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Shortly after our children left home for college, our family room television set died. We replaced it with a much smaller set but we couldn't see the screen from the couch so it was moved to a spot in the kitchen where now it normally gets turned on for the early morning news and the evening news. It is rather pleasant not to hear the drumming of canned laughter, or background chatter nightly. We do watch a few programs from the kitchen table, not the couch and never when we are eating.

Without the stupor of sitting mesmerized in front of the television set night after night, my wife and I have found other ways to pass the time while exercising our minds and enjoying each other's conversation.

*Jigsaw puzzles are addicting. We purchase 2000 piece puzzles and put them together on poster boards that can be easily moved from the kitchen table to the coffee table when it is dinner time. We work on them while having our morning coffee, or waiting on dinner to cook. After dinner, we drag the board back to the table and work on it some more. Our daughter used to put them together, glue them and decorate her room with them.

*Walking is a healthy pastime instead of being glued to the television set. We live close to a safe park with walking tracks and plenty of lighting. If it is cold outside, we walk leisurely around the mall just window shopping. In the spring and early fall, there is always a soccer game being played at the park. After a few laps around the track, we sit and watch the soccer games.

*Reading is always a good way to pass the time. My wife is an avid reader of novels while I mostly check out woodworking books or Foxfire books at the library which short stories.

*Board games like Scrabble, Yahtzee and Backgammon are our favorites. We keep a running score and at the end of the month, declare a winner.

*Hobbies are a great way to pass time. Whether it is woodworking, painting, drawing, knitting, writing or some other type of craft, it is always nice to be absorbed into creating something useful.

*Try learning a new language. Our son brought home a Korean newspaper and my wife was fascinated with the words she said were like pictures. She found a free site online that showed the alphabet. Each night she would draw the letters on little cards for us to learn the Korean alphabet. It was exciting to know enough letters to figure out some of the words. We never learned enough to read the entire newspaper, but it was fun realizing a few words. Maybe one day we will try a little harder.

*Crossword puzzles exercise your mind. We work on our own and when we get stuck, we swap and try to finish each other's puzzles.

*Old fashioned conversation is a good way to pass the time. Sitting down and just talking and listening to each other, planning projects, dreaming about vacations, talking about the co-worker, discussing your work day can be much more entertaining than a television program.

We find we have so many other things we want to do now, we do not have time to watch television.

Learn more about this author, Madison Briggs.
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