No Electronics!

Our neighbors across the street were experiencing some water/sewage problems over the weekend. The city water dept. came to our house informing us of some work they were going to have to do on Monday. They told us the work may cause a power surge so it was best for us to unplug all of our electronic equipment Monday morning to prevent any damage to our things.

This was probably fine for most people on my street because they all leave to go to work everyday. I'm a stay at home mom. This meant no Sesame Street for Ali and no computer for mom! What? No computer for mom! How will I survive?

Monday, the day with no computer, will go down in history as a eye opening experience. I never realized how much I use the computer or how much of a hold it had on me.

Simple things, like checking out a website I heard advertised on the radio, while taking my kids to school in the morning, had to wait until tomorrow. By then I would forget about it and possibly miss out on something good.

A recipe I was making for supper called for Chorizo. I had no idea what chorizo was, so I went to the computer to look it up, but was reminded by the plug laying on the floor instead of in the wall that I couldn't use the computer.

I have a wedding shower gift to order on-line. No can do. Now, that item on my to-do list will not be crossed off today, and will still be there tomorrow morning. I hate not getting my to-do list done!

I was closing out the month of January in our budget but I couldn't look up our checking/savings balances on-line. Another to-do item that will have to wait!

The kids chore list my husband revised for the new year hasn't really been working for me so I wanted to re-do it. No, it will have to wait until tomorrow.

My daughter wanted me to investigate if the local library had a book she needed for class. We can access the library on-line but not today!

I couldn't check my e-mail. Would my friends think I didn't care enough to respond back to them today?

I couldn't access my blog or the blogs of my friends. I find great release in writing but that was not going to happen via the computer today.

Throughout the day, I felt the pull to gravitate toward my computer and then I had to redirect myself. I even contemplated the chances of a power surge happening in the next 5 minutes, thinking I could maybe turn on the computer, check my email real quick, and then get back out before anything happened. The only thing that prevented me from doing that is the fear of my bad luck and the thought of not having a computer indefinitely. One day without was better than months without.

My lesson learned: Too much of a good thing can be a problem! Or, as my husband put it, an addiction. I wouldn't go that far but I did see the effect it has on my time and energy. So, I will be making an effort to lessen the pull this little box and screen has on my day. If more time lapses between my blog entries, it might be a sign of progress on my part.