That's the Night When the TV Went Out at the Perrys

I really try to monitor & limit the amount of time the kids (primarily Flynn, as Gabe is just a "social" watcher) watch tv and movies. But, we have a lot of rituals around here and watching a short 30-minute movie at bedtime is one of them.

And who am I kidding... I feel sorry for myself if I can't watch a 30-minute episode of something other than silly singing or star catching. For example, my evening is complete if I end it with an episode of CSI watched from Charlie's old recliner.

I was ending a conversation with Kim from church, who I was talking to for the first time since she had Baby Riley last Thursday. We were talking poop, boobs & bilirubin (sp?) levels when Flynn started asking for it (a movie, not a spanking...well...I guess both ;) So, with phone on shoulder, I pick up the remote & click power. That's when some weird poltergeist lines showed up. Then I hear something resembling a motor. Honestly, since my brain is no longer able to multitask, I didn't give it much thought, as my attention was with my phone conversation (there's a reason to not talk on the phone & bathe children simultaneously!). So, I just walked away until a few minutes later when bedtime routine was starting up.
"I want to watch babies!"

So I turned on the tv... same weird lines, vertical strips of picture, shaded with a green. So I hit 'game' (the button to push to take you to a movie). That's when I heard a really loud motor/electricity/ball at the Magic House sound.
And then the smell. Like burnt skin. And it scared me, because here sat my children in front of it.

So I grabbed them up -- one in each arm (you can do that when their total weight is under 60 lbs) & I paged Jeff who was in the garage drilling a luggage rack into our minivan. I paged him I said...paged him, meaning jumped up & down on the floor...with all my weight (which is a lot) & all the while screaming, "JEFF! JEFF! JEFF!" Even Flynn yelled, "Jeff!"

When I heard him come in, I yelled, "The tv's smoking!" He ran up & as he unplugged it & tried to hoist its mightiness down our steps, I ran out the back with the kids until the stench cleared.

When the dust settled, we sat there on the couch like we were grieving. Flynn must've asked for a movie seventeen hundred bazillion times. Then I thought, 'What's become of us? That we're so dependent upon the tv.' And then my words came to haunt me...I remember telling friends (usually those who shared my feelings about the evils of television), "Sometimes I wish I could just throw it out the window."

Sometimes wishes do come true.

Until we're out of debt & making more than we owe each month, we're using the 'littler' tv (the one Jeff used to escape downstairs to play ps2 on). And, the littler one is EASIER for Gabe to turn on/off and to turn the volume up to dog whistle decibels.

Maybe in absence of our daily (or hourly?) media fix, I'll teach the kids how to knit, can jelly and play soliataire.