ANY best western??

Okay, I just have to weigh in on the TV-thing. Perhaps some of you have heard me say something like (or exactly) this: "We don't have TV...well, we have a television, we just don't have cable, or any type of reception, for that matter." Yes, it's true, that in every apartment we've ever lived in, cable has been free. And we've been in our house for a little over two years, and getting cable or a dish, or whatever, hasn't been in our budget.

Now, I know that some people think it's quasi-hip to not have television: "Oh, what a great idea! I wish we didn't have television...", etc.. Make no mistake: I wish we had television. I function better when I can have that "mindless time" at the end of the day, and since we've been in our house, it's spent on movies that I rent, or that I own and have seen a dozen times. I have favorite shows (Arrested Development, The Amazing Race, Gilmore Girls, The Daily Show, Letterman), and I wish I could watch them. If I could watch TV, maybe I'd have more favorites.

"Wait - how can you have favorites?" you ask. I have my ways. Up until last November, when they moved, I could go over to Waldo & Jen's house and they had that blessed (two syllables) invention, TiVo. Since I don't know our new neighbors well enough to just escape there whenever I feel like it, I have to make up for it through other venues.

I like to travel, and for being a mom of small children, I get to travel quite a bit. Hotels offer me a quick television fix...when everyone else is finally asleep at 12:15 am. Another way is by renting the shows themselves (season 1 of Monk is a favorite). I also listen to A LOT of radio, where they review, and even play clips from, shows that I am at least mildly familiar with.

Perhaps one of the main ways for me to "catch up" on shows is when I'm at my mom's house in the summer, like I am right now. Last year, my sister introduced me to her favorite, That 70's Show, which I think is a great name for a show, but seems to have a lame Flintstones-like laughtrack. When I'm here, I'll willingly exchange sleep (and therefore kindness and patience towards everyone, my children included) for a good 22 & 1/2 minutes of Will & Grace (which is easily the one of the funniest and certainly the dirtiest shows ever), or Frasier, or Seinfeld, or even a Nick at Nite show (that Tootie...such a cutie). I have a limited time in front of the television, and I need to stock up...and savor.

Now, my children are very creative (ooh, maybe because we don't have television...), and, without having ever seen a music video, have discovered, and perfected, what we shall refer to as "booty dancing". You know what I'm talking about. My former neighbor, Jen, used to say, "Could you imagine what they'd be like if you had MTV?", causing me to reply with a groan and rolling eyes. Well, now my kids have had almost a month of shows with commercials. (We have DVDs with episodes of SpongeBob and such, but there are no commercials.) And here is where the influence on my children comes in to play: I was in the kitchen the other day, cutting grapes (yes, grapes - they were for Superstar and she's only 15 months old, and I don't want her to choke), and li'l ~j. (6) came into the kitchen with this:

"Mom, guess what. If we stay five nights at any Best Western, we can get a Fairly OddParents travel card. I think we should do that. And they have a beautiful pool...maybe it's an ocean, I don't know. But I think it's a good idea. Can we do that?"

And it gave me a new reason to want television, with commercials: so that I'd get these kinds of questions all the time.