A Saturday Without Television (alternatively titled: What in the WORLD was I thinking?!?)

Remember my earlier mention of how we've gotten in the habit of letting Ivie watch television before bedtime in our room? Well, last night, I somehow got talked into putting Macie to bed a bit early (7:15p) and letting Ivie watch the beginning of the new Toy Story DVD that we'd just gotten in the mail while I made a couple of calls for work. (Turns out Daddy's not the only sucker.)

This would be a boring blog post if I said that everything went as scripted, with Ivie watching her 35 minutes of the movie and then traipsing (I'm pretty sure I've never typed that word, but I got the spelling right on my second try!!) happily off to bed.

But she didn't.

Rather, when I told her it was time to stop the movie and hit the sack, she threw a horrendous fit, which resulted in me having to walk out of her room twice with her screaming behind me and ultimately leaving her to cry herself to sleep. After, of course, telling her that there would be no television on Saturday as a result of her actions.

I should have thought first about the effect that this consequence would have on ME.

Now, I'm not saying that I think I let my children watch too much television. But, on the weekends, even while we're doing other things, it's generally on Nick, Jr. in the background. And it also will provide me a few minutes of peace here and there to switch a load of laundry, clean up after a meal, or sneak upstairs to brush my teeth or something.

Today, though, I had to find other distractions.

So we spent HOURS in the bonus room/Dale's office. I spent the time sorting through Ivie's old fall/winter clothes that will hopefully fit Mac this year, and was even successful in getting both of them to try a few things on...



But who knew that plastic bins storing stuffed animals (several of which are from way back to MY childhood) could be so much FUN?!? They have been stacked in the bonus room/Dale's office for quite a while, but we really don't hang out much in that room, so the girls haven't been able to spend much time playing with them. Meaning the animals/dolls OR the bins...



So we all survived the day, and I was still able to wash/fold a boatload of laundry. All's well that ends well, right?