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| Bon Bon Day |
What does it take to give mom a day off? Say a day to eat bon bons and wear a dressing gown and feathery high heels. That’s a dream day my mom romanticized while I was growing up. I’m in. And here’s another million-dollar question, to which I also have an answer and wish someone had the million to give me: How do I keep my kids off the Xbox?
Aside from throwing the darn thing into the garbage or storage, we have to set limits. One hour per day, that’s it, game over. It’s working pretty well and it just got better. Xbox will stop all together and a mom can have a day off or two, if she is willing to take drastic measures, really sacrifice herself: Get the flu.
Something was going around last week and it took me down pretty hard. I could still function but it wasn’t fun. I did the dishes and cooked chicken noodle soup for myself. Any heavy lifting, and that ain’t much in the sickie book, I left to the other residents in the house.
Friday night was the worst. So, come Saturday morning I really needed a bon-bon day. I stayed in my pink and blue cotton jammies, wrapped in a furry blanket, and decided to rent a movie through Xbox. (At least I was taking time off, just no candy and no glam. I’ll watch it instead.) If you recall from the Friday Night at the Movies post, Xbox has the best choice of on-demand movies. My only problem, I don’t know how to get it. I have to seek expert advice. The only one up at 9:00 am, is my youngest.
Alex set me up with a show. Once I was settled on the couch in our office, the Xbox room, he pressed go. “Don’t touch this control Mom. I don’t want any germs on it.” I wouldn’t know what to do anyway, so no skin off my aching back. I happily enjoyed a chick flick, The Devil Wears Prada. It made being sick almost pleasurable. No guilt. No meddling kids. They don’t want ANYTHING to do with this movie and neither does my husband. Heaven. I’m all by myself and nobody wants to touch me.
After the movie, I get up to throw in a load of wash. Nobody thinks of these things but a mom. I ask Alex to set me up with another round of movies. “What? Are you really going to watch movies all day?” Hmmm. How to respond? It’s strange to me, and probably to Alex too as he’s NEVER seen me in this state. The all-day movie girl has not done this since before the day his older brother was born, fourteen years ago. “Yes,” I reply. “I am sick and I am going to watch movies all day.”
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| Lots of Liquid. |
He loads up Sex in the City, the movie. “Haven’t you already seen this movie too Mom?” “Yes, but it’s been a really long time.” I lay back, sipping my second, twenty-four ounce water bottle. About 75% into the movie, I gotta go. DARN IT! I don’t know how to pause it. I run for relief and then call for my Xbox controller, the human one.
“Alex! Come here. I need to rewind a bit.”
Alex comes to my rescue. He doesn’t want to be at my beck and call anymore so he tries to show me how to press pause, some green button with an A. I guess it’s worth the germ risk. “Wait. There are three controllers over there, which one do I use?” “The one with the flashing green around the silver button.” Ok. I’ve got it, only two buttons. I got back to bliss, finishing my movie.
The only bad part about watching movies on Xbox is if it is still connected to the gaming part. (This is beside the fact controllers are smaller and more complicated than PacMan days.) We have an online feature so you can play others without leaving your home. Every so often a gaming name shows up. “Ishaq” is online. “Oakbranch” is online. “Fruityskin” is online. I remember these as they interrupted me the most. It’s just a blip, like in the corner of primetime TV, an announcement for the next show pops up. I kept thinking, “Ishaq. Your mom needs the flu.”
I take a break to visit the living. Alex and Dad are gone. My oldest is home and complaining of a scrape on his leg that won’t heal and hurts like the dickens. He can’t walk very well. It looks reddish with slight amounts of pus. The Internet indicates possible infection. Sick or not, I rush him to Night Owl Pediatrics. The young doc, agrees and puts him on antibiotics. My husband thought I was over-reacting and was surprised when we came back with a prescription. Even when we are down, a mother’s intuition and mojo to save her babies never dies.
I eat a few bites of Kentucky Fried Chicken, an attempt at dinner by my husband. Luckily I don’t want to eat much anyway. I turn in early, thinking I will feel better by morning. I don’t. I call in my controller again.
“Alex, can you set me up again? I know exactly what I want so we don’t have to flip through all the choices. It will be fast.” Sex in the City 2, is my next pick. I don’t know what my kids are doing while I’m watching. I know they are not Xboxing, so I don’t care. The next thing I know, I gotta go again. I figure I’ll step out and rewind later. I come back, and none of the three controllers has a flashing green ring around the silver button.
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| Center of the Universe |
“ALEX! Come here.” He comes running. I explain myself. “Oh, you just need to press the silver button to activate; it turns on the flashing green ring.” I resume my viewing without incident.
I take a break to paint a banner for swim team; it has to be done, sick or not. I ask Alex to set me up for yet another round before he goes out with his dad. Sabrina. It’s the original and I’ve never seen it. I just love Audrey Hepburn. I ask Alex to show me which controller he used to set it up so I could activate the blinking green ring. I’m operational.
As the paint dries on my banner, I watch my movie. I found the proper controller, pressed the green A and it started. Part way through the movie, I fall asleep. It was kind of an important part, the “why” the older brother will not sail on the Liberte ship to Paris with Sabrina. I take matters into my own hands. I know which controller and pick it up. I press the magic silver button and without thinking, I double click like I do on my computer mouse and suddenly, my movie is gone and I’m staring at Xbox gaming options. OH NO!
“TJ! Come quick. This is terrible.” Alex is still not back, but my back-up human controller is home. He limps into help. I tell him I’ve lost my movie. I’m panicked. I don’t want to pay another five bucks to watch the last 25%. TJ calmly brings me back to the movie option. Oh thank goodness.
Then I tell him I need to rewind, a lot. I try to tell him it’s before the scene in the office with Linus and Sabrina. “Um. I don’t really know this movie so it doesn’t really help.” Geez. I kind of thought if you are watching the rewind, once an office scene popped up, you would know the stop-point was close. It doesn’t matter if you’ve seen the movie or not. Wise guy.
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| Dad’s Cooking. |
I’ve learned a lot about controllers in two days. I’m confident enough I order up another movie for evening. I know the buttons and the mini-joy stick for navigating. I get it to work. I download Pretty Woman. Dinner is on the way, Zachery’s pizza. No worries. I am enjoying my time on the couch. Horrified at the clothes we thought were so pretty in Pretty Woman, except for the brown polka dot dress. I still love that one. No wonder we had big shoulders and covered so much skin; this was the style.
The next thing I know, Alex is back, busting into my domain. He grabs the controller and pushes a few buttons. “Ah man. Still one hour left.” He’s dying without his Xbox. How long does it take to break a habit? Three days? Can I last? Do I want it to last? I get through my movie and invite him in when I’m done. He’s so happy. I’m happy to just go to bed and dream new dreams. I lived through two of them.
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