problem in countif function

[hello911helpme]

hi all,
i am using office 2007 and i want to calculate the no. of days for which there is a remark ( for example tea , coffee.....). pls help me to create a formula for January which will give me the result as '6'.....as there is 6 days in January for which any remark is there....i will implement the same formula for other months, i can't sort these two columns because of data in other columns. if another formula can be used pls tell me. i had used =COUNTIF(b5:b19,">=2012.01.01","<=2012.01.31")
here i am adding a snap for better understanding.....


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