A Mom's Best friend

I guess it could also be a Dad's best friend, but really, are any Dads reading this? Right. Just as I thought. Back to the Moms.

I love, love, capital LOVE, love Evernote. Do you use it? I don't even have an iWhatsIt, but still find it extremely useful in all aspects of my life.

First, some background: I am the child of a librarian and marketing guru / rehabilitated pack rat. Growing up, we had lots of magazines around our house and my mom always tore out 'inspiration' pages and filed them away neatly in hanging files. She cut recipes out of magazines or the newspaper, taped them to index cards and filed them in an old card catalog. Truly. Then, my dad was forever reading something and always dog-eared the corners. You know, for future reference. Fast forward and (genetics is an amazing thing) I find myself with piles of dog-eared magazines, piles of tear sheets, files and files of recipes. Occasionally I can find what I am looking for, but our kid totally gets in the way of my tearing and filing system.

Soooo ... I randomly came across Evernote a while back when I was looking for a way to organize my recipes, in particular. It's genius! I can go through a cooking magazine, corner the recipes I like, find them online, and then cut and paste into Evernote. No tearing or filing! Then, I can search by any ingredient - so much more useful then trying to remember if I filed those green chile enchiladas under 'chicken' or 'mexican'. If you come across a recipe on some blog that sounds good, just cut and paste it for the future. You can also scan any piece of paper that, say, has a handwritten recipe and it is still searchable!

I don't have convenient access to a printer at home. (Aside: does anyone anymore? Seems like sitting down at a desktop computer with an attached printer is akin to saying you are riding your dinosaur to the quarry for work, a la Fred Flinstone). So, I am usually dragging my laptop into the kitchen when I cook. This would be far simpler if I had an iPad .... Santa? Please get on that.

It's not just recipes, though. You can cut and paste anything from the internets and save it for future reference. A cute kid's birthday party? A good DIY project? The perfect gift for your in-laws? YES. ALL OF IT.

I love products like this that support my OCD. Technology is an amazing thing!