how accurate does outside lighting need to be??  I run mine off a dusk sensor....so when it gets dark outside, I wait about an hour then turn the lights on....and soon as it gets light enough outside, the sensor goes off...and then the lights go off.  For that matter, since im running on a 4.1xxx MHz crystal I get a 1 second timer, which then drives a minute...hour...timer....I can turn them on for a certain amount of hours ( I do that for my xmas lights...shut off the can lights and turn them on...then shut them off about 11ish and return with my normal lighting).  So for something like this, accuracy isnt an issue I'd think.  For tracking days, just make sure you have the circuit running on backup power and then start it up on a known day you have coded up (say sunday) and from there on, it can track the days.  The timer I am using is accurage up to a few minutes over 30 days, but using mains as the reference im sure it could be dead on.
 		
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