Tag Archives: no tv

TV, I’m Over You

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Well, I survived no TV for a week. I’ll admit, towards the end it was rough, especially when you’ve got someone else in the house with the TV on, enjoying your favorite shows (you know who you are). But, today was the first day that I could watch TV again, and I’ll say it was like seeing an old friend. Exciting and a little overwhelming because my DVR was 100% full of shows I hadn’t been deleting. When I sank back into my spot on the couch and flipped on the TV I felt accomplished in a way. But then I felt like I could be doing something better with my time, go figure.

So what did I learn from all this? Well for one, that the house stays a lot cleaner during the week when you’re not stuck in front of the tube. But seriously, I think this will shake some of my bad habits of turning the TV on right when I walk in the door, during dinner, while cleaning or cooking- basically while doing anything. I liked what I “didn’t see” last week, you could say. I got to things I’d been putting off for months and I started things I’d been putting off for months.

Will I go on a TV strike again any time soon…no. I think this was more about switching up the day-to-day rhythm that we find ourselves in, and I think I’m officially out of my TV rut.

Waiting for the sun to set over Lake Apopka, FL.

Chicken Marsala, Coming Right Up!

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chicken marsala recipe

"...with linguine"...you've got my attention.

Days 3 and 4 of my No TV escapade have whizzed by like TV never existed, most likely due to me filling my time with things I’ve been putting off. One thing I have been meaning to do is make this recipe that’s been floating around by the fridge for about two months- chicken marsala with linguine (recipe at the end). Now some of you are thinking “moderately easy dish,” but for me, foreign territory. And because I couldn’t listen to the TV like I usually do, I turned on the pop/rock station, cranked the volume and began cooking the unknown.

I always thought of myself as someone who followed my recipes line for line, but after this one I think I was wrong. I didn’t use mushrooms, chicken cutlets, or the recommended linguine and onion measures, but hey, the world is still turning!

Parsley

I gotta use this spice rack more, but it intimidates me with its many choices of flavorful herbs that can screw up my dinner.

Marsala Wine

I’ve never made a wine reduction with Marsala cooking wine, so I thought we’ll give it a go. After the fact I thought I could have just used one of the many bottles already in the house.

Butter

One word: butter!

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No TV Day 2: Coasting By

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It's a world of it's own on that river. (A life without TV is a world of its own too)

I’m imagining what I could be watching at this time, which is funny to me because this is like a bad breakup or something! I missing the TV- ridiculous.  I mean, I don’t have visions of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart dancing in my head, but it does seem a little quiet in the room without all the “audience laughter” and Apple commercial jingles. Even the dog is looking at me funny, as if to say, “Why the heck does it sound like it’s only me and you here?”

What’s been surprising to me about this experiment thus far is that I’m finding out all the things I do while watching TV, even the things I did unknowingly. Like for instance, I was cooking dinner and thought about how quiet it was, too quiet. So I decided to play some music off the TV because cooking to a beat is more my thing. So, I grabbed the remote and hesitantly hit the power button. I wanted to quickly find the music channels, not that I would see whatever popped up on the screen to be interesting and then give in to the temptation. At that very moment my cell phone rang and I practically threw the remote in the air, as if I’d been caught red-handed or something! I hadn’t cheated or anything, but I frantically tried to hit mute so whoever was on the other line wouldn’t hear the TV and I pushed every freaking button and nothing worked! I had to laugh at myself in that moment and answered the phone.

Overall Day 2 feels like it’s coasting by so that’s good. I’ve got a few things to take care of yet and made it to the store on a weeknight, which is rare for this girl. Speaking of coasting, the above photo is a sneak peek at my canoeing adventure, of which I’ll post the rest of the photos early tomorrow. If you’ve never been, try it! I’ll explain later…

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No TV Day 1: Wearily Optimistic

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Today’s the start of my no TV journey for one week, and so far so good. Although, I feel like this is comparable to the initial “high” that you’d get from starting a new diet- the first day is easy, but as you continue it doesn’t seem so fun anymore. I think the upside of starting this on a Sunday is that today is usually filled with cleaning and running errands, although the downside is that the evenings usually end with a movie. I even caught myself begging my other half to go to a movie tonight, which I don’t feel would technically be cheating, but still, a sly manuever of a TV addict.

I also just realized that one of my favorite shows is starting this week and my mind began reeling about ways around this debacle…that this is a silly idea…maybe I’ll start Tuesday…maybe I’ll let myself watch one show a night…anyone who can give up TV for a week must be nuts…oh deary. And then it hit me, I can barely give up TV for two days! This is gonna be tough, but all the more reason to do it. I mean, this whole idea of no TV seems so trivial even, but why is it so hard? What does TV have that I don’t?

Well, one thing TV doesn’t have is my camera, and I’ll be taking some extra walks this week to keep me occupied, which is kinda the point. I took a stroll the other day with Bailey and noticed that the trees are in full bloom now. It seems like it wasn’t that long ago that I took photos of the trees’ bare sticks and twigs, and then their small sprouts (see photos from What Spring Brings).

leaves in the wind

It was a pretty breezy evening, so I used that to give this shot a bit of action.

leaf veins in detail

leaves in the sunset

Alright, time to go not watch TV.