Laura Ingalls didn't watch TV

Its been a few days since my last post so I guess its about time I report on my Challenge.  I'll be honest, it was harder the second week.  Timing myself while online wasn't so bad.  I was able to get everything done that needed to be done in 30 minutes and I never really had any major longings to spend more time than that. To my surprise, it was actually TV time that was harder to refuse.  I had no idea how much I like TV.  I don't think its any particular show that I am especially attached to, its more just TV in general.  Its nice to come home after a long day and just sit and watch something and not have to use your brain at all.  Of course, that is also the problem.

In the moments that I found myself desperately wanting to watch something I would think, "what did people do before TV?!" Of course I know what they used to do.  I mean here is a girl that grew up reading Little House on the Prairie, Anne of Green Gables, Jane Eyre, and Pride and Prejudice.  I loved the show The 1900 House, I loved visiting This is the Place, I loved playing with my American Girl dolls: Kirsten (1800's) and Samantha (1900's), and now my all-time favorite job involves me dressing up like a pioneer, telling pioneer stories and teaching little girls how to pull pioneer taffy.  I was obviously born in the wrong century.

So why do I love TV so much?  I don't know.  Laura Ingalls didn't watch TV.  Neither did Anne Shirley, or Jane Eyre or Elizabeth Bennet.  We read about their oh-so-romantic lives, but really, what they mostly did was work.  Especially Laura. They probably didn't even have time for TV even if TV had existed.  We live in a world now where life is pretty easy and we have all kind of gadgets that do our work for us, so we can come home and act all exhausted from sitting at a desk all day and our TV is their to welcome us. But, in my old-fashioned mind, it would be so much more romantic to be out working on a farm, or going to school in a one-room school house, or travelling in a carriage to London, or being wooed by Mr. Darcy...

I'm not sure where I am going with this post, but I guess my point is that if I lived 150 years ago I wouldn't be addicted to TV. Since I didn't however, all I can do is try to resist it.  My new goal this summer is to really limit my TV time, and to go outside more, go to the library, work on new projects, do service, anything that will keep me away from the mind-numbing screen. And, I think I will find that although my life may not be quite as romantic as my heroines' of the past, it will be just as fulfilling.