Saturday, July 26, 2008

Mitten Strings for God - Chapter 6

Book study with Dawn from By Sun and Candlelight...
Chapter 6 - TV

Ok, ok...I know it's been a long time since I've been working on my book study, but Dawn, who is leading the study hasn't finished either, so I decided to keep working on it. :-)

TV....

What a loaded topic to me. I have this love hate relationship with the TV. I am addicted.
One of the best things we ever did during the first year of our marriage was to get rid of cable TV. Artie loves sports - any sports - all sports. He can watch golf, bowling, horse racing, anything with a ball, boxing, you name it and he enjoys watching. He realized that watching a big game every night (and with cable there is always something sporty on - EVERY NIGHT) wasn't the best way to begin our marriage. We were able to take that time and get to know each other - more deeper than ever before (we dated 10 years before we were married, so we already knew each other better than most people do).
We've had cable on and off over the years. This is a currently off season. It's just too tempting for the children. Troy likes to get up in the middle of the night and watch TV - and have you seen what is on in the middle of the night??? The kids shows/teen shows are just never ending. So, our nice little 4 channels on regular TV are there but mostly we watch videos when we watch.

Just like Dawn,


"I LOVE the idea of no TV. Or I should say, I LOVE the idea of less TV. I have nothing but respect and admiration for people who have no interaction with media at all. But, call me a child of the 70s ~ I simply can't imagine having no access to TV at all."

I've mentioned getting rid of the TV to Artie (the easiest way to deal with the addiction, not having to daily work through not letting it be master of me) many times over the years and he always looks at me like I want to cut someone's head off. :-) It's a funny conversation because I love TV and movies much more than he does. But hey, football is always just around the corner...


I am so inspired by watching Livie Walton or Sara from the Sara Plain and Tall Series. I love to sit down to a good movie and just get all caught up in the characters or scenery (I just watched Pearl Diver this weekend - it was a beautifully filmed movie).

Artie is gone to the lake for his friend - Jack's - birthday party. He will be gone all day. I rented West Side Story to watch with the big kids tonight. It's been years since we've seen it. It is Troy's all time favorite musical. It will be new to Emily. I think she will probably love it too. It's fun to rewatch movies with the younger children that the older ones so enjoyed.

Another fun thing we like to do is watch movies of the books we read. This year we read and watched...

The Little Princess - girls
Peter Pan - Emily
Taming of the Shrew (still waiting on the video to come in) - girls
Mother Teresa - Brenda (biography study)
The Gospel of John - all Christmas study
Rhythm of Resistance: Black South African Music - Troy (working with public school)
Little Red Riding Hood - Emily
Charlotte's Web - Emily
Hiding Place - Brenda (biography study - Corrie Ten Boom)
Holocaust: Ravensbruck and Buchenwald - Brenda (Corrie Ten Boom)
Saving Sara Cain - Kelly (Beverly Lewis)
Prince of Egypt - all - Bible study
The Gift of the Magi - all - Bible study
Nativity: The Life of Jesus Christ - all - Christmas study
The Nativity Story - all - Christmas study
Biography: Life of Mary - all - Christmas study
Close to Jesus - Life of Mary Magdalene, Joseph of Nazareth - all - Christmas study
Legend of the Candy Cane - all - Christmas study
The Legend of the Three Trees - all - Christmas study
The works of Beatrix Potter - Emily (artist study)
Cinderella - Emily

It seems to enhance the story so much when the movie is viewed after the book. It has never failed yet that the children like the book much better than the movie!! Right now we are waiting until we read the Kit (American Girl) books before we go and watch the movie. :-)


This summer, we have enjoyed watching movies together as a family more. It has been fun to have Artie watching the Hardy Boys mysteries with us - something I watched growing up. We have enjoyed all having dinner around the TV with the windows open and the breezes blowing in. It will be fun memories added to our summertime. It's been a nice break through the blazing heat outside!!!

Favorite All Time Movie - Legends of the Fall

Worst Movie I Ever Saw - Silence of the Lambs (that was years ago, and I'm still mad that I was dumb enough to watch something like that!!)

Favorite TV show - the Walton's (was there any wondering?)

Favorite TV people - Lucy and Ethel

Favorite TV place - Mayberry (we got to visit one year on the way home from our summer vacation) - more fun memories

Favorite Reality Show - American Idol

Looking Forward to Returning - The Unit and 24

Worst TV shows - all those "eat um' up" shows like CSI, it's not enough now that someone has to kill another person, you have to delve inside their dead body or hear of someone eating them. I'll pass on all those thank you.

I'm looking forward to watching the Olympics coming up. It's getting close. The whole family usually watches that together too when we can. We are especially looking forward to the wrestling and gymnastics which the boys participated in this past year. We are hoping to go and see the Olympic Gymnast Team perform in a nearby town after the Olympics are finished.

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