I have to say, when a long term problem / illness / struggle / challenge ... arrives "center stage" in my life, it expresses itself in unexpected ways. My center stage issue since 2023 has been my health. The unexpected expression was Planner Failure!
How can you make a simple planner fail? It all started with a cough.
It started with the diagnosis of silent reflux, the cough origin, and the accidental discovery of a kidney tumor on a test (lead actor - Gastroenterology), then surgery to remove the tumor and the kidney (Stage Left - Urology), which led to stopping anti-inflammatory meds because my lone kidney couldn’t handle that (welcome - Nephrology), resulting in exponentially increased knee pain (Stage Right - Orthopedics.). There were a few side acts in this journey - like a fast heart rate (off to a Cardiology,) and a second opinion on the cough (off to ENT,) and anemia (off to Hematology).
There were just too many ‘ologies in my life. Too many appointments in too short a time. And that became evident in one confusing telephone call where I started taking about Cardiology things with the Hematology staff. Opps! Wrong body system. That was embarrassing.
Sincerely, that is how avalanches start - a single snow flake (a cough) rolls down a snow covered hill and it becomes a force of nature that can’t be stopped (ending in 7 new doctors added to my current 5 doctors - 12 in all - before the end of 2023).
No wonder my poor little planner couldn’t keep up - and I wasn’t doing that well either.
And all that began before my husband’s cough found by ENT and then the cancer found by Gastroenterology. His appointments on top of mine. Stunning. But I am jumping ahead of myself.
The search for a better planner began.
May 2023 to December 2023
After retiring and shedding a professional life, I used a simple monthly calendar. It was a refillable red leather binder. No daily or weekly pages. Just monthly sheets filled with small little blocks for each day. The size was about 5x8 inches. To Dos were kept on a 3x5 note card. Simple life. Simple tools. It worked for years. (Until I got that cough, of course.)
My old red leather friend. You can tell it is loved. |
I had to find a better way.
January to August 2024
Enter the Laurel Denise planner. A full month display with small weekly pages that could be flipped during the current month - without covering the full month display. Genius. Lots and lots of unassigned space for your use. YouTube videos offered creative suggestions. Lists, upon lists. Decorations. Time management. It was grand. It was expensive, but I needed a way to keep 2 lives in order. I needed peace of mind.
They had pretty covers and a green fake leather zipper cover I just loved. |
Opened - it is really very wide. |
But after using it for a few months I discovered its short comings based on my personal needs.
- It was too big. Carrying this planner with me was a no-go.
- The day spaces in the month calendar were small - too small for my handwriting.
- The planner boasted of mucho space to write other info - like menus, books lists, future shopping trips, habit tracking, planning ideas, cleaning cycles, on and on and on. This was much more than I needed. But you can see I did give it a good try.
- It took up too much time to write everything and decorate each month.
I loved the cover |
This is a sample of the weekly pages located at the back of the planner. I got tired of flipping from the front to the back - and the back to the front. |
Laural Denise had some very pretty covers. |
I really thought this design was the one! It wasn’t. |
- Monthly pages only with large day blocks. Lines in the blocks would be nice.
- A small space for habit tracking.
- A blank page or two between months.
- An 18 month calendar so I could start in July 2025
- Hard cover and sewn in spine that lies flat when open would be a plus
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This is the cover. Despite the 2026 label - it is an 18 month calendar. I chose the color. |
A monthly page. Good size blocks with interior lines. On the left a “notes” column that I made into a check list for me habits. |
It had these 2 blank pages between the months. Perfect for me. I found some “To Do” lists on Amazon that I might use, but I am guessing I will default to 3x5 cards at some point. |
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