Tuesday, May 22, 2007

Let me count the ways!

EDIT TO ADD: I forgot to say thanks to everyone who commented on my my previous rant tirade sardonic dissertation post. I promise, from the heart of my bottom, to really tell you all how I feel next time. I know, I tend to keep my emotions bottled up. As per request, I pledge to share and give you more of myself next time. I guess sometime more is just... well, more. ;)

Hi there! I'm a bit shaky right now seen as I am getting my first
internet fix in 13 days ( the MISU posted the last post for me at work)... It's kind of like going cold turkey without coffee, then starting up again after 2 weeks. The first few days are very exhausting and depressing, and life without internet and cable has been interesting. Today, I am exhilarated by the feel of keyboard, and quite frankly- a little giddy. There's nothing like getting your fix!

Let me just say that the day our "unconnected" cable was disconnected (the call was to our local Mediacom office BTW, not overseas), the hubs and I had a rant fest with each other over the phone while he was at work. Given the previous episode where my husband forgot to pay the cable bill for 83 days (remember that?) and our cable was disconnected without warning just a month ago... we were already primed so to speak. Expletives were exchanged over the phone between John and I 13 days ago, not at each other but towards the cable monopoly from hell.

John was furious and said screw it, we were just going to have to live without cable and internet for 3 or 4 months. To which I growled, (think The Exorcist)" I don't care about cable. We can go without that. But there is no way I'M GOING 4 MONTHS WITHOUT HIGH SPEED INTERNET."

Silly, selfish me. What I realize now is that though going 4 months without TV could have it's benefits (us doing more stuff as a family instead of being stuck in front of the boob tube), it also has it's downside (having to change DVDs and tapes frequently, and hearing a 6 yr old moan and groan about being bored during the days this summer when it will undoubtedly be to hot to go outside until evening).

We still do not have cable, and John is thinking that we can go 3 or 4 months of the kids watching the same DVDs and tapes without any complaining. I think he forgot that Anna will be out of school the end of this month... I reminded him last night while he was hooking up the DSL line. "3 months without TV... (dramatic pause) during the summer? You're kidding, right?"

Nope, he's not kidding. The summer should be interesting. I'm no candidate for Mother of the year, I'll fully admit that I let the kids eat breakfast while watching morning shows during the summer so I can get some house work done in hopes that we will make it outside in between Emma's naps. I also let them watch when I take a shower, in hopes that I will have a few minutes of peace without shrieking and crying. I also let them watch while I'm blogging. When aren't they watching TV? Good question. While they are sleeping? I told you, I'm not perfect. I do shut off the tube and we do go for hours without it on some days... Beside, not to toot their horns but I think we all know that my kids aren't lacking or suffering in the intelligence department. If anything we have considered giving them a smoke with their morning cuppa joe to stunt their over active brains.

I kid people, I kid! I would never do that.

Then blog about it. ;)

So maybe not having TV will be a good thing. I'll have to be more involved and probably have to plan activities so that they don't terrorize each other. We'll get outside more and try to actually get along without the inevitable emotional scarring that yelling, time outs and the occasional swat on the butt brings.

OR I could tell the hubby that having TV available would be beneficial for the whole family (if you get my meaning), because on those rough days I have no energy left for hubby time. ;) It's not bribery, it's the God's honest truth. I would be perfectly happy with making a no TV rule for 3 days out of the week in order to be more organized this summer (except for maybe an hour in the evening for family wind down time). But going the entire summer without TV? Insanity.

I have to make myself a work out schedule, so why not schedule TV days too? I've scheduled chore days in the past during the summer months because other wise the house becomes a bear den of food debris and dirty laundry, we just have too much fun during the lazy months of summer. I assure you, it ain't pretty.

I'm not opposed to change. OK, let's be honest here... Not completely opposed to change. Making a schedule is easy, sticking to it- not so much. Which means I will also probably have to pencil in blog time. *sigh* We'll see what happens.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

I leave you with this Emma-ism:

Emma , like her mentor in the past, has a thing for ripping out hair adornments just seconds within getting into our car, and just seconds within arriving on the days where I silently rejoice that we have nearly made it to our destination with pig tails intact.

Which boggles the mind because like her mentor at that age, doing the do is usually a tearful struggle on both of our parts, usually ending with one of us crying out for daddy. I often wonder if the price of beauty ( or in Em's case, extreme and utter CUTENESS) is worth it.

ANYWHOOO, this day was a lazy day and I decided that running to Target did not warrant the suffering that adorable and curly pig tails bring, so I settle on a simple hair clip.

In the car, on the way, I hear the pip squeak pipe up:

Knock ihh off, momma.

Which, by the way, is usually what I say when she is uprooting clumps of hair from her scalp in order to be pig tail free.

I turn around and look at her questioningly, just in time to see her rip the hair clip from her head with a vengeance.

I turn back around and mumble to John, "Just she just say knock it off?"

Dat's white, momma. I said "Knock ihh off". She brandishes the hair clip as if it is her Sword in the Stone, just out of reach.


*note to self, add French Roast and Camels to the grocery list*

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Welcome back!!!

Okay - no tv at all? ACK. Sometimes I think that is a good thing - BUT - there are days when mommy needs a break and only tv can give it to you!!!!! I hear ya!

Not So Anonymous Michelle said...

The total similarities in our parenting/tv stuff/and Emma's that rip out their hair adornments is freaking me out a little...we find more similarities I may ask my parents for a blood test to confirm we were not seperated at birth!

My Emma recently starting saying knock it off and stop it which sounds more like top it, shut up (which I've been trying to change to be quiet but it does not help I use that term frequently myself), next she'll say Whatever because it's another word I use all the time!

Pamela said...

easy for me to say...but...
I think you should do summer without TV.

See where you can go with books, trips to the park (how hot did you say?).. picnics and storytime at the library.

okay. I'm going back under the grandma rock.

Anonymous said...

We're lucky. Verizon rolled out their fiber optics in our area a couple of years ago. so now we have two high speed providers. And when the cable company raised their rates, we switched to Verizon, which is faster and cheaper. We don't have cable tv and I'm not sure if we will get it again, but Verizon is rolling out that service later this year.

Karianne said...

My kids seem to watch movies more than the tv, so I think that we could do without cable, but I would miss it. There is no way I could go for that long without the internet. At times that I couldn't use it from home, I drove into my office because I needed a fix. Yes, I'm addicted.

Ash said...

I would shoot myself without the internet. Hell, I'd probably shoot the hubs and my kid too. ya'll are my life lines.

Our video store does a five for five. Five videos for five days for five bucks. It helps, since we didnt have cable ever until we moved into the new house.(Am V. Cheap)

Kelly Curtis said...

Oh goodness - I feel for you during this switchover. We live in the boonies and had virtually no reception for the first 1 1/2 years we lived here. We made the huge leap to DirectTV in December, and I actually think it ruined our family dynamic a bit. It's like we're more disconnected, more reliant on the hypnotic entertainment.

I'm all for no TV for the summer. Although the transition will be excrutiating, the ways you interact as a family could be fantastic.

We naturally veer away from the TV for the summer, just because we're busy outside and everything primetime is a rerun. The kids start with an hour in the morning, then we're done with it til the next day (unless it's raining, I suppose;))

But my kids are a little older - 8 and 10.

Either way, best wishes with all this.

Of course, no high speed internet? Well that would surely spell the doom of our universe;)))))))

Anonymous said...

I'm not a good enough mother to go without tv.

Unknown said...

Well, at least take comfort in the fact that there's nothing good on TV at the moment, so you're not missing much! :) Of course you probably have a wider range of TV likes and dislikes than I do. I only watch like 3 shows! :)

Hang in there!