It happens every night here. I am NOT the TV fan. If I had my way, we wouldn’t even have a TV. When Vince and I first got married, he was already living in the house in Kentucky. I got there and there was a TV in the bedroom. NO! There was a TV in the main floor family room and a TV in the basement family room. For some reason, Vince decided I needed a small TV in the kitchen and a TV in the sewing room downstairs.
When we finished my sewing room here, Vince and the builder decided I had to have a TV in the sewing room. This was just 8 years ago. I kept saying NO! I do not want a TV but I got one and as far as I know, it has never been turned on.
Every night, Vince is watching something on TV and he falls asleep in his chair. I, on the other hand, cannot sleep unless I am in the bed. From birth I think, my parents taught me – you sleep in the bed; you sit on the sofa; you eat at the table. We never were allowed to sleep or “waller” on the sofa. If we were tired, we went to bed! If we were hungry, we sat down at the table and ate . . whether it was dinner, ice cream, cookies, a candy bar. We were not allowed to eat anywhere else. Those are kinda the rules I live by but those were not the rules at Vince’s house growing up. It doesn’t bother me that he sleeps in his chair . . I sometimes wish I could do it but I just can’t. What bothers me is that he falls asleep during the middle of a show. I say “Vince! Vince! Why don’t you turn the TV off and go to bed?” Every single time, he says “I’m ok!” I didn’t ask “Are you ok?” So, he goes back to sleep in the chair, the TV keeps running. Finally, he turns it off and goes to bed.
The next night, the first 30 minutes of our TV watching time . . yep . . same show he slept through because he has to know what happened so I get to watch it twice.
Thursday night we were watching Veronica Mars and it was a really good part. He was sleeping. So, tonight, I told him . . “You really have to watch last night’s show. If you don’t know what happened last night, you’re not going to understand the next couple of episodes.” I can’t believe . . I suggested we re-watch part of a show! It was that good though.
When I was growing up, we had a little den and it had a window a/c in it. One little black and white TV in the house. No matter where you sat, especially on that naugahyde sofa, it was freezing. You could not find a spot where the cold air wasn’t blowing on you. Get a blanket? Nope .. because first thing my mom knew, it would look like we were sleeping on the sofa and that wasn’t allowed. Maybe that’s how my dislike of TV started . . freezing while trying to watch something.
I put up with TV because I understand that I’m the odd one who doesn’t like TV but you know what’s worse for me . . going to the movies. Oh, how I dislike going to movies. Before Addie came along, the last movie I saw was “You’ve Got Mail”. When did that movie come out? OK . . I looked it up. 1998. We saw it in Kentucky. Then Addie .. we saw Dori (or something like that – about a fish). Then we went to see something recently but I can’t remember what it was. I think she’s a lot like her grandpa. She fell asleep during the movie. When she woke up, I think she thought it was the middle of the night and we’d been there forever and she wanted to go home. We hadn’t been there for 1/3 of the movie. I was whispering to her . . are you sure you want to leave. We need to finish the movie! Nope .. she wanted to go home so I was quite happy to leave early. We got outside and she said “Wait? It’s not even dark!” Nope . . not dark! 🙂 But she still wanted to go home.
Tonight, Vince said “I think I can stay awake through one more episode.” He says that every night and he never makes it through the last one. Sure enough, when he woke up, he said “I almost made it!” Almost doesn’t count!
It’s something we laugh about every night. It isn’t like he’s sleeping through something that matters . . that’s for sure. And if I have to watch half an hour of TV again . . that’s ok. I’m usually knitting or typing and not paying much attention anyway but it surely is fun to give him a hard time about it.
Deb says
As a child during the 50’s we had similar rules. At home, only on Friday evenings, we allowed to eat popcorn or ice cream in the living room ( on the floor ) and watch “The Life of Riley” . At 9 o’clock, it was bedtime. At Grandmother’s, we were never , never allowed below the 2nd floor in our night clothes. I look back at that and think how she would react to the way people parade around in their night clothes while shopping.
BTW Happy Anniversary to you and Vince
Judy Laquidara says
Yes! Looking back and how things were “back then” and how things are now makes one wonder what it will be like in 50 years. I’m sure my grandparents looked at teens my age, wearing short skirts, driving cars all over the place when we were just kids . . and wondered what things would be like in 50 years. Now we know! 🙂
Karen says
We have two remotes – the one for the tv can be used to regulate volume and turn the tv on or off; the other one (usually by Bob’s recliner) controls the channel selection. When Bob falls asleep I can at least turn it down to a tolerable volume. LOL
Judy Laquidara says
We should do that. Good idea!
montanaclarks says
We don’t have a TV in our house–neither of us are TV watchers which is wonderful. In my past lives :), the TV was always on, always, and I hated it. We do have a TV in the Arizona house and Michael will watch something a couple times a week–we get several over the air stations out of Tucson.
Judy Laquidara says
My hero! Proof that life can be sustained without TV! 🙂
Vince does like it . . whether he really likes it or it’s just a habit, I do not know but I can live with it so long as it isn’t on every minute of every day. There was a time when he turned it on the minute he got up and it stayed on all day, whether he was even in the house or not. Now, there are days when he doesn’t turn it on . . and I’m thankful for those days.
Bon says
My chair is the beat place to take naps or sleep all night, TV or no TV, night or day.
Judy Laquidara says
I complain about Vince sleeping in his chair but I sometimes wish I could do it. On the other hand, I might sleep all the time if I could fall asleep in the chair.
Kathleen says
So familiar! I joke that my husband takes a nap every night about 7:00. He wakes up about the time I go to bed and then stays up late.
Judy Laquidara says
That’s funny. I guess we all have our little quirky habits.
Marie Brown says
I meant to comment about Veronica Mars on your post the other day. The series is from 15 years ago and aired for three seasons (2004 – 2007) on UPN and then the CW. There was a huge fan base and a followup movie was made in 2014. Hulu decided to resurrect the series and filmed a season 4 that takes place in the current day and most of the cast returned. They are airing the first three seasons as well so people can catch up if they never saw the original. So if the first three seasons seem a bit dated, they are!
Judy Laquidara says
Oh, my goodness. That is amazing info. Thank you. Vince had googled the girl who plays Veronica and found she is 39 years old. Every single night, I say . . no way. I look at her neck and around her eyes and her hands. 24 sounds much more reasonable than 39. 🙂
Actually, I never even noticed it being a bit dated but that’s because my thinking process is very dated! I’ll notice now that you’ve mentioned it.
Thanks again for the background info!
dezertsuz says
Paul and I didn’t have it on unless there was actually something we wanted to watch. I go weeks without turning it on, if there’s no Star Trek new episode to watch. The other day, for the first time since spring, I turned it on and watched – listened to – two movies while I was binding a quilt. They were two on my list. Normally, I listen to the iPhone read scriptures to me from whatever our current study is, or conference or BYU talks, because the stitching doesn’t keep me from listening and comprehending. And if a snag comes up, I can always back it up and listen again. I would miss the Star Trek, but I could live fine even without that.
April Reeves says
Your upbringing was how it was at my grandma’s house including the no wallering comments. No sitting on the beds or lying down on them unless you were going to sleep. Eat in the kitchen and when when it wasn’t time to eat the kitchen was closed. No blankets on the couch or sleeping on the couch. They watched tv but it was only for a short bit or only certain things allowed to watch. When grandpa went to bed, everyone went to bed or was very quiet and he went to bed at like 8 pm. They were up at 5 something and sleeping till 7 got you chastised. lol
Judy Laquidara says
Yep, that’s exactly how it was. I had forgotten about “no sitting on the bed” but we had that rule too.
Laura says
When I first met my now-husband of 29 years, he was shocked that I didn’t have cable TV. He said he’d pay for it (although money wasn’t the issue, I just didn’t want it). When we got married, of course, we got cable TV – a medium-level package, which is what we’ve had ever since. I only “watch” two or three channels – I’m usually quilting or doing some other type of project or task at the same time. I think it’s wasted money but it keeps him happy.
Judy Laquidara says
Does he watch less TV now than he did 29 years ago?