Unplugged

Are you addicted to your electronics? I am not talking about just things that run on electricity. I am talking about those things that you do mindlessly like watch T.V. and check your Facebook. Friday night I challenged my family to go without modern electronics like computers, television, and texting. 

Within 3 minutes I was already tempted to check Facebook and Charlie was whining to watch a movie, but we stuck with it. I am so used to checking my iPhone every time I have a free moment. It is almost un-conscience when I do it. Charlie is so used to me just giving in and letting her watch T.V. when ever she asks. Instead of fighting with her, I attempted to distract her. I played with her in her room. She did not want to play what she normally played, so I taught her how to play Tic Tac Toe on her doodle." Charlie is pretty quick at learning, but neither one of us was winning a game. I let her win once so she could see what it was to win and I won once. She eventually made up her own rules. We had so much fun, but it did not last long. I enjoy playing with her, but I had to make dinner. Through out the weekend, Charlie learned how to play some other games like War and she played an old favorite, Go Fish.

My husband was not too happy and extremely bored. So, he started "picking on me" and teasing me most of the next day. We were laying in the bed at one moment whining about how bored we were. He then commented on the fact that the above frame had been in Charlie's room since she was born with no photos. So, together we added photos. Charlie walked by and saw the photo box out. To her that is a cue to come look. She enjoyed looking at the photos.

Lew also took Charlie for her first real bike ride. It made me so nervous. First, she has only been riding a bike for about a month. Second, even though we live in a residential area people speed like crazy. Third, she likes to play while riding her bike. I am sure there were more reasons running through my head at the time. As if I was not nervous enough, it started thundering while they were out and I had not idea where they were. When she came home, she ran to me and told me all about her adventures out with dad. She loved it so much that she has gone on two more since then.

When I get bored, I like to bake. Since it was not too hot to use the stove on Saturday morning, Charlie and I made blueberry muffins. This kept her occupied during morning cartoon time. She cracks me up when we bake together. She does really well helping until she spills some sugar. After that she is completely distracted with dipping her finger in the spilled sugar and licking it. It was still quite cool int he house for this time of year so I made cauliflower pizza. It was the best cauliflower pizza I had ever made. No distraction and no recipe either because I never wrote it down. I am sure I did not do it quite right but it tasted amazing. 

I also worked on some sewing. I am trying to learn how to make fabric bows since Charlie loves them so. I am glad I started on these before the no electronics because the tutorial is on a blog I read. I still do not know which way I want to fold them. Who ever thought folding something a different way would make such an impact?

Charlie apparently got bored while we were out running a few errands. She decided to make a path on my floor with stickers. After she enjoyed them, I of course had her clean them up. She was unable to get them up with her hand, so handy dandy butter knife was the tool of choice. Little ones are so much more cooperative of cleaning up messes than teenagers. I wonder why that is?

Lew started working on a project for Charlie's birthday. I cannot wait to see it finished.

We decided to make her stuff for her room since she has enough toys. Okay, so it was more my idea than our idea, but he was game. He even looked through my Pinterest folder for Charlie's Room. I will share what he is making after her Birthday party. 

We extended no electronics for the foreseeable future, but only between 10am and 6pm. I guess boredom set in on Sunday, so the hubby finished tearing out the tub surround (I had been asking about this for over a month lol). It was his last day of leave and I wanted to get to the beach since it finally was sunny. He is not a fan of the beach, so I convinced him to come hang out with me with a little help from some vodka, a comic book and a promise that he would not have to take Charlie swimming this time. It was so nice out other than the waves. The breeze was perfect and Charlie was super good. Kairah is starting to be like her mamma and layout like beached whale, but she still took her little sis out for a swim. 

The hardest part of no electronics for me was not checking Facebook, emails and texts. I will need to carry around a book or maybe an embroidery project. My older girls complained about not watching TV and playing computer games. They slept a lot instead of finding things to do. My house is full of board games, books, and craft supplies; yet there is "nothing to do." It rained most of the weekend, so unless they wanted to play in the rain (which I liked to do as a child) it was a no go. One of these days I hope my children find a hobby :)