DeLappenings: A Labor Of (Blog) Love

Okay, peeps.

It’s time to share a really special project, very close to my heart, that I’ve been working, on in some form or another, for a few years:

Turning this here blog into books, in volume form, for family keepsake purposes:

I know this might not seem like a big deal to you, or maybe it’s just an oh, isn’t that nice, kind of small deal to some, but for me, it’s HUGE.

I’ve posted in length over the years about what, exactly, this blog, has meant to me over the past nearly-13 years since its inception. What began as a fun way to share pics of my newborn Chica and write up something silly and sarcastic turned in to something else, entirely:

A diary and written account of all the ups, downs, milestones and mini moments of my life’s “work” over these past 13 years, and a way to maintain my sense of center and purpose.

In many ways, over many years, this blog has been a way to sort through my head when I’ve felt overwhelmed or emotional, a way to share beautiful triumphs and failures (with myself and others who find joy in following along), and mostly, a way to maintain some semblance of sanity amidst some really intensive years of parenting, when it’s so easy to lose oneself and the ability to see the forest through the trees.

There are very few precious things I’d save in a fire (the LA situation has made this statement all the more poignant, yes?) so I’ve always been grateful that the blog lived in the digital space.

And, YET.

I’ve also lived in fear of a technological failure, when I might lose all of these precious thoughts and pictures and memories. The internet fails, people. A lot!

Welp.

A few year’s back (maybe two or three?), I decided to embark upon the journey of utilizing a service that transfers blog content into physical books.

Honestly, there are a lot of these types of online services, but none of them are cheap, the uploading and rendering of the content takes a chunk of time and patience, and, honestly, a lot of the more affordable vendors have unattractive design and layout options.

A couple years ago, I printed one sample volume that was…okay. But not great. Looked kind of like a yearbook, but it was the best I could do. Black. A bit unappealing. I hesitated to continue with that format because it didn’t make my heart soar, but that meant more time and effort to find a vendor I did like.

I tried and rejected many, many more (hitting roadblocks of cost and design at every turn), until…

About a year and a half ago (I think?) I finally buckled down, again, and hunted for an ever better fit, not yet willing to give up home, and…I eventually found this gem of a company, located in The Netherlands, and the sample volume I printed made me so happy I almost burst!

A color I adored.

Beautiful fonts.

Excellent binding.

Wonderful, streamlined layout and date-range breaks.

And, best of all: it was a solid price I could stomach (especially with a discount I located), and a few months ago, I started really digging in to “create” the volumes and have them printed a few at a time, to spread out the cost.

And…voila! One of the volumes:

They are absolutely, exactly what I hoped for all those years ago.

In fact, when the latest batch arrived in the mail this week, and I unpacked them and set them all side by side (now, with a decent number of volumes piling up), I bawled like an absolute baby.

Big, giant, ugly tears.

Snotting sobbing, for more than a few minutes.

I’m not sure I can truly express how it felt to hold in my hand something so personal—and to know the content was “safe” in perpetuity, in a physical form.

Due to the maximum number of pages that can be printed per volume (around 360, I believe), I’ve had to render them in date ranges of either four or six months of blog content at a time.

The cost per volume is anywhere from $100 to $150, so you can see why I’ve had to divide this up in manageable financial chunks, as I’m already up to 19 volumes (you can do the math), and I’ve only made it to 2020.

That said, I definitely got a kick in the pants to keep rendering and printing, fast, when the very thing I’ve always worried about actually happened:

Due to some software issues I won’t bore you with, I have a chunk of about a year on the blog (circa 2023) where the pictures will no longer load.

It’s a loooooong, technical story, and my tech-savvy little bro has helped me trouble shoot, but the only solution is to basically re-upload ALL the pictures from ALL those “broken” posts, and…that’s gonna take awhile.

In fact, I’m not sure it would be possible if it wasn’t from a recent date range, meaning, I still have the pictures on my current phone, but…it’s going to take work. A lot of work.

That said, it means so much to me, to print these volumes and preserve the content in a physical way. So, obviously, I’m more than willing to dig in and fix what I have to, in order to finish printing until I get to present day.

Just yesterday, I had the happiest moment on earth when Little Man wandered over to the books, selected the volume that contained his birth, and started reading.

It. Was. Priceless.

Of course, for years, the kiddos have had me look up historic posts on my phone for various reasons, and they’ve always been tickled to see pics and read content, but seeing him in a chair with this physical book was beyond gratifying for me.