It's official

I am addicted to the internet. I'm always wanting more, more to read, more to watch, another story, another recipe, another idea.

The problem is? The more I read, the less I'm doing. I surf the internet, while Guy watches TV during Leo's naps. Not really the ideal for me.

So where do I go from here? I don't want to cut it out completely. So how do I manage an addiction that is simply not worth getting rid of? I still need e-mail---relief society activities are pretty much ONLY announced through e-mail. It's how I contact friends, keep in touch with families who've moved away, and find good ideas for recipes and crafts.

But how do I keep the internet from being the end, instead of the means? Ideas?

(potty update: day three, no accidents today, 8 accidents total)

Potty training

or potty learning, as some call it. Yes, folks, Guy is learning a new skill this week.

So far so good, I'm pretty pleased with the day's progress. I'm hopeful that tomorrow we'll have as many or fewer accidents, and he's learning and pleased with himself.

In the meantime, I spent the entire day in my workout clothes, no shower, and when the kids went to bed I was exhausted. Next time I start potty training, remind me to do it on more than 5 hours sleep, m'kay?

Miscommunication

or rather un-communication.

I get SO FRUSTRATED when there are misunderstandings because one party of the conversation fails to mention IMPORTANT DETAILS. I know that sometimes that's me, but dang if it isn't a big pain when we fail to express what we're actually thinking and assume the other party is thinking the same thing we are.

ARRRGGGH. /rant

No Tv

So the no TV thing? It's not happening. It's too hard to keep Guy out of trouble while I'm showering, so two or three times a week it comes on.

Josh likes to flip channels before going to bed to relax. So it's on every evening for at least a few minutes.

But we have significantly cut back. Guy does have days that are TV and computer free. And the more I plan, the better our day goes. So today? We've planned to go to pumpkinland!

And yes, I still need to figure out how to upload my camera using Ubuntu. I'm loving Linux, but I'm not very good at troubleshooting without Josh by my side. Yet!

School choices: (this has changed so many times)
Stanford
UBC Vancouver
Penn State
Michigan State
Univ. of Oklahoma
Emory
Pittsburgh

Oh, sad

I'm looking up a recipe for dinner, when I look over and Leo is laying on the floor with his head on a floor pillow. He sits up just long enough to look around, and lay back down.

Fever. Poor kid spent 40 minutes this afternoon just resting his head on my shoulder. Three naps so far today.

Hopefully it will pass quickly and the rest of us will avoid illness.

And this morning, I found out that a family in our ward (Jeff & Kelli Lund, as I know some will wonder) lost their infant son to SIDS last night. Nothing makes you want to hug those you love closer than knowing that someone today is mourning the loss of such a precious family member.

Quick update

I've been absent because the computer's been off during the day, and I've been sick, and I don't yet know how to get my operating system to recognize my camera in order to upload photos.

But Guy had 4 hours of television this week, as I had a fever on Wednesday and Thursday and slept the afternoons away.

I'm happy, but we also had a TON of fun doing all our planned activities talking, reading, and learning about music. I plan to do this again, but didn't plan much for this week because SURPRISE! I'm exhausted from 18 days of someone being ill in this house.

Please don't ask about my weekend, because it was awful to feel so tired trying to recover, chasing after two kids, and taking care of Josh who got sick.

But this no TV thing? It's great. I plan to keep it up for the majority of our days.

I Ready!

So after a week of being sick and letting Guy watch enough TV to rot his brains out, we're having a TV free week. Josh will unplug the TV tonight and we'll put it away. I'll put the laptops out of sight during waking hours. And we'll just be.

We'll have playground time, sure, but I'm taking a leaf out of Katherine's book and doing a Theme of the Week. Call me crazy, but I think we'll have some fun and maybe learn something too!

This week we're going to celebrate music and dancing.

We'll learn about drums, and make and paint one. We'll bring out the guitar and show it to Guy and maybe let him strum a bit. We'll read books about music and orchestras. We'll talk about pianos, xylophones, and our voices. We'll make ribbons (or maybe scarfs?) for dancing. We'll make popcorn and sing that famous Primary song.

Because popcorn is the only musically associated snack I can think of right now! It's going to be a good week, and hopefully there won't be too many tantrums before we start having fun.

Seriously, you should have seen Guy yesterday. It was hard to tell if he was still sick or if the runny nose was just from the constant cries of anguish. Too much TV. Wish we never had the thing in the first place some days.

BUT! This week! It will be great! I hope. At least I get to start the week off right. My kitchen and living room are SPOTLESS thanks to a certain Josh who spent an hour with me this evening cleaning by my side. Love that man.

I'll let you all know how it goes :-)