This is my favorite post of the year. I usually prefer to do it the Wednesday after Christmas, because that’s when it’s nice to have something fun and interesting to help counter the after-holiday slumpy feelings, and because a lot of calendars get marked down to 50% off the day after Christmas. But on the other hand I like to have the calendar in my hands before New Year’s Eve, and not all of us have Prime shipping. Plus, even if we didn’t want to BUY the calendar until it goes on sale, certainly we’d want to be READY to buy it, rather than scrambling to decide as favorites sell out. And finally, calendars are not all that expensive full-price, and they make very nice last-minute gifts for anyone you still haven’t found something for.

All of this is to say, “Hi! We’re talking about calendars today!”

Little Critters calendar (photo from Amazon.com). I chose the 2012 version of this calendar last year, and I have enjoyed it very much and would recommend it to others. Each picture was cheerful and whimsical without feeling too babyish—and yet it would also be cute in a child’s room. (I used to put up a calendar over the changing table just to have something to look at as I stood there two dozen times a day.)

This is San Francisco calendar (photo from Amazon.com). I’ve visited San Francisco several times and I had such a nice time there that now I have a soft spot for it. This calendar is a frontrunner for me this year. I love the style of art. There’s also a This is New York calendar and a This is London calendar by the same artist.
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We have an atomic clock at our house that has been the cause of a certain level of DISPUTE. The problem is that about once per month, it checks in with its radar thingie and comes back with an utterly wrong time/date. I consider that a reasonable frequency for errors. I glance at the clock in the morning, I immediately grasp that 11:27 PM FEB 2004 is not correct, and I change it to the right time. I go on with life, unscarred by the experience.

Paul, though. Paul feels this clock is in violation of the sacred oath of time-keepers. A clock that is EVER WRONG must be THROWN AWAY. An atomic clock, because it has access to the correct information but chooses not to use it, must be publicly shamed and THEN thrown out.

I have fished the clock out of the trash twice. Perhaps it is time to research a replacement.

Before I get to the severely limited options, here’s a picture of almost exactly the clock we have: it’s a Sharp atomic clock (photo from Amazon.com) that shows time, day, date, and temperature. The one I’m linking to shows indoor and outdoor temperature; ours only shows indoor. I don’t need the outdoor temperature (in fact, I’d prefer NOT to have it; we’ve gone through a dozen such devices, so I don’t want a notoriously glitchy feature on a clock), but I do like having day and date and indoor temperature.

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My brother is hoping to get a stamp dispenser for his birthday. More specifically, he wants a “totally rad” stamp dispenser for his birthday.

Well. We all know that when we want hip and happening and totally rad, we turn to our mid-to-late-thirties sister who only relatively recently switched from the 1990s glasses still featured in her photo above!

Post office box stamp dispenser (photo from GiftsForProfessionals.com), $29.75 plus shipping. Is this totally rad? I’m thinking no. But it has a certain charm that might be radness. Picture it on my brother’s solid-wood pleasingly vintage Guy Desk.

Hummingbird pewter stamp dispenser (photo from MooseHarborGifts.com), $19.95 plus shipping. Hummingbirds are awesome. But are they RAD? One problem we might be facing here is that many of the people who buy stamp dispensers are also still buying stamps they have to lick (not all, not ALL—there ARE self-adhesive stamps sold on a roll), and that those people might not be on the sharp cutting edge of technology and radness.
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Hanging Flower Pots (photo from Amazon.com). These get such poor reviews, but don’t they look pretty in their picture? (Or you can spend twice as much and buy the same thing handmade! by an artist! on Etsy! This is the sort of reason I’ve been doing fewer Etsy-related posts.)

Sonia Ceramix Planter (photo from Amazon.com). I like the color, and I also like the row of beading.
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It is time to CHOOSE A CALENDAR, and I am not even a little bit kidding when I say this is one of the purchases I most look forward to each year. I had trouble limiting this post to only twenty possibilities, and in fact caved and added one more at the last minute. (All photos except the last one are from Amazon.com.)

1. Charley Harper. I had a Charley Harper last year, and I don’t usually repeat. But if you’re looking for a good calendar, I REALLY liked my 2010 one. Plus, the 2011 one is half off.

2. Master of Illusion. I’m not fond of people calling themselves “Master of” anything, and usually optical illusion is more my kids’ thing than mine. Still, this one appeals to me this year, and it too is half off.
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I have noticed that a little whimsy goes a long way to keep my mood good. In the kitchen I have a bird peeler and a porcupine scrub brush and a toucan can opener. In the bedroom I have a squirrel platter and a picture of owls cuddling. But on my desk I have…clutter and utility. Here are some of the things I’ve been looking at to increase the whimsy around here:

Woodpecker scissors (photo from Amazon.com).  I have a pair of these already, actually, but I’m considering a second pair because people are always stealing my scissors HELLO CHILDREN I AM TALKING TO YOU.  These cut really well (they glide through wrapping paper), but I also like that they have a lock (the tail flips up).  This lets me make the scissors safer, but also lets me, um, pose the bird.  Like, close its mouth.
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My third grader doesn’t want a ticking clock in his room, but we need a clock in there for several reasons, one of which is to tell when story-reading time is over in the evenings, and another of which is because I always seem to be dressing/diapering someone on the changing table in there when we are in a huge hurry and I need to closely monitor Appropriate Panic Levels. So my current quest is for a clock that doesn’t tick.

The problem so far is that there isn’t a good way to tell if a clock ticks or not, unless it says “quiet sweep” or “silent movements” or something like that. The clock I bought for the kitchen is silent—but it didn’t say so on the packaging.

What I might do is move that kitchen clock to the bedroom and get a new one for the kitchen. But the kitchen clock really LOOKS like a kitchen clock. I’ll be looking at actual stores so I can read the packaging, but here are a few online options I’m considering:

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Do you tend to carry the same things in your bag, whether you’re heading to the office or to the playground? I know this isn’t really a thrilling topic for a blog post, but I was noticing recently as I shoveled the contents from a milk-stained “casual” purse to my fancier “work” clutch that no matter where I’m going, I drag the same inventory along with me. Here’s my can’t-leave-home-without-it list:
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I took Rob and William, entering fifth and third grade respectively, to buy school supplies last night. My heart was pounding. My hands were sweating. It was difficult for me to let them choose their own colors/designs, rather than pressuring them into buying what I liked.

Relief came from the realization that I could buy school supplies for myself anytime I wanted to, even if I didn’t have my own list to consult. The nice thing about school supplies is they’re PRACTICAL. I bought two packages of Hello Kitty pencils, but I USE pencils. I bought a large package of many-colored Sharpie markers, but I USE Sharpie markers. I bought six 1-subject notebooks in assorted colors, six folders in colors to match the notebooks, a 3-ring binder with unicorns on it, and a Hello Kitty lunchbox, but I USE….uh.

Some more justifiably practical choices:
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Business are going through layoffs, freelance clients are cutting back on their budgets, and sitting down to balance the checkbook has never been so depressing. Short of outfitting your office walls with Xanax-dispensing pellet guns, is there anything you can do to make your work environment more tolerable?

Well, maybe so. A little extra organizational happiness can’t be a bad thing, right?

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