Project DO Progress - I LOVE Calibre!

Calibre screenshot - isn't it cool?

Now that I’ve used this oh-so-cool ebook database management system for nearly a week, I have to say that I’m in love - Calibre has truly changed my life! After my initial failure and reinstall, I’ve been proceeding cautiously and performing small-scale tests instead of racing ahead all willy-nilly. And it’s worked – I haven’t had a single catastrophe!

As I said in a previous post, my first Project DO area of focus is my computer files. With over a thousand PDF documents on my hard drive, I was never able to find anything I wanted IF I even remembered a specific file was there. For the most part, all the ebooks and digital patterns I’ve downloaded over the past several years were lost to me.  And it’s not because I didn’t try – on several occasions, I tried to implement an organizational structure but nothing worked for long.

With Calibre, knowing what I have and finding it is no longer a problem. And I figured out the program doesn’t know or care if what I add is an ebook. It’s a database, after all – all it wants is data. So I made some separate libraries for my hardcopy books, as well. How clever is that? Of course, I can’t read the hardcopy books on Calibre but I can browse through them cover by cover and decide which one I want without taking them all off the shelves.  (And I can also make a note right in the database if I loan them out and to whom.)

Project DO Progress - Week 1

Well, without boring everyone by further singing Calibre’s praises (I’ve already alienated all my peeps here at home), I’ll get right to my progress. During this first week of Project DO, I have successfully organized:

·         261 Kindle ebooks

·         211 other ebooks

·         206 quilt/sew/craft ebooks and digital patterns (lots more to do)

·         48 digital magazines

·         147 hardcopy quilting/sewing/craft books

·         29 other hardcopy books (I’m just getting started)

Rather than having everything in one library, I figured it would be best to have the books separated by type (digital vs. hardcopy) and broad category (quilt/sew/craft vs. all else) so I made several libraries. So far, this has worked splendidly – I couldn’t be more thrilled! If I change my mind, however, it’s easy-peasy to copy or move them to another library.

Although I’ve made great progress, I still have much to do so it’s a good thing I’m closer to the beginning of the month than to the end. Although I’ve got most of my hardcopy quilt/sew/craft books entered, I’ve barely scratched the surface on all other types of hardcopy books. My Kindle for PC book list is up to date and I think I’ve got most of my other ebooks found and moved to Calibre, but I’m probably only halfway through the digital quilt/sew/craft books and patterns. And now that I have Calibre, there’s no reason not to download more! This could be never ending…

Calibre - Project DO Secret Weapon

I found out about Calibre (pronounced caliber, btw) just before the New Year. Beings I’ve been particularly frustrated with the ebook mess I’ve created on my Kindle for PC, Cruz Reader and hard drive, Calibre sounded like a godsend. Designed specifically to manage your ebook library regardless of format type, I figured I’d be able to have every ebook in one place, all organized and searchable. Well, hold on a minute – not so fast! You know how things often don’t work out exactly as you'd planned?

So… what went wrong?

I might look and sound like I know what I’m doing computer-wise much of the time but the truth is I often know just enough to get me into really big trouble! And my initial experience with Calibre was no exception.  After downloading Calibre, there I was, enthusiastically moving forward without a clear understanding of…well…anything. This led me to creating a bigger mess rather than cleaning one up, I might add.

So what did I do first? I moved my WHOLE Kindle for PC library onto Calibre. It sounded like a good idea at the time but trust me, it was not! Most likely my method was at fault but there’s no way I can relate how I got to the point of completely eliminating Calibre from my computer but that’s what I ultimately did that first day. (Ok – truth time – it was actually my techie BIL that saved me from myself after several hours of me messing around where I had no business!)

Calibre - back in business

After much thought, I realized that Calibre might still be the answer to my ebook organization problems. I just need to be smart about how I try to use it and what I put in my Calibre Library. Most importantly, I need to become familiar with how it functions before I dump in several hundred books. So, I re-downloaded it and am starting over WITHOUT including any Kindle for PC ebooks. At this point, I’m simply going to use it as a Project DO secret weapon to declutter and organize the countless ebooks littering my hard drive.

If you’d like to give Calibre a try, you can download it from the Calibre site. If you don’t have the Quick Start Guide after it’s all installed on your computer (I did the first time, then I didn’t the second time – still don’t know why) you can download that from the Denver Public Schools website.

Project DO Introduction

Welcome 2013! It’s a brand new year and you’ve got a clean slate on which to write your future. What do you want to accomplish in the coming 12 months?

One of my goals is to declutter and get more organized. But wait – don’t I say this every year? Yep, most years over the past couple of decades, anyway. But this year I got all cutesy. You know how some folks name their cars? (Been there, done that, btw.) Well, I named my goal.

Introducing… (drumroll, please)

Project DO

In case you need an explanation of my cleverness, the D stands for declutter and the O stands for organize – Declutter and Organize – Project DO. See? Isn’t that cute? And catchy and memorable, too. At least I hope so because otherwise I’ll probably forget about it altogether in a few weeks.

My plan is to identify an area each month and then focus on a specific subarea each week. (We’ll see how that goes!) My first area of focus is My Documents on my PC. It’s a mess! I usually have to search for files despite (or maybe because of?) having created folders and subfolders and subfolders and… Well, you can see the problem.

So this first week of Project DO I’m going to focus on my hundreds of PDF format ebooks that are scattered all about in 4-5 main folders and dozens (if not hundreds) of subfolders. And how am I going to conquer this beast? Well, I have a secret weapon. (Ok, so maybe it’s not really a “secret” but beings I just found out about it and I’m not telling you yet, I guess that’s secret enough, right?)

Will I finish this monumental task in one week? NO. Will I finish by the end of the month? Maybe not. But beings Project DO is my baby, I can make up the rules as I go along. And if I need to roll a focus into a second month, or maybe leave it partly done and come back to it later, that’s ok! I’m after progress here, not perfection. If I go for perfection, I’ll likely overwhelm myself into paralysis – not a good state for getting anything done.

Care to join me?

If you’d like to join me, please feel free. Just leave a comment here or on the Project DO page and I’ll include a link to your blog. We can DO this!

Welcome 2013!

May the coming year be

peaceful, productive and prosperous!

New Year's Resolution - Be Better Prepared for Christmas Next Year

I really did it this year. Despite the best of intentions (I even read a great book on how to have a stress free Christmas), my finely tuned procrastination skills still got the better of me! There I was - 10 days away from Christmas and still so much left undone.

My Outback - see? I was right!



Now 10 days might sound like a lot to some folks. If you live in a town, for instance, 10 more days to shop seems like plenty. I live in the wilderness, however, and was racing home (after a 2-week out-of-state trip, I might add) to beat a snowstorm so that I didn't get snowed out. Once I got home, I figured I'd be snowed in. So you see why 10 days weren't going to be that helpful?

I do have to cut myself a little slack. Although I am totally responsible for the mess in which I found myself, the crisis was actually the result of a series of unrelated, unforeseen, unavoidable events that all conspired in perfect harmony against me. Well, actually, in perfect chaos is more accurate.


Even the truck and plow won't be going anywhere soon.

But Christmas came and went like it always does and it turned out fine (other than being completely snowed in and not being able to celebrate with any of the kids or grands, that is). But the stress of being unprepared has motivated me! So I've already begun prepping for Christmas next year. And when I say Christmas, I'm also talking about birthdays throughout 2013, as well.



And there's about five miles of this...

Anyway, I'm going to blog regularly about my ongoing prep and I plan to have nothing that is left undone by the end of October. That's right - I'm leaving myself nearly two full months to enjoy the upcoming holidays! No more frantic last-minute shopping online or making my DD spend her lunch hours in the week before Christmas shopping and mailing gifts for me. Nosireebobcattails - this coming year I WILL be ready!

How about you? Will you prepare for Christmas throughout the year?

Who Would Wash Diapers in a Stream?

I’m completely appalled and more than a little fired up today! In an article about camping on a ‘green’ cloth diapering site, I found the following:

How to wash in camp: Take your diapers to the nearest stream or collect fresh water in a bucket. Sprinkle soap on the diaper and scrub away. (Again, if you’re at a stream, make sure you’re downstream from your water supply and other campers.)

WHAT!!! Are you kidding me??? Wash your diapers IN the stream but just make sure that you’re downstream from YOUR water supply and other campers. What about the folks downstream from you? Hmm.

Are the owner/writers at this site so focused on promoting and selling products that they completely dispense with common sense? It appears so. After all, who could be this ignorant? And surely no one who reads this piece of ridiculous (and I might add totally ANTI-GREEN) advice would really wash diapers in a stream – right?

I’ve chosen not to include a link to the site and have sent in a request for them to edit the article. I sure hope they do so!

A White Christmas - WAY Overrated!

So... What are you doing this Christmas?

Were you dreaming of a white Christmas? Did you get it? Well, we did! In fact, we’re mostly snowed in for Christmas 2012. But this also means that the kids and grands that were planning to come are snowed out.

Our current depth of snow is not unusual. We usually get enough snow after Christmas to be snowed in - but this year it came early. After a full week of more days with fresh snow than without, we’ve got a couple of feet here at the house and my Outback is just a hump in the deeper snow up where we park. Looks like it may be a long winter...

Have a Merry Christmas!

Yes, my Outback is under there - really!
And winter has just begun...
So, how long do you think I'll be snowed in?

3 Last Minute Christmas Gift Suggestions

If you're not quite done with your Christmas shopping, I have a few last minute gift suggestions.

1. iTunes Gift Cards - I needed last minute gifts for several pre-teens and a friend suggested iTunes gift cards. Available to purchase in many stores or online, you can choose from denominations to fit any budget.

2. Homemade Drink Mixes - If you're on a tight budget, consider homemade drink mixes. Mary over at Penny Thots gives a couple of recipes and packaging ideas in Homemade Christmas Gift Mixes.

3. Car Stuff - And if you've got a little money to spend, and especially if you're shopping for a guy, check out my post on Penny Thots, Last Minute Christmas Gifts from Your Local Auto Parts Store.

Merry Christmas!