Unplugged Weekend

Happy Friday!  The longest week ever is finally coming to an end.  Did everyone get their taxes done yesterday?  I filed mine on Monday so luckily I didn’t have any last minute scrambling around.

I mentioned yesterday that Benzo and I were doing something special this weekend.  What we are doing is going “unplugged” for an entire weekend.  I read about this idea in Real Simple magazine.  I think it was the April issue, in the section where RS asks a question and readers write in with their ideas and responses.  I honestly can’t even remember what the question was, the one gal’s response was that her family does an unplugged weekend once a month.  No phones, no computers.  I immediately told Benzo about the idea and we decided to schedule our own unplugged weekend.

Unplugged weekend can be whatever you want it to be.  Personally I had two goals I wanted to accomplish with unplugged weekend:

• No computer the entire weekend.  No e-mail, no blogging, no Facebook, no celebrity gossip, no reading & commenting on other blogs.
• No plans for the entire weekend.  No dinners or get togethers or various events & obligations with friends or family.

The no-computer goal is the big one for me.  Sometimes I feel as if I am tethered to a computer 24/7.  I work in front of a computer all day long, 5 days a week.  Then during the evenings and on weekends I am always in front of my personal computer.  My personal computer time is usually fun time doing something I enjoy like blogging, but after awhile I just need a break from all of it!  I need to take a step away to clear my head and recharge.

The no plans goal is also very important.  It seems like the first 3 1/2 months of this year Benzo and I have been extremely busy.  Some weekends we are away from home all day Saturday and Sunday!  We have trouble keeping up with house work and yard work and being gone all weekend just wears you out.  The weekend should be a time to relax, have fun and get ready for the week ahead.  I would like to spend the majority of this weekend in my own home.

We also plan to not use our phones the entire weekend either.  No calls and no texting.  I don’t use my phone that much so this should not be a big deal for me.  I think this will be harder for Benzo.  And we also will not be watching TV at all either!  We don’t have cable so we don’t watch that much TV anyway.  I should caveat that I mean “mindless TV” in this case.  Sitting down to “see what’s on”.  Intentionally sitting down to watch a specific program or DVD and then turning the TV off when its over is different.  We may or may not watch a DVD or go to a movie this weekend.

This unplugged weekend is not without effort.  I put it on our shared Google calendar at least a month ago.  That was the first weekend we had that was empty!  And after it was on the calendar, when potential plans would come up for this weekend we either said no or asked for a different day.  Saying no is hard for me.  I am a people pleaser and find it very hard to say no.

I’m really, really excited for this weekend.  Some things I would like to do:

• Work in the garden
• Read (a real book, not something online)
• Go to the farmers market
• Go on a walk, hike or picnic
• Cook or bake something excellent (from a real cookbook).  Maybe something that takes a really long time like bread from scratch.

So as I said before, unplugged weekend can be whatever you want it to be.  What do you feel you need a break from?  Computers and electronics?  Family and friends?  Work?

Since I will be turning off my computer for the entire weekend, I will not be blogging tomorrow or Sunday.  Nor will I be approving comments, replying to comments, looking at my stats, or replying to e-mail after 5pm today until Monday morning.  I will be sure to post an “unplugged weekend review” on Monday to let you know how it goes!

Have a great weekend everyone!