Educating the Wheelers

Our Money Matters had a post tonight about the magazines that come into their house.

Ah, magazines.

When I was growing up, we weren’t allowed to get magazine subscriptions.  I don’t remember precisely my parents’ reasoning [though not wasting money would certainly be a good enough one], but I recall leaving childhood with the distinct feeling that subscriptions were sort of, well, naughty.  Or something.

The first magazine I believe I ever scurriously got a subscription to was Interview when I was 12.  The magazine was a lot different back then [late 80s], it still looked like it was Andy Warhol’s magazine.  I may even still have the Nick Rhodes issue at my parents’ house.  You can draw your own conclusions as to what kind of teenager I must have been using this single fact … and you’d probably be right.

These days, like I mentioned in my previous post, I get Taste of Home and I also get Backwoods Home.  I finally let the subscription to my beloved Empire lapse because it’s just too crazy over-the-top expensive.  And it’s not like I get out to see movies anymore.  Heck, with Audrey no longer taking naps, I rarely see dvds anymore!  [I haven’t even seen — or even purchased, thinking someday I might be able to see — the "new" Star Wars yet.  And I’m a nerd!  You don’t want to know what I did when the re-releases and other prequels came out… *sigh*]

My dad got me a subscription to the Wall Street Journal last year for Christmas, and it was awesome, but again, I just couldn’t justify it when it came time to renew.  And let me tell you, they got desperate after a while.  I think the best deal they sent me was 99 dollars for a full year of home delivery and a full year of online access.  But I still let it lapse.

Andrew gets The Week and he loves it, and Audrey got some gift subscriptions to Your Big Backyard [which she loves], Wild Animal Baby [which she loves even more], and Ladybug [which she couldn’t care less about].  She gets so excited to get the mail when there’s something for her.