The Absence of Noise

I'm a writer but I have a hard time concentrating in silence. I usually have an old movie (I guess old is relative depending on your age-for me it's the great era of Cary Grant, Betty Davis and Katherine Hepburn) playing while I create. I'm married to a photographer and we have no kids so I could have total silence but growing up with nine brothers and sisters I have no idea how to work with no sound. My youth was spent doing homework to the sounds of a TV, the screaming fights of my siblings, my parents arguing, babies crying, (there were ten kids in 13 years!), the phone ringing, the washing machine going-no dishwasher--too expensive, (my dad said"I have ten dishwashers (his kids) what do I need a dishwasher for," radios playing and friends knocking at our front door.
I'm sure I waste a lot of time with distractions-my father would always yell at us- "how can you do your homework with the tv/radio on?"-but it also keeps me going. When it gets to crunch time, I turn it all off and zone in but in the early stages I need inspiration. Inviting my 17 nieces and nephews over would be overload I'm afraid. My mother could probably handle it fine. She used to laugh at women with four kids. "With four kids I could reinvent the world! What do those women do all day?" she'd say. My younger sis Deborah Kuhl (www.deborahkuhl.com) has inherited her energy and her hot bod (after ten kids my mom was still a perfect size 8) and Debbie looks like a size 6 or 4 model after three kids. A single mom, Debbie works full time, sings her original compositions at various venues, and still manages to have perfect children. My sister Jane has two (also perfect) kids, (I'm not biased:) ) works full time, is in the Army reserves and now getting a Masters.
Having babysat-and feeling like I needed a week's vacation afterwards-I am in awe of their accomplishments. If I had a kid I don't think I'd ever leave the house. I feel like such a slacker-all I do is work and write freelance travel stories.
Good thing I have KuhlBella to keep me from my impending deadlines...guess I better go back to work.