Summertime and the living is Tech Free.

It may not technically be Summer yet, but none the less, Summertime is in full swing on the farm. The kittens are all old enough to spend the majority of their time underfoot and climbing the steps to my porch. The sheep are being sheared (slowly but surely by Husband). Sunblock is applied to four squirming bodies before they burst out the back door. Popsicles are in high demand. Band-aids are the fashion accessory of the season. Swimsuits are the wardrobe item of choice. Weeds are growing nearly as fast as the corn in our garden. Fireflies are the evening's entertainment. Food preparation happens at night, when it's the coolest, or is restricted to anything that does not involve turning on the stove. Very little time is spent indoors & then it's usually only during times for bathing, sleeping, or when it storms.

For the first time in years I've broken my No A/C before June rule. Happily. My feet are permanently tattooed in flip-flop tan lines. My toenails are painted a bright, almost shocking pink. I'm considering buying Wal-Mart out of sundresses and I am beyond thankful for the invention of clothes line.

I love summer.

And that Tech Free Tuesday business I failed so miserably at this winter? It's decided to come back with a vengeance and liberally pencil it's self into my summertime schedule. Whether I like it our not.........I like it......don't tell.

Tech Free Tuesday

I'm going to attempt something. Something shocking. Wanna' try it with me? I'm going to unplug today. Well, maybe not fully unplug, but cut way the heck back.

Here's the deal....Bitsy got a big Crayola paint thing for Christmas from Uncle Axl & Aunt Princess. This weekend the boys discovered it & were dying to use it. I told them no, it's for me & Bitsy to play with sometime when they're all at school. Husband piped in with, "If we can stay awake long enough."

That's when it hit me...I'm wasting so much time on nothing. I nap a lot. I think it has a lot to do with inactivity. I'm not exercising any more. I spend hours on line & watching satellite (we had it hooked back up after Christmas & I'm beginning to regret it...but it wasn't hooked up for me so that's OK). It only takes a few minutes to fold a load of laundry or load the dish washer, so why do I let these tasks pile up? I baked cookies today. The FarmHands were ecstatic. It's not hard. It doesn't take long. Why not do it more often?

Because I'm too plugged in. I spend most of my time watching TV or messing around on Facebook. So I'm going to take steps to change that. Yesterday I thinned out my Facebook friends a whole lot. Today the TV isn't coming on for me.

This isn't to say I'm going to take up a full on Amish existence. More like Mennonite. I'm going to use my dishwasher if I need to. I plan on doing laundry. If I need to turn on PBS kids or Nick Jr long enough to get lunch cooked or a shower, that's cool too. But I'm not going to spend my day vegged out in front of some flickering screen...and I don't plan on letting the kids do it either.

I'm not giving it up for life, just for today. Tech Free Tuesday. Want to join me? Feel free. Only give it half a day? That's a great start! Want to wait for next week? That's a good goal, too. I plan on making this a weekly thing. What exactly am I planning on giving up? No TV for me (I have DVR now so if I can put that to use if needed). No Internet for me (not even emails). No phone calls unless necessary. No texting. No microwaved/prepackaged meals...maybe not entirely from scratch, but closer to it than normal. More time spent playing with the kids. More time spend on my chores. More time spent with Lilly May & my birds. More time spend on things of value instead of collecting fake money in Mafia Wars. I want to discover what life could be like around here if I'm more plugged in to my kids & my husband & less plugged in to a phone line or satellite dish.

I may even take pictures to post (yeah, I know. That doesn't exactly go with the whole "Tech free" theme. So sue me. It's my blog, I'll do what I want). I'm not even writing this post today. I wrote it last night & scheduled it.

If you join me, please post about your day tomorrow so I can find out how things went for you. If you don't want to join in this week, please give some thought to trying it out next week. You may learn something about yourself.