power outage

Sunday evening we found ourselves in the dark unexpectedly. There was still enough light outside for us to locate candles and matches easily, and bring a flashlight down to MawMaw & PawPaw in their very dark apartment. The excitement and fun of a candlelight evening managed to be extremely short-lived though, and before we knew it we were bombarded with cries of "I'm hungry!", "I'm bored!", and "I wish we could watch a movie!"

Not wanting to open the refrigerator any more than necessary, (since we did not know how long the power would be out) we tried to offer them crackers and occupy everyone with a little conversation. What's this? Nobody wants to sit around and chat with Mom & Dad? We suddenly had some very fidgety, anxious people on our hands. Alright, maybe we could play a game by candlelight then. Off they went to the game cabinet, only to return with Catch Phrase. An electronic game. Now, admittedly, this is our newest game acquisition and everyone really enjoys it a lot (Well, I'm not sure Jason likes it one bit, but he does seem to enjoy sabotaging our efforts to play it properly), but it got me thinking about how attracted (addicted?) we all are to things that light up and make sounds.

The power outage only ended up lasting about an hour. But it really made me realize how dependent we are on our electricity, and I don't like that one bit. I'm all for using technology and enjoying all of our electronic entertainment, but I want the kids (and us grownups too) to be capable of going without all of that for a little while too. I want to be able to embrace non-electric entertainment enough that we don't all go into major withdrawal when power is unavailable.

I think this needs to start with me. I need to go outside more. Read more- and not on the computer screen but in books, magazines, and newspapers. Get involved in more hands-on activities. Goodness knows I can't go anywhere without someone following me- if this applies when I want to use the bathroom or relax on the sofa for a few minutes then surely it will apply when I go outside to re-pot plants or lie on a blanket with a book or some knitting. We've fallen into a rut since we moved- feeling so much of a need to mold the space in our new house to our liking and find our routines within it- that we have all but stopped creating, making, and even playing together. I've gotten busy with house stuff and the daily upkeep of laundry and cooking and endless picking up, and they have occupied themselves with a lot of movies and computer time (Hello, YouTube? I love you and I hate you. For real.)

I am taking this power outage as a wake-up call. I already spent a good part of the weekend working on clearing out the cabinets in the sunroom to make way for our arts and crafts supplies, and I am going to work very hard this week to get that space ready for use. I am going to try to limit my own screen time severely this week- not only in order to lead by example but also because I want to seek out other things that I have gotten away from. For me, and for all of us.

So, I won't be posting anything but photos the rest of this week. I hope you'll join me in making the choice to do something non-electronic with your time, a little more often than usual this week. Even if it's a few minutes less on the computer, or one TV show less. Pick up a new book, or get out one you started and haven't finished, go for a walk, pull some weeds, work on crafts- anything. Have a fantastic week!