The Fitzgibbons and No TV

(If anyone gets the reference of my title I thank you). Here it is! Are you happy now? :) So...our no tv experiment was quite a success, although when asked about what occurred from its absence the answer has to be, "Nothing Spectacular". But here are a few things that have changed or happened in our lives since the Big TV Ban.

10. Eating- We ate our meals at the kitchen table instead of at the coffee table with fork in one hand and remote in the other.

9. Reading- Here are the books we collectively read in the last couple of weeks:

• The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants Books 2-4 (it took a lot for me to admit this)
• Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
• Huckleberry Finn
• And you know, some of the New Testament and Conference Talks

From these books, I have discovered 2 of my new favorite quotes:

• "There is nothing like returning to a place that remains unchanged to find the ways in which you yourself have altered." Nelson Mandela
• "You can see only as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way." E.L. Doctorow (am I supposed to know who that is?)

8. Birds- We discovered after a very windy night that we had a bird's nest fall from our tree (the lights on it must have attracted them). One of the poor birds was killed on impact, but the other baby survived and we enjoyed watching the parents come back and feed it. They are since all gone, so we assume the family is okay except for its one loss. I mention this in this post simply because I'm sure we would have missed it if we had not made more of an effort to be outside.

7. American flag-Ryan so nicely displayed an American flag outside our house complete with a spotlight on a timer so that we can uphold the proper respect for our country. I think it is beautiful.





6. Magic Tricks- everyone has always known and loved Ry's magic tricks, and he took this opportunity to buy and learn a few more. He got them mostly to entertain his primary class, but he may not need them for that anymore (but don't skip ahead!)

5. Random Visits- Similar to our Amazing Grace experience, we had more random visitors in the form of the Bishopric come. Boy it was nice to be able to report our new founded life style. I believe we were even in the middle of family scripture study when they came with the Mormon Tabernacle choir blaring in the background. Do we have good timing or what?

4. Napkin Folding- Ryan now has a goal of learning something new every week. This week it was napkin folding. His skills have already come in handy if you recall our Father's Day table. And it bodes well to keep him entertained at restaurants while waiting for the food to arrive.

3. Catching Up- Although I was very busy this week with lots of meetings and visits for my calling, etc. I was able to take more time to keep in touch with lots of friends and family. But I realized that a phone call or even an email or blog is not enough to convey the proper feelings towards a loved one. So I am inspired to write a personal letter (yes, handwritten. yes, sent in the mail) to someone once a week. Hopefully it will brighten someone's day.

2. Health- Ry is down about 6 pounds after his debut run on the treadmill. He asked me how far I thought he could go and I told him he wouldn't be able to find out because the treadmill broke and doesn't display the info anymore. Engrossed in a book, I forgot about his endeavour when he came back into the room and stated, "3 AA batteries.". What?!? I asked him about 3 times, thoroughly confused. "I fixed the treadmill" he finally stated clearly. Oh! So here I had been suffering for all these months not knowing the mileage run or calories burned, and all it took was 3 AA batteries. So now we just have to keep using it...yikes.


And the number 1 thing that has occurred in our lives is...

1. Calling- Ry has now been made 2nd counselor in the Elder's Quorum presidency. Not that this is a big thing, but we believe that the timing of this call is very significant. Turns out his name was placed about a month ago, but for whatever reason the call had not been extended. We believe that the Lord prepared the way for us to be able to grow closer to him after a devastating loss and change our lives in order for Ry to be able to fulfill this call. It came at the perfect time.

Don't hate me for using this picture husby!

So thanks Chad, for challenging us to turn off the TV!

Oh, but I do have to admit that there was a little bit of cheating: Ryan did watch the end of the NBA finals. But since he is not usually a big sports fan, we decided that this was okay. And we did decide that it was okay to watch movies as long as they were planned, so we did go see Pirates 3 for my birthday. I did notice that everyone else thought it was sooo long, but the time flew for us! :) But besides these breaches there have been exactly 14 days with no tv.



So I hope no one is disappointed by this report, but we have been truly blessed by this experience and we offer the challenge to any and all out there. Just beware- righteousness brings about more vigorous callings.