Sunday Afternoon Chores

It's a cool and windy Sunday afternoon and I have a long list of chores awaiting my attention. The baby shower gift I bought on Thursday for my niece is wrapped, but will have to wait until next Sunday to be delivered. I thought the shower was today, until I reread the invitation and noticed that the 20th of March was the date to RSVP not the actual date of the shower. The hubby got a good laugh over my mistake.

My beef stew is in the oven and the hubby and dog are snoring (not sure which one) in front of the TV. I've sneaked upstairs with a glass of wine and some chocolates (leftover from Christmas that I found in the back of a cupboard) to attack my absolutely favourite chore.

I'm sorting through a monthly supply of magazines. How many do I buy, you ask? Well, I suppose it depends on my will-power de jour. I always buy Womans World, which comes out once a week. I think it's the catchy front page guaranteeing I'll lose ten to fifteen pounds with the latest diet craze. I should know by now that losing weight takes common sense, less food and moving more, but what the hell, if I can sit on my ass, drink wine, nibble chocolates and lose weight swallowing a herbal supplement I've never heard of, I'm game.

The magazine pile is high and some are keepers, like my UK fiction mags that I use as reference for my writing. Maybe once a year I'll sort through those and clip a few stories before tossing them in the recycle bin. I've been buying Bliss Victoria for years and storing them in boxes in the basement. Every now and then, I'll pull out the musty boxes and drool over the photographs of gorgeous houses, lush gardens and scrumptious recipes I'll never make. The Food & Drink magazine, compliments of LCBO, is really good this month. Check out page 17--Shiraz with Braised Brisket. I'll make that for sure.

Martha Stewart's Living magazine is full of tips on growing your own vegetables. I've been growing herbs and tomatoes for years, but now that Tom's father is gone, I'll have to plant green onions, cucumbers and green onions as well. Fresh is so much better than store bought, even when they're in season. The free magazine from the health food store had some tips for curing colds and flu's and a list of herbal remedies for women to take after menopause to suppress hot flashes, although the photograph of the youthful female doctor who wrote the article tells me the closest she's ever come to a hot flash is in a tanning bed.

Chatelaine has delicious comfort food recipes, which they claim take next to no time to prepare. First they have page after page of fattening pastas and fresh bread and then an article on burning calories with power yoga. Maybe if I skip the lasagna, I won't need to exercise. I'm about to toss this magazine until I find a page dedicated to fiction: Jane Austin's, Pride and Prejudice, complete with a photograph of Colin Firth. Too bad it's not the one where he's emerging from the lake, dripping wet.

Last but not least in the pile is Soap Opera Digest. OK, I haven't bought this mag in years (REALLY!) but someone on my favourite soap died and I wanted to read the article. I'm saving it for a friend. (REALLY!)

Well, I'm finally finished sorting through the magazines and now I have a pile of loose pages of recipes, beauty tips, home decor photos (and Colin Firth) to file into folders.

Hope your afternoon was more productive than mine.

Cynthia