How to Make a Computer Journal

I have always dreamed of keeping a daily journal but writing a long page of narrative about my day always seemed  boring not to mention I didn't think I had anything of importance to say. Then came the big questions of, where do I start? What do I write about? Do I put it in a spiral notebook or another type of paper diary where my husband or kids can find it? And if I put on my computer how do I keep it organized? Do I write a document for every day or do I just use one document and add to it daily?

See, to much work!

Until today. As I was reading The Happiness Project: Or, Why I Spent a Year Trying to Sing in the Morning, Clean My Closets, Fight Right, Read Aristotle, and Generally Have More Fun by Gretchen Rubin I was struck by an outlandish idea and the more I thought about it the more crystallized it became, why not use the form designer in MS Works Database or Word to make a daily diary?

Opening MS Works I went to the form designer and started adding the elements that I wanted in my journal. I already knew I didn't want to do the narrative route and I wanted some type of prompt so I would know what to write.

 After thinking about it for a bit I came up with five things I'd want to have in my journal. 
1. The date
2. A Goal for the day. If there was only one thing I could get done today what would it be?
3. A quote of the day. It might be something one of the kids said, it could be something I read or maybe even some witty utterance I made during the day. I just know there are times I hear something and wish I wold have wrote it down for posterity.  
4. In "The Happiness Project" Mrs. Rubin talks about the One Sentence Journal.  I know I can write one sentence (or more) about something that happened during the day that I want to remember.  It could be the cute things one of my grandsons said or my adult daughter sharing stories about her new beau. Or it might even be how misty eyed I got from watching Fast & Furious 6. 
5. Years ago I read Simple Abundance: A Daybook of Comfort of Joy  by Sarah Ban Breathnach and was always struck by the simplicity of just writing down something that I'm grateful for today. Every day I work with children with special needs and at night I come home to my healthy children and grandchildren but somewhere in the act of day to day act living I forget how blessed I am and start to dwell on the little irratations that happen in life. 
6. There was one last thing that I wanted to remember and since I had read "The Happiness Project" I wanted to be happier but in the rush of life along with forgetting what I'm grateful for I also forget what made me truely happy during the day. I want to remember those moments. I want to remember the compliment that my coworker gave me. I want to remember something that made me happy during the day. So on the form "happiness" went. 

Now I open my Daily Journal file, click "next record" or go to the last record and fill in the blanks. Sometimes it can be something as simple as setting up a journal form to make you happy.

 

Read in 2012

Books I've read in 2012 in no order.  I was going to put them in the order of best to worst but I couldn't decide which one I'd put 1st so I decided to just put them randomly...they're not even in the order read.

Whiskey Rebellion (Romantic Mystery/Comedy) Book 1 · Hart, Liliana
Hunger Games (Hunger Games Trilogy #1)
Catching Fire(Hunger Games Trilogy #2)
Mockingjay (Hunger Games Trilogy #3)
Maze Runner (Maze Runner Trilogy #1)
Not Your Everyday Housewife · Campisi, Mary
Murder on the Rocks (Gray Whale Inn Mysteries, No. 1) Karen MacInerney
Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children · Ransom Riggs
Brother Odd · Dean Koontz
Death by Chocolate -Sally Berneathy
Death is a Relative Thing - Holly Patrone
Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder - Joanne Fluke
Ghost ala Mode - Sue Ann Jaffarian
The Moonlit Mind: A Tale of Suspense - Dean Koontz
The Night Circus - Erin Morgenstern (not finished but at 3/4 of the way through more was read in 2012 than in 2013)

How To: Read Kindle Books on a Nook

If you've ever wished you had bought the Kindle because of the amount of free books Amazon has fret no more. Yes, you can read Kindle books on your Nook. No, it's not as simple as buy the book and it's there to read, but you can do it in a few minutes using a couple of free programs.

So lets get started.
1. Download and install  Kindle for PC to your computer.
2. Download and install the free program Calibre 
3. Download the plug-ins and follow the directions found here 

Now that you have the tools you need the books.
Here's the link to Amazon's top 100 paid & free books. 

1.Buy the book of your choice and download to Kindle. Click on the book you just "bought" so it installs.
2. Now open Calibre and click "add books". Maneuver to My Kindle Content in your My Documents folder.
3. Choose the book you just downloaded. It will open in Calibre.
4. Connet your Nook to your computer.
5. Right click on the book You can now Edit Metadata and add covers if it's missing or you can send to device. Choose to send to Disk A.
6. Calibre will ask if you want to convert your book. Click yes.
After the book is done transfering check your Nook, you should now have your new Kindle book on your Nook and ready to read.
Enjoy.

Free Ebook Download: Faerie Cake Deadby J. M. Griffin

Faerie Cake Dead (The Luna Devere Series) by J. M. Griffin

 
Description
Tea, trust and trouble collide at Faerie Cake Junction. When divorcee, Luna Devere, owner of Faerie Cake Junction, meets general contractor, Devin Radford, chaos reigns. Devin instantly wreaks romantic havoc in Luna's life after she finds a corpse sitting in her tea shop as though awaiting service. The shop is surrounded by faeries who have befriended Luna. They know who left the dead man, but they aren't sharing. The sheriff is convinced Luna is daft and that she's the culprit. Devin wonders just how odd Luna is...even though he's drawn to her. And, Luna's ex-husband tries to incriminate her for reasons and purposes of his own. Will Luna survive? Only the faeries know. 

 Why I downloaded:

This synopsis really intrigued me. There's fairies, baked goods, romance and murder...what's not to love?