where the dirty clothes came in and the clean clothes moved out. This would have fit in the "cubbyholes" that were built in the early 1950s when the addition was built for a storefront at the plant.

My dad's job title was head shipper in the 1949 Cranston City Directory. He's standing here in a section of Roger William Park with Mr. James Aitken. Jim gave me the BEST Christmas presents (books) when he came to my grandparents house to visit with my sick grandfather. He is my father's relative (1st cousin 1x removed) but they didn't know that at the time. My grandfather probably took this photo. 

undated Kodachrome slide in the collection of Midge Frazel

My dad looked great in a uniform, didn't he? He traded in his Army uniform for this one. Hard working, handsome and full of personality, Dad must have saved this packing crate for himself. I remember it being in the basement of my grandparent's home. For me, it is a symbol of Christmas.

Pushing Seventy

Erin Condren Motivational Card., 2016

Sentimental Sunday: Pushing Seventy

Recently, I been thinking about how lucky I am to have lived this long. Some of the odds against it have been pretty amazing. Then, I thought about the first person that I remember dying and I worked out that my maternal grandfather was only 68 years 9 months 4 days when he passed away. He was quite ill for a long time.

Now, I have lived longer than his 68 years. I remember my mother marking her 69th birthday with this same thought of being older than her own father. My grandmother, his wife, lived to be 98. That's a long time to be a widow. When she turned 80, she gave up her apartment and went to live with my parents. An addition was added to the house so she could have a room of her own with her own bathroom. When I sold my parents home, that room was designated to be the master bedroom. I am sure no one thought of that when it was added to the house.

When I bought my 2017 planner, this motivational card was included in the package. Your future self means different things the older you get. Genealogists look to the past to discover the future and with that in mind, my husband and I went back to Rhode Island for a few hours to have lunch and do some needed Christmas shopping. I think it was a good thing to do to prepare for my future self. It is fitting that I am waiting for a bullet journal to arrive as the last of my birthday gifts. It will be fun to start my new year by planning my future self.

This year is my last before I turn 70 years old and I need to make it count. What will my future self be like?