Tech detox, quickies and faves
2 weeks later, and we are still without a working downstairs TV… and not really missing it. Even though I’ve never been a huge TV person, the past couple of weeks made me realize a few things:
-it was a huge waste of energy to have the TV on for background noise
-the absence of constant whining and shrieking (mostly of the Kardashian variety) has made our house feel much more peaceful
-I have no idea what’s going on in the world
Ok, that last part isn’t totally true, but I used to have CNN on often during the day (CNN and Kardashians- quite the combo, eh?). Since I haven’t had the TV on, and am usually quickly working on blog-related stuff on the computer, I haven’t checked a lot on the news. It made me realize that I was dependent on TV for news access, especially since it’s so much easier to hear the news while I’m doing other things. I prefer not to be on my phone or computer while Liv is awake.
The only downside I’ve been able to see about our lack of downstairs TV is that when the family is over, the guys can’t watch the games downstairs. The good news is that the guest TV works, so it’s easy for them to go upstairs to see who’s winning.
I do love the free Amazon Prime videos for random movie urges, and we also watched the last debate live streaming on on of our computers.
Even so, lots of technology detox has been going on in our casa and I have to say, I’m a fan.
Some randomness and faves:
-Has anyone heard of earthing? I first heard about this yesterday while teaching a water class. The class is very beginning strength training in the water, so during the exercises after everyone has proper form and we’re going through the reps, I’ll often ask the guests what lectures they’ve taken or what’s on the plan for the afternoon. A woman had taken a lecture about earthing, which definitely sounds like something I’d be on board with. Apparently you can use the earth’s natural energy to restore vitality by physically connecting to it. So many of us are disconnected through the earth and often don’t even touch its surface since we’re always elevated and wearing shoes. It’s an interesting concept, and something I’m intrigued to learn more about.
-Our latest quick and farm fresh meals. The ingredients in our farm box continue to blow me away. Even last night, after a long day of work for both of us, I whipped up the following as a quinoa topper:
Chicken sausage with a Dijon sauce (similar to this one) with organic grape tomatoes, kale and garlic, all from our farm box
-Having leftover baked potatoes in the fridge, and coconut ice cream dessert (with vegan whipped cream, fudge and caramel) in the freezer
-My site stats usually switch over to the next day at 9pm our time. Since all of the stats are starting over, the top Google results are usually pretty awesome.
For the record, my peanut butter and jelly sandwich of choice is the kind on a tortilla 😉
-Your amazing pics! This week’s roundup was especially fabulous- thank you so much to those of you who tweeted and Instagrammed your healthy eats and workout pics. I’m so happy to hear you’re enjoying this month’s workouts. I already have something fun lined up for November.
Here’s just a snippet of the awesomeness:
@maddiessig, Meg, and @themissussturm after the jump rope hiit workout!
Natalie (@nattagepatch) made a chocolate peanut butter amazeball version and Mika (one of my college roomies!) made the spicy almond butter kale chips.
This morning, Liv and I are off on an adventure and meeting up with friends. Hope you have a very happy Friday! See ya later <3
xoxo
Gina
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I hear you. I turned off my cable totally and now have a TV antenna and free tv. It is amazing. Some of the old time sitcoms and old movies are fun to watch (The Flying Nun, The Monkees, The Partridge Family). I also have access to HULU and send it to my TV. DVD’s are free from the library. I am saving tons of money and spending less time sitting and more time moving and reading. I thought I would miss my favorite shows but so far most of them I can get on HULU, maybe a week later but I still get to see them. The only one I cannot get is Jerseylicous and really, who needs to watch that. LOL My brother put TV’s in his kids rooms and they never interact with the family now. They just watch TV and play games. I am so happy to not have given in to my kids requests for TV’s in their bedrooms.
I secretly LOVE when the tv breaks. It makes me read more books and play guitar and spend time doing the things I don’t get enough of otherwise.
Earthing? Interesting concept. Would love to hear more about that one.
News but no-TV solution: listen to the news on the radio (NPR, BBC, etc). I used to do the Kardashian-as-background-noise while cooking or doing chores around the house, and then I realized how grating it got! NPR = great solution, plus I actually know what’s going on in the world now.
Wow! I’ve never thought about just how much we DON’T touch the earth. That’s so facinating…and sad. It makes me want to go outside right now with my shoes off and run around my yard!
I just did the pumpkin art project with my 8 month old that you posted a week or so ago. He LOVED it!! Thanks for sharing that idea!
Oh, and my personal trainer likes my boobs?! hilarious…or creepy…not sure…maybe both.
I recently took the facebook app off of my phone and limit my computer checks throughout the day. Wow, I can’t believe how much extra time I have during the day! I wasted so much time checking fb updates. And I’ve gotten in more workouts!!!
haha! Can totally relate, We’re in the middle of moving to a new house, and while it’s being built we’re living with my boyfriends parents and have no TV in our room, and don’t watch much tv with his parents.
While I was driving home from class yesterday I heard Adele gave birth to a baby boy – and I was all Whaaaaaaa? where have I been for for the last 10 months lol didn’t even know she was pregnant. totally out of the loop. Need my Ellen, Kardashians and today show.
Personal trainer likes my boobs? LOL!! Those are amazing google results.
When I moved into my own place last year I didn’t want to pay for cable, so I have been without a TV for a while. Now whenever I’m in front of one, it’s like I am transfixed – I sit there and stare in awe at the commercials. It’s a little weird.
We don’t have a TV and LOVE it. For the shows we really want to watch, we can find them on Hulu- but there’s no more just “zoning out” and flipping through channels simply out of boredom. Helps us be much more intentional about how we use our time!
Not having the background noise and a calmer house – I can so relate to that and appreciate it! I am a person that loves calm, stillness, quiet – I think better and am more productive. Some people say it’s ‘too quiet’ but I thrive on it. And having the shrieking from reality shows on or the really LOUD commercials with the jacked up volume on all day makes me feel stressed and not productive. Glad there was a silver lining in the tv breaking! We just have one tiny tv that I turn on for about 20 mins at a time and that’s it.
When I first moved out on my own, I used to leave the TV on because I couldn’t stand how quiet it would get otherwise, but after a while it just got to be too distracting when I was trying to concentrate on other things, and now I hardly ever turn it on. It definitely makes it a little bit more difficult to stay up to date on what’s going on in the world, but it’s also nice not to be bombarded with all of the other garbage out there, which is like 95% of what TV is…
I just recently decided that I have had enough of the 24/7 news (and even more so with the election season). So I only check the news once a day, at 4:00 each day. And I only get 10 minutes worth. I can’t begin to tell you how much free time it has given me!
To be honest I’m not a huge tv watcher and I’m more guilty of using my phone and the laptop. The only tv I generally plan to watch is beauty and the geek for an hour once a week- and that doesn’t even run all year! Otherwise I very rarely watch it. Plus, who has time?! Hah!
That coconut dessert looks amazing!
Some of those searches are hilarious! I love being unplugged it is so calming. I actually can’t handle TV on as background noise, my in laws have theirs on all day and I find it really draining. Never heard of earthing! Interesting!
Really interesting concept about walking barefoot. I grew up in Florida and we walked barefoot all the time. I actually kind of miss it!
Earthing seems…interesting… walking barefoot is one of my favorite things. 🙂
I don’t hav a tv in my new apartment and it it definitely a nice technology break. For shows or news I just use my computer!
I’m also not a good TV viewer. Mainly use it as a background noise or something like radio-like this better.
I had a TV in my apartment back when I was single, but I did not have cable. It rarely was on. Now, we have a super big TV with cable and I still don’t really watch it (right now it is off). I did watch lots of TV when Max was really tiny, especially during the evenings because I was barely getting off the couch during ‘cluster feeding’ time. Hubby likes the TV, so the TV is essentially for him. I am more of an internet type of gal. He doesn’t really get that though – thinks there is a big difference…and how many times have I had to turn off the telly when trying to have a conversation 😉
LOL “personal trainer likes my boobs” – sometimes I really love the google search list, cracks me up!
I know what you mean about the TV because I find myself watching less and less TV as the years go by. Apart from watching the news at 6.00PM, I only really watch 2 or 3 hours of TV a week, and I think I would probably live without a TV fairly easily.
I dedicate certain days to not watching TV, and I get a lot done. Suddenly, there are more hours in the day, right? Like magic 🙂
Earthing, hmmmm…. If it wasn’t such stormy weather outside, I might go home and try it! Will have to wait til the storm passes through…