Grounded

Sometimes the number and quantity of screens in my house can be a bit overwhelming. There is an ad for a pay TV service on at the moment that lists "chews time" as a positive. It's definitely truthful, but it's actually one of the reasons I don't want to get pay TV. If I can waste so many hours already on the internet and with TV, imagine how many more I would waste if there was actually something on I wanted to watch? Scary!

So today I grounded myself - no TV until the 5pm news. Normally I'd turn it on in the morning for the morning news shows, and then when I turned it off later I would find the house was too quiet, and I would put it back on for company. Yes, I'm fully aware that it's a little sad to count an infomercial for the ab king pro as 'company' but hey, that's the sad truth. It was strange this morning not to turn it on, and I found myself reaching for the remote a couple of times. The upside was, when I was at a loose end, instead of losing hours and growing a fatter rear end, I did things around the house. We now have a clean pantry and fresh banana muffins, I reached the bottom of the laundry pile and everything that's not wet is away, and I went for a walk. And I'm glad I did it. And I won't be watching TV tomorrow either.

But I'm not ready to give up the internet yet!

The walk this afternoon was lovely. Ever since we moved up to the tropics the afternoons have been sticky, still and hot, but today was overcast with a stiff breeze. There were a couple of times where I was battling the wind with the stroller, but it was fun. I don't think baby has really felt wind before today, and she was surprised. She just sat in silence and let it flow over her. I think she enjoyed it too.

That stimulation was probably the reason she had a complete screaming melt down halfway through dinner, and went to sleep an hour earlier than normal.