March 21st

I am not sure what has happened to the time since we cut the cable. Joe has been busy with his work which definitely makes our evening and morning routines busy. We also don't get much sleep still with little bit waking up crying at least once a night. Sometimes by 9:00 pm we are heading to bed pretty much exhausted.

I haven't kept up with the blog too well because after cutting the cable, I found myself wanting to disconnect altogether. I thought it would be quite the opposite. We hardly use the computer other than for work and Skype calls on the weekend.

In some ways no cable tv has been difficult because without that hypnotic distraction we have been facing unfinished projects around the house and delving into our finances. Yuck. A depressing thing to do considering the economy for the past few years! There are probably more fun things we could be doing, but this is the reality of our exiting lives! We have actually done lots of fun stuff too. We had a fun Valentines Day with our 22 month old, we have been to the zoo, saw Annie at a local play, went to a live children's music concert and tonight we listened to music and ate a nice dinner on the patio.

So all in all it has been a good move and long term it is helping us to tackle some things that we might have avoided with the distraction of tv. Even with tragic events like the tsunami in Japan, we avoid the temptation of becoming obsessed with news and watching tragedy repeatedly. We still keep a brief eye on the news through the internet, but it helps you keep things in perspective and focus your energy toward prayer and good wishes when bad news occurs.

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Inspiration

So far this no TV business has turned out to be a non-event.  We really don't miss it at all.  There have only been a few split seconds where I found myself sitting down on the couch and thinking, where's the remote?  The only downside is, that we have been quite busy and I haven't had as much time to sit and just relax the past few weeks.  The good thing is that we have been catching up on the more important things, like our daughter using the potty for the first time (big excitement in the house last night).

No TV has definitely been inspiring us in several ways.  Last Sunday we started thinking about some projects we needed to catch up on in the house and we had been talking about finishing our master bath remodel.  A few years ago we had the tile done and put new faucets in, but we never painted walls or upgraded cabinets.  So Sunday we felt inspired and found some paint colors we liked in a magazine.  The next thing you know, we were at Lowe's and we had a paint picked out to paint our bathroom cabinets.  We were very excited to finally be resuming efforts on sprucing up the place again - something that has definitely taken a back seat to the baby and the economy.  For $60 we found some paint, some cabinet fixtures and we have been sanding and painting all week. 

It now feels like we are actively participating in life instead of just watch TV and imaging projects being done.  It's really amazing how quickly that has changed.  By the way, who cares were the darn remote is! We are enjoying some inspiration and a little spontaneity once again!

Enjoying the Peace and Quiet

It's been over a week and since we unplugged our CABLE Box we sure are enjoying the quiet.  We really haven't felt the need to fill our time with anything else.  This last week we were already pretty busy with Joe's work and still recovering from recent colds spreading through the house. 

After putting our munchkin to bed, I enjoyed catching up on some reading (something I never used to enjoy as a pastime). I also found myself simply sitting quietly in the living room doing absolutely nothing.  The house was so quiet that all I could hear was the fridge running, and that was okay.  It felt so peaceful and so refreshing to simply unplug and not busy myself with anything else.  I had no desire to do anything but just sit and simply be.  After going back to school and having a child, I really haven't had this kind of time in about 4 years so it's a very welcome change.

I thought that TV was a way of slowing things down, but Joe and I have both talked this week and agreed that it was really not restful.  Now we are beginning to realize that we might be able to simplify our lives and maybe even slow down this hectic life that seems to be flying by so fast.  Maybe we have found one of the secrets to slowing down the clock.  I have felt more relaxed this week than I have in a long long time.

So far this is welcome change.  Peace my friends!

The Last Supper

Today is our last day of TV before we call the Cable company tomorrow.  Joe watched the Titans game today and then we packed up our cable box and remotes to take to Comcast tomorrow.  This week our baby has been sick and we have all been exhausted so we muddled through the week.  By yesterday we were so exhausted after we put her down for bed, that we watched DIY network until we passed out on the couch. 

I was kind of dreading today.  It's funny how when you know you're about to part with something, even though it was a self-imposed decision, you still get the last minute jitters.  It's a lot like buyers remorse. 

I stayed busy purposely not watching the TV today so that when we packed up the box, it would feel less noticeable.  That worked like a charm.  When we unplugged it and started putting everything the box, Sarah started throwing Christmas ornaments from the tree into the box.  I'm sure Comcast will appreciate a little post-Christmas cheer.

We usually didn't watch much TV while our daughter was awake anyway, except for football, so it didn't really seem any different at first.  After she went to bed, we got busy preparing for our week ahead and Joe started organizing the cupboard with too many mugs in it.  Goodwill will be thrilled tomorrow, and we've made our first step at decluttering.  I think we are off to an exciting start (yawn).  Is it time for bed yet?