In pursuit of the perfect structure - a stationery freaks eternal quest
Hi, everybody, and welcome to another episode of Stationery Freaks with myself, Rob Lambert, and of course
Helen:With me, Helen Lazarski.
Rob:Today, I I guess there's a bit of an apology at the start, isn't there? Then we're gonna do stationary stories, and then we're gonna talk about the topic of the day, which is in pursuit of the perfect structure. We've gotta start with an apology, haven't we, Helen? We've been absent for A long time. 6 months, is it?
Helen:It is. I mean, it's difficult to apologize when it could have been different, Rob. But for a million of reasons that are not all legitimate, it's just happened like this.
Rob:It has. Yes. We we were chatting a little bit before the show, weren't we? And we got it we I think we boiled the whole essence of the last 6 months down to the word meh, As in we're not quite sure where the time went or what we did, but it you know, there was a sense of it, of life, I guess, getting a little bit meh. And, yeah, I mean, that's not a great excuse, really, is it?
Rob:Sorry, listeners.
Helen:No. And it wasn't all meh. Some of it was amazing, and really fun, but the latest bit the latest bit has been a bit meh. So, we are looking for well, Rob, what have you been up to in the last 6 months? Have you been up for cool and good stuff?
Rob:Yeah. I mean, it's it's been life as usual, really. You know? Nice holiday. Work's been okay.
Rob:It's been good. And, you know, busy. You know? I I suppose moving the studio around and and re factoring the furniture inside is a constant hobby of mine. I used to do this as a kid.
Rob:I don't know whether you did this way. I
Helen:thought too, actually. Yeah.
Rob:You just your room just didn't feel right. So you'd move it all around, and that'd take you a good day or so to get it all sorted. And then it still wouldn't be right. And then, you know, over the course of a month, it'd end up looking exactly as it did before you started. So I've been doing a lot of that and a few stationary bits which we'll come on to in a minute.
Rob:But what about yourself, Helen?
Helen:Well, my daughter's just headed off to uni, which actually is ironically really near to you. But that's severely lowered my ability to buy stickers. It's really hampered. It's a bit crimping my plan for stickers. I have also been writing.
Helen:I've written a lot. Some of which was not awful. I mean, I don't know how many of it's good, but but some of it wasn't awful. So that has taken up a lot of my time. But I now can nearly say I have a regular writing habit.
Helen:I write probably an hour a day, most days. So, yeah, I'm quite pleased with that.
Rob:That's awesome. You know, actually, I I did I did fail to mention 2 things that have been actually probably good milestones. There were actually goals at the beginning of the year, and we did a podcast on that, didn't we, about how I
Helen:Yeah. And we should celebrate.
Rob:We should because I've achieved actually a number of those goals, which is great. And one of them is the release of my new book, 0 to keynote. So I actually I actually did you know, where's the time gone? The time's gone. I actually spent working and then, producing a book and writing it and then actually self publishing as well.
Rob:So dealt with all the graphics and the design and then got it printed. So yeah. And then the second thing is and a lot of our new listeners, so welcome to all of our new listeners as well as our existing
Helen:Yes.
Rob:Listeners as well. We thank you all, and we gained a lot of new subscribers after I did a video on my other channel actually about being a stationary freak. And it kinda it went a bit nuts, really. And so welcome to everybody that found us from that video. That that video in the channel is not a branch of stationary freaks.
Rob:I should make that clear. But, obviously, as a stationary freak, then it bleeds into all aspects of my world, including that other video channel. So welcome to everybody. And I've actually got some stationary stories. 1 from a a a somebody who commented on the video, recommended a pencil, and I bought it.
Rob:And we'll we'll jump into that in a minute. Helen, stationary stories. I mean, what have you bought? You said you've been hampered with your stickers.
Helen:Oh, yeah.
Rob:What have you been spending your hard earned cash on?
Helen:Spent a lot of money on stickers, it has to be said. And, of course, for anybody who does any kind of planning or diarization or whatever, 2025 is just around the corner. I have been setting up the new Homenichi. So for those of you who listen to the Homenichi podcast from way back when I was decided in January last year, yay, let's change planners, without a safety net. That actually turned out to be okay.
Helen:I pushed through the difficult bit of getting used to something else. It's made me more efficient, but my stickerage issues has really ballooned, Rob. So, yes, that's what I've been doing. Yeah.
Rob:Well, maybe we need to do a a sort of annual revisit to the Hobonichi because you you you were saying before the episode that you're it's it's that time of the year. You're planning next year's, I guess, whatever it is that you do in your Hobonichi. So maybe we do an annual review of, you know, how did it go? Because that was actually our most listened to podcast ever, actually. Oh, really?
Rob:Should I say yeah. The Hobonichi one. Yeah. So maybe we do a a sort of reflective look back on the year on how it went, because I remember that the episode you were, you know, you you hadn't chosen the greatest time to start
Helen:that plan. I chose the worst time to start. Yep.
Rob:So maybe we do a reflection on how that went and then, you know, how you've you've altered that actually for next year's planning because you're in the throes of that at the moment.
Helen:I am. And it's, I mean, it's not a lot. Mostly involves sticky stickers on and trying to think about what didn't go well last year and what you're gonna do differently. But the thing that's really interesting that when I was doing this and I was thinking about this particular podcast with you, I thought this ties in so well because it's all to do with that potentiality. Do you remember we did that Yeah.
Helen:Stages ago on the potentiality of a new notebook? All the things it could be. And it's exactly that same feeling with a new diary or a new planner for me. It's like last year, it's all got a bit tatty towards the end, but next year. Next year is all pristine and beautiful, and there's, you know, colors and things that I wanna do, and it's all gonna be neat.
Helen:I know you struggle with the first page of things being neat, Rob.
Rob:Yeah. I actually I actually talked about that in the video, actually, and showed my auto Otogami notebook, which is my, like, sketching book where I'd use these, these sort of alcohol ink pens on them, and they bled through about 4 different pages. I got loads of advice in the comments on, you know, why that was a stupid idea and, and what have you. So thank you.
Helen:Thank you, Internet, for stupid ideas. Yes. Yeah.
Rob:So so in the video, actually, I talk about this new habit that I've got and a new purchase. Just gonna make a bit of a noise here while I try and dig this notebook out from underneath all of the others. It's a Collins ledger. So you know the financial ledgers?
Helen:Yeah.
Rob:I've been obsessed with them. I you know, these sort of old ledgers that you see from, like, the 1800 and, you know, earlier than that, where people have have sort of captured finances of businesses and all that kind of stuff. A financial ledger with an in and an out, and you can total it, all that kind of good stuff. But people have started using them to capture journal notes and and cool drawings and stuff, and it inspired me. So I bought a Collins ledger, which is a really weird size.
Rob:I don't know off the top of my head here how big it is, but it's not very wide, but it's quite tall. It's a decent little book. I mean, it's for financial people. But what I'm doing inside is actually keeping a log of all of the things that happen that are worth noting through the day. So I create a little title at the top for the date, and then I just capture things that have happened.
Rob:You know? Kids' assembly, sold 10 books. You know? It's really boring. I mean, it's really boring to read this, but it's it's not a future.
Helen:Like life accounts, really. Accounting life accounting, really.
Rob:Yeah. It's like a life audit, essentially, is how I've described it. And I do capture sort of money in, money out and stuff. But really, it's things, you know, I'm just gonna read here. Finished a self authoring course and design my bright future, that sort of record.
Rob:Cleaned up my knowledge management system. I mean, it's really dull. I mean, this is really dull reading. But it's a kind of like recognition of the things that have happened. It's definitely a past thing.
Rob:It's not future orientated. It's only things that have happened and a kind of appreciation for them. And it's a new habit. It's only about 10 days I've been doing it, but I'm thoroughly enjoying it. Really am.
Helen:I have to say, I think, we years years ago, we did something about sort of end of year reflections and things. And I think that would be really interesting at the end of next year to look at where you spent your time. So if you can go back and look at where you spent your time and then maybe look at where the big wins were for you. At the end of the year, what do you consider big wins still at the end of the year? Did you how much was the cost cost investment to get that big win kind of thing, and was it worth it?
Helen:I think it's
Rob:100%. Yeah. Absolutely. And I think there's, you know, there's probably a few benefits that come from this, and I've yet to realize them. So I think you're right.
Rob:Let's see how long I can keep it this going because I'm actually quite enjoying that. You know what? There's also this sort of, I guess, this appreciation of, you know, things that have happened, and I don't know. Could be good. Who knows?
Rob:We'll see. One other thing, I did get a a really nice comment. So in in the video, I I talked about my mechanical pencil. And do you remember we did a video sorry, a podcast ages ago where we talked about that architect design firm? I think it's called 30 by 40.
Helen:Yes. Beautiful aesthetics just everywhere. But, yeah, they they do all, oh, I can't remember. But they've got a whole stationary freak vibe going in there, haven't they?
Rob:A 100%. It's it's run by Guy. We'll we'll include a link in the show notes. And, his videos are just beautiful. I mean, they they must take him ages to do these videos because they're such you know, the lighting's perfect.
Rob:And and being an architect, there's a lot of stationery in there. And we did mention him on Instagram, and he listened to the podcast and said he absolutely loved it and stuff. Aw. Anyway, I was inspired by him to get a mechanical pencil, and I bought a Rotring TIKI 07, which is entry level mechanical pencil by Rotring, which is you know, it's been pretty good. And somebody commented and said, no.
Rob:You you no. That's the wrong pencil. For what I use it for, which is mostly writing and most of my writing is done with a pencil, They recommended a Rotring 600 as a sort of next level upgrade. Oh. So I bought one Yeah.
Rob:And it's very, very good. It's very good. It's very nice.
Helen:Is there really a discernible difference?
Rob:Yeah. I mean, the look and feel is different for sure. It's it's rounded with a sort of a little grip part at the bottom.
Helen:Oh, yeah. Okay. And the
Rob:other one's got more of a rubber feel to it, and it's definitely a little bit heavier. But they were commenting that for writing, it's actually about the lead and the flow of the it across the page. And actually, it's really good. It's actually really smooth to write with, and it's just lovely. It feels great.
Rob:And I'm like, well, thank you. That's an awesome recommendation. So thank you to whoever recommended that. I went out and bought it, and it's much appreciated.
Helen:That's brilliant. It's it's nice for all the new listeners here. You found your tribe. If you are here because you mentioned Stationery Freaks, and you thought that might be for me, but it turns out it is.
Rob:Abs absolutely. A few people were commenting like, oh my god. I didn't realize you guys existed. What an awesome podcast. But but also, like, they're gonna start calling themselves stationary freaks as well because they thought it just encapsulated their whole life.
Rob:So, you know, good. That's really great. Thank you. You know? Thank you, everybody.
Helen:Yeah. Keep bringing the recommendations in because believe me, we do not know everything. Our entire life is one large experiment.
Rob:I found that in the video when I was trying to explain bits of stationery and how it's used and, you know, the ink flow and the the feel, and I just could not find the words. And people in the comments were describing it so well and with so much articulation. So, you know, we're still absolutely learning and just sharing our passion. So okay. I'm conscious, that we've solo waffled or or, you know, duo waffled for about 12 minutes now.
Rob:It's a sign we haven't done one of these episodes for a long time. And we still haven't got to the main point of the episode yet, which is the perfect structure, I think we called it. So, Helen, what what's this about? This is your idea, wasn't it, that triggered a few thoughts in my mind.
Helen:And it's really strange that you should say you've just spent the first half of this podcast waffling because I decided when we were gonna do this, I thought this I can't you know, we make notes. We do despite what it looks like, we do actually prepare for these. But I thought I could do better. This is not this is not as tight as I'd like it to be. I'm a bit of a control freak as you know, Rob.
Helen:So I went out and I thought, you know, I'll just have a little brainstorm of some topics coming up for the for the future of our podcast. So when I talk to you, well, I said, well, look, we can do this this week and then here are some other topics. What order should we do them in? But instead, I accidentally fell down a whole rabbit hole looking for the perfect podcast planning sheet thing because, you know, it turns out that they exist. People on Etsy sell them.
Helen:You can find them on all sorts of websites actually. And in fact, they do them for stories as well. So as I said, I'm writing I'm writing fiction, Rob. I don't write nonfiction because that requires you to know stuff. I can make fuck up.
Helen:But but they do them for stories as well. And and I just got completely obsessed with the whole idea of what would a perfect podcast planner look like. And then, of course, Rob, I couldn't find what I wanted, so then I had to start designing my own. So that was an afternoon wasted.
Rob:But was it wasted, though, really?
Helen:It wasn't a whole afternoon, but it was an hour and a half.
Rob:I don't know whether I think we've mentioned it on podcast before. It's been a while since we recorded, but I was building these things called shipping forecasts.
Helen:You were? I'd forgotten those. Yes.
Rob:Yeah. Yeah. And and they were all printed on different colored paper to represent the different, I guess, content areas that that I that I produce. And that is exactly the same thing was I I wanted the perfect structure. You know, it had all the tasks to do.
Rob:It had all the outlines. It had space for everything. And, yeah, I'd stopped using those.
Helen:I suggest, because I was talking to somebody about this, and I might actually have been laughing at you about, were these the ones that you typed out with an old fashioned typewriter?
Rob:I did start typing them out, and then I moved swiftly to digital for the template. And and then swiftly to using you know, basically, I've got quite a few here. I printed loads when I was in the middle of this. I've got one here actually. And I've actually refactored it, which is relevant for this topic as well.
Rob:And they were all designed to be printed on different colored paper. So for this podcast, there was a purple one maybe, and then for videos, it was pink, and, obviously, it was different format within it, and different structure. And, yes, they were originally designed to be typed onto, but then that got a little bit tedious trying to line it all up and mistakes happen and, you know, the Tippex isn't isn't my friend. We I moved into using pen and pencil, basically.
Helen:I I did laugh at you at the time, Rob, and then I was laughing at you again recently about it. I wondered how you got on with the typing of it. I kind of have some sympathy because I have an inexplicable desire for one of those mechanical keyboards. It will drive me insane. I know I don't want it, but I want it.
Rob:Oh my god. When we were leading teams, and we had people that bought them, we were like, will you please be quiet? Clang clang. You know? But where do you where do you think this desire for the perfect structure comes from?
Rob:Because I think I know where mine comes from, and I just wondered whether you whether it's just your tendencies. I mean, do you apply this to all sorts of things? Do you apply this sort of perfect structure to the rest of your life?
Helen:Everything, Rob. I I I was talking to a woman a while ago, who was very lovely, was autistic, and was saying to me, you know, how long have you you you known that you've been neurodiverse? And I said, I'm not neurodiverse? She said, oh, yes. Of course you are.
Helen:I said, no. No. No. She said, you never have trouble with chaos and all the rest of it. I said, no.
Helen:I do not because I have systems. I am systemed up to my eyeballs. And she just laughed and said, yes, of course you have. And I was like Wow.
Rob:That's interesting.
Helen:And it played on my mind for ages. And then I went and learned about some bits and pieces and and quite a lot, actually, as it turns out. And yes, it turns out that the reason I am very much like I am is because perhaps my brain is not quite wired like most people's, which is fine. But it means that I am constantly reflecting on how something's gone and trying to make it better. So I have that's why I have color stickers.
Helen:That's why I have notebooks and pens and papers and everything is structured. That's why I have 18 alarms that go off a day, even to the point of telling me reminding me it's lunchtime, don't forget to eat.
Rob:Oh, wow. Ridiculous. Yeah. You you see, I I think mine comes from the same place where, you know, we've talked about it on the show before and we've talked about it. There's a potential that ADHD is quite, prevalent in me.
Rob:And, oh, I know one day I do need to go and get an assessment, if only for the curiosity to know that that's why or potentially, you know, why I guess I suppose I struggle with routines.
Helen:Yeah.
Rob:And so I I go through this period of of total chaos and absolute carnage where I'm just responding and reacting and just everything's pulling me away from what I feel I wanna get done. And so I go to the perfect structure place, whether that's Todoist, whether it's shipping forecast, whether it's journals, whatever. There's a there's a thing where I have to create this perfect structure to try and, I guess, focus my attention on the thing that's gonna that needs to get done. And I use it for a while, and I feel great. And then the chaos sets in again, and then I go for another perfect structure in a slightly different format to try and, again, bring that that sort of order to my life.
Rob:Yeah. And that's why I keep going through because, actually, I ditched the shipping forecast, and I moved to Todoist. And I even paid for the premium Todoist so I can add comments and notes. And I thought this is a
Helen:premium Todoist as well, and I rely on Todoist. I have to be honest.
Rob:I I kinda do, but I don't really look at it as much as I should do. So there's a lot of stuff that slips between. And so I bought one of these file effects style planners that was a, you know, 6, 7 months ago, and that occupied my time. And that was great. And I got loads done, and then that got boring.
Rob:And then I moved to Todoist again.
Helen:So novelty, you see, you also like the novelty, don't you?
Rob:100%. And so I've actually printed a new shipping forecast, which I'm hoping to try for the next few weeks, which actually has a whole week on it, which is overwhelming to look at. But I don't know. Will it work? We'll see.
Helen:I don't know.
Rob:We'll see.
Helen:Sounds like a qualified calendar to me, Rob.
Rob:That that's true. That is true, but it's paper based, and it's not just printing Google Calendar for the sake of it. So
Helen:bullet journal on a page, mate. That's what it is.
Rob:No. It's definitely not that. A 100%. But this perfect structure thing, I got to the point where I realized as a family, we were eating pretty much the same meals every week, and we were spending an hour or so arguing about what we're gonna eat to end upon basically the same food every week. And it was you know, we know more than 7 dishes.
Rob:I know we do. We've we've cooked loads of stuff in the past. We can do better than toad in a hole every Tuesday. And so I spent oh god. It must have been 2 and a half hours or something on Saturday building the meal plan to rule all meal plans.
Rob:And it was 4 weeks with the dishes, and every day was themed around, you know, spicy food or Mediterranean. And and I got all the boys to contribute what they'd like to eat, and I incorporated all that into this meal plan. Yeah. And it was amazing. You know, we use the foods.
Rob:If we had a roast on a Sunday, we could reuse the leftovers and a stir fry on Mondays. A lot of thought went into this. I printed it out. It looked beautiful. I was very pleased with it.
Rob:And I showed the family, and guess what? No. Constant moaning. Why are we having that on a Thursday? You know, where's my favorite dish?
Rob:And I was like, right. You know what? Forget it.
Helen:Gonna argue anyway. I should jump in there and just say I know that we have a really large proportion of, listeners who are not British, and toad in the hole may be causing some constellations.
Rob:That's a good point. Well, Mae, how would you describe a toad in the hole?
Helen:It is base well, you see, I'd say Yorkshire pudding, but they're not gonna know it. That's obvious. You know what? We'll put a link in the show notes to a picture.
Rob:It's basically sausages in, in batter, isn't it?
Helen:Big, big, puffy, yeah, batter with, yeah.
Rob:That's that's a good point, actually. I just, yeah, totally know. Everyone knows what that is. Of course not. So, yeah, I I think is there anything else that you apply this perfect structure to?
Helen:I do it for, so you were just describing your meal time. So I do meal prep, proper proper meal prep. As in I will sit down on a Friday night or a Saturday morning, and I will work out what we're gonna eat for every meal for the next week, and I will write that down by day, and I will make sure that I have got the right food in, and then I will make a shopping list based on the stuff that I don't so I fill in with shopping. And I do this I have stuck with it because it means I don't have to think. So all I've done is push all my thinking to when I have a cup of coffee and I've had breakfast and I'm not stressed, I will then sit and work all that out and then I don't have to think the rest of the week.
Helen:The thinking at 6 o'clock when I have to make decisions and I'm tired and I don't even know what we've got and I forgot to take it out of the freezer anyway because, you know, forward thinking. All of that goes away. So I do that religiously. And if I'm cooking something that is possible to freeze, I cook large amounts of it and then I freeze it for those times when I forget. I take something out of the freezer and put it in the microwave.
Rob:That's it.
Helen:So structure around everything I can do. If I can make a structure of it, I do.
Rob:Yeah. And I think that's where my pursuit of this ledger has come from is the structure's built into the ledger. And if I can just maintain the habit, then I don't have to redesign this structure. I think with with me as well, these sort of preferred these sort of perfect structures. I don't know whether it's for you, but there's a sense and this is why I love stationery and analog and real books and notebooks and, you know, all in your hand, there's a tactile sense to it, but there's also a finiteness to it.
Helen:Well, you said this before, actually, about the edges of a page holding it. What can you fit? There's a limit.
Rob:Exactly. And I think those limits, are kinda helpful when you're looking for that perfect structure. You know, that podcast you know, the podcast structure that you've got, if you were to put it into a digital tool, it could be as big and as broad. You know, if you did digital mind map, for example, it could be as big as you you you want it to get. But I think with analog, there's a sense of space.
Rob:There's an edge to it. There's a finiteness to it. And for me, that is that is what I like that constraint. Otherwise, my brain just goes nuts.
Helen:Yeah. I I agree. But I don't think it's just that. I think it's the fact that when you're then coming try and use the information there, I want it all on a page so that I can see the whole story in one place. Yeah.
Helen:I am having to scroll through things or make notes as I go. I can't I absolutely cannot do that digitally. And in fact, so I go to writing classes actually, remote. In fact, we should stick the link to them in there as well because it's not me who does them instantly. Somebody's actually qualified.
Helen:I'm trying to get through. So when I'm doing my writing classes, it's sort of creative writing classes for an hour every other week or whatever they are, I am writing analog. I could not do that digitally. But when I'm writing the novel that I'm working on, I am absolutely digital all the way because I can I can type and think, and there's, like, almost no gap between it? Mhmm.
Helen:I need it to just keep going and keep going and keep going. So it's really different, but I physically couldn't do them the other way around.
Rob:Yeah. Yeah.
Helen:So after that, it doesn't work.
Rob:And we did an episode on on why I sent the remarkable back. You know, the the it's not it's not quite a digital notetaker, but it is a digital notetaker. And the one of the reasons for that was because, again, you you have the concept of the screen and the page, but it's ultimately infinitely scrollable. You can make that page as big as you want it to be. I think, for me, there's just that tactile finiteness to it which I don't and, you know, we love notebooks, don't we?
Rob:So once it's finished, it's a it's a chance to buy a new one.
Helen:Just don't. I bought 3 more, and I still haven't needed I it ought to be 1 in, 1 out. Right?
Rob:Oh, yeah.
Helen:At least. And and it's 3 in and none out at the moment. So I bought 3 more, and I don't need them.
Rob:So Yeah. Yeah. And in the video, I cheated because, actually, you know, essential station number 1 was notebooks, but I cheated by shoehorning 7 of them in there. So it wasn't quite 7, but you get the gist. But, yeah, I bought a new, a rodeo one.
Rob:It's a lovely notebook, a flip one at the top. So it's stapled at the top, and the pages, flip over. And it's just a lovely notebook. And I didn't need it, but I bought it. So there you go.
Helen:So I was I'll tell you this. So you know you and I both tend to go to HomeSense in the UK to get StitchFree because it's all reduced in there. And I was looking at a moleskin notebook that was, that b 6 size that I really like, quite big. B 5, sorry, b 5 size that I like. Quite big and it's a bit bigger, than your average notebook and I really like that size and I was looking, but I kept picking them up and bending them and they weren't bendy.
Helen:So all of the ones I've got I've I've picked up a moleskin one actually, which is what I bought because I like the color, obviously. But it's not bendy and I did want a bendy one. But obviously somebody was stood next to me who I didn't know at all. I was watching me do this and in the end she leant forward, picked something up and she said, here's what you're looking for.
Rob:Oh, my goodness.
Helen:I took it. It was exactly the same size. It was bendy but it wasn't, it it it has a slightly patterned cover. So that's why I discounted it because I like plain covers. But because she picked it out for me, I thought that there is a stationary freak who doesn't know it.
Helen:I I bought it. So it came over 2 notebooks.
Rob:Oh, nice. And did you give it we need some stationary freak stickers, don't we, or some We've
Helen:absolutely do you know and and here's another thing, just quickly. I found some people online who I can't remember the name of at the moment, but I will dig it out. They do business cards as sticker, little tiny sticker sheets. So it's about the size of a business card, and you can have a choice of which stickers you want on there. So you can have some for planners or some for coffee or whatever you want to have.
Helen:And I thought, do you know what? That right there has stationery freaks written all over it. We should get some of those.
Rob:Let's get some. Get some because, everywhere we go everywhere we go, there's lovers of stationery, which is, awesome, which is why we created the show, really, wasn't it?
Helen:It really was because we kept meeting them. We kept meeting them over and over. More and more people who kept saying, oh, I like that notebook. And you'd say, do you like notebooks? Have I got a treat for you?
Helen:Have have a look at my other 4.
Rob:Exactly. That's, why are you carrying 7 notebooks around, Helen, and a suitcase full of stickers? Alright. We are closing in on time. Is there anything else, Helen, that you'd like to add, to today's show?
Helen:The only thing I would like to add is, I have been slightly, well, slightly obsessed. I have always loved Advent, Advent anything. And I particularly, wanted to call attention to a lady called Martha Brooks who has made an advent calendar, out of the most beautiful notebooks and bits and pieces and got really you probably have seen it all over Instagram, got really scammed. So basically, she sold out really super fast of this beautiful advent calendar that she put together for stationary freaks of lovely quality stuff and then all these copycats came up pretending to be hers but with rubbish in them. Oh, no.
Helen:And she's had to turn instead of doing all this marketing and being thrilled that she sold the advent calendars that she'd made, she's had to basically pivot and spend her entire marketing budget telling people that none of these advent calendars out there are are real. And if you want to see her real calendar, do have a look. But it's Martha Brooks you need to look for. And I'm so sorry, Martha, about what happened to you because that's just shitty.
Rob:It is. It is. That's a real shame, isn't it? Because somebody's done some good and putting their creativity out there, and it just gets robbed and stolen and monetized in that way. So, yeah, we'll include all the links in the show notes to everything that we mentioned, including, Martha Brooks.
Rob:Was it? Yeah.
Helen:Yes. It was. You won't be able to buy it now because it's sold out. But it doesn't mean that she won't be doing them next year. So
Rob:And talking of Advent, what we'll do is include some links to our seasonal Advent episodes, which were probably 2 2 years old now, aren't they? But they're still entertaining. I was listening to them the other day. It's still quite funny. We'll include that, obviously, as we come up to the festive, Christmas break, that's ahead of some of us.
Rob:So I think we should declare victory on today's episode, and we know now that you like moleskin notebooks, which you've always said you dislike. And only if they're bendy.
Helen:I yeah. But the color is really pretty. That's
Rob:Speaking of which, I'm gonna go and write up these notes in my moleskin notebook, and we hope to speak to you very soon. And, hopefully, we're back on producing these things now, Helen. I think we can at least say we might squeeze in a couple more before Christmas, maybe.
Helen:Absolutely.
Rob:Indeed. Well, thank you so much to all the new new subscribers. Thank you to long time listeners for us as well. We absolutely love and appreciate your support. It's very, very heartwarming to look at the numbers.
Rob:And, yeah, just 2 of us starting what was essentially a a creativity hobby podcast has turned into something that we're very, very pleased with. So thank you so much for your support. And, of course, if you check out stationeryfreaks.com, you will find all of the previous episodes as well as links to our newsletter, which I posted to the other week. And again, that's back on the the rails, so to speak. So with that, we look forward to speaking to you in the next episode.
Rob:That's bye bye from me.
Helen:Bye from me too.
Rob:Take care. Bye bye.
