Down with technology

I've done it!  Taken the plunge...gone rogue.  I've LIMITED MY CHILDREN'S SCREEN TIME...  Shocker isn't it!?!?!  Last Friday was the turning moment for me, when I realized that while I was toiling away in the garden, cleaning house, doing laundry, answering phone calls and MORE, my kids were sitting on their posteriors and rotting their eyes.

So, new house rule (which I am actually enforcing) one hour of TV and one hour of computer/game time per day...otherwise, you'd better be using your imagination, burning some calories or reading a book.  I realized that my 4 year old...yes, 4 year old, knows more websites for gaming than I do!  This is somewhat an artifact of having two older siblings that he watches and then wants to try what they are doing.  The most recent addiction, yes, addiction is Poptropica.  It is a "virtual world in which kids explore and play in complete safety".  Well, sure, there are no axe murderers but, what have you done to help my kid stay fit? NOTHING!
It is a great imaginative place of problem solving and reading but, endlessly, like EVEN MY 4 YEAR OLD wants to do...uh uh.

I may be the meanest mom on the block, or maybe the earth but my kids would spend all day every day doing things that involve screens.  It makes my eyes hurt just thinking about it.  I am not a particularly outdoorsy or active type myself but I can sure use my imagination, and remember building box forts with the neighbor kids and playing checkers in them.  Spending time with nature and the animals, even if it was only to read a book while sitting under a tree in the back yard... Lest you think I lived in Mayberry, USA, I actually had to bike at least 5 minutes for my nearest neighbor, I grew up out in the country on a farm and we kids had to work to be able to play together.

Call me old fashioned but I'd rather trip over the toys from the day's play that we forgot to clean up than trip over the cord of the computer plugged in to the wall.  We'll see how my sanity holds up, 'cause when my 4 year old uses his imagination, he tends to draw us all in, he is an active little boy with a big one.  It may just kill me because I have fewer moments to myself, but I will get to participate in the beautiful development of an AMAZING human being...  Look out world, my little guy is smart and compelling and I'm teaching him to use his IMAGINATION!

It's been a while

So, this blog was meant to be for my business.  But, my business has undergone a HUGE change...in that I have had to close my store front.  Economic conditions notwithstanding, (which is the MAIN reason I closed the store) I was EXHAUSTED!  Mentally, physically and spiritually EXHAUSTED!  So, it's been about 6 weeks since the closing and I am FINALLY getting a grip on life again.

I am appreciating the mommy moments that I had been missing.  I am settling into a new life as a stay-at-home mom and part time artist.  I am renewing my place as CEO of our household.  I'm left feeling frustrated that I couldn't make the store work.  Not guilty, not disappointed, just frustrated and maybe a little sad.

I don't miss difficult customers, I don't miss being tied to something outside my family 7 days a week, I don't miss stressing about paying the bills, because, there was NEVER enough to do that.  I do miss the people though.  So, even in this blog I am going to be changing.  It will be a place for me to post about my adventures in the art world and a place for me to post funny stories about my family.

Art update:  I won't be able to get a whole lot done until the kids go back to school BUT I have some new molds and some new equipment that is WAAAAAY fun to play with and I'll be creating some great things.  I signed up for my first craft event and I'm looking forward to showing people what it is I'm doing now!

Funny family story....

Hubby, Matt, and I are not the most "grown up" of parents.  We both have a serious childish streak in us and encourage play in our home.  We were having family dinner a couple of weeks ago and our 16 year old daughter, who loves to horseplay with her 11 year old brother, decided it would be a good time to wet-willy him.  Well...some willies were exchanged and things settled down...we kept eating as I had put the brakes on the horseplay in a moment of responsibility.

SO, poor unsuspecting 11 year old was eating happily away and big sister thought she would get a rise out of him by taunting him with a hovering wet finger...only thing is, he didn't NOTICE!!!  So, in a moment of frustration, she says "Carson, look how close..." and as he turns to listen to her...he POKES HIMSELF IN THE EYE WITH HER FINGER!  No joke...had to be there.  I laughed nearly as hard as I have in the last six months (after making sure he wasn't seriously damaged of course).  Aahhh..the beauties of having blond children...


So, as the days go on and my life gains new rhythm, I shall remember to write down the fun stuff...'cause well, like most busy moms in the middle of life...when I sleep...I forget stuff!  More to come later...I think I need to go play with some glass!