Magazines are slowin' me down, man

Look at this, a week since my last post and why is that, may you ask? Magazines are why, curious reader. Darn magazines. Once a month, all the magazines arrive at the same time and I am compelled to put down whatever it is I'm reading at the moment and read all the magazines. For a ridiculous reason that has to do with unused frequent flier miles, we get tons of magazines. When we picked out these subscriptions, we didn't necessarily know what some of these magazines were about. We just thought the titles sounded good. Here's what we got from those useless miles.
Prevention: This sounded good, but it's actually geared towards old people. It looks like something that should be found in a urologist's office. It's all about dealing with age, walking for exercise, having regular prostate exams, etc. Can't wait for this one to run out.
Shape: Another one that sounded good in the description but ended up being a dud. We thought it would have helpful hints about exercise, but in actuality has half-naked women on the front of every issue. It goes straight into the dumpster the minute it arrives.
Forbes: I tried to read this once, but was bored to tears. Mike claims to enjoy reading it but half the time it stays on the desk so long that the corners start to curl up. A magazine for wealthy magnates. Hmmm, applicable.
Travel and Leisure: Ah yes, when I'm planning my next trip to tour all the finest hotels in Europe, this magazine will come in handy. Or perhaps when I'm going to hike Mount Kilamanjaro or take that cruise down the Amazon. Gosh, what will I do with my millions?
Computer Shopper: I have never actually opened this one up. I'm not much of a computer shopper, just a computer user. But I'm kind of glad we get it so Mike can keep things up to date and hummin'.
Time: I don't agree with everything in here, but it sure has made me aware of lots of things I never would have formed an opinion about otherwise. One thing I have most certainly formed a strong opinion about is that I'm sick to death of the 2008 presidential election. And it's June 2007. So sad.

Here are the magazines we get because our grandmas love us.
Reader's Digest: Classic, gotta love it. I read it cover to cover. Sometimes I skip the more traumatic stories, because now that I have children, I picture it happening to them. But the jokes give me chuckles and I love to read about life-saving new medicines and happy stories.
Highlights: This is a magazine I had a child and now my grandmother gets it for my children. They love the Timbertoes and the crafts, and Charlotte loves how easy it is to color on all the pages. Now that Madelyn can read, she enjoys it even more. And Lucy enjoys it now that Madelyn will read it to her and she doesn't have to wait for me to get around to it.

The last set of magazines are the ones we actually pay money for. Mike renews mine every two years and I do the same for him.
Popular Science: Mike's favorite magazine. If I forget to tell him that it came in the mail and it sits under a pile of stuff for a few days, it's not good. Not pretty. Then after he reads it, he talks about it for several days. His favorite is the issue that comes towards the end of the year and is the year's best inventions. That'll keep him going for weeks!
Family Fun: I've been getting this magazine for years and just recently my kids have gotten big enough to do most of the crafts and things inside. It's just so full of fun ideas! And new books and videos and toys! And recipes! And travel ideas! I could just keep exclamation marking! They now have another magazine bye the same people called Wondertime that's geared toward baby through preschool age kids. I probably would have gotten better use out of it so, gee, I might just have to get it.
The Ensign: This is a magazine put out by the LDS Church. The problem with this is that it has to be highly visible for me to remember to read it. I have to leave it on my counter or in front of my computer screen to jolt my memory and read it. Once I open it up, I usually read the whole thing and feel wonderfully uplifted. But if it disappears in my house somewhere, it never gets touched.
The Friend: Same problem as above. If I can get Madelyn started on it, I'll read quite a bit out loud to the girls. If I need ideas for family night, I usually turn to this magazine. But if it disappears, well, you know.

So you see why our magazines keep me busy. One thing that's hard about magazines is knowing when to throw them away. You don't want to become one of those people who have to go in and out of their house by a window because the magazines are covering every exit, but what if you need one of them? What if you want to read that certain article again? What if? Okay, so the church magazines are fully indexed and accessible online. But they're church magazines, for crying out loud! It feels kind of wrong to just toss them out. I've managed to convince Mike to throw away issues that are more than few months old of his favorite reads, yet I keep years worth of my magazine. And yes, they are accessible online too. I can find most of what was in an issue on their website. Not to mention the fact that I never re-read magazines. I've got too many other things to read! I almost never re-read books, for that same reason! There are too many books out there waiting for me. I have certain books that I read every few years, but they are of a much higher caliber than back issues of Family Fun. Jane Eyre is a bit more compelling than making coin banks out of milk cartons. Honestly, I throw away most everything, but sometimes it's painful and I have to remind myself that there's this great thing called the internet. Ahhh, I love the internet. Providing me with more stuff to read.