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I love catalogs. Since I was a kid, catalogs were the way to see how other people lived and how you could keep up with fashion and technology.

Before the Internet, there were catalogs; bright, glossy pages, vibrantly filled with classy furniture, clothes you couldn't get at Kmart and hard-to-find items.

I grew up in a catalog home. The big moments in our six-kid family were the arrivals of three important catalogs: the annual Sears catalog, which was as thick as the Yellow Pages; the Sears Christmas Special catalog, which meant the season officially had begun; and the Swiss Colony food catalog, filled with treats that only rich people could afford. I would usually hide in the bathroom or lock myself in my bedroom while my siblings pounded on the door, yelling for my mother to come and make me give the catalog up.

When I was living in a small town in northwestern Michigan, the Sears catalog was my lifeline to the big city. I spent seven years in a town that had no malls or department stores - not even a strip mall. Catalogs were my only way to get anything that was remotely fashionable.

Catalogs were also the easiest way for me to shop and not have to worry about handicapped parking, crowded aisles or inaccessible shelving.

I could take my time and avoid the usual stares and whispers from small children. I could prevent the inevitable well-meaning Christian putting a hand on my head and blessing me. Catalogs were my salvation from the horrors of brick-and-mortar shopping.

With the introduction of the Internet, catalog-based companies feared their livelihoods would become extinct. Not so, according to the millions of catalogs that fly through the postal service today. Catalogs serve as an incentive for Internet shopping, giving beautiful photos with a better description. Furniture arrangements just seem to look better to me in catalogs. Food items look luscious on those glossy pages.

Catalogs have become so popular that cable television has dedicated new programs to the quality of their merchandise and easy purchasing power. Fine Living, a cable channel, has my two favorites: "Catalog This" and "Mail Order Makeover."

"Mail Order Makeover" features high-priced designers and uses only catalogs and online shopping to decorate a room. "Catalog This" gives a chosen couple two hours to decorate a room within a specific budget, using catalogs and online Web site items. The couple loses if it comes in over or under the allotted budget. If the couple chooses wisely, remembering to budget for shipping and handling, it keeps everything.

Other home improvement channels are introducing similar shows, featuring the power of catalogs and online shopping.

For me, Internet shopping is like having a catalog at your side while you purchase all the goodies you want without having to get out of your bathrobe.

Now, if I could only win a spot on one of those shows. Yeah.

McKee, a wheelchair user, is a freelance writer and producer. You can e-mail her at www.chairgrrl.com.