How am I supposed to concentrate while this is going on?

It is GORGEOUS outside. Sunny, just a slight breeze and 72 degrees. This is the time of year when I lose all ability to concentrate on anything indoors. SPRING!!!! Please pray for me as I try to keep my job, since all I want to do is play. :o)

In other spring news, I have bulbs! Lots of bulbs! I'm so excited, it looks like tulips and daffodils but I guess I'll find out when they bloom. Its a lovely surprise, I was actually thinking of planting some when we first bought the house, now I am so glad I didn't.

SPRING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

No TV day 1

So I'm back from my vacation. It was so nice to have time alone with my Mom but I must say, I was a bit disappointed with the cruise. Just a bit, but still, its the mouse! I expected them to blow it out of the water. Figuratively of course :o) Perhaps I'll get into that at another date, but for now...

I had a great day! Holy snikes you can get a lot done when you're not stuck to the boob tube! I'm really enjoying this so far. My kitchen is sparkling, honestly I don't know if its ever been this clean. I took care of an errand for my cousin, took the dogs for a walk, weeded the garden, and made dinner. Honestly, if I wasn't TV free, I probably would have just vegged all day. This is much better! Now I just need to get my suitcase unpacked, I'm such a lazy bum.

Oh and the books! I've been a reading fiend for the past week and I LOVE IT. I forgot how wonderful it can be to lose yourself in a book. Now its off to bed to see what tomorrow brings. Ciao peeps!

Okay already, I get it!

Do you ever have times in your life where the same lesson keeps popping up over and over and over again? Lately God seems to be beating me about the head with something and it all finally crystallized for me last night.

Some background: I am a TV junkie. I don't even want to calculate how many hours I spend watching TV in a week because I very well could vomit when I see the number. But know this, I'm quite sure its horrifying. While I love great dramas, classics, documentaries, cooking shows, comedies; my favorite brand is reality TV. It started with american idol and went down hill from there. It just completely feeds into my need to know everything about everyone.

On Monday night I watched the Bachelor finale and while I don't think it tops Jason for smut, Jake certainly did his part to continue the long line of picking the pretty girl who is completely wrong for you (although calling Vienna pretty with that horrid blonde hair is a stretch, she should totally go with her natural color, it looked lovely from the roots and fits her complexion better) <<< See that? That snarkiness that quite literally just spilled from my fingers? This is why God is talking to me!

So anyway, last night for some reason instead of going straight to my list of recorded tv candy, I checked out the guide. Lo and behold, To Kill A Mockingbird is on. My favorite all time book, and a darn good movie! So cousin and I settle in to watch. WOW not a good moive, a great movie. Themes of love and family, understanding and the human condition. Of prejudice and pride, of sacrifice, of justice, of respect. The whole time I'm watching I'm thinking about how much more I am getting out of this experience compared to last night.

And then all the conversations and readings from the recent past  just start flooding my brain

• The conversation with a co-worker about quality programming and how many truly great shows there are right now, and how I watch ALL of them and more
• The blog of a mother who almost lost her son and how she's choosing to focus on not just the good things in life, but the best things. The eternal things. 
• Story after story of folks who live their life without tv
• Prayers to God to show me how to better myself, how to make myself worthy to be called Mom 
• My desire to give up something for lent, but having no clue what to do 

I have better things to do with my short time on this earth. So dun dun dun dah! I've decided to give up TV for a month, starting when I get back from vacation. (I am considering an American idol exemption, its only on once!) And after that, I'm limiting myself to 14 hrs a week, and I'm going to try to only watch shows that make me better in some way.

I'm both scared and excited. A lot of the time Hubs and I spend together is in front of the tv, and I'm not sure how he's going to take to losing his tv buddy. I'm more excited than anything, cause think of all the time I'm freeing up! All the books I can read! My house will be so clean!

Honestly, I feel like God has spoken to me, and to not listen would be disobedient. So I'm doing this thing, regardless of my feelings and I'm sure its the right path. What do you guys think? Anyone have any sort of experience here? Great book suggestions? Want to do lunch? I'll have time...