The first step is admitting you have an addiction.

The second step is embracing it! I think.

Sitting down to have my coffee this morning, tuning into some It's a Big Big World on PBS Kids & reaching for my side table to grab some of the usual eye candy, realizing the table is way cluttered, it occurs to me I may have too many magazines. Could it be?

I don't have pop cans, trash, soiled diapers, littering my tables. Just pretty magazines. I am a mostly tidy person. I'm not a sloth like the character on this kids' show I'm watching. I am a magazine addict. Not too shameful? A bit embarassing, though.

I have tons of containers to tuck the mags away in. I spared you the image of the bathroom basketful. This is my sidetable:

This is my living room shelf:

I even have a magazine cabinet in our bedroom. Nerd.

Here is a shelf in our bedroom, too.

This one's in the middle of our kitchen table!

This basket is in the entry hall on the steps.

Pathetic, this tray is on my dining room hutch. Promise if you come and eat I'll move it, and put food there. LOL.

Magazines feed my addiction. They teach me about bargaining, gardening, storing, cleaning, coloring, cooking, parenting, being healthy, & celebrities. Important stuff people! The amount of information I have acquired from magazines is astounding. Three times a year I purge any of the mags that are of no use to me anymore.

I'm not a snob about what I read either. I am the queen of ancient hand-me-down magazines. On Easter I came home with a stack from my aunt; my neighbor purges hunting, dog, and cosmopolitan towards our house. Katie bring me clusters of unique Chicago mags. When Theo was hospitalized I proudly raided all of the waiting rooms. I returned the ones I read.

I covet Country Home, Cottage Living, & any gardening magazine. Yesterday, when I found a stack of garden magzines I didn't know I had it felt like Christmas. After viewing one image of a hanging basket I was in the garage with Ben digging through Theo's powertools. I hung up half a dozen garden decorations/baskets outside. How cool is that? Mags motivate me. Bigtime.

This morning I had another magazine ah-ha moment. As an aspiring junker (i.e. JunkMarket) I love finding new uses for old things. This spring I picked up an old canning tool for less than a buck at local antique mall. I had no idea what it was, but I called to me. This morning I found this image in a Country Home from June 06':

See the bottom right image on the left hand page? Yup. That's what the little gadget I bought can be used for. Cool. For months I fidgeted with this tool in my kitchen and repeatedly told my mom about it. Today, a solution for my junk. My smile for the day.

Had to share perhaps my biggest quirk. Have a great day!