...and I miss...
- watching the cricket - the radio is a great substitute but sometimes I want to see the hawkeye decisions or amazing catches. I do enjoy watching the tennis as well.
- being able to distract the kids while I get dinner on, hang out the washing or just go to the toilet on my own!
- the background noise at night. Sometimes the quiet of the house is just too quiet - know what I mean? One of my biggest struggles as a single mama is the feeling of being lonely and just occasionally I feel like the lack of TV makes it even more prominent.
- being able to join in social situations when people start talking about something that they saw on telly or are looking forward to seeing.
but I am loving....
- helping the kids make a campsite under the dining table using lots of sheets and listening to them singing camping songs.
- Charlotte falling asleep in my arms while Izaak and I talk about the storm that is happening outside.
- the quiet and stillness of the house in the evenings.
- all the extra reading that we have been doing.
- listening to the kids playing nicely with each other for the majority of the time.
- the extra time that we have been spending outside at the park or just walking around looking at what is happening around our neighbourhood.
- the smell of the chocolate cakes, date and caramel muffins, brownies and other yummy treats that we have been baking together.
- not spending half my life looking for the remote control.
- spending time with Izaak helping him to make a book of his christmas holidays to take to school next week. I'm not sure how many other kids will have a book with wombats, koalas, kookaburras, kangaroos, water parks, movie world, the big banana, the clog factory, tamworth country music festival and various other events/places etc in it!
- not having to tell the kids 10 times to get dressed, eat their dinner, go to the bath etc etc because they are distracted by the television.
- the extra productive knitting & sewing time once the kids are in bed
- realising that a few empty boxes can entertain my children for hours while a $2.00 packet of balloons can keep them happy for days - tonight we are going to start our grass heads which should be lots of fun as well!
- not being pestered for lunch at fast food restaurants or a trip to the shops because they just *have* to have the latest toy, gadget, gizzmo or whatever they have seen being advertised on television. I'm not naieve and am sure this will start again next week when Izaak goes back to school but I feel like I've removed at least one source of this pressure.
- the state of our house - because of all the extra crafting/baking/playing the house seems to be in a constant state of organised, chaotic mess. One of our neighbours has the perfect door mat for us though - 'If a messy house is a happy house - this place is delirious!'
In other news we are heading off in the morning to enjoy a long weekend at the wombeyan caves and we're all looking forward to having a final hoorah before the reality and routine of school and uni starts again!
Have you travelled around much? I'm seriously thinking about taking off next year - buying a kombi, taking the kids out of school and just travelling around our big brown land for 12 months before settling down. I'd love to hear your adventure tales!!
2 comments:
NoO TV is obviosuly working well for you guys! If you want noise at night though, maybe I can set you up with a frog pond. Noise guaranteed!
Wombeyan Caves is brilliant - you're so lucky to be heading there this weekend. It will be a good weekend for a last hurrah!
The kids are probably at that age where taking them out of school for 6 or twelve months won't hurt them as much as if they were older. You may have to keep some lessons going to Izaak though, so he can slot back into his grade when he goes back, if that's what you want him to do. But life on the road sounds blissful, and hard, and rewarding. I've always wanted to do it, and will one day. The closest we've come to it is taking two weeks to drive to the Sunshine Coast, and that was an amazing, amazing trip in itself.
Scott's brother and his wife recently took 6 weeks to ride a motorbike from Sydney to Cairns, camping the whole way, and they absolutely loved it, and some friends took 6 months to travel around Australia with the station wagon and tent.
I understand your missing the TV for background noise - that's a big thing I had to get used to is having a silent house at night now that there's only me making noise once my daughters gone to bed. I rarely watch the TV and hated using it just for noise, as it seemed such a waste so I've rediscovered my stereo, rediscovering a whole heap of the music I used to like listening to that my ex-husband didn't, and so I was never able to! It's so nice to put on some Madness and bop along as I'm making dinner! Puts me in a good mood too, whereas the TV seemed to amplify the fact that I was alone. And before Jayda's gone to bed I actually prefer the radio cos she dances around to the the music when something comes on she likes!
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