I love to read, but I find I don't retain details all that well unless I take notes, teach the content, or make some sort of outline. Recently I've been using XMind to record the key points of a few books I'm working through. I know it sounds dorky but my highly organized, dorky self just LOVES mind maps. I told Jim what I was wanting to do, and he hooked me up with a free solution.

To illustrate what you can do with it, I put together a quick example detailing some of the things I want to do once it warms up. Right now I have summer on the brain. I really have spring fever! Of course, we are definitely not having "spring" up here. Yes, we've just had a few nice days above freezing...and yes, I currently have a small lake out in front of my house where my car is parked...which means yes, the mud boots need to be pulled out of hiding and dusted off. But I'm pretty sure Old Man Winter is only taking a short nap. He's not done with us just yet. Boo!

But, I've digressed. Back to my point. Check out XMind if you're like me and this sort of thing gets you all excited and ready to do the splits. Just kidding!! I haven't even considered doing the spits since like 3rd grade. These days I'm lucky if I can sit Indian style ~ Ha!