We had some friends over for dinner (yes, we do that occasionally), and the look on my friend’s face when she saw my calendar corner was priceless.  She did a double take before carefully looking at me, gauging how sensitive I might be to her questions.

“Ummm…Laura?  I was wondering about your calendar…you must spend an hour putting that up.  I mean, is it really worth it?”

First, hell yes.

Second, I should probably explain what stopped her in her tracks.

Disclaimer:  I accept that many of you will think this is full-on crazy.  All I can say is I’m a visual person, we’ve got a lot of balls in the air here, and seeing it on the wall helps me keep it all straight.

The calendars are whiteboard (that’s right, calendars, plural) and hang in the corner of our kitchen.  The one on top shows a month view, and the one below is for the current week.

I don’t think it was the double calendar that threw her, though.  It probably had more to do with my system.  (Yes, I have a system.)

  • my obligations = purple
  • BrightSide’s obligations = green
  • T-man’s obligations = blue
  • Bear’s obligations = red
  • both kids or school activities = magenta
  • family obligations = black

Okay, now that I lay it out like that it does look a little wacky, but wacky works for our family.  I look at October and can see at a glance which weeks are crowded and why.  I look at what’s happening this week and instantly know which days we have appointments, meetings, games, or other commitments.  This is especially helpful when the kids’ colors both pop up in the same time block so BrightSide and I know we’ll need to juggle.

So yes, I’m grateful for my calendar.  No more time wasted worrying about what I’m forgetting or continually looking up who needs to be where.  It’s all right there on the wall, clear as day.

My post as part of Colline’s Gratitude Project.