So... we're going on 2 months now with no cable. I was expecting this to be a bit more dramatic, but what I found is I just don't really care. There isn't the time to watch much TV anyway. Sure there are times that I really do miss the other channels. Times when I am stuck nursing.. or playing in the living room with the baby (which usually means sitting with him to make sure he doesn't do any damage to himself or the house). Maybe when he's a bit older we can actually spend that time in a more productive way.. or play in a more of an interactive way by playing games or reading books. Right now, you pretty much sit and watch him roll around and then hand him things that are out of his reach. It would be nice to have something playing that wasn't an infomercial or This old house reruns .. but it's not that big of a deal. I don't feel like I am missing much. Our Winter, weekend routines have gotten to be pretty funny. Saturday night Dance party with a little of the old L Welk show mixed in there. How long that will last, I'm not sure.. but it will make for some pretty funny memories later on.
Do I feel all different and productive with the new free time? No. The baby is eating up all our time anyway so really it all just comes down to this...
Saving $50 a month =$600 a year on TV we aren't watching anyway.
perhaps we are even turning the tv off more.. saving a bit of change in the electricity bill..
In the big picture, that isn't a ton of money, it's not going to buy us a new house. If down the road we feel we want the cable back I'm not totally against it. We don't spend a lot of money on entertainment, so it's not about the money. I was hoping to feel a bit more freedom with the cable gone but that just hasn't happened, yet. Perhaps when the weather gets nicer.. and Emmett gets a bit older, we'll start to get a bit more adventurous with our time. Right now, it's still the weeknight routines of dinners, baths and bedtimes with little time after to do much of anything.
Monday, February 28, 2011
Friday, February 11, 2011
My Rebuttal- OK, I kinda miss HGTV too
Yes, there are things I miss about cable. HGTV is one of them. But overall, I've been pretty happy with out it, and still convinced we could go all the way to an antenna, with maybe Hulu or Amazon on Demand to fill in the gaps. It's been nice to turn on just background stuff like Laurence Welk (hahah, don't you DARE judge us!) and turn our attention to entertaining Emmett.
However, I don't disagree with The Lady that the househunting bug has bit us. Recently a coworker (albeit one with a super lucky rich Google lawyer partner) purchased an AMAZING house with 3 acres in the Santa Cruz hills. It looks like a freakin Spanish manor.. with a guest house bigger than our house! Of course we can't afford that, but it sparked off another round of wishful thinking and looking at listings. I just want a bit more space for Emmett to roam and feel bad that his play area is a 5 foot square in the corner of the living room. Sigh, someday. For now, we can ask our friends what House Hunters has been up to.
However, I don't disagree with The Lady that the househunting bug has bit us. Recently a coworker (albeit one with a super lucky rich Google lawyer partner) purchased an AMAZING house with 3 acres in the Santa Cruz hills. It looks like a freakin Spanish manor.. with a guest house bigger than our house! Of course we can't afford that, but it sparked off another round of wishful thinking and looking at listings. I just want a bit more space for Emmett to roam and feel bad that his play area is a 5 foot square in the corner of the living room. Sigh, someday. For now, we can ask our friends what House Hunters has been up to.
The 4-5 week itch
It started.
Last night I had my first attack of missing HGTV. I blame Brian. He sent a house listing that had my imagination running. I started dreaming about kitchen renovations, family/movie rooms, landscaping and gardening, fruit trees (and what I would do with all that fruit), hot tubs, cozy patios, plus a guest cottage! My mind starts racing over all the things I would do to make that house ours. Not having the money to do any of this (let's not even think about the time) I started to think about HGTV as a way to see, not my own, but someone's projects completed. I love before and afters, I love to think about what I liked and what I might do differently.
People give HGTV a bad rap for convincing people that they have to be always remodeling, keeping things from being outdated... making them think that in order to buy a house.. or sell a house it has to have granite counter tops and stainless steel appliances! Let's all run out to Lowes because ... OMG, our bathroom has 1950's pink tile! Sure, some of that is true. But for me, there is something satisfying in seeing these project completed, to see inside of people's homes, to see how they live. Maybe imagine what our lives would look like .. there, in that house, in that town, in that country.
I'm still thinking about the latest house Brain sent.. and all the previous houses that have gotten my imagination going. I feel like I have all these ideas with no place to put them. HGTV was a way to temporarily scratch that itch.
Last night I had my first attack of missing HGTV. I blame Brian. He sent a house listing that had my imagination running. I started dreaming about kitchen renovations, family/movie rooms, landscaping and gardening, fruit trees (and what I would do with all that fruit), hot tubs, cozy patios, plus a guest cottage! My mind starts racing over all the things I would do to make that house ours. Not having the money to do any of this (let's not even think about the time) I started to think about HGTV as a way to see, not my own, but someone's projects completed. I love before and afters, I love to think about what I liked and what I might do differently.
People give HGTV a bad rap for convincing people that they have to be always remodeling, keeping things from being outdated... making them think that in order to buy a house.. or sell a house it has to have granite counter tops and stainless steel appliances! Let's all run out to Lowes because ... OMG, our bathroom has 1950's pink tile! Sure, some of that is true. But for me, there is something satisfying in seeing these project completed, to see inside of people's homes, to see how they live. Maybe imagine what our lives would look like .. there, in that house, in that town, in that country.
I'm still thinking about the latest house Brain sent.. and all the previous houses that have gotten my imagination going. I feel like I have all these ideas with no place to put them. HGTV was a way to temporarily scratch that itch.
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