I love magazines. I think it all started when I was a kid and I'd look at my sisters Teen and Seventeen. It was all so fascinating, the talk about boys, hair, makeup, relationships and puberty. The only magazine I remember getting as a kid was National Geographic World, and that was a gift from my grandmother. I had a friend whose mom got all of the womens magazines like Ladies Home Journal, Good Housekeeping etc. I thought that was so cool and I asked my mom if she would get a magazine.
I was trying to think of all the magazines I've subscribed to over the years. Those with an asterik * are ones I currently subscribe to.
Teen
Seventeen
People*
Utne Reader
Wired
Cooking Light*
Taste of Home
Martha Stewart Living*
Glamour
Star*
Everday Food*
Cooks Illustrated*
Cook's Country*
Brain, Child*
Parents
Parenting
Us Weekly
Oprah
The Herb Companion
Working Mother*
Organic Gardening
Various Knitting Nagazines
Mademoiselle
Time
Wondertime
Family Fun
Bead and Button
As you can tell, I am a magazine junkie. My favorites are People, Star and Brain, Child. Although as I get older I tend to not know all of the celebrities talked about in People and Star. When my husband and I got together he exclaimed "I've never seen anyone get so many magazines!". Now I tell myself that if I get one more magazine, my husband will divorce me.
Do I read them all? I do. Although lately I haven't been keeping up with the Martha Stewart Living and all the cooking ones I get. I used to get Oprah and found it to be too preechy. Have you ever noticed that she is on the cover of every issue? My husband jokes, "Oh let's see who's on the cover of Oprah this month. Look, it's Oprah!"
I am going to cut back. I am not renewing Martha Stewart Living and Cooks Illustrated. I mainly get Cooks Illustrated because I like the different pictures of food on the front that I cut out and put on my kitchen wall. Same reason I used to buy all of these Celestial Seasons tea because I liked the pictures on the boxes. And I don't really drink tea! But it seems for every magazine I don't renew, I find another one to take its place.
When I'm done reading them I give most of my magazines to my sister. She passes them on to the doctors office where she works. Before I started giving my magazines to my sister I'd take them to the YMCA and health club where I worked out. The only magazines I use to keep was Martha Stewart Living. I had over ten years worth in my basement! I always thought I'd go back and read them. But I haven't so I recently recycled them. That was a lot of work hauling them to the recycling bin!
I think I am coming to an end of my love affair with magazines. Anymore I think they are just trying to sell you something. But who knows.
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Running on Empty
I am running on empty these days. My thoughts are telling me to "Stop this thing I want to get off!". I knew that being a mom and working would be hard. I just never thought it would be this hard. I feel pulled in so many directions and stretched so thin that I don't feel like I do any of my jobs or roles very well, that of wife, mother, and employee. I feel like I do the bare minimum at all of these roles, not because I don't care and want to do the bare minimum, but that there isn't enough of me to go around and so this is what you get. And I feel bad about it. I want to do better at my job and being a mom, but most of the time I feel like I am doing what I can to keep my head above water.
I don't think stay-at-home moms have it easy, I really don't. I think all moms are "working moms". I do sometimes play with the fantasy of not working. But when I do that I find myself in a panic. I have worked since I was 15. I like having my own money. Plus it's what I was raised to do, it's what I went to school for all of those years: to work. Financially it is not even a possiblity for me to not work, and sometimes I resent not having a choice. I guess that's what it boils down to, not feeling like I have a choice and having to do something because it's what I have to do to support myself and my family. But boy does it suck sometimes. It really does.
I don't think stay-at-home moms have it easy, I really don't. I think all moms are "working moms". I do sometimes play with the fantasy of not working. But when I do that I find myself in a panic. I have worked since I was 15. I like having my own money. Plus it's what I was raised to do, it's what I went to school for all of those years: to work. Financially it is not even a possiblity for me to not work, and sometimes I resent not having a choice. I guess that's what it boils down to, not feeling like I have a choice and having to do something because it's what I have to do to support myself and my family. But boy does it suck sometimes. It really does.
Monday, March 23, 2009
Cars
I need a new car. I got to thinking about cars yesterday as I backed my husband's truck out of the driveway. It's a stick shift. I haven't driven a stick shift in years. Plus I couldn't see out the backend because of all his equipment, but that's another story.
I learned how to drive a stick shift my senior year of college. My good friend Tiffany taught me. I had to learn quickly because my old car, a Ford Mustang, came to a sudden and abrupt end. My new car, a Toyota Tercel, was a stick and so I had to learn how to drive a stick. I learned to like a stick shift. It gave me something to do while driving and helped me control my speed.
I do not want a new car. My current vehicle, a Kia Spectra (what I refer to as a crap car) is paid for. And it runs pretty well and only has 56,000 miles on it. But with three kids this car is not big enough. One day I went to the grocery store before picking the kids up. I had the stroller in the trunk so I could only put a few groceries in there. There wasn't any room for people to sit!
I do not want a minivan. To me that just screams mommobile! I'd like a subaru station wagon. I tend to prefer foreign cars. They run better! But I really hate to be so dependent on a car at all. I wish our communities were set up so that I could walk wherever I need to go, like on a college campus. I'd probably walk or bike to work if I didn't have to transport children, or is that just an excuse?
So I will not get a new car anytime soon. I will drive this car until it falls apart. We'll just have to be crowded.
I learned how to drive a stick shift my senior year of college. My good friend Tiffany taught me. I had to learn quickly because my old car, a Ford Mustang, came to a sudden and abrupt end. My new car, a Toyota Tercel, was a stick and so I had to learn how to drive a stick. I learned to like a stick shift. It gave me something to do while driving and helped me control my speed.
I do not want a new car. My current vehicle, a Kia Spectra (what I refer to as a crap car) is paid for. And it runs pretty well and only has 56,000 miles on it. But with three kids this car is not big enough. One day I went to the grocery store before picking the kids up. I had the stroller in the trunk so I could only put a few groceries in there. There wasn't any room for people to sit!
I do not want a minivan. To me that just screams mommobile! I'd like a subaru station wagon. I tend to prefer foreign cars. They run better! But I really hate to be so dependent on a car at all. I wish our communities were set up so that I could walk wherever I need to go, like on a college campus. I'd probably walk or bike to work if I didn't have to transport children, or is that just an excuse?
So I will not get a new car anytime soon. I will drive this car until it falls apart. We'll just have to be crowded.
Saturday, March 21, 2009
Shampoo
In my last post I talked about the shampoo story I'd heard on NPR. That got me thinking about shampoo. Remember all of those funky shampoos from the 70's? I'm talking about Gee Your Hair Smells Terrific, Body on Tap (the shampoo with beer in it), LemonUp with the lemon on the top, Herbal Essence. I was such a sucker for all of that stuff. Later I graduated to shampoos like Jhirmak, Nexus, Pantene, Paul Mithcell and System Biolage. I used to spend a fortune on shampoo! Now what do I use? Suave. If I want to splurge I get Garnier Fructis.
I've been thinking about blogging and why people do it and why I'm suddenly doing it. I don't feel the need to update everyone with a minute by minute description of what I'm doing, like on MySpace or Facebook. But I do kind of like the idea of writing something and maybe somebody else will read it. And then I'll be famous! No I don't want to be famous. And I try to stay away from the computer when I'm at home cause it just seems to suck up time that I don't have. But it is kind of fun to write something. About something silly like shampoo.
I've been thinking about blogging and why people do it and why I'm suddenly doing it. I don't feel the need to update everyone with a minute by minute description of what I'm doing, like on MySpace or Facebook. But I do kind of like the idea of writing something and maybe somebody else will read it. And then I'll be famous! No I don't want to be famous. And I try to stay away from the computer when I'm at home cause it just seems to suck up time that I don't have. But it is kind of fun to write something. About something silly like shampoo.
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Why Blog?
Okay so at dinner I tell my husband that I started a blog. He asks what are you going to blog about? I say I'm not sure, anything and everything. Which makes me ask the question why do people blog? Why am I blogging? I guess you could say I need an outlet. I look at it as writing an opinion column for a newspaper, except I don't get paid and probably nobody will read it.
I heard this story on NPR yesterday about shampoo and washing your hair. It talked about how in the 70's this shampoo was marketed as if you use it it will make your hair look like Farrah Fawcett's. The shampoo was Wella Balsam. I so remember that! I used that shampoo cause I wanted my hair to look like Farrah's, but it never did. I couldn't understand it. I was so dissapointed. The story went on to talk about how there are people out there who advocate for not washing your hair every day. I guess at the turn of the century people only washed their hair once a month. Once a month! I know my grandmother washed her hair every two weeks. My grandfather told us that if you washed your hair every day it would fall out. My husband heard this story and said "Honey if you want to wash your hair once a month go ahead. I'm going to keep washing mine every day."
I heard this story on NPR yesterday about shampoo and washing your hair. It talked about how in the 70's this shampoo was marketed as if you use it it will make your hair look like Farrah Fawcett's. The shampoo was Wella Balsam. I so remember that! I used that shampoo cause I wanted my hair to look like Farrah's, but it never did. I couldn't understand it. I was so dissapointed. The story went on to talk about how there are people out there who advocate for not washing your hair every day. I guess at the turn of the century people only washed their hair once a month. Once a month! I know my grandmother washed her hair every two weeks. My grandfather told us that if you washed your hair every day it would fall out. My husband heard this story and said "Honey if you want to wash your hair once a month go ahead. I'm going to keep washing mine every day."
Hi I'm new at this
Hi, I'm new at this blogging thing. I thought it might be an interesting way to share my thoughs with whoever wants to read them. The name Bubbieroos comes from nicknames I use with my children: Bubbies and Roo. I have a new baby girl and haven't come up with a good nickname for her yet.
Work is kind of slow today.
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