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Thursday, January 7, 2010

Kissing the TV Good-bye *Update

I miss my tv.

There are many reasons why this has been a particularly hard week:

1. My husband is gone to seminary this week. I've been lonely in the evenings. If he were home we could talk or play games. But he's not home so there has been no game-playing or talking. For the most part my evenings have been filled with cleaning and other household tasks. That is not relaxing for me. And reading still uses up brain-power that I don't have much left of by the end of the day. I just get tired and decide that 7:30p is a little early to hit the sack so I go about cleaning and organizing.

2. The weather has been awful here and I'm going crazy with all this boy-energy. The beginning of the week was filled with terribly cold weather. -27 for the low and 4 above for the high. Not particularly good weather for my boys to run around in. In fact, my youngest cried from the door to the van on Tuesday so we could run some errands. And yesterday we had another snowstorm. I think this is the 3rd of the season. And it continues today. After 5+ inches of snow, we're having 35mph winds with gusts up to 40mph. Our house is really small and there is no basement so I have no where to send the boys to run. It's tiring for them and for me. I wish I could put a video on and have them sit for a while, but that's not an option.

3. I miss my alone time. I would use PBS Kids as a distraction so I could at least take a shower and not worry about my house being destroyed by my little boys. In fact, when I took a shower on Tuesday, I was thinking to myself that there's nothing that they could do that they would really get in trouble for. But they found the one thing to break that would make me the most annoyed - the plastic on the windows!! AARG!! By the way, my alone time in the evening isn't as great as a shower in the morning.

4. I miss the news. Yes, I could check online for my information or even listen to the radio. But I know that at 12noon and at 5p I can watch the news and get it in it's entirety. I didn't even know about the storm until someone mentioned it at a meeting I had on Tuesday evening. And I just like knowing what's going on the world. It feels like I'm part of it even though I'm trapped in my house with another snowstorm whipping around outside.

So, there are many factors that play into my missing the tv - my husband being gone, the weather, my alone-time, and feeling like I'm part of this big world. Oh, and the boy-energy is quite excessive today. Please pray for me. ;)

4 comments:

Sarah said...

Keep it up Jessica! It'll get harder before it gets easier, but don't get discouraged! Eventually, you'll be able to look back on this whole experience and laugh at the broken plastic and appreciate having done this.;) Promise.
Blessings,
*Sarah*
Philippians 4:13
I can do ALL THINGS through Christ who strengthens me.

Rachel said...

Awww, I see how tough that would be! How long are you going without TV and what's your motivation? Just curious:)

Cindy said...

I'd love to turn the TV off for a while but my husband would never go for it. Good for you guys!

My boy has the coordination of a not-quite two-year-old, but I'll make him try to imitate me as we do jumping jacks, "Head & Shoulders," the "Hokey Pokey," or anything that burns off some energy, like chasing him and tickling him.

It doesn't always take care of the energy, but a different approach always helps me handle it with a better mood.

Is there a game you can have them do while you shower? Like send them on a treasure hunt with pictures of stuff in the house? It would take some preparation the night before, though.

If having company in misery makes you feel better, our remodel has confined us to one room on the main floor, so weekends get VERY long for us and I totally relate to the need to expend some of that boy energy!

Hope you survive until your husband gets home!
(and I didn't mean to write a novel...)

Linda said...

Just give it a couple of weeks and you won't even remember you ever watched TV! trust me ;)

We ditched our TV about 3 years ago and we haven't ever looked back..

Now, we don't even have a clue what's been aired these days.. we're just soooooo happy we don't have all that filth piped into our living room!

That said, we do occasionally watch a movie or documentary on the internet. (say, once a week) - is that an option for you? I enjoy watching things that aren't made in hollywood.. and the internet is the perfect medium for 'small people' to broadcast something that would never make it on TV.

Greetings from the netherlands!