The Internet Curfew (and hopefully more knitting)

I used to quite like dinner time. A lovely home cooked meal, the happy faces of my family beaming back at me, the conversation flowing as we each chatted about our days.

But now I dread them. For I know that the Tyger will, at some stage, fix me with a piercing stare and ask "So Mum... did you get any knitting on my cardigan done today?" My only answer will be a head hung low in shame.

But tonight, tonight I am chaining myself to the couch and knitting like fury! The cardigan will...get...done! Before summer is over. I swear on the goddess that is Debbie Bliss!

Seriously, though, how did our grandmothers do it? In between all the washing and cooking and cleaning, and all without fancy new labour saving appliances. I asked my Dad recently about this, and he said his mother (a woman with a mere, oh, 7 children) just always had something in her hands that she was working on. Plus, I guess, they didn't have that marvellous time stealer called the internet. I know I personally waste too much time hopping from one site to another, not really being interested, just mindlessly clicking away. Better check The Age again, just in case there's a new headline. Oh look, there is - somebody went to court for embezzling something. Whoop-de-doo! Does it affect me? No. Can I do anything about it? No. Then why the heck am I wasting precious minutes reading about it?!?

Don't get me wrong - the internet is a wonderful place. I've met people through it who I now regard as dear, dear friends, gotten work from it, and am daily inspired by all the crafty goodness that is contained within my beloved blogroll. But I need to be more disciplined about the time I spend on it. My worst habit is slouching in a chair after dinner once the Tyger is tucked up in bed, and wasting a good hour at least just meandering through various sites. I'm a bit embarrassed to admit this, but they are not even good crafty sites - it's usually bad magazines and gossip. This must come to an end. I want to be living my life, not just reading about what others are doing in theirs.

So less internet browsing for me, and more knitting. The evening curfew is a gogo! I want to look back at the projects on this blog and think "Boy! I really got some stuff done!" Moreover, I want to be proud of myself. It's hard to be proud of yourself when your evenings are often spend reading what Madonna is supposedly up to. And I don't even LIKE Madonna!

Just think of what I could be doing with all that extra time - I could be knitting up a storm. Or tracing out patterns. Or learning a new language. Or reading Simon Schama's entire back catalogue. But instead I'm reading about how weird Madge's face is looking of late. Nothing to be proud of there, but plenty to be ashamed of. It's not exactly setting a very good example for the Tyger, either.

What do you guys think? Do you waste a lot of time online, or are you more disciplined than I?