A Little Something Special for Your Desk (review)

 2014 Calendar 

      My desk at school is rather large, or it should be.  It has a cubbie storage unit that has had the wheels removed on top of it.  Perfect for filing kiddos's papers.  It does make putting one of those desk calendars on it somewhat tight.  So when Shoplet asked me to take a look at a desk calendar, I figured okay, but it probably wouldn't fit.  Wrong.  The desktop calendar from House of Doolittle is a perfect fit, but without being too small.  It has nice roomy boxes for each day where I record student notes, doodle a bit to pass time and make sure meetings don't get missed.  The paper is a nice quality from recycled material.  I like that it feels a bit thicker than normal allowing me to write with most all of my pens and markers, except the Sharpies - too much bleed through there.  One of the things with past desk calendars that have annoyed the picky side of me is that once they are on my desk for a bit they start to curl on the bottom edge and come out of the corner tabs.  I haven't had it on my desk really long yet but the thicker paper may help with the curling problem.  Also the corner tabs, which are a really pretty navy color, are larger than usual.  I like this calendar.  It is as attractive as a desk pad type calendar needs to be and more importantly, it is "comfortable".  The boxes are large enough for notes and there is a section down the right side for additional scribblings. Also pleasant is the color of the ink used to print this calendar - a nice tone of blue and gray inks. 

Business Planner

     House of Doolittle products also has a very nice business planner.  Like the desk pad it is 100% recycled paper, printed with soy inks and made in the USA.  Each week has a two page spread with week-end days printed on a gray tone box.  The top of the page shows the current month and the one before and after it for easy reference.  At the bottom there is a chart to record expenses.  So if you were using this as a take along business item, you could keep a record of your expenses at hand.  Perhaps it should have had a pocket for receipts in the back to aid with this also?  In the back of the planner there are several pages of helpful information - a metric conversion chart, travel hints, mileage charts, and my favorite an area code directory to name a few.  Again the pages are not too papery thin and hold up under different inks well.  Again no Sharpies.  The book is spiral bound with recycled wire - I hadn't heard of that before!  It has a cover of recycled material also.  The entire planner has a nice feel to it - sturdy but not too bulky.  It would be a nice addition to your office supplies.

Thank you for dropping by and checking out these two great products.  I am enjoying using both of them personally.