Day 31 Month 4- Last day of "7" Media Fast

Tomorrow the kids get their TV back! Not sure I want that to happen, I mean just look at my son before school these days. Instead of eating a bowl of cereal while watching TV, he's now eating it while READING!

We will be limiting how much TV they watch though, especially with only one more week left of school, they absolutely will NOT be watching TV entire summer days.  There is so much more to life than television!  I'm glad this month proved to them that they can survive without Disney and Nick TV shows, those are really the only shows they watch, and they are funny, but I admit they were watching them too much!

Am I happy this month is over?  Yes and no...always mixed feelings for me.  I'm happy I'll have the radio back in my truck while driving, it really is weird how the drives can feel so much longer when there is no music to sing along to while driving.  My daughter and I tried singing on our own and that worked fine, until we couldn't remember the words and just kept singing the same parts over and over again.  I'm so thankful for God's gift of music to us!!!

Twitter, I still can care less about. Fun phone apps, I can live without, but of course will be fun again. Fun websites, there have been a couple of times I wanted to play on one with my kids so that will be nice to have back. Texting, will be nice to have full access to again, it was hard to limit, but I think I did ok. Phone conversations, those don't happen to often these days anyway, texting takes their place, I would much rather have a face to face or walking conversations over both of those though.  Youtube, that's where I failed the most, it was just too much fun watching the comedians on there, I'm glad I'll be able to watch it freely now and not feel guilty for it! Facebook, yeah I want it back I have no clue what's happening in some of my friends/families lives or the world for that matter! HA!!! I definitely will be limiting it like I will be limiting TV for my kids though.  The hard part, I have my phone with me constantly which will have facebook access once again, unless I decide to just keep it off of my phone and only access it through the computer...hmmm, I'll have to think about that one.  It's a good idea but I'm not sure I want to!  It just provides something to do on those times when my honey is driving me around places.  I would read a book but for some reason, I get sick while reading a book, I don't get sick while reading a phone screen though.  Has anyone else experienced that?  Maybe I need a Kindle! :)  Well enough about Media, it was nice to unplug, but I'll be happy to have it back.  I'll have to catch up on the news, anything interesting happening lately?!

Day 26- Youtube Media fast?! Really? Are you sure?!!

Ugh! I can't do it! I just can't give up certain forms of media for an entire month! I failed again today and I only have less than a week left! I was doing mostly good on this Saturday hanging out at home. First I went on a wonderful brisk morning walk with friends, read the Bible, then cooked my family some sausage, egg and cheese scramble with chocolate chip pancakes. Then helped the kids clean up their toy room so their friends could come over to play.  Sore and tired from the walk, I relaxed as I organized files on my new laptop and did some research.  All was going pretty well... after eating grilled hamburgers for dinner, we continued reading one of my son's favorite books of the moment, the first book in "The Mysterious Benedict Society" series...which so far is a fun read! We are really enjoying it as a family.  Then it happened, my mind went back to a conversation with a fabulous friend from my morning walk, I had asked if they knew of any stand up comedians that my son would enjoy, because that is what he really loves, comedy. To laugh and make others laugh.   So my friend suggested Brian Regan. I had never heard of him and tonight we just HAD to Youtube him. So as a family, we sat and watched an hour long show. It was HILARIOUS! We laughed soooo hard! I'm a Brian Regan fan now, and my son loved it!  So I'm failing my Youtube portion of my media fast, BUT, we are making some priceless memories together as a family, and so....it's worth it!!! Now go Youtube Brian Regan if you've never heard him!!! :)

Day 22 month 4-now, what did I miss?

Yeah not really liking this media fast...I'm seriously the last to know anything that's going on! I think Facebook kept me updated on more than I thought. Weather, News (including family and friends news), sales,  my calendar of events, solar eclipse phenomenas etc... I'm missing out on so much!I didn't even know about the upcoming solar eclipse and I usually love knowing about stuff like that happening. I'm fascinated by this world God created. I love learning new things about it and love seeing new things even more. I am definitely one of those who feel close to God through nature and creation. Anything natural that God created just excites me! Feeling very thankful for media in all forms. We have it really good here in America, don't ya know?! :)  Luckily I was told about the eclipse right as it was happening so I was able to look directly at the sun and see it!  Ooops, they didn't tell me not to look directly at it until AFTER I already did!  It was so cool though, loved seeing it, and my eyes are still ok! Crazy thing is I've been looking directly at the sun since I was a kid, must be why I'm blind! LOL!
  
I'm driving the car around this week because something is wrong with the truck, (cha-ching!), don't tell my honey, but I think something is wrong with the car too (cha-ching cha-ching, cha-ching!) When I arrived home after lunch with my mom and running around doing errands for the kids the rest of the afternoon, the garage immediately filled with smoke...uh-oh, I'm no mechanic but I don't think that's a good sign, (sigh) I hate when things stop working right. Ice Maker quit last week, outlet with second refrigerator plugged in went out and we lost lots of good meat  and outlet is still not working right. Then truck problems, now car problems. I know it's satan trying to get me down and make me think I can't afford to pay for the rest of my mission trip to DR/Haiti...he's not going to win though, so he might as well stop trying!  God will provide, He always has and I have faith that He always will!!! 
Used my Hobby Lobby Mother's Day gift card and bought a new floral arrangement for my dining room table, Thank you Sister, I've been wanting one for years now!!! <3  My son was stung by a bee last night INSIDE our house! The kids say the bee came in the house because it thought my silk flower arrangements were real, then when it discovered it was fake, it must have got mad so that's why it stung my son.  Crazy kids! I'm just glad he wasn't allergic and I was so proud of what a tough guy he was about it. He's really growing up. I love my sweet young man!  :)
God is good....All the time!!!

Month 4-Day 19 Surviving a "7" Media Fast

So how have we (especially the kids) been surviving this media fast? Easy with hamsters, reading and basketball of course!
We love our hamsters. We taught them how to go up and down the stairs.  We made them a maze to run through out of cereal boxes. It wasn't the best so we decided we were going to make a better one soon. We need to make the walls higher so they don't try to cheat their way through the maze by climbing over them! Little rascals, they're fast too! 
Basketball, playing Risk and wrestling after reading their books and finishing homework, seem to be what the kids have been enjoying this week with Daddy.  They really love their Father! Me too! :) Going on 4 hours at the pool today, the weather is sunny and warm and the water temperature is perfect, especially in the spa! Picked up my cell phone to "play" on it and realized it's boring now with all the fun apps deleted off of it! Might as well not even have a smart phone this month. That's ok though the kids and their cousins and an extra 4 year old girl whom I love a ton have been keeping me quite entertained. Love these little people wish they would just stay little! :)

Day 17 of Fasting "7" types of Media

I still miss Facebook! LOL...I know I'm pathetic! I just love how it keeps me feeling connected with my family and friends in the midst of everyone's busy lives though! I normally have fb notifications come to my phone if anyone writes on my wall, tags me, or sends me message. I still have fb messenger which I figure is more like email or texting. It's private communicating and really I've only used it a couple of times for PTA meeting info. I normally have selected 50 people on fb that I follow and all their updates are sent through a text notification. I love that feature because you don't even have to be on fb to know when someone updates, having that turned off is really keeping my phone quiet. Twitter I can do without, pandora and radio I can do without as long as I have my Ipod which I constantly forget while driving and driving in complete silence is not fun! So as long as I have my Ipod it's all good. The Ipod is better anyway because I have more control over what I am listening to. The news....well I've not been the best at avoiding that completely, I still have to check my email and the first thing that I see is the news, I just can't help but read some of it! Youtube...I gave in the other night and watched lots of stand-up comedy bits of Anjelah Johnson with my mom. We were painting our nails together and I remembered about the funny nail salon one and I just HAD to show my mom, of course we couldn't stop there and wound up watching probably every one of her bits on Youtube. I have no self control! It was so fun though, my mom and I laughed together, I would do it all over again :) I guess that means I can't live without Youtube. I already know I can't live without my mom! I love her so much!!!

Let's see fun websites- I've done pretty good at avoiding those, I was tempted to play on Webkinz with my daughter, but I didn't do it! My awesome husband got me a brand new laptop for Mother's Day so I can't wait for Media month to be over so I can really play with it. I have so much I want to do on it! One of the main things I want it for is to be better at scrapbooking and organizing my pictures. I might even try digital scrapbooking or order some shutterfly type books. My honey doesn't know it yet, but I might even make him do some digital scrapbooking of his own, I would love for him to help me journal on them, he has a better memory than me, or maybe we just compliment eachother well, he remembers things that I don't and I remember things that he doesn't.

Ok what else, I have used the internet to look up recipes, it's so much faster than looking through cookbooks, I just had to! The kids are doing wonderful with no TV shows. Since the first day of May when I unplugged the TV's they have not really complained about it at all. I am sooo proud of them. We have plugged in the TV in the family room for popcorn bar family movie night though, but only for those special times which was well worth it. Here are some pictures of the popcorn bar my girl and I just decided to make on a whim :)

First time ever making Caramel Popcorn and I looked up a super fast microwave recipe...It was Delicious! Turned out GREAT!

So what am I forgetting? Texting... well it's been limited, I think! Seriously though that one is extremely hard to give up! And phone conversations, I've only had a couple. I deleted Skype on my phone, which really didn't work right anyway but now I have it on my laptop. I can't wait to try it out, should be fun, anyone want to skype in June? ;) Ok well all this media talk is making me want to stop blogging and go do something productive. Time to get back to work going through every closet, drawer, and cupboards...this is taking me longer than I thought it would, slowly but surely, at least it's getting done right?!

Month 4-Day 7 of "7" Media Fast

Well I'm realizing as I sit here in the truck waiting for the kids to get out of school....I miss Facebook!  I should bring a  REAL book to read while I wait, but I guess I can blog! This media fast hasn't been too bad though, I've got plenty on my to do list to keep me busy, and fasting media I would think I would have more time in my day, but I haven't noticed a difference yet!

Well now it's bed time and I'm laying in bed watching the cool lightening and listening to thunder. Feel's like it's been forever since our last storm here in the desert.

Ok, so I need to share a story that happened Saturday at our Piano Recital... We arrived just on time for the show to begin, we literally found our seats and the show began. Now the way it worked is each pianist was listed on a program sheet and when it was your turn on the sheet you just go up, introduce yourself, your song and perform away.  Because we didn't arrive early, we sat in the very back. As I was looking over the sheet I realized my name was not listed on the sheet, so suddenly I was filled with different emotions, I was already nervous because I HATE playing for people, but now I was also confused, unsure about what to do and relieved that maybe I wouldn't have to perform afterall.  I might just get the wish I had been wishing just an hour before... to attend a recital where I could just go and enjoy watching my girl perform instead of me having to stress about playing my song without mistakes!   My girl played perfectly by the way, "It's a Small World" duet with her teacher, so proud of the progress she is making.   So after all the kids went, it was the adults turn.  I just didn't know when I was going to stand up and tell everyone it's my turn and that I was left off the list...it just never seemed like the right time to do it.  Can you imagine? I would have made myself 100 times more nervous by having to stand up and interrupt the whole flow of events...I honestly just couldn't do it, so I didn't. I never played my recital song.  So after the recital my teacher comes up to me, gives me a hug and says, "You played great, you did a great job."  When I looked at her blankly, she said, "Wait, did I forget to put you on the program?"  Lol!!! It was so funny, I said to her, "yes, you did, but that's ok! It's really not a big deal, trust me, I don't mind!!!"  And I really didn't mind, a part of me wondered how I would have done, but mostly I just don't care. I actually have the song memorized which is a huge accomplishment for me in itself, so really, all that matters is that I'm learning to play for me and my God, it's just another way I desire to worship Him. :) 

Month 3 Day 30- Tomorrow is "Media Month of May"

Well it's here! "7 Media fast" month starts tomorrow! I know I should be happy about it, and just a couple of weeks ago I thought I would be happy about it, but right now I find myself not happy about it. I knew all along Media month would be hard for me, it's one of the main reasons, I didn't commit to doing this "7" fast right away in the first place. It's going to be hard, but I can do it, right?! I'm going to start by deleting certain apps from my phone. Facebook being the first one! Then Twitter, my Social Network app, CNN(I'm old now I enjoy the news), then Pandora, Emoji, Skype Mobile, Youtube, and any other tempting app...I'll just re-install them later. Along with changes on my cell phone, I'm going to un-plug all our T.V.'s. My 11 year old son was NOT happy about that... I warned him back in February it was coming, so he just needs to get over it already! I'm so mean! ;) Also going to keep the radio off, and limit my texting, emails and phone conversations to important ones only...important meaning only if they involve family situations, ministry or the kids school :) So....we'll see how it goes! I will blog from time to time, it counts as my journaling, so I'm ok with that, plus if you count up everything I listed there is way more than 7!

Well had a great day today, after an even greater weekend! God is moving in the hearts and lives of the women of SHCC and I am loving the stories that are coming out of our retreat weekend. Jesus is AWESOME!!!! Here are pics of a few things I was busy working on before retreat.

Before Retreat Get Together

Decorative Gum Cases

Chocolates for pillows.

Picture Frame Craft

Rose Cake Pops, made by my talented sister!

There was much much more that our ministry team did. They all did an amazing job making every little detail of retreat special for the ladies that attended. The worship time was beautiful and the teaching times were Holy Spirit led! Prayer times during retreat were definitely orchestrated by God, no doubt about it. And We had the super chef Sally, who is a wonderful person by the way, preparing our meals for us, which were sooo delicious! I ate like a queen over the weekend and it even ended with Texas Roadhouse with friends, which was perfect! :) My only regret of the weekend, was that I feel like I didn't get to spend as much time getting to know new friends like I wanted to...I did somewhat during craft time, but I just wanted more time, so now I'm looking forward to the next SHCC ladies event, I hope there is one soon!

Well it's been a long non-stop day, and I'm ready to crash and catch up on some sleep, Just have to say one more thing. It was embarrassing today when I couldn't find my debit card to pay for my groceries, which I really needed in order to take dinner to a family tonight. Of course I didn't notice until all the groceries were rung up! I think God is trying to teach me a lesson, stick to the Dave Ramsey cash envelope system, it works!!!!