Tuesday, March 23, 2010

The Day My Daughter Found My Little Black Book

I have carried my little black book in my purse/tote/or whatever it is that I am carrying at the moment. It is a little moleskine book that could fit in one's pocket.  Even though it is at least four years old, it looks brand new.

Does it have addresses in it?  No

Does it have phone numbers of old boyfriends?  Nope.  At least it better not since my husband and I have been together for almost 10 years (married for almost 4 of those years).

Phone numbers of any kind?  Maybe a few scribbled here and there on pages.

Does it have dates and times of meetings, events that I was scheduled to attend, or occasions to remember?  Nope, not really.

My little black book is a moleskine book filled with lined paper.  It contains page upon page of lists and notes (and lots of passwords and usernames which I shouldn't have been carrying around with me).  Chalk that up to youth and naivete.

I had bought the moleskine (mol-a-skeen'-a) book at a bookstore.   I wanted something I could jot down notes in.  I had wanted something chic but I settled for simple, understated, and durable. Writers and artists had been using them to jot down inspiration for over two centuries.

My daughter had found it in a bag I brought downstairs filled with items to go through.  My daughter loved the little elastic band that could be used to mark a page. She was running around the kitchen pretending to read it.  I asked her to bring it to me so I could see it.  I got lost in the pages for several minutes, reminiscing.

Within it's pages, I have the list of things I saw throughout the year for ideas for Christmas presents for 2005.  There was a list of repairs and miscellaneous things we had to do before we sold our old house and a list of what we wanted in our new home in 2006.  Our trip to Home Depot and Lowe's was documented with a list of what we needed to finish the basement in the house we ended up buying (and that we just finished this year way over the budget detailed in the book).

The book served as my diet journal when I was trying to lose a few pounds before I got pregnant.  There are lists of things I needed to do and buy even a list of questions I had for my OB right before I was to give birth to my daughter in 2007 and I was starting to freak out. My librarian friend's book recommendations for children's books made its way into the book and books that I wanted to read while I was home on maternity leave (the leave that extended after I decided not to return to work).

There are also lists of what I got all of our friends and family for 3-4 Christmases in a row because I was afraid of giving duplicate gifts since I was the one solely in charge of shopping. Notes on the cars I was looking at when we went car shopping after our daughter was born are there to along with the guest list and the menu for our daughter's first birthday party.

This book told me more about my life and what I saw and did than the journal that sits with less than a dozen entries from the last several years on my nightstand.  It is also now my daughter's obsession.  She wants her own little black book to write in.  This one was retired about two years ago and replaced with a new one.  I think I would buy her her own before I handed this one back over.  I think it is going to go in a safe place for now.

Do you have a little black book?  What is in your's?

19 comments:

rachel... said...

No. I am a notorious list-maker, but mine are jotted down on scraps of paper and, eventually, lost in my purse. I'd have a little black book like yours if I ever cleaned out my purse and bound all those scraps together!

My two youngest daughters love little notebooks like these, too. They call them their "checkbooks" and carry them around with them everywhere.

Daisygirl said...

Your daughter sounds exactly like mine. My 5 year old has an obsession with journals, little books, plain notebooks...the whole shabang! I have lots and lots of little black books.

Confessions From A Work-At-Home Mom said...

I have a rather large, impractical, green-velore book that I've had for about 8 years. It has my "must have" list for a spouse (I had it before DH), my food diary, my clothing journal (I used to record what I wore every day to class in college, lest I commit a sorority faux pas and repeat an outfit), phone numbers, shopping lists, etc. etc. etc.! I wonder where it is now... it could be dangerous in the wrong hands!

~Elizabeth
Confessions From A Working Mom

Joy@TPMG said...

Rachel-I am bad with scraps of paper. I always lose them.

My daughter likes to wear the book on her arm by putting the elastic around her hand. It probably weighs more than her arm now that I think about it. This is probably why she is so fixated with it.

Elizabeth-I am glad I am not alone with my recording everything and lists.

Anonymous said...

That is so cool!

I write on my wall calendar and then I keep each calendar year to year and every Dec 31st we all sit and read what we did each day for all 365 days! It is nice because I hit the highlights/lowlights!

Unknown said...

Hello! Love your blog! Theta Mom recommended it at POM's Connect MEme Monday...so I'm here to check you out and follow! Love your tagline...so true, being practical in an impractical world is about the best defense you can be armed with! Would love it if you could visit POM sometime!

http://thepursuitofmommyness.com/

Lourie said...

My journaling is in my emails. I have email that dates back to 2003. How I wish I had more. I would love to see what I was thinking 10 years ago!

hypermom said...

Oh gosh, I love little notebooks. I have just a lot of them. Actually, my sisters and I are all into notebooks, wonder why? :)

Have a great day!

Joy@TPMG said...

There is something addictive about a clean piece of paper and a fresh notebook.

parenting ad absurdum said...

Oh, I wish I were organized enough to have ONE, like you! I have about fifty four of them - in drawers, in purses, in pockets, in the car... plus hundreds of scraps of paper stuck in unlikely places. I must learn to focus!!

Juliana said...

I have books everywhere, but this was such a sweet post and your daughter sounds so sweet!

I am following you from MBC with FFF. I hope that you will come back and follow back. Have a great week!

Dumb Mom said...

I have a book like that. I call it my Life Book because it holds all sorts of tidbits of my life and notes I can't live without. I lost it once. I cried. When I found it, I cried again!

Bibi @ Bibi's Culinary Journey said...

I think I have like 4 of them going. I have them all over my house and write things as they pop into my head. I really should get a new one and combine them all. Maybe that's why I am always lost,lol.

Katherine said...

I have like a dozen of these all over the place, but this really makes me want to go out and get one nice one to carry around for years to come :P

Joy@TPMG said...

I can't imagine having several notebooks to write stuff in. I would probably lose most of them or misplace them constantly. LOL.

Anonymous said...

Oh, what a sweet post! I wish now I haven't been keeping all my notes in my PDA for the last few years. They just get deleted as I am finished with them.

Thanks for stopping by my blog!

Toni @ Hemp & High Heels

Melissa Haak said...

I just got one! Since I stopped working and stopped carrying a day planner whatever bag I was carrying was filled with little notes and numbers it was a mess! I never got into putting things in my phone, when I want to jot something down I want to write it quickly not peck it on on my phone. My kids love it, they have been coloring pages in it while at the doctor...I may need to get a little one just for them!

Michelle {Fun On a Dime} said...

I should get one of those...I am constantly writing things on random paper and shoving them in a bag or drawer to look at later. I do find it fun to look over them, when I come across them, and some I keep because of what they make me remember.

Little Green Mom said...

Just found your site and enjoying it. Pay me a visit some time :-D

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