Times is hard

For the second time in two weeks I received a postcard notification that a beloved magazine had bit the dust.

My work life, as has been excessively documented in this blog, leans towards the stressful. I respond to this stress by subscribing to pretty, hyper-feminine and sometimes crafty gal magazines. I like nothing better than to climb into bed with a stack of brand new magazines on a week night. It calms me.

A couple of weeks ago an unwelcome postcard informed me that Cottage Living was no longer being published but that I would be receiving a subscription to Sunset Magazine instead. I like Sunset. My parents subscribed to Sunset for most of my childhood. Sunset is a So Cal staple but it's not my dreamy Cottage Living. Some people fantasize about European Villas or giant homes in Vail. I dream of modest little cottages. Cottage Living was my fantasy in print form and I adored it. It will be missed.

Today I came home to another mean postcard. This one stated the Mary Elgelbreit's Home Companion magazine was now six feet under. (Just look at this wasteland of a website. It's about as warm as the postcard.) I will now be getting Martha Stewart Living in it's place. Damn it! I really liked Home Companion. It was nothing but pretty pictures and some cute bordering-on-the-edge-of-tacky craft project ideas. I enjoyed it. I'll miss it as well.

I suppose my poor little Victoria is next on the chopping block. It only relaunched recently but times are hard so God knows how it will survive.

I have always loved magazines. I've subscribed to dozens and dozens of magazines through the years. In addition to the chick magazines I also indulge in Newsweek, Business Week and Entertainment Weekly. I also enjoy The New Yorker but find that the occasional one year subscription is enough to intimidate me well beyond that year. I've just never been able to keep up with weekly editions of that magazine. They just keep comin' at you. Who's got that kind of time?! There is also Vanity Fair but I've found that the home delivery on that one is too slow. It's on the newsstand at least a week before I get it in the mail. I'm sorry but it's my reading material of choice on planes and I can't wait a week for that kind of fix.

It's all such a bummer. Why do I have the sick feeling that when the dusts settles there will be nothing but Time and Oprah left standing. What is this world coming to?