3 Days of No TV...

We spent 3 days without the television on.  No video games, as well.  We played with Playdoh, painted, read a lot of books together, played outside, went to the beach, and worked the garden.  We also had some nice quiet time and played board games, while Silas was napping.  Then, yesterday happened.  I needed to actually pay attention to our home, do some laundry - actually putting it away included and clean some surfaces.  There's this gigantic pile that mysteriously grows by the computer desk.  Printed out recipes, homeschooling filing, books, Mapquest directions I forgot at home, bills...  On went the t.v.  The Smurfs, season 1, to be exact.  Man, did I love The Smurfs when I was little!  G'nap, G'nap!  Eli sat in front of the t.v. for 4 hours.  And I let him.  The other two were in and out, finding something else to do if they got bored or hungry.  The instances of "Mom, he hit me!" easily quadrupled yesterday in comparison to the cumulative 3 days prior.  I watched the progression happen...they'd all be sitting on the couch watching t.v.  One would get bored and somersault over a nearby sibling.  Or one would reach over and poke the other.  It's interesting to watch the differences in a day with t.v. versus a day without.  I got a lot done.  Laundry was washed, dried, folded and put into the respective rooms (not necessarily in drawers, though).  The toilet was scrubbed.  The desk area was eviscerated and dust was removed from crevices I didn't know existed.  The rugs got vacuumed and some toys got put away.  And I made a pasta salad and a bean salad.  Today is another t.v.-free day.  I was going to extend it a week of absolutely no t.v., but man, it's hard.  In order for me to be an attentive mom, I had to sacrifice the home.  I had to meet with a client last night and I knew if the house was chaos, the husband would have had a rougher time watching the boys. 
I'm okay with sand all over the couch and Playdoh on the floors - it's what childhood is about - but I need to actually maintain our living space so that the couch does not turn into the sandbox and we're relaxing in the empty wooden square outside.
There's always a balance needed.  Absolutely no t.v. is one extreme.  For us, t.v. all the time is the other.  I'm still experimenting with tipping the scales and finding the balance that works for our family.  I love that physical assaults were lessened, but we do need clean underwear...