while the children play

while the children play in the garden, i drool over magazines. 

here's how it works...
today the may issue of better homes & gardens arrived in my mailbox. i grabbed it. smiled. tucked it in my ruffled purse and walked in the house. there the magazine sat on the kitchen counter for a few hours. i didn't dare open it even though it was all i could think about while emma napped, while i did a little work, and while eli and i read THESE books because it still amazes me that he can read now!

the clock hit 4pm. emma woke. eli was dying to head outside. i grabbed my new magazine, we headed for the garden and i flipped through the pages slowly. i drooled over the gardens and the most amazing kitchen with white cabinets, dark granite countertops and an olive green island with a butcher block top. i took in some decorating ideas and thought of how i could do it differently to fit my decorating style. i read recipes for summer grilling. when i reached the last page in the magazine, i picked a few strawberries, pulled a few weeds and flicked my tomato blooms to help pollinate them.

so as odd as my magazine ritual is, that's me. i do the same thing when i receive a new ikea or pottery barn catalog. often, my magazines are wrinkled and warped after blowing around in the garden and being sprinkled while watering.

and tomorrow, i'll flip through the new magazine again. this time backwards.