Spring Fever

There are 158 reasons for my husband to be worried right now.

Today is an exciting day in my life: It's the day my Martha Stewart Living magazine came in the mail. There is a tragic crease in the front cover, which means it won't be pristine like many of the other Martha magazines I have catalogued on my kitchen shelf. But still, the very sight of it's robin-egg blue sheen gives me a thrill from the tip of my thimble finger all the way down to the toes on my right foot, the one I use to make my sewing machine whir.

There are two times of the year I'm particularly vulnerable to Living's influence. One is at Christmas (which starts the day after Halloween, in terms of crafting season), and the other is Easter time. I actually climbed up into the attic on my own -- and expressly against my husband's wishes -- to get my Easter goodies out of the attic the day before Lent. I suffered ridicule from both my best friend and Hubby for doing so. Even my seven year old came home and said, "Mom, why are there Easter bunnies all over the house? When is Easter?"

I can't help it! I love to make my house pretty for spring, because I crave the newness of the season so very much.

So, back to Living. The April 2011 cover says "spring starts here! 158 reasons to celebrate, decorate & refresh." Did you hear that? Refresh! Doesn't it just make you want to get out your decoupage paste and fire up your glue gun?

Over the years I have attempted many lovely Easter decorations from Living. Many of them have been flops, to be honest. The eggs I tried to wrap in lace and dye blue -- supposedly the lace would block the dye to leave a white lacy pattern on the eggshells -- just turned into blue eggs. I got a lot of scraps of blue lace out of them too. The eggshells I tried to puncture and blow the actual egg out of to create lasting heirlooms for my little girls just got crushed, and my fingers got very sticky to boot. However, my Styrofoam eggs that I decoupaged pastel scraps of fabric on did come out lovely, though in the heat of the attic where they're stored, they kind of melt and stick together every season, and have to be pried apart.

On the cover of this month's issue are some gorgeous white and blue stenciled eggs in a next with a pristine Easter chick sugar cookie nestled in the middle. I want to make it soooo bad. It's most likely outside my skill set, but I can't resist.

I know that once I open the magazine, a wave of anxiety will come over me, the way a broke shoe fetishist might feel in a Jimmy Choo shop. So many pretty things that I want to make mine, but will likely be unable to attain.

Still, I look forward with pleasure to this evening. When the kids are safely in bed, and with my husband working late tonight, I will make a pot of herbal tea and sit down for some quality time with Martha. Read my blog throughout the month of March to see what kind of superfluous projects I attempt. This is living indeed!