Dear Diary

I have a love/hate relationship with scrapbooks, diaries, and photo albums. I like the idea of them, but don't have the time for them. The finite amount of time I have now is devoted to the following:

• Family events and activities
• Study time and reading time
• Commuting
• Working
• Maintaining the house

Optional items I add when I have extra time are:

• Sleeping
• Physical activity
• Grooming myself
• Calling my parents

In short, I'm too busy living it to write about it. I know I'm not alone, because my sister seems to keep the same schedule.

In recent months, I've discovered a few things that make me feel like I could actually archive our lives with a minimal investment of time and energy.

Keel's Simple Diary is a fill-in-the-blank diary that even I can find the time to write in each night. The questions on each page are thought-provoking, but not too much so, and require only about a 5 minute commitment to complete. Perfect.

Apple Preview allows you to embed information into your digital photos so you'll never again forget which baby that is in the photo taken in 1995.

iPhoto allows you to organize your digital photos into books, albums, calendars, or cards with a minimum of time and technical savvy. Once your photos are all loaded (very easy if you have a mac and and digital camera) you can choose a template, or customize your work. Either way, it's easy to pull together a great looking piece of work that will look good on your shelf (or on your mother-in-law's).

While I can't say I've completely turned over a new leaf, I do feel like I have started to take some positive steps in the right direction. And by 2020, when Katie graduates from high school, I'll be scrapbooking like nobody's business.

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