For the last four years, I’ve been using a Poppin planner, and it has completely changed how I organize myself and set up my to-do list. I love it. It changed my life for the better, and I really can’t live without it.

Except I will have to live without it because Poppin is not making a 2024 – 2025 planner.

I’ve spent countless hours online and visited a few stores to look at planners, but I haven’t been able to find one that fits my needs. So I turn now to the brilliance of the Internet—can hundreds of minds all thinking about this problem turn up the perfect solution? Do YOU have a planner you love that fits this criteria?

1. It needs to be small but not too small. My current planner is 6 inches by 8.5 inches, and I’d like to keep it at that size.

2. It needs to have a full calendar page like this:

3. It needs to have weekly pages, preferably one big empty (no lines) space for each day. I prefer Monday through Thursday on the left side and Friday through Sunday (+ a space for notes) on the right side, but I’m flexible. The big thing is that the space is blank and not broken up with lines.

4. Finally, it needs to have a spiral binding.

Does anyone know a planner that fits this criteria?

Not sure what #MicroblogMondays is? Read the inaugural post which explains the idea and how you can participate too.

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A news article I was reading linked out to this map that shows the amount of money you need to earn to live comfortably in your state. The number is based on a single working adult, so the number is different if your situation is different (working couple, couple with one working partner, children at home, children out of the house, etc.). Still, it’s an interesting starting point to see how your state lines up with other states regarding the cost of living. And they do have a second graphic for households.

Massachusetts ranks first as the most expensive, and West Virginia is the least expensive. Maryland is in the top ten most expensive states with an average salary of $102,918 to live comfortably. It’s the 15th most expensive state for household income, needing a salary of $239,450 to live comfortably.

The numbers seem high considering the average distribution of household income in the United States, but what do I know?

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Are you also doing #MicroblogMondays? Add your link below. The list will be open until Tuesday morning. Link to the post itself, not your blog URL. (Don’t know what that means? Please read the three rules on this post to understand the difference between a permalink to a post and a blog’s main URL.) Only personal blogs can be added to the list. I will remove any posts connected to businesses or sponsored posts.

There’s a line in the show One Day (it’s not in the book) that I love so much that I made Josh replay it over and over again so I could write it down in my bullet journal. “You did it. You said you were going to do it. You did it.”

Before the twins left for college, Josh and I made a list of things we wanted to do to distract ourselves from the fact we had an empty nest. And while we accomplished only one item on the list (oh – sorry, two — I also had “drink a Bellini,” and we had those for Pesach), we chose a great one. We started to go to the symphony this spring.

We were gifted Baltimore Symphony Orchestra tickets a few times through my workplace, and every time we walk into the music hall, I think, “You said you were going to do it. You did it.”

The best performance was Jonathon Heyward conducting Shostakovich Symphony No. 8. We’re going all in with a season pass for next year, and the season pass gets you access to their online streaming productions, too. I cannot wait. I did it.

According to Forbes, 49.53% of US households have dogs (65.1 million out of 131.43 total US households). So, almost half of US households. Every dog I know (and apparently about 50% of dogs, total) is terrified of fireworks. So why do towns and individuals insist on setting off multiple nights of fireworks, terrorizing animals and humans with the noise? It is a bizarre equation: We have X + we know Y terrifies X = we do Y. And we don’t do Y once. We do Y every night for four or five nights in a row.

I do not have a dog, but I have a Facebook feed full of people writing posts about how their dog had to live in a thundershirt all week. Do dog owners set off fireworks? Or are all firework setter-offers part of that 50.47% of non-dog owners who seemingly have no clue how the noise impacts the animals and humans around them? This is a mystery I’d like to solve.

Beorn was fine early on. He was awake but laying down beside me. But at the end when they set off the grand finale a few blocks away? He jumped up and started shaking so I gave him his hiding house. He turned it so he could watch me while inside it. And he stayed in there for about two hours.

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Stop procrastinating. Go make your backups. Don’t have regrets.

Seriously. Stop what you’re doing for a moment. It will take you fifteen minutes, tops. But you will have peace of mind for days and days. It’s the gift to yourself that keeps on giving.

As always, add any new thoughts to the Friday Backup post and peruse new comments to find out about methods, plug-ins, and devices that help you quickly back up your data and accounts.

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And now the blogs…

But first, second, helpings of the posts that appeared in the open comment thread last week. To read the description before clicking over, please return to the open thread:

• None… sniff.

Okay, now my choices this week.

Middle Girl has a tiny, quote-y post. In a world that seems keen to distract you both from sitting and thinking, this Lorraine Hansberry quote and her accompanying beautiful image will make you… sit and think.

Lastly, Finding a Different Path has a good reminder that when the world gives you a break, take it. Don’t fill it as if you’re not on a break. Instead, use the time to recharge and order an awesome photo cover planner.

The roundup to the Roundup: Who sets off fireworks? Your weekly backup nudge. And lots of great posts to read. So what did you find this week? Please use a permalink to the blog post (written between June 28 – July 5) and not the blog’s main URL. Not understanding why I’m asking you what you found this week. Read the original open thread post here.

We do not have Fourth of July plans, and I’m totally fine with that. We could go to the fireworks, have people over, or go to the pool, but we’re not making the most of the long weekend. We’re not really doing anything exciting at all.

I read an essay a few weeks ago about Boring Girl Summer, and I loved it because it raises a fair point: who decided that summer has to be fun? I like winter and cold weather more than summer, and plans do not always equal excitement. The writer lives close to the beach, so they have a built-in activity, but I will definitely be joining her with this: “Lounge in the backyard and read while you drink homemade iced tea sweetened with local honey.”

You can read anywhere. And not make plans anywhere. And wander around a farmers market anywhere. And make a meal entirely out of things you find at the farmers market wherever you live. That’s what I plan to do with this weekend.