update on the television experiment

here's where you can read about what has been going on since we've put up the television for the month of july! i'll try to update it every couple of days.

day 31: so today is the last day of the experiment. i've only been semi-productive i think. didn't get as much done as i thought i would. i also didn't miss the television as much as i thought i would. the only time i really thought about wanting it on was when i would do more than just picking up in the evening.

could i go another month without it? i think i could. however, my family has requested the television back. of course i don't think the officer will watch the actual television more - since he's getting into old episodes of CHiPs online.

i asked my kids if they missed watching the television. my son said he just missed watching curious george in the morning. my daughter didn't say anything. that's not too bad. maybe when we watch curious george next monday morning there will be a new episode. one can hope. we get tired of watching the same 10 eipsodes. :)

do i think it was worth it? i do. i did accomplish a big task i wanted to: painting one of the two rooms i had left to paint. i think it's encouraging us to finish painting our bedroom. that in and of itself is good. my kids really enjoyed their morning bicycle rides & walks with the dogs the officer took them on every morning he was off.

i think overall the experiment was a successful experiment.

day 30: almost finished with this experiment. i haven't written for the past two days on the update because i've been very busy. i have been painting my bathroom. that will be a post all by itself. it's been fun and i love how it's turned out. now i am in the middle of finding things to decorate with. that will take a little time, but i am enjoying changing things up in the bathroom.

i was telling one of my friends, j, that maybe i would just put a little chair, table, and lamp in there to be able to relax in read in there because i like it that much.

day 27: well i don't have a lot accomplished. i did find get some paint samples from lowes & walmart for my bathroom. going to see if i can get started on that this week. my son just asked when he can watch a movie - from home i suppose. the officer said at the end of this week.

i think if i suggest going another month without tv (which really hasn't been a full month without tv) there will be mutiny in the house. i guess we will have our tv back this saturday.

the officer has broken down completely and been watching CHiPs online. however on the upside, on the mornings he does not work he wakes the kids up at 6 a.m. for a neighborhood bicycle ride and a walk with the dogs. they have really enjoyed this time together. i will be borrowing my sister's bike soon so i can go bicycle riding with them - and before you ask not at 6 a.m.! :)

day 21: nothing new to report here. we are definitely back into the norm of things. we picked back up with school yesterday. we ran errands today - they same old, same old - post office, bank, walgreens, and then to target.

we made sponge bombs today. it's 6:48 p.m. and the kids are already asleep. this is the time when i would sit down and watch tv; however, my house is a mess and i have to work tomorrow. so i will pick up the house - the officer's mom is coming tomorrow to watch the kids - and hopefully go to bed early.

i have noticed i have gone to bed much earlier this whole time when i don't watch tv in the evenings. that's gotta be good for me. i am kind of cranky when i only get 5 1/2 hours of sleep. i'm sure my family's much happier about the increase of sleep.

day 18: i got the pantry and the refrigerator cleaned out. how old is the oldest thing you have found in your pantry when cleaning it out. i think my oldest thing was just 2008 - that's not so bad is it?

the frig is nice and clean. i like to look in there - it's like i have a brand new refrigerator! i called the kids into the kitchen to show the frig. they were not as impressed! :) they did not "oooohhh" and "aaahhh" as i thought they would.

day 17: so you may be wondering why there is a huge gap between the updates. we have been on vacation in colorado. i will tell you right now there was movie watching. you can't take or i should say i can't take a 10 hour roadtrip without our dvd player. i love that invention!

we are back at home now and the tv is still in the closet. i think my son is missing the tv. actually he said he wanted to play his playstation lego game. i heard him yelling "we can watch tv now everyone!"

what? what is he talking about? i just saw the tv in the closet when i put up blankets.

he's yelling, "we can watch tv now mommy! come here!"

i go into the front room and here's what he showed me.




the box is supposed to be the "tv". i don't know if you can tell, but he colored a "star wars" picture on it. the piece of paper he is holding is a remote.

i think he might be missing the television a bit. i'm thinking i would love to extend this to august, but i think the family might revolt!

day 6: things still going good. the kids have not asked about watching television once. of course we have been very busy this past weekend with it being the 4th of july weekend.

last night i was cleaning my house. i like to do that when the kids are in bed sometimes - no on following behind you getting things dirty. you know what i mean.

anyhow, when i started cleaning i had the thought, "oh i'll just turn on the tv while i am cleaning for some background noise." i usually do this when i clean in the evening.

oh wait there's no tv there. i forgot. wasn't so bad - don't know if i got the cleaning done any quicker, but i got along just fine without it.

today grandma comes over to watch the kids while i head to one of the last few days of work. i can't remember if i told you that my dr. office is closing at the end of the month. i will not be working after that. i will not seek another job. i figured with the task of homeschooling my daughter in kindergarten this fall, i might want the extra day at home. i am so thankful God supplies all our needs and has allowed us to be in the position that i don't have to work part-time if i don't want to. this is a blessing - i know other mothers who would love to have the option. of course when fall comes around and i start homeschooling two, i may want to go back to work one day a week. :) just kidding.

well that's about it so far - i am thinking right now i could see not having the television in august too. i really have not missed it as much as i thought i would. however, lost is not on right now so.......

we will definitely have it back (at least for wednesday nights) in january for the final season of LOST. have to draw the line somewhere.

**update** my husband is cheating on the whole television thing. when i came home from shopping tonight, he was watching old episodes of CHiPs online. i don't think he's getting the concept. :)

day 3: this is our third day without the television. we have been really busy so it's really not been a big deal. however, i did know this would happen. i knew were going to busy with the fourth of july and vacation next week. i thought the transition of not having the television would be easier if we had things to do.

each morning the officer has been here he has gotten up at 6 a.m. he has woken the kids up and taken them for early morning bike rides. when they are done with the bike rides, they take the dogs for walks. the kids haven't even asked about watching tv once. it's only been three days though. they have played with games in the game closet, play doh, and each other a lot more.

i wouldn't say i've started any of my projects yet - but i got some scrapbook stuff from a sweet friend for my birthday and i think after vacation i will break all that stuff out.

so day 3 - gone great so far!

day 2: i'm going to try to put the current "day" at the top of the post so you don't have to scroll down if you are trying to keep updated.

today we went to the lake. the officer's parents may be getting a place close by a lake so we drove down to take a look at the place. the lake is pretty. it was a nice relaxing, hot day. the kids got to swim. i told them i would give them a $1 if they could catch a minnow. no one did. they had fun trying though.

tonight i am going to the movies with my sisters. one of my sisters has been in town for the past couple of days, so i thought it would be fun having a sister's night out. it's been a long time! we are going to see the movie the proposal. i like sandra bullock. hopefully it's good because we are going to the late movie so #1: i hope i can make it though the entire movie without falling asleep (it starts at 9:40 p.m.) and #2: it cost $9 to get in. when i pay full price for a movie, i expect the movie to be good. i'll let you know.

day 1: it's a sad sight - the spot where our television used to be in the entertainment center. now there's just dust bunnies - one more obvious spot for me to dust. :) i had to work today and the officer was out most of the day with the kids. the time the kids watched television the most was in the mornings. this morning the officer took the kids on a bicycle ride. my son crashed pretty good, but just scraped his knee. they came back from their bicycle ride and took the dogs for a much needed walk. our dogs are medium size dogs. when they first leave the yard they charge ahead like "walking" our kids. the dogs are much calmer on the way back home.

while i was getting ready for work this morning, my daughter came into the bathroom to say good morning to me. she walked into the officer's closet and just stood in there. i said, "honey, what are you doing? are you sniffing?"

why these questions you ask?

well my daughter loves the smell of her daddy's closet. i don't know why, but she will go into his closet and take a big sniff and say "i love the smell of daddy's closet." the first time she did this i went into the closet to smell what she was talking about. i didn't smell anything particular. nothing smelled that great, but nothing smelled bad or funny either. the officer has his clothes in there and a lot of equipment for work. i guess i would describe the smell as very manly. you know - man clothes (not sweaty smelling or anything like that), leather, and papers. i don't know how else to describe it. i asked my daughter why she liked the smell and she just said, "it smells like daddy!" she loves her daddy.

back to the update though....

she is standing in the officer's closet. i asked her, "what are you doing?" she said she was looking for the television. she just wanted to know where it was. we had told her we were going to store it in the officer's closet. when she didn't find it in the officer's closet, she looked in mine. we actually decided to put it into the linen closet so it was out of the way. i showed her where it was, so she wouldn't fret.

i have made plans for tonight's non-television watching evening. i'm making a grocery list for the food we will need to take on vacation.. we are going to spend a little time at the lake tomorrow, so i am going to get a watermelon to take with us. then hopefully off to bed early.

i asked my kids how they thought the first day without the television went. they both said, "it's good!" i actually didn't think they would have that hard of a time with it. tonight at dinner, the officer started talking about the old time godzilla movies. he said, "oh we'll have to get it to watch it ........in august i guess." yes, this will take some getting used to by the adults in the house - me included.

so first day without the television - not bad at all. i promise all my updates won't be this long!