New TV

Well, we did it. We bought a new television last week after more than seven weeks without. The post-Christmas sales weren't as good as we were hoping but hubby had decided it was time so he bought one. Then he sent me back to the store to buy a stand for it. His reasoning: it was furniture and he wanted me to pick out something I liked. OK, whatever. It's a done deal now and we're back to staring, slack-jawed, at the idiot box for a couple of hours every evening. The upside: we've been able to watch the DVDs I bought hubby as a Christmas present way back before Hallowe'en when we still had the old TV. I had forgotten that Johnny Depp (a very young Johnny Depp) was in Platoon.

This also explains my previous post about the junior hockey. Obviously we have a TV now, or I wouldn't have been able to watch the game. (Well, I could have been at a sports bar, viewing it on a big screen with a pint of beer in hand and surrounded by screaming drunk young men, right? Wait a minute, why the hell wasn't I?)

Week 1 Summary

It's been a week without the television and I couldn't be happier. The kids still have their squabbles, but over Lego or skateboards rather than the PS2 or which inane show they want to watch. The boys have spent more time outside playing in the fresh air, getting physical exercise by bike riding, skateboarding, and playing at the nearby park. My daughter has spent more time on her homework rather than rushing through it so she can finish in time to watch her show. Hubby has spent time playing cribbage and Monopoly with the kids instead of sitting beside them on the couch, and he and I have both done more reading.

I really would be happy if we never got a TV again, but I know that's just a pipe dream. Hubby will want to watch Sunday NFL, particularly as the Super Bowl looms. We don't really get into CFL football so the Grey Cup at the end of the month is no biggie. If hubby gets talked into going to a buddy's house or a sports bar to see the event he will, but he won't go out of his way to watch it. I've always preferred NFL over CFL. The extra down and smaller end zone makes for a more exciting game in my opinion.

Oh, wait, I'm Canadian - I'm supposed to prefer Canadian products over American regardless of their quality, right? After all, that's the CRTC (Canadian Radio and Television Commission) policy! Will my Canadian Girl moniker be revoked?

Darned Electronified Contraptions

Yesterday my husband came home with a new computer - a Mac. I'm still not sure exactly why he decided we needed a new computer and why it needed to be a Mac (we've been a devoted PC family until now), but there it is. Thank goodness I had squirreled some money away into our savings account. So, this is my first post from a Mac. I have a lot to learn but I'm getting the hang of things.

About an hour after the Mac was out of its box and running nicely, one of the boys went to turn on the TV. "Dad, the TV isn't working!" echoed from the family room. Yup, you guessed it, our sixteen-year-old TV died. Not a growl, not a whimper, it just rolled over and kicked the bucket. We've just spent big bucks on a new computer (tell me again why we needed a new one?) and now we have no TV. Many people have expressed surprise that we as a family of six managed to make do with just one television. Now we have none. Hubby talked with the kids for a bit and explained that we could buy a small, crappy TV now or go without one for awhile and buy a good one on Boxing Day at a post-Christmas sale - after we've had nearly two months to save up some cash. They surprised me and all voted for the "no TV until the end of December plan". Well, it has been nearly 24 hours without a TV and so far, so good. Twice I've had one of the kids ask if they can watch TV and I've said "Yes (snicker!)" just to watch them run to the blank black screen, press the power button and then get smacked upside the head with a dose of reality. Am I a bad mum to find this so amusing?

We'll see if we can handle life without a television. Personally, I don't mind. I rarely watch the thing - I read the local news on the web and prefer to read or sew instead of staring blankly at the idiot box - but I'm not sure how the rest of the family will cope. The kids will be without their beloved Nintendo/PS2 or whatever the hell the darned thing is, and hubby won't be able to vegetate on the couch every evening. I foresee more reading, board games and cards in our future. Sounds good to me!