Day 2 - No TV... it's not so bad!

(picture courtesy of About.com)

My friend asked me if I watch SO much TV that I felt I had to cut it out.  It's not that I watch SO much, it's just that I feel like I could be doing more productive things without it in my life.  This same friend also believes in "downtime" (that's not what she calls it, but this is rated 'G' so I'll stick with downtime).  I agree with her on that... I guess my "downtime" was usually spent in front of the TV so this is the hardest part of cutting it so far.  What do I do to get that "downtime"?  I don't have an answer, but I will think about some ideas.  Reading isn't really "downtime" since you have to turn the pages and really use your brain to understand and retain what your reading.  Using the laptop... yah, that's not "downtime" either for the same reasons.  Staring at the wall... hah!  Staring at a wall didn't work since my mind just started to think of all of the things that I need to do!  So what can I do to acheive that numb, mindless, effortless "downtime" that TV used to provide.  Ideas welcome! 

What I did do with my lack of "downtime" yesterday was cook two delicious vegan dishes!  I'm not a cook... but that's part of this whole Changing How I Live effort, so I thought I'd add another layer to my life.  First, no TV.  Second, cook something!  Luckily, for the sake of keeping this effort upbeat, it just so happened that the two recipes that I chose to make turned out great.  That's always motivating!  I made Vegan Quinoa Salad http://vegetarian.about.com/od/soupssalads/r/quinoasalad.htm and Garlic Lemon Green Beans http://frenchfood.about.com/od/sidedishes/r/lemgarlicgrnbn.htm .

I attended a really interesting class today as part of my job.   It's called "Getting Things Done".  It's about creating lists, folders, goals, etc... I may use part of my long evening to review some of the material and start some lists.  I will look for some more recipes, do some laundry, walk Ruthie and go to bed.   I think that more sleep will be a great reward that cutting TV will have for me!  Although, last night I was up until 11:30 cooking! 

Until tomorrow....