Television Challenge: What was I thinking?

The TV Challenge continues whether I like it or not. Click HERE to read about the start of the TV Challenge and HERE to find out what happened in week 1.

What was I thinking when I decided limiting TV for the entire month of July would be a fun idea? I work part-time, am raising kids full-time, and have a blogging schedule. Oh, yeah, I forgot one other activity. I have an intense divorce schedule. And of course there are the occasional emotional breakdowns related to the divorce as well.  The first blog post title related to this challenge was a foreshadowing: Competitiveness breeds Stupidity. I realize that I am really stupid; I already had plenty of challenges this summer without adding a TV challenge.

The second week of the challenge was fairly successful until I had a divorce-process crisis and then, well, I lost any ability to limit TV viewing. The kids were willing to take full advantage of the fact that mom’s alter ego, TV Nazi, disappeared for a day.

We had one bad day that wrecked the challenge for the entire week, but I did try to recover. Yesterday was a great day. The kids had camp during the day and Princess Daisy had tennis lessons late afternoon. Last evening Princess Daisy helped me make dinner while Monkey built a fabulous Lego car. We played card games after dinner too. We slipped one day, which affected our TV time logged for the week, but we are recovering nicely.

This one day lapse has affected my score in this challenge. Alex at Late Enough has pulled slightly ahead as a result. However, the price of this momentary victory is costing Alex; she is slowly losing her mind. Dental hygiene has slipped. Alex is posting photos of herself tearing her hair out. She is blogging about therapy.

And the saddest update: Alex ran away from home last night. Just when I was ready to send my kids to Alex’s house, I see a tweet from her stating she ran away from home. Alex mentioned in a follow-up tweet that she might have to go home if her laptop battery died. Which is a tip-off that Alex is really losing her mind. She should have made a trip to an Apple store to buy what she needed to continue on her adventure away from home. She didn’t think of that. Which tells me something about her mental state.

Yes, Alex is winning midway through this challenge. But pray for her people. I am not sure she will survive the rest of the month. Which gives me a chance to pull ahead again.

When we finish this July challenge, my son told me he has the next challenge ready for the family: Mom has 30 minutes a day on her laptop. The Smart-ass adorable son was told that won’t be happening. EVER.

Next week is going to be incredibly difficult. Maybe impossible. We are going away with AC and her kids. Two kids participating (against their will, of course) in a TV challenge and two allowed to watch TV without a timer set. In the same house. With TV’s in the bedrooms. I am not sure what I will be reporting next week. If I do continue in my TV Nazi role, AC will benefit. Her kids will be so kind to AC and appreciative that she is their mother (instead of me). AC: You are welcome. In advance.