Have I Damaged My Child?

Hmmm, maybe it's time to start worrying about my youngest boy. I came home from work on Tuesday to have some "mummy & Marcus time" as Christopher is out at sports club when I get home on Tuesdays, so Marcus and I have an hour before he gets home.

I got home to find him sat on my bed watching Shaun the Sheep, and he didn't want to do anything else, just wanted me to sit with him while he did so - even I can manage that!!! I figured that as I was going to be sat there I could take a look at making some changes to my current filo set ups, so popped into my room and picked up a few.   

Upon entry into the bedroom Marcus looked at me in a very stern manner, and said in what I think has to be his most disapproving tone "Mummy..... have you got new Filofaxes....?" - honestly, who does he think he is, the Filofax monitor? Obviously they weren't new ones as they are in use, so I said "No, I've had some of these a while now, but I have got three new ones in the front room... do you want to see them?" - perky as you like, I don't want him thinking he is allowed to disapprove of me just yet - I mean, really, he's only five...

So here are the three newbies and the reactions they got from said munchkin:

First up... the Domino Snake personal in bronze (on sale Filofax Germany) "Ooh!!! It's shiny!!! I love it!!! I want to kiss it!!!" and then he did... weirdo...

It is shiny...

And the inside - dark and sultry... I wasn't expecting that

Next up... the Domino Snake A5 in brown (another sale item). I did warn him that it wasn't as shiny as he did seem to be totally enamoured with the bronze one. "It's shiny too!!!"... followed by much kissing...

Yes, it's true - I took the picture of the back instead of the front - oops

More dark insides - lovely

And then came the Kendal (thanks Jen :o) )... as I slid it out of the box towards him there was a totally different reaction, it was as if he knew that there was something special about this one. He just stroked it very carefully and said "Oh, nice..." whilst gazing at it with a look of total adoration.

Personally I think I may have found my ideal filo - although if it came in A5 compact it would be totally perfect, I am thinking about my setup for next year already having seen this rugged beast. It just looks as though it should be dragged about everywhere, thrown into bags without a second thought (this may require the purchase of some bigger bags admittedly), preferably bags with rubble in or something because this just looks like it wants to be beaten about (without damaging it internally at all of course). It has a couple of minor marks already, but it is just screaming that it wants everyone to know how tough it is - it is wonderful!!!

OK - not looking so tough on the girlie chair...

Relaxing for a while

Once all three had been checked out, Marcus decided that it was time to have a full investigation into the bronze Domino Snake. He noted the black ring protector that it came with (instead of the white ones that come with the other Dominos), he looked through the inserts and then declared "it's boring inside, that means it's for a boy" - crafty little chap. I did explain that he already has a filofax and asked how many he needs... at which point he replied "five"... OK, *holds hands up* I can't fault him. He is five, he needs five filos...

Gazing wistfully...

More kissing...

Time for another look inside...

Distracted stroking

OK, and hugging...

OK - now that's just mean. He's guarding it...

Looks like I'm going to have to try stealth tactics...

I eventually managed to get it back off him, after he hid under the duvet with it.... I think I may have to  see if they are still on sale and get him one ready for Christmas...

LJx

Leaving Home

So, the time has come. Three of my babies are leaving home - they are now packed and ready to go :o(

So let's take one final look at them before they make their journey overseas (obviously I will be accompanying them on their flight - they are too young to be flying alone). Please excuse picture quality, I had to pull these from other group photos as I didn't have time to do new photos before they head off to their new home

First we have the A5 Domino in Ultra-Violet - wonderful thing, and only going because I know that it will be loved and well looked after in it's role as household filo in its new home. I have the personal in UV and the A5 in Violet, so don't feel I need the A5 in UV (in fact. the violet is a stunning colour. This one is going complete with 2011-2012 WO2P Sweden/Denmark style, standard dividers, and some coloured papers, address sheets and a notepad, so should be all the basics for initial setup, although I will point the new owner in the direction of Philofaxy so she can have a look and see what is available of course.

Next up is the pocket Finsbury in Raspberry, I have had it a while now, and although I really like the colour I just can't see me ever using it. I originally got it to use as a wallet, but at the time I thought it was too big (seems a bit stupid saying that as I now have the Pennybridge for that, but it is way more practical), and the zip pocket was just too tight. Unfortunately that doesn't have a diary at all at the moment as I emptied all my binders to do my stock count and then gave away all the pocket diaries as I won't use them (at least not this year), however it does have a random selection of stuff out of my box, so hopefully that will be OK.

Finally, the Cuban Slimline in Ink - I bought it with such good intentions, in fact I ordered two as Sabine (FF convert) at work wanted one - she loves hers and uses it everyday. I tried... for all of twenty minutes (literally), it doesn't have a clasp which I thought would be fine... and the pen loop..., as soon as put a pen or pencil in it, it just bugged the hell out of me. Maybe if the pen loop hadn't been so annoying I'd have been OK with the lack of a clasp, but that pen loop - never gonna happen.

So although I will miss them (especially the Domino, but when they launch new colours of those babies I may have to get more) - they are going to a better place, where they will be loved and cherished, and more importantly, used.

LJx

30mm Rings, a Couple of Moves and a Nice Surprise!!!

Wow, wow, wow!!!

That is all I can say. I was hoping my order from Filofax UK would arrive in time for my birthday, but as I ordered on Tuesday and my birthday was on Thursday, I knew that it would be a pretty close call.

But the FedEx lady arrived in the office on Thursday with a parcel for me - there was nothing else it could be, and I have to admit I squealed :o) But... I was supposed to wait until I got home to open my present, even though I wasn't going to be home until 9:30 as I had to work late for monthend close - what could I do? Obviously I could be a proper girl, call my DF and tell him my parcel had arrived and sound sorry for myself that I wouldn't be able to move from my violet Domino until the morning.

Ah yes, the violet Domino, what was I doing in there? Well, the red one, although utterly fabulous and a bit scratched (which isn't a bad thing) had a small problem. The top rings had a little gap so the paper kept catching a bit, which isn't the end of the world but I knew that come monthend I would find it really annoying, so I thought that as I was managing to use the A5 successfully this time, I would slip into the aqua Chameleon for a brief interlude so that she could see that it really had been my problem, not hers when I tried to go back to the A5 before. However, I now see why everyone loves 30mm rings - I am totally in love with them. I tried to put everything in the Chameleons 25mm rings and had to do half in one side then the other half on the other side to get the rings to close with any sense and just wasn't happy with it, so out came the violet Domino - it is a truly beautiful colour :o)

The red Domino - Dominoes are very faithful, if you have Dominoes as backups you can never go wrong

30mm rings!!! They are just the rings to beat all rings!!!

purple Domino - empty as less than 24 hours of use leaves no time for photos of it in use  :o)

Anyway, back to the delivery, clearly DF is not heartless and therefore I could open it and here's what I got...

So beautiful together :o)

I immediately transferred everything into the absolutely stunning, stunning, stunning Ochre Malden with it's wonderful 30mm rings. The colour is sublime, it looks old, loved and just stunning. Oh yes, have I mentioned that it is STUNNING!!!? I can now not believe that I was having such a dilemma over whether to order it or not...

Ochre Malden in all its glory

Lying flat like the dream that it is - so soft & flexible

Did I mention the 30mm rings? - awesome!!!

Along with the (stunning, I can say it again) Malden I received the compact purple Pennybridge, so I just HAD to immediately move everything from my purse into it. It is pretty huge for a purse (I have never had a proper big purse in my life) and this thing seems like a brick. Although I have to admit it was so easy to get my travel card out to show the bus driver when I was on my way home, and now I need to decide what set-up to have in there. I think it will just be a purse with a pen/pencil and a few sheets for reminders on the go as I don't intend carrying my A5 everywhere with me (eg shopping - now that would be like carrying a brick).

I seem to have a bit of a thing for purple - love, love, love the colour of this

Purse and filo all in one - excellent

Plenty of card slots and pockets

Space for coinage

WO1P with notes for now, lined paper and To Do lists behind

Final pic of the day - are you ready for the surprise?

A metal divider!!!

Bless my DF. He knows how much I love my filos and all the bits and pieces that go with that so he made me a trial divider to check if the holes are all lined up perfectly. I can change the colour just by changing the paper that it sits in front of, so I an have a different colour every day if I want to. I am soooo looking forward to having the full set...


Watch this space for the eagerly awaited City Organiser delivery (hopefully it won't arrive too soon as I would like to enjoy the Malden for a few days at least)...

LJx

Moving Back to the A5

Hi all, I am now feeling much more comfortable with my Filofax after suffering a bit of planner fail and the attempted move into my beautiful new A5 Aqua Chameleon.

Please accept my apologies for a very picture heavy post...

My personal Malden was doing a good job for a while (before I wanted to see more than just my daily tasks) and even enabled me to carry my passport and Ausländer Auschweitz everywhere with me (which was handy as it meant I knew where they were at all times - no more hellish search for them when I had to go on a work trip).

I will miss my beautiful Malden

Filofax stickers and donated Moleskine ones peeping out from behind the passport

Week on 2 Pages with To Do list inter-leaved

Annual Planner for Work & Holiday dates

Capture pages

However, it was decided that although I loved the convenience of using the personal size I needed something more, and so it was time to bring in the big guns - A5 style.

To help me in my move to the A5, and as I wanted to continue to have everything in one filo I designed what should have been the perfect 2PPD template for me, with sections for everything that I needed. I would now be able to see each area of my life all on one spread. Undoubtedly this would be the ideal layout for me... if I didn't look at all those sections and just feel overwhelmed by the number of boxes to fill in.

So, back to the drawing board... what are my needs?

Diary - for work and personal appointments/reminders. I know all my work appointments are in Lotus Notes, but I do my planning at home/on the train and prefer to do it on paper, so I need this.

Month to View & Annual Planners - everyone needs to be able to see the longer term, right?

To Do pages - much of my work is task-based and without these my work life would go back to being a complete disaster zone.

Stickers - probably never to be used, but I like to know they are there. One day I will start to use them - I should put that on my list of things to do :o)

101 in 1001 - my list of 101 things to do in 1001 days so that I can review and plan.

Work Hours Log - so I can see if I am achieving my goals to sort out my work/life balance.

Exercise & Food Log - so I can monitor what I eat and how much exercise I do in an attempt to make myself accountable. I intend to include calories burned during exercise too, but need to get a different heart rate monitor to do this as my current one doesn't have this facility on it. Maybe that would make me more determined to get off my butt each day and do it, or work harder when I do...

Motivational Quotes

Project Planning

Addresses

Household Planning (cleaning)

As you may have seen previously I have quite a few inserts already (which has been added to by the recent influx of new filos here and here. So, no more procrastinating about my ideal template, it was time to make use of what I already have...

Starting out with the Red Domino, as I had failed in the Chameleon I couldn't face risking her fragile sensibilities by leaving her open to another failure... and the Domino - 2 huge pen loops, and you never have to feel guilty for trying to force a big pen in there :o)

Business cards, stickers, passport and plenty of extra space. The loose sheets at the front are from the Gretchen Ruben Happiness  Project desktop diary as I have a few days off work and don't want to miss any quotes/tips 

Part of my 101 things in 1001 Days list

Logging my work hours to prove that I am achieving my work/life balance goals from my 101 list

Food & Exercise Log (please don't look too closely - you will see how lazy I have been), courtesy of Lord Dodo. The left hand page has plenty of free space, so this is where I intend to log my motivational quotes, or just ones that make me smile.

Month on 2 pages

Week On 2 Pages with To Do's inter-leaved. I love this format for the WO2P as there is a dividing gap that runs down the centre of the day so I can split between work & personal reminders

Activity planners from Sweden, in theory to use for project planning - we'll see if I manage that one...

Annual Planner stolen straight from the personal. Behind this section I have my addresses. One sheet per letter, but no dividers to split them at the moment, I'm not sure I will as I use them so rarely.

My Indodispensible Data

Card holders and a notepad to use as my capture area

Still a bit of work to do to get my routines in order (including adding a cleaning bit, but I think I may actually use the timetable insert that came with on of the Dominos), but I think I'm getting there. I've been using it every day, so that's an improvement :o)

Ooh - I guess I can cross off the 'write a post re my work Filo' off my 101 list now. It would have been done much sooner with my original A5 setup (which was work only), if I hadn't left it and my laptop on the train... obviously all you Filofax fans out there know where my biggest concerns lay at the time :o)

Although now I have seen Imy's post regarding her pocket filo I am thinking about other options again already...

LJx

Sweden Too - Time For a Filofax Family Photo...

Woohoo!!!

After such good service from Filofax UK, I was still waiting to hear from Sweden that they had dispatched my order (which I ordered on Monday night) and thought it would probably be dispatched on Monday and via FedEx which would be a pain as I wouldn't be home to receive it

However, I got home at 3:30 today (early finish, always a bonus), and the postman had left something in my mailbox...

Too much tape - I had to go and find the scissors!!!

What is in these wonderful packages?

Personal Domino in orange and A5 in ultra-violet

I have been wanting the orange Domino for ages, and now I finally have it :-)

But now for the final reveal from my recent filo-fest...

A lovely box for an A5- I haven't seen one in these boxes before...

Can you guess what it is yet...?

A5 Chameleon in spring green

Now that is beautiful - not as bright as I was expecting from the website, but it is pretty wonderful...

Not just back dividers, but black plastic dividers!!! Yay!!!

After my previous purchases from Sweden I was a little disappointed to discover that the Dominoes had standard dividers rather than black, but I have enough still from the sale so I'm not too disappointed. This means that I now also have more 2012 WO2P diaries from Sweden, which although lovely will probably remain unused... I can live with that, and I'm sure the littlest guy won't care when he uses it to doodle all over :o)

It's strange that Filofax are so dis-jointed though - the ones I received from the UK had 2012-2013 diaries in, but by next year who knows what format of diary I will be wanting to use? Ha ha ha!!!

I figured that as I have received quite a few new FFs that t was probably time for another family filo photo... and here are my wonderful (and yet useful) babies...

There's always one to get drunk and ruin a family photo isn't there, yes Cuban slimline, I'm talking about you!!!

 So realistically - one life, one filo - with this many beautiful filos will I be able to stick with it...?

LJx