Yes, I'm still here. We've been out of town and we are starting to feel the need to settle. Since I've done as much as I can on Facebook without feeling like I'm completely wasting my time, I thought I'd better catch up on life in the blog.So things are quiet around here so to speak. During the day, they are quite hyper actually. And after the kids are in bed then they are very quiet. Why? Because we have no TV. Eric & Chia-Chi were right -- we probably were the ones that got them hooked on watching TV at night after we stayed with them for a month. When we are tired and not looking to do anything in particular, we'd flick on the TV. And because we haven't gotten our stuff from the movers STILL, then we are without TV for another 2 weeks.
I used to rely on TV in "the witching hours", the half hour to hour before Tom comes home. I'm trying to cook dinner and the kids are getting a little hyper. TV was the Great Calmer. My laptop doesn't haven't a DVD player so I can't show them a movie. And we lent our portable DVD player to Dennis & Denise so I don't even have that to get myself some peace and quiet. So now I'm down to super simple meals anyway and we watch clips of Word Girl on PBS Online when Mommy wants a nap.
As for nighttime, Tom and I still revert to some screen time, but now on our laptops. If you've seen increased Facebook activity from each of us, there's a good reason: no TV. Good thing it's summer. If I were missing Dancing with the Stars or my canceled favorite, Men In Trees, then it'd be a little more painful not having TV. Apparently there's a Discovery Channel special on the changes in China as reported by Ted Koppel. But since none of our family has cable (NO ONE), we're usually the ones TiVoing for the rest of the family. So this no TV thing isn't just hurting us, it's hurting them too.
So when we get our TV back, I feel like the house will be a little noisier. When I was in high school and staying up late to finish homework, I used to like having the TV on in the background (be it Leno or Letterman) because it kept me company, as if someone else was awake in the house. I feel like our little apartment will come alive a little more when our little 24" TV comes back. But then again, our bad habits will probably be back too.
