There are 30 major-league ballparks, and I've been to all but six of them, plus two that are no longer in use.
This year, I'll add at least one, maybe more, to my collection.
Lists are the lifeblood of scrapbookers. Whenever we are hard up for a page theme, we just summon the David Letterman inside.
Top 10 sayings from our trip to Spain. What not to say to a French transit cop. Worst hotels named for Disney characters. Cities with a Steak 'n' Shake. Sports traitors.
These rosters should not be confused with to-do lists, which, in my youth, were the copyrighted property of parents hell-bent on avoiding housework and making summers miserable. I can still picture my dad's chore lists, segregated by kid, carved in all caps and underlined for emphasis.
As much as I loathed those lists, I'd give anything for a few of them now. I also wished I had saved the "people I hate" list my son taped to his bedroom wall when he was 9, if for no other reason than it contained the name Ed Begley Jr., the villain in the movie "She Devil."
I did have the presence of mind to snatch several sticky notes from my daughter's mirror during high school, reminders of a busy time in her life and of another list idea: college campuses we've visited.
Keeping track of such things is easier thanks to Meosphere, a been-there-done-that Web site that tallies your interests and accomplishments and lets you share - and compare - them with others.
Insects eaten. Cars wrecked. Hairstyles worn. This is a sampling of the 2,214 ready-made checklists on the site. Members also can make their own lists, submit comments and upload photos.
It comes as no surprise that the creator of Meosphere, Farmington entrepreneur Eric Eliason, ran a chain of scrapbook stores before launching his list-centric Web site. Under hobbies, Meosphere has a list of 1,636 scrapbook stores around the country just waiting to be checked off.
In an interview last month, Eliason told me one of the surprising aspects of his new venture is the way it gets people talking about life's adventures.
"I couldn't believe all of the places my dad had been until I saw his meosphere," Eliason said.
Around the office, he said, the mantra is: What are you doing to expand your meosphere?
How's this for starters? After 11 years at The Salt Lake Tribune, I'm moving to Minneapolis, home of the Metrodome or, as I like to call it, No. 27. Yes, I know it gets really cold there, and no, I'm not ready for the muggy, buggy summers.
But the Twin Cities are about to get a Steak 'n' Shake and, according to Meosphere, there are at least 68 scrapbook stores in Minnesota to explore. I'm going to make it after all.
lfantin@sltrib.com
BUDGET SCRAPBOOKING: GREAT IDEAS FOR SCRAPBOOKING ON A SHOESTRING:
This book is a couple of years old, but the ideas inside never age. It's full of tips on how to use household objects in your art projects, from creating rubber stamps out of foam bath toys to turning old CD-ROMs into paint palettes.
Memory Makers, 96 pages, $19.99
Products we like
Giant clothespins
by Creative Imaginations, $2.99
Chippers frames and corners
by Trace Industries, $1.99
Ribbon balls
by Mrs. Grossman's,
18 yards for $8
Pebble brads
by Making Memories,
24 brads for $3.99
Easter rub-bits
by Karen Foster Design, $1.99
Easter pages
* Cut flower and striped paper so that you have one 8 1/4 -inch-x-12-inch piece and one 3-inch-x-12-inch piece of each.
* Cut cardstock photo mattes:
Blue, 5x7 and 3x3;
Apricot, 4x6 and 4x4;
Purple, 4x6 and 3x3;
Two pink 3x3 squares.
* For large corners, cut 2x2 squares of pink striped paper and brown paper into triangles. Do the same with three, 1x1 squares of brown paper for photo corners.
* Stamp paper clips and attach ribbon.
* Glue brown 2-inch triangle on the back side of the bottom right corner of 3x12 piece of striped paper. Fold the corner back. Attach paper clip.
* Glue pink 2-inch triangle on back of top- left corner of 8 1/4 x12 piece of flowered paper. Fold the corner back. Attach paper clip.
* Glue brown 2-inch triangle on back of bottom-right corner of 8 1/4 x12 striped paper. Fold corner back. Attach paper clip.
* Glue pink 2-inch triangle on back of top-left corner of 3x12 flowered paper. Fold corner back. Attach paper clip.
* Glue above pieces to green 12x12 cardstock, using photo as a guide. Glue photos to mattes and mattes to green paper. Add corners, brads and photo anchors per photos.
