screen free

This weekend I challenged myself to a rather daunting task: turn off my laptop and put it out of my sight, and don't watch any TV or movies. I had grown weary of pulling myself away from both types of screens bleary-eyed and exhausted. I wouldn't classify myself as a "screen-addict" - but I felt it was time for some detox.

There were literally piles of magazines that I truly love to scour waiting for me. There are always books that are in need of reading. And I'd been longing for some old-fashioned journaling. So Friday night the computer went away. And Saturday was completely, well, I guess the word I keep coming back to is Organic.

Usually, when Ella is napping or down for the night, I click on the Internet and Go. I've got places to be, things to check, e-mails to send, people to IM, blogs to read, etc etc. While most these things are worthy causes in my mind, I've come to realize that I don't need to go to all of these sites every single time the child takes a nap. It's become a habit, and it's about time this habit gets broken.

So what did I do with these screenless hours? At first, I thought about all the things that I could be checking on the Internet. Then I realized that it was a bigger part of my life than I expected. I wanted to check the weather. Couldn't. Wanted to put a couple of books on hold at the library. Ironic, huh? Wanted to check Dictionary.com (I realize this is unavoidably nerdy, and I have an actual dictionary, but the website is so much easier. Which makes me mad at myself because whenever Andy and I try to find a phone number, I race him in finding it - him on the internet, me with the phonebook. I keep trying to prove that the "hardcopies" of information are still valid. whoa, sidetrack).

Even all the magazines I was reading referenced websites, and I had to earmark all the places I wanted to go back and look up later. But I got to read some ever-welcomed Goudge, and spent time just quiet. I wrote a long list of things that I either want to do, or wish I wanted to do, and hopefully will someday soon get done. Creative things.

So now the weekend is up, and "real life" has started again. And while it's not the norm that I have the house completely to myself, save for the nursery where aformentioned baby is sleeping, I can apply my little weekend's "retreat" to the everyday. I can keep my computer not-quite-so-accessible, so that it's a concerted effort to get to it. And when my eyes have glassed over in front of the television, for goodness sake, turn it off!

I am so looking forward to the Spring, just so we can spend some time outside. On Friday, Andy and I played with Ella in our front yard. And after spending a good portion of the time trying very hard to not put her hands in the grass, Ella finally worked up the nerve to gingerly crawl around. Soon, she was off like a crazy woman, exploring and trying to put every single leaf in her mouth.

Oh yeah, she also took her very first steps that day. What enticed her? None other than a cell phone dangled in front of her excited little face. Since then she's taking her sweet time working up to another stroll, so we're still waiting for the walking machine. And Ella-proofing Phase 4 is about to begin...