OMG, I Freaking Did It Again

/

Lost ANOTHER blog entry due to owner stupidity, yet again. The Squarespace site locked up on me, so I copied my as yet unposted blog entry. Then, not thinking, I quickly cut and pasted a link, THEN hit escape to get out of the locked situation. The result? My last copy was a link, not my text. Rrrrrrrrr.....

I'll quickly recreate it. The original title was: AMERICAN FLAG - BEST GIFT EVER. The text was a slightly longer version of this:

A few months ago I reconnected with a friend from high school via Facebook. He and his wife now live in Alaska (the lengths people will go to to escape Ohio) and he is stationed through the Airforce in Joint Base Balad in Iraq. Discovering that he and wife are cat lovers, I sent them a signed copy of one of my books. In return, my friend asked for my address to send me a small gift. That was weeks ago, but on Wednesday a package was waiting for me when I got home. Inside was a note from my friend and a boxed American Flag. "How sweet," I thought. I lifted the flag up and discovered a certificate at the bottom of the box that reads, in part:

This is to certify this American Flag was flown over the skies of Iraq on a combat mission in direct support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Flown in an F-16CG, Aircraft #88-0528, Mission #I-6045 on the 16th of February, 2009.

It's signed by a Captain in the USAF.

How awesome is that? I love this gift! The best gifts are the ones you didn't even know you wanted until someone gave them to you. I'm looking forward to buying a flag holder, flying the flag, and taking a picture of it waving in front of our house to send to my friend. 

Reconnecting with a friend and a gift with such thought and meaning behind it that it left me breathless. Today is a good day.

Missing the TV

/

Against all odds, Blair and I have stuck to the "no TV" rule we put in play in January. We now record two shows each week - The Big Bang Theory and The Biggest Loser and watch them when we can skip over commercials. We're also allowed to watch movies as the point was to reduce the mindless clicking from channel to channel that ate up hours of our time. 

The first two months were great. I was amazed at how much TIME I had on my hands with no TV. Plus, we seemed to be using our new extra time productively, getting to long put off chores or doing extras like painting my writing room.

The buzz has tapered off however, and recently I find myself longing to fling down on the couch for a mindless two-hour TV session. Part of it is the quiet. I'm home alone all day working, which is fine. I have no desire to watch TV then. But once Blair comes home and we've eaten and chatted, we might each settle in with a book or laptop and then the quiet gets to me. I want noise. Conversations. Even if they're not my own. I want to watch people interacting and laugh at the contrived situations a show's writer has come up with. I want to be engaged in something that doesn't require me looking at a computer screen. I am an avid reader but a little variety now and again would be nice.

I think what's needed is a new "to do" list of activities. We made a list when we started this endeavour and I have no idea where it now resides, if that tells you anything. I do remember we had "play chess" on there. It's been over 2 months and so far the chess set has been dragged out not once. What is happening is that we're going to bed earlier. I don't think the point of no TV should be to get bored and turn in early. That's just sad. 

What can we do instead? Off the top of my head... 

  • Go for a walk. Yeah, it's cold. So what? Suck it up.
  • Work out with weights. Another New Years resolution fallen by the wayside.
  • More sex (We're married. It's allowed.)
  • Play games. It doesn't have to be as mentally consuming as chess. There's cards, Trivial Pursuit, and a host of board games in our cabinet.
  • Go out or have people over. This is admittedly a challenge as we live so far out in the boonies. But it wouldn't kill me to drive in to Winston to meet Blair for dinner, or find a mid-week play to attend.
  • PHOTOS.  We have, let's see, I'd say about a BAZILLION digital photos that need organizing. Sorted into categories on the computer, bad ones deleted, good ones printed out. I also want to start a photo wall in our hallway and we need to select photos for that as well.
  • Home repair - one of the never ending joys of living in a historic home is that something is always falling off, falling down, or in need of a good nail or two.
  • Kitty Time. For as much as we love our girls, sometimes they get the short end of the stick attention wise. A rousing 2-minute game of "Chase the Laser Light" each night would likely be welcomed.
  • Questions. I love things like The Book of Questions that stimulate far-ranging conversation. Blair, while not as big a fan as me, is at least usually willing to play along. 
  • Brainstorm for things such as new fund-raisers for APSRC. Spend time on APSRC related activities.

Okay, I'm tapped out for the morning. But please, please, post your ideas on how we might spend our time. I think this craving the TV is but a momentary lull. Help us get through to the other side! =)