Monday, March 30, 2009

A Week Offline

I decided a week ago to go offline, except for twitter and email. I thought it might be beneficial to myself and my house to spend some time away from the Internet. Here are my daily "adventures"

Day 1: Tuesday went ok. I had a busy, full day. I actually didn't miss the net at all! My middle daughter had a Dr's appointment which took up most of our afternoon. Do you know how hard it is to get a stubborn, very disagreeable, 6.5 year old child to pee in a cup? It took an hour!!! Argghhh! I also caught up a bit on my TV watching, as I've been a bit behind. Tuesday morning caught me dusting, tidying, doing laundry

Day 2:

Wednesday I went to the gym in the morning, and then to the pharmacy to pick up a couple prescriptions from Tuesday. I got home and had lunch with with the baby. Shortly after the older kids came home (half days this week), and we went to a nearby park to have a "nature walk". It was a family homework assignment for my son's 2nd grade class, and we also had to log our discoveries along the way. We also went to the park, and I let the kids play before the torrential downpour started. It was very very cold and extremely windy, so we didn't get to play for that long. At least i got some cool pictures! Nothing else really happened on Wednesday. Oh, let's not forget my 3 year old daughter dancing to The Proclaimers in her Cinderella dress, Cinderella shoes and Cinderella tiara. Haha. I have also gotten into a new-to-me show from BBC, but that's another post :)

Day 3:

Thursday was a day at home, as I didn't want to go anywhere. We had gone somewhere pretty much every day for the past week, so I just wanted to stay home. I caught up on laundry, read my youngest daughter a story and made a craft with her, washed dishes, figured out what I wanted to bring to Goodwill. My hubby and I have planned a major purge and we're going to clear this place out. The weather was nice, so I banished the kids outside so they could ride their bikes. My youngest daughter was quite cranky, so I put her down for a nap and she slept for a few hours. It was nice to have a peaceful afternoon while I folded laundry. By Thursday I still hadn't completely caught up with the housework, but I was slowly chipping away at it. I don't think it helped being gone/busy so many days last week. I really need to work on a schedule, otherwise my day is ruined and completely chaotic.

Day 4: Friday I had a few errands to run, but then my oldest daughter woke up with a really bad crik in her neck. I still went out and did them, but with two kids rather than one. I decided not to send her to school because they would have called me to pick her up anyway if she had complained of any pain. One of the errands I had planned was to visit the Tea Lady, which is a shop downtown that I frequent. I bought some chocolate mint Wu-Yi tea, and some white peach Wu-Yi as well. Then we headed to Target for shoelaces, and then on to Safeway for some milk. I treated us to a DiGiorno Garlic Bread Supreme pizza for lunch, and it was divine! It's my favorite frozen pizza. Friday I actually cheated a bit and went online to Google "container" gardening. I was a bit inspired and thought that it might be something I can do once it warms up a bit.

Day 5:

We had snow on Saturday! Can you believe it? Thankfully it didn't stick! The kids did their Saturday chores in the morning, and then after lunch we took the boy to get his hair cut. Right before we were to leave though, I got a call from the mom of one of his good friends (they've been friends for three years) inviting him to come spend the night. So the boy was gone overnight, and the girls and I finally watched the new Futurama movie I had bought a few weeks before. We also took a short trip to Pet Smart, and walked out $64 poorer, yet one pooper scooper, one 20lb bag of cat food, one cat brush and one doggy tube of toothpaste richer. I think I lost out on that one! I cheated a bit and went online on Saturday, oops! Well, an acquaintance of mine was due any day and I wanted to see if she had her baby, so I checked on facebook, and on a gymboree message board we're both on. Any way, she did on Saturday night actually! A little girl. As I sat there looking for the info I needed, I realize just how boring the net is! I had nothing to do but read a message board! Well I did google some stuff, but that was all. We're going to the Zoo in a month, and I wanted to figure out how much it would cost.

Day 6:

Sunday afternoon I had the girls outside, as it was a nice balmy 50•F. You can go outside here without a coat in that weather! The older two got to test out the new pooper scooper too! The boy came home around 5, we had dinner and then the kids went to bed. It was a quiet day. I was treated to my first dandelion bouquet by my 3 year old, who wanted to pick me some flowers. Aww! When the boy was dropped off I wasn't wearing any makeup, and my face has been breaking out like crazy. It's bad! I wish I had at least put some on because his friend's mom saw me bare-faced with zits. I wasn't even thinking! Ugh! I actually started using a new face product by Avon last week. It's a glycolic peel, and my face looked terrible, but apparently that can happen because it "peels" the skin. Reviews say give it two weeks, so I've got a week to go. I have been feeling very self conscious though. Hopefully it will get better, I've had a red, broken-out face for a week, and I hate it.

Day 7:

Today I went to the gym in the morning and worked my ass off! I'm down 1.5 lbs so far. Not a lot, but it's a start! I did the elliptical, outer abductor leg machine, lots of stretching, squats and leg raises. I felt good. While I was on the leg machine, this creepy old lady was hovering behind me, waiting till I was done. Ugh, it was driving me crazy! Every time I turned around, she was there!

This afternoon, I called up a friend and she invited us to come over during spring break (next week ), so we have something to look forward to. What's nice is that we're neighbours, and our sons are in the same class! The last day of being offline wasn't too exciting at all. My youngest and I stayed home this afternoon, and I tidied while she played with puzzles.
After school my son came home worse than he went to school...Yet again, he got sick from his friend (that he stayed over night with on Saturday). Last time was the flu, this time it's a bad cold. WTH! I'm wondering if he should even bother going there anymore. Can't parents keep their sick kids away from mine? Ugh I an so ticked!!!! And then I heard that my middle daughter was invited to a party on Thursday after school. That's not so bad, but they're going to two different places and the party isn't over till 8PM!!!! On a school night? WTH! What about bed time and my other 3 kids? I'm supposed to pick her up 15 min away and then come home after bed time? I hate inconsiderate parents, I really do. Yet how do I tell my daughter no, when this is only the 2nd party she has been invited to all year?
My day was slightly redeemed though as I made a delicious dinner, and cooked something new and yummy that the three older kids inhaled. It was asparagus! I also made my bisquik chicken fingers, which were a big hit.

*******

I think I could have done a lot better and not gone online over the weekend. I am a bit disappointed in myself for doing that, but c'est la vie! I definitely learned that the internet is a very boring place unless you have some specific purpose for being online. I never knew how much time I wasted on here. I'm going to try spend less time online now and more time doing what I need to do.

4 comments:

Rina said...

Yay you're back!! I was actually going to message you on Facecrack asking when you were coming online again!

Glad to hear that you enjoyed your 'unplugged' time!! I've heard of other people doing things similar to this and they enjoyed it too.

Oy vey on the peeing in a cup - my cousin's little girl has just turned 3 and has had to pee in a cup a few times already. Apparently it's not the most fun thing to try and get a child to do!

Totally do the container gardening!! I can't WAIT to get growing things on our patio - and for the rain to stop!

AWWWW to the dandelion bouquet!!!

I hear you on the breaking out. Me too. Urgh.

YAY for the weight loss! That's awesome!!! I know how good it feels to look at the scale and see the numbers go down! Um...weird old lady creep factor.

You know I never ate asparagus until Mat's parents served it at dinner way back when. I love it now too! That's great that the kids will eat it.

Anyway, GLAD YOU'RE BACK!!!

Anonymous said...

Wow! What a couple of days...Phew~

If you are wanting to lose weight...the GI Diet helps! I lost 40 in 4 months just by changing diet alone. Exercise helped for the next 20, of which I've gained back now. :o/ b/c I'm not eating GI.

zit thing. Yeah! I used a face/zit scrub dealy and broke right out!! The zits haven't gone away I'm thinking they may not be zits but an allergic reaction/rash. I tried the scrub for a week. And my face hasn't been the same since! )o:

Thanks for visiting Yokoso earlier!

AiringMyLaundry said...

Oh man, I couldn't give up the Internet. I tend to go nuts without it. Even when we were at Disney I started to go through withdrawals.

I love that garlic bread pizza too. We have some in the freezer.

DirtyLAWndry said...

I saw your blog on twittermoms. I am so jealous! I wish I could take a week off and not have to be online.

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