Unplugged Update

Going UNPLUGGED on Friday went well. I think I could probably do it once a month, but we'll see.

I started off the day very gung ho and full of ambition. Ryne was still sleeping, so I was excited to get a nice workout it. Until I got downstairs and realized that I'd never get through 30 min on the elliptical without the TV! In hindsight, I should have still done some ab work or strength training, but I went back upstairs and read my book, which was nice. I did feel a little unproductive though because there were lots of things that I could think of that I needed to get done online, but figured they could wait...and they did.

Ryne and I had a busy morning meeting some friends over at the mall for playtime, a ride on the carousel and lunch. Then I swung by the AAA office near there and picked up some discounted tickets for our baby-free getaway when my parent's come out to visit. The challenge didn't say anything about not using the radio and listening to music, but I soon turned the radio off anyway because both stations I listen to had commercials. Sometimes Ryne requests "no music" in the car anyway, so it was okay. I did notice that my blinker is very loud though! I also did use my GPS to get me to the AAA office. Sorry...not giving that up!

We came back home for nap time...but Ryne didn't sleep. He chatted away in his crib for 1.5 hours. That made it a little distracting getting anything done, but I still felt a somewhat productive. I painted a plaque that I've been meaning to paint for months. I read a few more pages in my book. And, I finally started cross-stitching Ryne's Christmas stocking! Wow, maybe he'll actually have his very own stocking this year!

Pehr came home and the weather had finally cleared a bit (it was rainy in the morning) so we went on a nice family walk around the neighborhood (about 1.6 miles) and played outside for a bit. We had a yummy dinner and ate watermelon for dessert.

After Ryne went to sleep, Pehr and I played board games. We played Skipbo, Settlers of Catan and Yahtzee. Pehr won 2/3 games...that was the biggest bummer of the night. Then I read a little more before going to sleep.

No TV. I really didn't miss the TV. I don't watch TV during the day except if Ryne's watching something - and he didn't seem to notice! The one thing we do a lot is have the TV turned to Soundscapes (spa-type music...think Enya) as background noise, so the house was eerily quite at some points during the day. Pehr and I would usually have a movie night on Fridays, but playing games was just as fun! Plus, we did a movie on Thursday and Saturday night so we made up for it.

No Phone. I didn't miss my phone. I really don't use it much except for the occasional phone call. My phone isn't fancy, and I don't really do much texting. It's nice when Pehr calls to let us know that he's on his way home, but it was also a nice surprise to just hear the garage door open! It was a little risky not having my phone when meeting people for a playdate. There's always the "I can't find you" or "We're going to be 10 min later" or "So and so threw up, so we're not coming" calls. But, everyone knew I wouldn't have my phone on and they had everyone else's numbers, so it all worked out fine.

No Computer. No Internet. This was by far the hardest for me! It wasn't the email or social networking that I missed. It was just mostly things related to my hobby of photography that I missed and felt unproductive about. I have so many photos that need to be edited, uploaded, backed-up onto CD. I have a few photo projects in the works as well. It's funny how reliant we are on the Internet. Like, does anyone even use a phone book anymore to look up a store address? It's really not very practical anymore. Also, it was pretty funny because at one point earlier in the day I was thinking about going on a walk with Ryne, but the weather outside looked sketchy and I wasn't sure if it was supposed to rain again. Normally I would go to weather.com and check the hourly forecast, but I couldn't! And, I couldn't even turn the TV on to check the weather channel. I was also thinking I might miss out on a great deal on Craig's List or FreeCycle since you've got to act fast for the good stuff. But, I survived.

So, overall it was a nice, relaxing day and the world did not come to an end! Next time (if there is a next time) I would plan better for a day where we didn't have anything special going. I'd love to do it on a weekend day so we can have a nice family day, but that would mean no BlackBerry for Pehr, and that might take some convincing! Plus, the weather would have to cooperate so we could get outside. We shall see...

I had intended to chronicle my day with photos, but I actually ended up taking the day off from my camera as well. Do you ever feel like you're shooting to create memories instead of enjoying the time at that very moment? Sometimes I have that feeling since I'm so photo happy, so it was nice to just take a mental picture of our day!

To check out Jodi's day of being UNPLUGGED (the inventor of this crazy idea), click here.