Staring at the walls in the office is not conducive to constructing posts. I'm not sure how I've even managed the last 9-10 years worth of posts. You'd think I'd run out of material.

I was mentioning to someone the other day that I paradoxically - since the walls are plain white and small - have a lot of good ideas while in the shower. I had another one of those days today. I must have come up with three or four solid ideas about things I wanted to blog, but simply lost them upon setting foot outside the bathroom. Less dramatically, we had plans immediately after I showered this morning, so I didn't really have a chance to act on my ideas.

So I was thinking, if I had some kind of device that I could use to record ideas while in the shower, or in the bathroom getting ready in the morning, I could keep these ideas and be able to act on them later in the day. I'd probably do well with something that is somewhat waterproof, but can somehow be erased.

I was thinking perhaps of one of those boards that divers use to communicate underwater. There seem to be a few different solutions to this problem, so I know I'm not the only person that this happens to. But I think Berta will take issue with some of them.

Ideally, I'd be able to remove the notes from the shower afterward for transfer to some other medium, and still have the ability to take notes without necessarily fetching back and forth between the computer and the bathroom. Maybe I should just get a waterproof case for my tablet PC?

I suppose I could just keep a paper tablet outside of the shower and quick write down a bunch of stuff after I've thought of it. Maybe I'm thinking too high-tech? Maybe just some waterproof paper and a waterproof pen? Yeah, that's not a bad idea at all, maybe I'll try that.

Abby is in first grade and she has daily homework. Much of it involves writing. One thing that she is not good at so far in school is using that ridiculous three-line ruled paper, probably because she's been using the plain lined paper for so long already, even in kindergarten.

The problem with this paper is that there simply doesn't seem to be anywhere to obtain it easily.

While I would love to run out and pick up a ream of the stuff to use as scrap paper after Abby switches to college-ruled for second grade, it seems like a waste. Plus, even if I order the special paper, when I run out of it, there's no trekking to the grocery store to get a new pack. But I have a solution.

I'm not sure why someone didn't think of this before. Maybe they did, but I couldn't find it. If you're searching for three-lined paper for first grade or second grade, and you need some in a pinch, this might be the thing for you.

I've created a PDF that lets you print the lines (solid on top and dashed in the middle) in either portrait or landscape orientation. The top and middle lines are blue, and the bottom is red. If you print it on a laser printer it still works, it's just not likely to be in color.

The usefulness of this has already proved its worth in its first night in existence, and I'm hoping that with practice, Abby's writing on the odd paper improves.

You are welcome to download the PDF and print out your own paper at home.