High Definition 37 inch Flat Screen TV

William, somehow, always seemed like a good reason not to hurry out and buy a replacement TV. He can be hard on things. I've bought a seemingly endless supply of replacement CD players, DVDs and Dr. Seuss books for him. Will went through a phase where he ripped out the pages in his favorite books so he could look at all the pages at one time. One morning about five years ago, I woke to find the power button on the TV missing. Yes, missing. Did he break it off, I wondered? No, he pushed it into the TV so we can only turn it on with a remote or the end of a pencil. The missing power button coupled with a former penchant to tap the screen endlessly and smear peanut butter on the screen caused some reluctance to buy a replacement, as our TV was ancient but obviously durable!

We planned on getting rid of the TV when we moved to Texas. But when we decided to stay in Massachusetts it came to the house along with the couch. But unfortunately, we didn’t bring the old DVD/VCR along with us and when I tried to hook up the new DVD player I realized that our TV was so old it didn’t have the colored plugs. This meant the kids couldn’t play game cube and Will was reduced to watching movies on the portable DVD player.

So, with the switch to digital coming soon it seemed like a good time to buy a new TV.

In spite of my admitted love for Charmed, E! and HGTV we don’t have cable anymore -- just a bent rabbit-eared antenna that we drape over the TV. I don’t pretend I got rid of cable out of any special mothering philosophy. I’m not an all-natural foods, no TV or violence kind of mother. Rather I subscribe to the don't come get me unless there is blood philosophy or the philosophy of can't you do it yourself? I got rid of cable because I got mad that my kids wouldn’t do their jobs. And in spite of my withdrawal symptoms from the afore mentioned shows (and many others) I want a shot at my fantasy of having my children do all the housework.

So, when we plugged in our brand new High Definition 37 inch flat screen TV we had the same crappy reception as before! The stations that broadcast in digital look pretty good. The others? Well, they’re pretty fuzzy. It seems so ridiculous to watch fuzzy shows on a high-definition TV. Surely, there’s a TV fairy out there that’s angry with us. Maybe if we make a blood offering we will appease it and it will protect the new TV from William.

We’ll see how long this TV stays untouched. Listen closely for my husband’s scream of agony when Will does something to it.

Just in case, I’m keeping the old TV -- power button or no power button. If it can survive eight years of Will it's nigh on indestructible!