Finished the Family Book!



Family Book - Sunni's Photo's

 

All I can say is yippee!  What an ordeal!  I don’t know if I would ever take on another project like that, but I’m so glad this is finished after ten years.  It looks terrific too!

 I didn’t want this book on Amazon because it’s just stories about our lives as kids growing up on a cotton farm in the south.  My sisters and I have been burning up the phone lines over the last month to hash out the rest of the details and get it all in order.  I barely stayed under my cell phone minutes, which is a good thing, but I used lots of ink and toner on this book because I had to make eight copies once it was proofread several times, corrections made, and then all the old B/W photos put in. 

 Once the printing process was over which took me several days, I bound it myself using my comb-binding machine.  Naturally, I had to order supplies from Amazon because the office stores here didn’t have anything the right size.

 I’m very happy with the way it turned out, but its one big book.  Each one weighs over a pound and is 324 pages long.

 This was a rush to finish because my mom is losing her memory and I want her to be able to read it before it’s too late.  I’m going there for a few days to surprise her.  I’ll post again when I return.

The First Leg of the Project is Finished



Clipart

 

OMG!  I have finally printed eight 324-page books.  I can hardly believe that I’ve finished that part of the family book.  All I can say is, don’t do it if you’re even thinking about undertaking something like this in the future.  The enormous task has cost a bundle in ink.

 I ran my printer out so went downstairs and started using my husband’s small laser printer.  It’s a lot faster than mine is, but it gets hot so I had to quit about every thirty minutes letting it cool off.  Because of that, it’s taken me several days to do all the printing.  I’ve also had to buy two toner cartridges for his printer.  In the meanwhile, we were playing musical chairs with the computers because I had to keep unplugging the printer and moving the laptop so he could use his computer in the cool-down times.  I’m glad that phase is finished.

 Now the next part is punching all the holes so I can put in the spiral binding.  I also expect that to take me the next two days or so because there are 2602 pages to punch and I can only do 18 at a time.  This doesn’t include the covers, which I have to punch separately.

 No one in town had the binding supplies so I ordered that from Amazon and they came today.  Now looking at all this I hope the spirals are big enough.  These are some hefty books and weigh over a pound each.  There is also a matter of time involved here, as I have to have this completed by next Monday at the latest.

 Yes, it most definitely would have been worth it to have the book printed by my publisher, but I really didn’t think it was a good idea to put this family book on Amazon.  I’ve written about a few of these stories in earlier blog posts, but I don’t see this as a book that the public would want to buy.  It’s mainly stories about growing up on a cotton farm and has many B/W photos that I’ve collected over the last ten years.  There are recipes in the back.  I’m actually very pleased with the way it’s turned out so far.

 Tomorrow the comb-binding machine comes out and I’ll try to figure it out, so I can get started on this next phase.

 I’m running around in circles here trying to finish this so I can take a couple of days to relax and chill out.  I’ll post again after I’m finished.  That’s why I’ve been absent from here for a bit.  I've also had cat helpers so that isn't helping speed things up.

In Loving Memory

Tracy Lynn Wooley

1962 - 2013

 

I live in a small town and we have a neighborhood market here.  Several markets have come and gone, but this one has made it, which is a good thing because the closest store here is about eight miles away.  The fellow who opened this one has another one that is very successful in a town about thirty minutes away, so I guess he knows how to run a business.

 

Many of the people in our little town shop at this market.  It comes in handy when you don’t want to drive to the nearest chain grocery store, or run out of something you need for dinner.  The prices are competitive and he keeps the store clean and stocked well.  It has a nice produce section as well as a deli and everything else you’d expect to find in a larger chain grocery store.  The staff is wonderful and friendly.

 

I wanted to acknowledge a sweet girl who waited on me and my husband at various times since the market opened two years ago.  She has recently passed away, leaving me feeling stunned and very sad.  She was so friendly and always smiling, knowing all the customers by name.  This was a shock since we’d seen her in the store a few days before.  We will miss her.  I’m writing this post as a dedication to her, someone who should still be here.  She was only fifty-one-years old and left us way too soon.  May she rest in peace.

 

I’ve had such a week with trying to finish up my family book, keeping in touch with an ailing friend, a cat with allergies, and taking on another bout of taking are of my neighbor’s cats and garden again so she can go hiking.  Sometimes I wonder why she can’t stay home more and what she’ll do once I move.

 

This news about Tracy was such a blow.  I always enjoyed going in the store and chatting with her a few minutes.  You never know how short life really is and the last time you’ll see somebody.  Give thanks for your friends and loved ones.  No one lives forever, not in the physical sense anyway.