Be my TV Guide

I have to turn on the TV to get anything done around here. Yesterday? Did two loads of laundry, one load of dishes, cleaned the microwave, cabinets, counters, and stove, organized the bookshelf and the rolling cart, dusted and polished the living room furniture, and cleaned the entire downstairs wooden floor on my hands and knees.

Why? Because I watched TV.

See, here's the thing. My housework has fallen by the wayside lately, and I thought it was because my blogging habit had marginalized my cleaning "habits". Not so. Blogging marginalized my daytime TV watching and that's why I quit cleaning.

Confused?

Check it: I clean during commercials. And I used to watch Gilmore Girls everyday and then jump up and clean during the ads. But when the series started over again on season 1 for my SIXTH time, I decided maybe I would sit this time out. And since that's the only TV I watch during the day (except for a couple of shows I like that my husband doesn't and so hello, DVR), I blogged instead. And I don't take breaks from blogging like I do with TV watching. So I didn't get as much cleaning done.

It's a pathetic revelation, but whatever. If the cleaning happens, that's what matters. But now I have a dilemma. I need to introduce an hour of TV back into my daytime schedule and I have no ideas, so I come to the blogosphere with a request.

What can you suggest that I put on my DVR to watch each day that is interesting enough to make we want to turn it on and ergo, clean my house? I'm sure my husband will thank you for your answer.

I'm not picky. I don't like soaps or "yell" shows or snarky judges. Other than that, I'm good. I tried a Cold Case Files show on A&E and liked that but I don't know about for every day. Are there classics being aired on TV Land or Nick at Nite I'm missing out on? A history show I might find fascinating? Something utterly hilarious and bizarre that hasn't made it on my radar? Something that will enrich me? And to be totally honest, I'm not so much for "inspirational" kind of stuff. Because...um, usually it's sucky TV. And I hate to cry. Which is why I quit watching Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.

Anyway, hit me with any suggestion you can think of. I'm not above anything. I may not like soaps, but you should see my reality tv viewing list. Ridiculous. Come on...I, my husband, my DVR, and my sink full of dishes are all begging you.

Clarification: Thanks for the suggestions so far. Just to be clear, it doesn't have to be on during the day. I can stick anything on the DVR and watch it back later. I'm just trying to find something that will keep me interested. Keep the ideas coming!

My Secret Writing Weapon....

My secret writing weapon is....baby crack, otherwise known as a crib mobile. (Is that pronounced like the gas station or the Alabama city?)

Every day my seven month old starts jonesing for his fix sometime around 11. So I gather him up, nuzzle his little neck, carry him upstairs, pop his binky in, and lay him down. Then he watches in sleepy-eyed anticipation as I wind up the music on his mobile. In months of doing this, it has failed only once but by then we were at DefCon 5 and I was ready to start scrambling the fighters on an intercept course. (The metaphor falls apart at the fighters but feel free to interpret it your own way.)

The routine soothes him and he falls asleep in moments, eyes drifting closed as he watches the little animals on the mobile dance in countless circles. Those cues are what help him sleep. It's the same things, in the same order, at the same time.

I recently set a goal to write a thousand words a day. I have no idea if this is ambitious for most people, but it seemed like a stretch at the time. As a stay at home mom, my days are bracketed by my older son's school drop offs and pick ups with a few set gym times in between but beyond that....well, it's a hodgepodge of running the million different places I think I need to be, infant in tow. So like with every goal I set, I made a plan. And the plan was this: instead of baby spending his nap times in various shopping carts, surrounded by summer produce or bargain size vats of mayo or Target clearance items, he would spend it in his crib.

And while he zoned out on his baby crack, I'd apply bum glue and park my behind on my sofa with my laptop ready to go.

It worked. The simple routine we follow each day lulls baby into his nap and it eases me into writing. I've hit or exceeded my goal every day since I hatched my plan. Then there's the other part of successful goal setting: accountability. I update my webpage daily with my word count and gave close friends and family license to nag me if they don't see the numbers changing fast enough.

And to confess, it helps me with my own addiction. I'm a praise junkie. But now instead of needing fifty people to validate my content every day when I haven't even had a chance to edit it and put my best stuff in front of them, I find praise in the act of writing and producing work. And I'm not forcing my gnarly rough drafts down my inner circles' throats. (I'm not even going to think about how wrong that possessive is.)