Hello, My Name is Nancy . . . .

Hello, my name is Nancy and I have a problem. Apparently, I’m addicted to television. To be honest, this came as a shock to me. Seriously. When people would ask me about a particular show I would say, “I really don’t watch much t.v.” I have four shows that I watch regularly and they generally flip flop, two per season; so that tallies up to about two to three hours a week. Or so I thought BEFORE we gave up television for three weeks. Here’s how it all got started.

Every year in January our church encourages us to participate in 21 days of prayer and fasting.  While fasting generally refers to not eating, or giving up a certain type of food, or a certain meal every day, that’s not what we (meaning John and I) did. For reasons I won’t go into here, giving up food isn’t really an option for us. For a couple of years I gave up Facebook during this time but that was complicated because people message me through Facebook and then wonder why I’m not responding to their inquiries.  Suffice it to say, we needed a change and that is why we turned off the television: no news, no shows, no chitchat in the background.

It didn’t take long for me to notice this annoying twitch in my right shoulder. It seems that every morning when I go into the bedroom to get dressed I automatically reach up to turn on the television, which is suspended on a stand over John’s dresser.  And then I would remember, “Oops, no t.v.” I kid you not; this “twitch” lasted for two and a half weeks! And it wasn’t just when I’d go in to get dressed in the morning; it was EVERY SINGLE TIME I went into my room. I guess I felt like I might actually learn something of value in the 30 seconds it takes me to put on my shoes. Seriously, what is wrong with me?

On the up side, each time I would reach to turn on the television it would remind me to pray. John and I both agreed that the three weeks without t.v. was beneficial in many ways. He managed to read through several of the 40,000 magazines he has lying around the house (which THRILLS me because now they can go out the door!) I read five books (only three were novels which read much faster than non-fiction) and best of all; we talked more - much more. That can only be good, right?

At one point, John mentioned that perhaps we could cut back on our television watching permanently. I agreed thinking that was a great plan. Then, he said, “Maybe we can even get rid of Tivo.” I just looked at him calmly and said, “Honey, that’s the only thing getting me through this.” I can give up the chitchat. The news, I gave up years ago (that’s John’s vice.) But, NCIS? Not quite yet. Baby steps . . . baby steps.

Look Who's Here

We interrupt this regularly scheduled blog (and really, I’ve got a schedule now!) to introduce you to the newest addition in the Holte Family. Jane Elizabeth Holte was born Saturday, February 2, 2013 at 12:55 PM. Of course, most of my Facebook friends, my close friends who aren’t on Facebook, and my family are already aware of this but still, there could be one or two people left in the world who don’t know yet.  Right?

But, here’s what even some of my closest friends might not have realized. Jane, you may have noticed, was born on Ground Hog’s Day. I’m so glad she didn’t see her shadow and decide to go back in for six more weeks because seriously, she had already taken her own sweet time getting here in the first place. Anyway, it’s no big deal, of course, until you realize that her brother, Charlie, was born on April Fool’s Day. So we’re thinking that all future babies (assuming there are more but this is NOT the time to ask their mom) should be born on obscure holidays. Not the big ones; like Christmas, Easter or Thanksgiving, but something smaller like Presidents’ Day or St. Patrick’s Day.

OR, I’m also thinking that it might work if the next baby came on the 3^rd of some month being as child number one was born on the 1^st and Child number two was born on the 2^nd. Now, if we could just find an obscure holiday that fell on the 3^rd, we’d have the next child’s birthdate pretty well wrapped up. Or not.

To be honest, besides letting you know that I’m crazy in love with our new granddaughter, I wanted to share just a few pictures. We think she’s beautiful.

Mom and Dad are over the moon in love!

As is Nana, even though Janey doesn't look all that excited to meet me.

Oh sure, Boppa gets to meet her when she's all sweet and sleepy!

Charlie loves his new sister - most of the time. Grandma Jane is pretty excited about the choice of names, of course.

 

And, lucky for me, Charlie still loves to snuggle! 

Next Monday I will return to my regularly scheduled blog - unless, of course, something crops up in the meantime.