I'm on Martha's mailing list, but lately, when she sends me notes, I don't find a whole lot of projects that appeal to me.  They all seem so UNNECESSARY and HARD.  So even though I almost always feel this way, I still look at her Good Things every time.  This week, I saw one that struck me as particularly dumb right away.  Shower Curtain key rings, "perfect for the beach" she said.  "How stupid," I thought.  Then, as the day progressed, I found myself thinking about the key ring.  Wondering what it looked like, wondering how much work I'd have to do to have one.

I checked it out.  It WAS kind of cute.  Not at all tacky like the vision created by the name.

And, apparently, there isn't ANY work that has to be done other than just buying the shower curtain ring.

So today when we were at Target, I looked for them.  I found a box of 12 for $8.49 and put it in the cart.  All the way through the store, I thought about the keyrings.  "Do I really need that?"  I asked myself.  I started to go through a mental list of bags at my house and realized that I don't have any cute beach-y sort of bag like the one in Martha's example so I turned the cart around and went to look at the bags.  Doing some quick calculation, I figured my Martha idea of the day would come in under $40, kind of expensive for a key ring.

I continued through the store, contemplating the idea.  "What would I do with the other 11 rings in the box?"  I wondered.  "I could give them away!" I thought.  Oh yes, that's a great gift.  "Here's your special gift from me - a keyring."  Feeling a bit like John Candy trying to sell enough samples to buy a train ticket, I put the shower curtain rings on the top of the cart in case I decided to put them back.

Then I started to think about taking my special key ring and new bag to the beach.  We don't really go to the beach.  But if we DID go to the beach, I'd need a lot more loot than this bag would hold.  I'd have the entire back end of the Tahoe loaded up.  I'd have to back it in to the parking lot and make about 100 trips to get all of our stuff to our spot.  I probably wouldn't have to worry about losing my keys while we were at the beach, I'd have them in my hand the whole time as I made my way back and forth to the car.  By the time the car would be unloaded, it would probably be time to pack up again.

Maybe it isn't such a good idea after all.  Cute, but in this life I really don't need one.  Maybe I'll just make the cute terry-cloth pillow cases instead.  I'll have to pick up some terry-cloth.  And inflatable pillows.  Oh yes, and a sewing machine.  Never mind.