How to Turn on a TV

We like TV at my house. Charlie likes to catch ball scores on ESPN as he has breakfast before work. Andy and I watch the news as we work in the kitchen fixing breakfast for the rest of the family. Joshua likes to catch Ninja Warrior. John and Grace like to watch their shows in the afternoon. We don't watch loads of TV, but like phones, we like our TVs to be convenient.

There is the "kids" TV in the basement. It is 19 years old and "color - challenged". It isn't a black and white TV, just an old TV that has run out of color. It is only on in the evenings and some weekend afternoons. There just isn't time for much more than that.

The very, very small TV in our bedroom is officially the "sick" TV. Because we have several children, we use this to help quarantine an ill child. I fix up a cot in the master bedroom, and ill child has a private bedroom and bathroom for all the sick things sick children do. The benefit to this arrangement is that Charlie can fall asleep to the Astros losing to someone. (Its a bad, sad year for our team, the Astros)

TV #3 is in the living area upstairs. It is a good size, 35 or 36 inches. We love to watch movies together. Sunday evenings we pop in an episode of The Waltons or Gilligan's Island and enjoy pizza with the kids.

TV #4 is my favorite TV. It is in the kitchen. I listen to FOX news as I cook. Sometimes I flip over to Home and Garden channel, and that's good too. It is just nice to have "someone" in the kitchen with me who isn't saying, "Mom....Mom....."

TV #4, also a very small TV, has had a sad, sad life. The remote control was left on a burner and someone melted it into a weird shape before it was removed from the hot range. More recently, someone broke off or poked in the on/off switch. Now I had issues!!

I don't know about your house, but remote controls are ALWAYS walking out of the room at my house. It drives me crazy! This means that I must use one of my precious fingers to touch the on/off switch. Now that the on/off switch is missing, I have to have the remote to turn on and off the TV.

Last week I decided to put away the kitchen TV until further notice. That lasted 3 days. It was hard to start my mornings with out Steve, Brian, and Allison. I made room for the TV on the kitchen desk, the place of honor, plugged it in and looked for the remote. You guessed it...missing. I looked at that little hole, and remembered John had stuck his skinny little finger in that tiny hole and turned on the TV. (I, of course, corrected him and told him about electricity and the dangers of poking around with bare fingers in plugged in appliances.) Knowing (1) that it would be dangerous to stick my finger in that hole and (2) my finger would not fit in the hole, I reached for a skewer......You know, a metal kabob skewer..What was I thinking?? I carefully poked the skewer in the hole....there was a flash of light, some smoke, and I might have briefly heard angels singing. POW! I fixed that TV for good. I guess I am lucky, I could have fried myself.

Within an hour I had the old TV ready to go out to the curb and was back from Walmart with the new TV...I wonder if Charlie will notice the new TV in the kitchen? Maybe he'll just think I bought a new remote?!?

living and learning
Beth