Kissing the TV Goodbye **Finale

It is officially February 1st and our month without TV is over!

I have to admit that I am really relieved. I don't think we'll be watching as much TV as we used to but it is nice to have it back as an option, at least for movies. And I did really well. I watched the weather channel during the first week when my husband was out of town and we were have a snow storm, but other than that (and our one movie a week, which we didn't always watch) I did pretty well!! My husband on the other hand, but I've already mentioned his moments of weakness. He did pretty well too. And my boys, were excellent. There were days when they just wanted to watch a movie. About half-way through the month we rented Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs and watched it as a family. It was kind of nice having a movie night as something special.

This morning both of my boys are watching The Incredibles. They are both sick - coughing, snotty nose, general malaise - so they are glad to be chilling in the living room with their blankets and other lovies.

Here are some things I used to keep the boys busy:

• Adventures in Odyssey CDs
• Arthur CDs
• books on CD - Imogene's Antlers, Toy Story 2, Cowboy Ned and Andy, and many many more
• PBS Kids computer games (with supervision)
• crafts
• "special" toys - toys we only take out once a month (box of bugs, magnet puzzles, Leap Frog books/computer, Play-Doh
• reading books - the library was a staple for us this month!
• coloring & painting
• helping mom cook

We had a lot of fun, but I am glad to have the option of movies back, especially today when they're not feeling well.

I finished another book, Through the Heart by Kate Morgenroth, and listened to a few more books on CD: The Manny Files by Christian Burch (a book for 7-10 year-olds; subtly suggests that The Manny is a homosexual throughout the book and in the end there is a kiss, kids may not understand but it's still wise to protect their hearts and minds), The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards, and No Talking by Andrew Clements (one of my husband's favorite children's authors). I also finished up my cleaning calendar (still waiting for my husband to print it), switched furniture around from room to room all throughout our house (I just needed some change), and spent more time with my boys at bedtime. I really cherish that time before bed now. When they're all cozy in bed, their prayers are said, they're songs are sung and they just talk. It's so sweet!

Also, it was really hard! Some evenings I was tired and didn't want to think. I wanted to veg out in front of the TV where I really didn't have to use my brain too much. I could read a magazine while watching TV, pay bills while watching TV, check my email while watching TV - but I found that I was unable to do so many things while listening to books on CD. I could only do things that didn't require a lot of thinking - painting my toenails, rip seams out of my projects that weren't going well, cutting out crafts for homeschooling, washing dishes, picking up the living room, sewing. Otherwise I'd get distracted and have to go back and listen to the same chapter over and over. ;) And most of the time I was dozing in the recliner by 7:30p. ;)

If Next time we do this challenge we will have to do it in the summer. When it's not -10 degrees, and we don't have a snow storm once a week; when we can play outside, go swimming, and go on walks. That would be a better time of year to put the TV away for the month.

Thanks for bearing with me through this month!! Will you be giving it a try?