Butterfly Kisses

Knowing you are going to retire in a reasonably short period of time is a life energizer par none. Yesterday I realized that I am taking home in pay precisely what I would get in social security payments when I become eligible in a few months, and this made me ask myself why I am working at all. I really can't come up with a good answer....

All this pondering actually pushed me out the door for a morning walk.

It's good to see the sun come up. I used to watch it rise almost every day. Am so tired of rushing from pillar to post, trying to juggle a million things. The idea of setting down a full half of that load is intoxicating. Wow.

Yesterday I bought a new planner. 

I know, I know. All that razz ma razz about the Knapp Family Organizer and the adjunct binder that I started up a few weeks ago. The Knapp is a great design but I can't manage two books. I've just wanted to get away from ring binders for a long, long time, and find the dream of a simple life to be so very seductive. But I have projects. And lists. And data. And need a place to carry letters and bandaids.  

Nevertheless, I wasn't shopping for a new planner when I bought this one. My intention had been to find a ring binder for another, non calendar purpose (a prayer journal actually), but I stumbled across this planner in Staples and it set me off on a whole new tangent. 

It is a classic sized (8.5" x 5.5") ring binder with undated weekly pages, the entire design titled "Harmony." There was a slightly disharmonious silver nameplate on the front that was stamped "Day Runner." Didn't want to remove it as that would doubtless scar the fabric cover. So I put a sticker over it. Unfortunately the only one that fit reads "Butterfly Kisses." So it seems my planner has a rather unique name now. But it is featherlight despite its size, fits nicely in my bag, and meets a number of other important parameters, so I'm all moved in and ready to live my life out of this book.

Here's a link to someone who has fantastic ideas for setting up and using planners: www.giftieetcetera.blogspot.com

I have wanted to follow her system for a few months now but the small size she uses was too small for me. This larger size, however, is going to suit me very well. I'm looking forward to giving her method a spin.

I had to set it in this hutch to get a fair representation of its color and still it's not spot on.

There are 1.25" rings, a secretarial pocket and card slots. I've got a flyleaf and some dollar store note pages I've punched to keep shopping and errand lists up front.

I love the design of these inserts. I don't use the timed spaces on the day slots. I just list my to-dos here.

The divider tabs are gorgeous, too. However, the undated months included were not tabbed, so I replaced them with a set of tabbed months from Wal-Mart. They are my favorite tabbed months so I'm happy to have a chance to use them.

All the divider inserts are gorgeous (To-Do, Notes, Information, Address), but I was happy to see a full set of alpha tabs in this design, too. I keep my notes organized behind these.

I've made an informal agreement with a co-worker to cover for her when she retires later this year, so I guess I'll be waiting until 2015 to take the big step myself. That will give me time to prepare, and perhaps take things a bit lighter in the meantime. Sweet anticipation, and all that. Likely will be better than actually being retired!

In fact it's a sweet day in many respects. Birds singing, cotton ball cumulus dotting the blue sky. Completely and totally unnatural for January, let's not lose sight of that. But  still, lovely. And life has settled down temporarily so it's time to take full advantage of that lull to rest.