Willa's Journal

I decided not to give in to my calendar obsession this year, just to roll with the flow, wait and see if I got any for Christmas, and then buy any that I needed after Christmas when they go on sale at the big bookstores.

It was tough. I'd go to the bookstore to buy something for someone for Christmas, or just to browse, and I'd see all the cool calendars, and look at them and figure out which ones I'd buy, but I restrained myself, and didn't buy any.

The strategy worked out pretty well, although this last bit--trying to find one for the office--has been kind of a trial.

My friend David sent me the "Cat a Day" desk calendar which I have on my desk at work, and a "365 Kittens a Year" wall calendar that is hanging in the kitchen, and Bob gave me the Witch's Calendar, which traditionally hangs next to my desk at home.

And that was it.

I had bought my mother-in-law a calendar that she also bought for herself, so after Christmas I took it back and got two (half-price) for myself--a miniature Hokusai calendar that hangs next to my reading chair, and an Asian art one for the bedroom. Oh, and when we were in Florida I bought the Sarasota one for Bob's bathroom, and I got him a Tolkien one for the office, and Barb gave him a desktop "Golf Course a Day" or something like that.

So all that really remained was something for my office wall at work, and I went to the bookstores over the weekend, and there is almost nothing left. It's not even January 15, I thought surely there would be something cool, but no. Puppies. Horses. Frogs. Pin-ups and centerfolds, ferrets. All perfectly adequate, but nothing I really wanted to look at every day.

I went to two Borders' and one Barnes & Noble, and none of them had anything I was remotely interested in. And I went to Borders in Lawrence, and Hastings, and there were a couple at Hastings that were okay, but they were of the Goddess ilk, and many of said goddesses were naked, and that just didn't seem like something I should hang in the workplace.

So I went back to the first Borders thinking surely I could find something, and ended up getting one of landscapes of Scotland. Nice, to be sure, but sort of boring.

Then we went out to dinner with some friends last night, and had Christmas with them afterwards, and I got a calendar! Actually, I should have remembered that our friend Donald gives us an Arizona Highways calendar every year; normally it hangs in Bob's office, too, but I bet he'll let me bring it to work. So I can take back the Scotland one and spend my $6.99 on something else, and look at pictures of Arizona while I work.

That was a close one.