Lack of TV Appreciated

The man who shot and killed two Tampa police officers during a traffic stop has been arrested. The memorial for the two men is taking place right now. My heart goes out to Officer David Curtis' wife and four young sons and to Jeffery Kocab's wife (who is nine months pregnant).

I am so ready to have my house put back together. Climbing over furniture to simply walk from my bedroom to the front door is annoying. Having no table to gather around at dinner time is frustrating. But, there are positives of this situation. Without a TV in the living room and tiny ones in the front computer room (with nowhere to sit except at the computer)and my bedroom, the house has been very quiet this week. I kept waiting for the girls to complain. We did all climb on our queen bed to watch "In Plain Sight" Wednesday night, but other than that, the TVs have been essentially quiet. At dinner last night (and we did go out to eat because I hated eating in shifts) the Imp said she enjoyed the lack of TV this week. Both she and the Singer have devoured books (although they are both avid readers, so that isn't too unusual for summertime) but the Imp said we've talked more as a family. The Imp, Singer and Hubby have all sat together on the couch in the kitchen just being silly. So at dinner I said we could institute a no-TV night each week, fully expecting resistance along the lines 'it was fun, but we really don't need to go that far...' but instead got a resounding "Good idea, MOM!" If I had tried to institute a no-TV night last week, I guarantee the girls would have fought it, complained, and then would have worked to make those nights less than enjoyable. They had to live through it and feel the positives before they'd buy into it. Hubby and I hope to have the furniture back in the living room tonight...definitely by tomorrow night (even with going to his cousin's to celebrate the 4th).