I am surreptitiously typing up this entry while visiting my in-laws, where the TV is white hot from being on ALL DAY, the floor is covered in toys, and it's way past the boy's bedtime... but I'm supposed to be "cool with it".
It hasn't been a bad visit. On the contrary, it's been quite nice to have my in-laws fuss and fawn over their grandson. It's even allowed me a few minutes to read a book this afternoon-- an ACTUAL book. I may even finish it by our next book club meeting at the end of the month, but we'll see...
I didn't get very far into it. My in-laws have a HUGE tv for their small-ish house. They like to keep the sound at ear-splitting levels, that are hardly conducive to reading. I'm starting to get that "mushy brain"/nauseous/ bleary-eyed/ringing-ear feeling you get from watching too much tv. I'm no medical expert, but I believe it's your body numbing itself as your brain cells are dying and the space they once filled collapses.
We have a little unspoken rule in our house. If you aren't specifically watching a show, turn off the tv and keep it off. I don't really see the point of having the tv on all day long if no one is watching it. My attempts to do the same this weekend were followed by outcries of "heeeey, who turned off the tv. I was glancing at that..."
My attempts to leave the house were also foiled with their constant, "Where are you going? What do you need? Oh, we have that right here. Here you go. Now, you don't have to leave. Lovely"
Sigh.
Also, my husband gets a little twitchy if I try to impeded on his family time with my escape plans. I can't really get upset about it after the vast amount of time that we spend with my parents and sisters, who have been known to hold spontaneous mini-family reunions at our house unbeknownst to us. So, I just smiled, read my book, took care of my son... trying to suppress any thoughts of what I could be doing if I was home right now.
I finally got so bored with not being able to do ANYthing (except watch eight hours of sports-bleck!) or go ANYwhere that I eventually dozed off on the sofa. I had to make a late afternoon latte run to make it through our big, happy family dinner with my brother- and sister-in-law and their kids.
They arrived shortly before dinner and with the tv blaring, the kids getting into everything, the interrupted conversations, my in-laws bickering, and the scrambled meal prep... I was about to lose my mind.
Dinner... that was great. HA! My son was so overwhelmed with the chaos that he started to have a complete melt-down right before the critical eyes and ears of my fellow surnames. We suffered through it for as long as possible, but it finally got to the point where he just had to go down for a nap no mater how much it would throw off his real bedtime.
So as everyone else gaily stuffed themselves, I was holed up in a back bedroom trying to soothe our unhappy, stressed-out, over-stimulated, tired child. When I was finally able to return to the table, my father- and brother-in-law had disappeared and my mother-in-law, sister-in-law, and husband were swapping the same high school stories I could have sworn I've snoozed through before...
... and there wasn't even wine. Oh, how I need some wine.
It hasn't been a bad visit. On the contrary, it's been quite nice to have my in-laws fuss and fawn over their grandson. It's even allowed me a few minutes to read a book this afternoon-- an ACTUAL book. I may even finish it by our next book club meeting at the end of the month, but we'll see...
I didn't get very far into it. My in-laws have a HUGE tv for their small-ish house. They like to keep the sound at ear-splitting levels, that are hardly conducive to reading. I'm starting to get that "mushy brain"/nauseous/ bleary-eyed/ringing-ear feeling you get from watching too much tv. I'm no medical expert, but I believe it's your body numbing itself as your brain cells are dying and the space they once filled collapses.
We have a little unspoken rule in our house. If you aren't specifically watching a show, turn off the tv and keep it off. I don't really see the point of having the tv on all day long if no one is watching it. My attempts to do the same this weekend were followed by outcries of "heeeey, who turned off the tv. I was glancing at that..."
My attempts to leave the house were also foiled with their constant, "Where are you going? What do you need? Oh, we have that right here. Here you go. Now, you don't have to leave. Lovely"
Sigh.
Also, my husband gets a little twitchy if I try to impeded on his family time with my escape plans. I can't really get upset about it after the vast amount of time that we spend with my parents and sisters, who have been known to hold spontaneous mini-family reunions at our house unbeknownst to us. So, I just smiled, read my book, took care of my son... trying to suppress any thoughts of what I could be doing if I was home right now.
I finally got so bored with not being able to do ANYthing (except watch eight hours of sports-bleck!) or go ANYwhere that I eventually dozed off on the sofa. I had to make a late afternoon latte run to make it through our big, happy family dinner with my brother- and sister-in-law and their kids.
They arrived shortly before dinner and with the tv blaring, the kids getting into everything, the interrupted conversations, my in-laws bickering, and the scrambled meal prep... I was about to lose my mind.
Dinner... that was great. HA! My son was so overwhelmed with the chaos that he started to have a complete melt-down right before the critical eyes and ears of my fellow surnames. We suffered through it for as long as possible, but it finally got to the point where he just had to go down for a nap no mater how much it would throw off his real bedtime.
So as everyone else gaily stuffed themselves, I was holed up in a back bedroom trying to soothe our unhappy, stressed-out, over-stimulated, tired child. When I was finally able to return to the table, my father- and brother-in-law had disappeared and my mother-in-law, sister-in-law, and husband were swapping the same high school stories I could have sworn I've snoozed through before...
... and there wasn't even wine. Oh, how I need some wine.
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