I need reminders!

I've been looking for a perpetual calendar/birthday reminder book for a while now.  I just couldn't find one that I wanted.  I wanted something sturdy and classic looking with room to add plenty of new information as time went by, but that was also small enough to sit on a shelf by my desk and not be intrusive.  Last summer there was a 365 page journal at Anthropologie that I now regret not buying.  It had twelve sections, each in a different color, but the pages were all blank.  That would have been perfect!  Oh well.  Today I went and bought a plain black hard bound journal, counted out the pages (224) and divided it into sections myself.  I have some extra pages in there, but each month has a "cover page" and then each page in the month is for two dates.  It ends up that every day of the year has at least 15 lines where I can keep birthdays and anniversaries and other important things to remember year after year.  I did a quick fill in of the dates I know by heart and the ones I had written in the front of my address book, but now I need to send out emails and make pestering phone calls to the people I'm trying to remember.

I have had the idea for the perpetual calendar for a while.  Actually, JCrew had one for sale a while back that I should have bought, but missed.  This week I started reading The Happiness Project: Or, Why I Spent a Year Trying to Sing in the Morning, Clean My Closets, Fight Right, Read Aristotle, and Generally Have More Fun by Gretchen Rubin.  One of the chapters highlights the importance of creating and fostering personal relationships, and one of the simplest ways of keeping in touch is with birthday cards.  I decided I needed to put off finding the "perfect" birthday calendar and just make my own.  It was pretty simple to do, and it didn't cost much, the journal I found was around $5.  I'm thinking I may send a journal and a pack of colored pencils off to Jen for her next craft for Team Awesome.

The book has really made me think, and I'm flying through it at the same time.  Which is good, because the first Harry Potter book is waiting for me at the library now and I need to get started on it.  I wish I could say I was really looking forward to reading it, but I just am not.  I'm more eager to finish it and move on to something else.  I hope it can change my mind once I start reading it.

Tomorrow morning Ben is going to take Lauren fishing.  He told her before he left for Louisiana that he would take her once he got back and today they bought her a Disney Princess fishing pole.  I can't wait to hear what she thinks about it.  She had a little bit of a fever yesterday and just laid on the couch watching tv and napping for most of the day.  This morning started off a little rough, but by the afternoon she was feeling better.  Natalie has been adjusting really well to an 8 pm bedtime and I have to say, I really love having a few hours to myself in the evening to read, watch tv or movies or play on the internet.