Turn off the TV!!!!

I have a love hate realtionship with the television. As a teacher, I would always get so annoyed when kids would tell me they watched TV all weekend or all afternoon. These same kids never wanted to read or be creative in any other way. That is my hate part of the relationship. When I was pregnant with Gianna, I was on bedrest for the last 4 weeks. Thats when I fell in love with the TV. Maybe love isn't the right word. I became infatuated with the TV. Obsessed. Can you blame me? There wasn't anything else to do during the day! And since then I have never truly been able to kick the habit. TV literally got me through those last 4 weeks of pregnancy. ER and Law and Order reruns, how I love you!
But I still go back to the hate part of the relationship. Especially because it effects my own kids. I dont want them to be one of those students who has no imagination and NEEDS the TV. So I am constantly second guessing myself about how much G can watch. Is it ok for her to watch a whole movie in one day? What about 2 in one day? How many shows can she watch too? Are they filling her head with mush, turning her brain into applesauce, as my mom used to say?
If you follow my blog, you probably read this. And it is 100% true. I really do love my SAHM job. But sometimes I get a little crazy when its cold as H outside (or in most cases, hot as H outside), we have done every craft twice, and Gianna is trying to help me cook noodles on the stove and she almost burns her hands off in her eagerness to get on the stool to "help" me. Sometimes, mama needs a break! And what better way to get a break than to plant her in front of the boob tube and let something else entertain her for a change? There are some days (usually preceded by nights with little sleep) that I am totally ok with it. Elia has been teething the past few nights, so I have not been getting my usual beauty sleep. I let G watch a few shows before dinner, so I could get some stuff done. When Dora was over, I said, ok G, time to turn the TV off. She was was so upset I almost turned the tv back on just to make her wailing go away. After threatening time out and otherwise distracting her, she stopped crying. But in the next hour or so at some points she would tell me "I was crying because you turned the TV off." A little later, I was in the kitchen for a while and G was in the TV room. After a while I heard the tv go on. I go into the room and see her with the remote pointed at the tv and her free hand is covering her eyes. When she sees that I am in the room with her, she starts crying soooooo hard! I was confused by this situation because I didnt really know if she was hurt or something. I turned the TV off, got her to calm down and asked her what the problem was. She wailed to me, "I was watching TV and shouldn't have"
Wow, that was quite a rant for such a small story. I thought it was hilarious!