So You Are Starting a New Notebook, Help!

[Misfit]

@taimdala  I love your slathers. Neat how they work for both sides of that sheet. 
 

@mhguda People give away their beautiful notebooks?  

[mhguda]

To very special people... I have managed to do it, yes.

It's not easy. It helps if it's still pristine.

 

Also, if you have more than one copy.

[InkyColors]

6 minutes ago, Misfit said:

This is why, even though I love all the colors, I haven’t bought any Rhodia notebooks (vs notepads). I want white paper. I’ve bought a few too many Leuchtturm notebooks, so I do need white paper to see the inks.

There is a Rhodia goalbook with white paper, but it’s kind of pricey. I have been using it as a planner this year.  The lighting on the second picture is bad.  The paper is white - not cream.

[Misfit]

Oh you’ve done a wonderful job with your Rhodia @InkyColors

[InkyColors]

8 minutes ago, Misfit said:

Oh you’ve done a wonderful job with your Rhodia @InkyColors

Thanks. I bought a Lang planner last year and my fountain pens bled through the pages. I decided to make my own this year, but probably won’t do it again. I’ve really enjoyed using it, but it takes too much time to draw out the months and weeks.  The Rhodia notebook has been good to use though. 

[Misfit]

I bought a Retro 51 planner for 2022. I tried, then stopped with it. Starting February 1, I was left alone as sole caregiver of my Mom. The details aren’t worth going into, suffice it to say I figured there wasn’t much in life worth recording. I’ll save it for a year where the dates line up with 2022. 
 

Maybe I’ll be inspired to use one of the Milquerius notebooks to record life. I bought one of these self-inking stamps, so maybe the grid version. 
 

 

The hard part for me is the time is coming for the one year ago my Dad died. I’ve had to care for my Mom, and without a brother here to distract, the grief. 

[txomsy]

For Miquelrius, just go to Amazon.es and search for the brand name. Somehow availability was reduced last year, but I just made a quick search again and there is plenty of offer back again. I just saw they now have even a Midori-style notebook. Plenty of spiral bound, recycled paper, reconstituted leather-bound, 400 page notebooks, hard or soft-bound, etc... You may restrict the search using the Spanish for notebook: "cuaderno", or Portuguese "caderno".

 

The main problem I see when ordering from outside Spain is you cannot benefit from Prime shipping, and from outside EU, shipping and handling plus import taxes may require a delicate balance to find the sweet spot between combined shipping and tax thresholds.

 

What I would advice is to search other EU sites and compare prices and S+H prices, because I sometimes see the same items cheaper on different sites or lower S+H costs. French would be 'cahier'. Italian "quaderno", etc... I have ordered items from Amazon at least at DE, ES, FR, IT, UK, JP and US depending on cost, sometimes with interesting surprises. Not to talk of other FP and stationary sellers.

 

I already have way too many notebooks, so I do not know how it goes if you order from Miquelrius directly on their web page (or if you can) or other sellers.

 

But I can attest that I have several old Miquelrius A6 and A7 sewn pocket notebooks (100 sheet, ~1cm thick), that I filled some 35 years ago that have lived on a rear jeans pocket for years (on and off) to be used as reference (for languages, reference formulas, algorithms, etc...) and they are still as good as when I bought them (though clearly battered down). Fluorescent highlighting has mostly faded away to a dirty yellow, but fountain pen notes are still as good as the day I wrote them.

 

Curiously, on checking now, I found an old A7 notebook where I wrote down some pseudocode, using an F for bold highlighting keywords (reserved words). The blue UEF plain code is still readable, although somewhat faded. Talking of tiny writing. Now I can hardly read it (the plain UEF clear blue text) without aid because of the size, which is a word of caution: too tiny and excessively fine writing in non-black ink may be a problem when eyesight starts to fail later on --though now, I no longer need reminders for those contents any more.

 

[mhguda]

7 hours ago, Misfit said:

I bought a Retro 51 planner for 2022. I tried, then stopped with it. Starting February 1, I was left alone as sole caregiver of my Mom. The details aren’t worth going into, suffice it to say I figured there wasn’t much in life worth recording. I’ll save it for a year where the dates line up with 2022. 
 

You'd be surprised.

A little over six years ago, on the morning of my birthday, I flew to Aruba to sit with my mother. Her body was shutting down after a long struggle with dementia. It had been a difficult time, and my siblings there bore the brunt of it. But still, I visited on a regular basis and saw the decline. At the time I did not keep a regular journal, although I did have a notebook to catch some thoughts. But not much of this is in there. Until, on that day. At some point, when she had been either sleeping or unconscious for hours, she opened her eyes, and she looked at us. I'm convinced she saw and recognized us. I'll never forget that moment. It was the last moment I had with my mother... though she lingered for some more days.

 

I can only wish you strength, and at some point,  peace. I think it is always difficult to go through those ending stages of the life of loved ones. The grief never wholly goes away, and in some way, I think we would not want it to, either.

[Runnin_Ute]

14 hours ago, mhguda said:

You'd be surprised.

A little over six years ago, on the morning of my birthday, I flew to Aruba to sit with my mother. Her body was shutting down after a long struggle with dementia. It had been a difficult time, and my siblings there bore the brunt of it. But still, I visited on a regular basis and saw the decline. At the time I did not keep a regular journal, although I did have a notebook to catch some thoughts. But not much of this is in there. Until, on that day. At some point, when she had been either sleeping or unconscious for hours, she opened her eyes, and she looked at us. I'm convinced she saw and recognized us. I'll never forget that moment. It was the last moment I had with my mother... though she lingered for some more days.

 

I can only wish you strength, and at some point,  peace. I think it is always difficult to go through those ending stages of the life of loved ones. The grief never wholly goes away, and in some way, I think we would not want it to, either.

 

This really hit home as it reminded me of the experience me, my brother, a nephew and his little family had with my mom last fall the day she  away. (Halloween)

 

My sister and her husband was driving up from St. George, Utah and I don't think she made it before mom passed, although she may have had a chance to talk to her, as did many of the grandkids.

[inkstainedruth]

On 8/1/2022 at 8:36 PM, Misfit said:

For @taimdala

 

 

https://www.amazon.com/Miquelrius-Bound-Journal-Lined-SHEETS/dp/B0792DQWW8/ref=pd_aw_ci_mcx_mh_mcx_views_0?pd_rd_w=XsSBS&content-id=amzn1.sym.5c6faf69-0093-4b0b-912d-7b19e39d872f&pf_rd_p=5c6faf69-0093-4b0b-912d-7b19e39d872f&pf_rd_r=YMQ4X1EXK5VJR8M8M8D2&pd_rd_wg=lXmRv&pd_rd_r=0c7dc12a-48be-4f4e-9e9d-8d6b1d88475d&pd_rd_i=B0792DQWW8

 

 

https://www.amazon.com/Miquelrius-Bound-Journal-Sheets-Graph/dp/B079DLNQ3Z/ref=pd_aw_ci_mcx_mh_mcx_views_2?pd_rd_w=XsSBS&content-id=amzn1.sym.5c6faf69-0093-4b0b-912d-7b19e39d872f&pf_rd_p=5c6faf69-0093-4b0b-912d-7b19e39d872f&pf_rd_r=YMQ4X1EXK5VJR8M8M8D2&pd_rd_wg=lXmRv&pd_rd_r=0c7dc12a-48be-4f4e-9e9d-8d6b1d88475d&pd_rd_i=B079DLNQ3Z

That's the place someone on FPN tipped me off to a year or so back (I thought the name sounded vaguely familiar -- then I saw their location: Fishkill, NY (which was about a half-hour's drive north and west of where I grew up).  

I think I cleaned them out of the 300 sheet 6"x8" ones at the time.  And no, I'm NOT sorry I did....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

 

ETA: @txomsy-- It used to be that you could just order directly from Miquelrius (or -- in my case -- their US division).  I had tried a page out of one of the 400 page grid paper ones that either my husband had acquired somewhere along the way, or that I found in Bob Slate's in Harvard Square at some point on a trip to the Boston area.  And basically ordered a about a dozen and a half of the 600 page lined ones.  Then, when I was getting close to the end of those, I went to order more, and the person I was in contact with gave me what I had thought at the time was maybe their retail arm (but I've lost the URL ).

[txomsy]

Sorry to hear that. I didn't know, around here it is not difficult to find Miquelrius, Rhodia, Oxford, Paperblanks, or any other European brands in B&M shops or Amazon, so I haven't considered buying directly.

 

[taimdala]

On 8/1/2022 at 10:03 PM, Misfit said:

@taimdala by the way, I think I’ve seen some washi tape that easily separates into individual pieces.  
 

Ah ha, I found them on Jet Pens as Washi Tape Sticker Roll. 
 

https://www.jetpens.com/search?q=Washi+tape+sticker+roll&v=2

OH SWEET! They've got individual flowers! 

 

Thank you so much, Misfit. 😄

[taimdala]

On 8/1/2022 at 10:04 PM, Misfit said:

Now I’m conflicted on the Milquerius. It could be we should buy them now while they are available.  There website, if I remember from last night, doesn’t show these soft bound notebooks, like members got at B&N. 

 

I decided to buy as many as I could, if only to produce a spike in sales that might encourage the company to *continue* making them.  

 

I guess I didn't start my one-man campaign early enough.

 

*weak laugh*

[taimdala]

On 8/1/2022 at 10:08 PM, Misfit said:

Well I did it. I got the small version in red, and the lined in blue. I used my credit card rewards to save over $8 off. 

 

Congratulations! And yay (!) for reward points. 😄

[taimdala]

On 8/1/2022 at 10:56 PM, Misfit said:

This is why, even though I love all the colors, I haven’t bought any Rhodia notebooks (vs notepads). I want white paper. I’ve bought a few too many Leuchtturm notebooks, so I do need white paper to see the inks.

Actually, Rhodia does make a white paper, line ruled, *Composition Book* that is actually closer to the American letter size (8.5" × 11") than the usual B5-ish size. Mine has the glossy black card stock cover with orange text, with a taped spine like a regular composition book. The paper inside is the same top quality Rhodia paper as in their other notebooks and notepads.

 

And as luck would have it, I'm currently at work and away from my desk at home, else I'd be posting the serial/model number off the back cover.

 

(At least, I remember seeing one on the back cover ... I think)

 

When I get home, I'll look for it. If there's a number, I'll post it here. 

[taimdala]

On 8/1/2022 at 11:06 PM, InkyColors said:

There is a Rhodia goalbook with white paper, but it’s kind of pricey. I have been using it as a planner this year.  The lighting on the second picture is bad.  The paper is white - not cream.

 

I love your layouts, Inky Colors. 💕

 

Now that I am working AFH (Away From Home), I may go back to a horizontal weekly spread. I like how you assigned task areas on the right hand page, too. It eases my worry that the size of the indiviual day boxes won't be big enough to hold everything. Your method leaves room for box overflow. 😉 GREAT IDEA!

[taimdala]

On 8/1/2022 at 11:06 PM, InkyColors said:

There is a Rhodia goalbook with white paper, but it’s kind of pricey. I have been using it as a planner this year.  The lighting on the second picture is bad.  The paper is white - not cream.

AND ... 

 

Ohhhhmyyyyyyy ... your August calendar is GORGEOUS! 💕💕💕

[InkyColors]

12 minutes ago, taimdala said:

AND ... 

 

Ohhhhmyyyyyyy ... your August calendar is GORGEOUS! 💕💕💕

Thank you taimdala!  I love your sketch pages too.  This type layout works best for me and it’s hard to find in a pre-printed planner.  I like having a place for tasks that need to be done this week or this month, but not necessarily on a particular day. I usually include a small chart for tasks that need to be done every day so I don’t have to write them out every day.  Like this:

[taimdala]

4 hours ago, InkyColors said:

Thank you taimdala!  I love your sketch pages too.  This type layout works best for me and it’s hard to find in a pre-printed planner.  I like having a place for tasks that need to be done this week or this month, but not necessarily on a particular day. I usually include a small chart for tasks that need to be done every day so I don’t have to write them out every day.  Like this:

Thank you, InkyColors. 😄

 

I have something similar for a task list. If a task does not have a hard deadline, I too find it easier to keep it in a list rather than assigning it to a specific day.

 

 

 

[Misfit]

I love all the colors of Rhodia bound notebooks. But don’t those have cream colored paper?  The margin on the Rhodia lined notebooks in black, orange and white are annoyingly set in to me.  I tend to ignore them if I use the paper for letters. 
 

I got a spiral Milquerius notebook with colored edges that I should be using now to write letters. I owe a letter to every pen pal I have since I last wrote in November. Taking the time to attach line guide sheets to loose Tomoe paper takes time. The Milquerius notebook would be easier to grab with some pens, the letter I’m replying to, and get started. 
 

Then I could use the Field Notes notebook I once dedicated to putting down what I wrote about in my letter. I have a Roterfaden Taschenbegleiter cover that holds 3 A6 notebooks.