Spouse, by the way, is worse than me. His ‘I’ll-read-this-later collection’ is scattered all over the house, clinging to corners of the kitchen table (don’t get me started), our living room coffee table and his nightstand.
So what possessed me to buy a new subscription to a women’s magazine? It was a really good deal and a publication that I’ve subscribed to before. Why not, thought.
Now I remember why not. Issues of this same magazine that I swore I’d get around to reading have been collecting dust under my bed since 2009.
In mid-November my first magazine arrived. Sounds like lovely gesture on the part of the magazine people to ensure received the issue currently on supermarket magazine racks. Don’t fall for it. This is a ploy they use to get rid of extra copies prepped for recycling before the next issue comes out in five days.
If you recall (i.e. if you glanced at this column once in the last three months) we were a little busy in November preparing for our Excellent Adventure. The night before we left I shoved the magazine into my “I’ll read this on the plane” bag. That periodical never saw the light of day for two weeks. It was bent, curled and stuffed under tour maps, trinkets and water bottles. It made a great cushion.
I never found the time to read all about the perfect roasted turkey recipe or how to never be late again (hey, I can dream). I didn’t even conquer the first 27 pages of advertisements. So I was determined to read the November issue from beginning to end when we arrived home.
By the time we returned from our vacation two weeks later the December issue had appeared. This one had several seasonal giveaways, ideas on decorating in the home for the holidays, and cookie recipes that promised to be the best ever.
It was now the first week in January and I never even cracked open the cover. Sigh.
Just when I had convinced myself I should skip Emily Post and speed read through cake hacks in the November issue so I could flip through the five-minute make-it-yourself Christmas stocking session in the December issue, guess what showed up at my door?
You’ve got it – the January issue with its colorful, inspiring hues and promises of easy furniture makeovers and healthy recipes.
Yes, it is ironic that I can’t find the time to read these magazines and yet here I sit writing about not reading them. One (or more) might say I need to manage my time better. I have no less than three articles on time management tucked into the bookcase shelves to read. Sometime.
As if it isn’t hard enough finding time to peruse the one full newspaper we get a week, now I’ve just added more to the reading rubble. The only rea- son I even took on this paper tower in the first place was because we needed the extra chair around the kitchen table during our family weekend.
This weekend we are taking Second Born back to college and when we return the Sunday newspaper will be waiting for us. I will then dig out the small pile of Sunday papers from November and December and put them back to their rightful spot. As much as I sorely miss having our kids around, it’s probably a good thing it will be just Spouse and me for a while.
I need the storage space on the kitchen chairs.
— Janine Talbot lives in Saco with her husband Chuck and their dog and cats. She writes about adjusting to the empty nest and not voting her spouse off the island at www.momofmanywords.com. Contact her at janinevtalbot@gmail.com.
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