Busy.

I have a magazine problem.

I love them. I love how they're non-commital, I love how you can go through one in a few hours, I love how cheap they are compared to books, I love how they cover many different subjects in each issue, I love to look at how the articles and ads are laid out, I love using them for inspiration, I love how they come in the mail, a happy surprise at the end of the day, I love how much I can learn from reading one.

What I don't love, however, is how they tend to pile up around the house. I also don't love knowing how bad it is for the environment to keep consuming these paper items in bulk like this.

When I used to live in an apartment complex that had a laundry room, the solution was simple - I would take them down there and leave them for people to read or help themselves. Then, they were being reused and enjoyed by others as well.

Then I moved here, and everyone has their own washer and dryer. I used to give them to someone who was my friend in the past, and she would read them, or hand them off to the kids in her classroom to cut up. Again, being reused and enjoyed by others.

Then we broke up, and I started to take them to work to put in the fitness center. This way, the hotel guests would have something to look at while on the treadmill. One more time, I was sharing the wealth!

Then they remodeled the fitness center, and took out the magazine racks. They put TVs over each treadmill, because TV is better and no one really wants to read anyway. There went that idea. Besides, I don't work there anymore, so it wouldn't have been an option anyway.

So now I have this GIGANTIC stack of magazines in the middle of my living room floor. This is only three months worth too. There are a few scrapbooking magazines with ideas I'd like to scan that aren't in there, a stack of Modern Dog and Bark that are going to the vet's waiting room, and some baby and parenting magazines that I'm going to give to one of my husband's friends whose wife just found out she is pregnant. This stack includes everything from Lucky, to Professional Photographer, to ReadyMade, to Creating Keepsakes, to Maxim, to Philadelphia Style, to Women's Day, to The Advocate, to Latina, to Graphic Design USA... my interests are varied, LOL!

Best part - I don't pay for any of these. I'm a cheap bitch. I find subscriptions for free in various places on the Internet and sign up for those. I get denied for some, because I'm not their target demographic or whatever, but as you can see, I do get a LOT. And now, I have no clue what to do with them. To just shove them into the recycling bin after reading them seems so wrong somehow. They're sitting there and hopefully I'll get an idea soon.

As I was cleaning up my living room (which is what led to the great magazine purge) I came across all of my yarn, knitting, and crochet stuff. What a perfect project to take on the plane to Seattle! I dug through the bag and I found this pretty green 100% Peruvian wool that I picked up a few years ago at this cute little yarn shop down the street from my mother in law's house. I swear, she has the best shopping down the street (walking distance, no less!) in either direction. I love her neighborhood!

I decided to start crocheting a blanket for the baby, since I'm thinking TSA would be more forgiving of a single small crochet hook than they would two big ass knitting needles.

Besides, knitting is so new to me, and I haven't done it in over a year, that I'm sure it would just look terrible. Crochet, on the other hand, I learned when I was about six or seven from my aunt and grandmother, and that is so firmly ingrained in my head and hands that it's pretty much a no brainer. As I twirled the yarn around and around my hook to make the slipknot to start, I marveled at how some things you just never seem to be able to forget how to do, even if it has been a few years since your last foray.

No pattern here (I don't know how to read crochet patterns, never learned that!) just back and forth in a design of my own imagination. Simple, relaxing.

I'm so domestic lately.