Cutting the Cord on Cable

img from hediacomputers.com via shutterstock

For a while now we have been seriously toying with the idea of canceling our cable TV. I know, crazy right?

Off and on my husband would mention canceling cable when things got tight and I would go into freak out mode. You know ladies, when you and your husband have the dreaded "budget meeting." Gawd I hate budget meetings.

Eventually my tears and whining would win out and we would drop the subject.

About a year ago though when Netflix started getting better and better about their streaming library, I started to give it some more serious thought.

Still though I thought I couldn't live life without a DVR, and also CBS shows were not on Netflix or Hulu.

So, we started toying with the idea of how we could cut the cord, and started working in that direction.

Our first step was to get an old tower and hooked it up to our upstairs TV. We have been streaming up there for more than six months. We tried out Boxee, which comes with an app for the iPhone which gave us a remote (which was nice not having to get up and click the mouse for each new episode or to search Netflix). However we noticed some glitches. Boxee doesn't show EVERYTHING in our Netflix queue. We didn't like that. Also it doesn't list the episodes in order.

Seriously folks my OCD was kicking into overdrive without the episodes in chronological order. I thought I'd pull my hair out.

Boxee did allow us to subscribe to shows like BBT through CBS, however it was really slow streaming, and we were not thrilled with the quality of it. Much better to exit the Boxee system and just go to the actual site through the browser.

We kind of gave up on cutting the cord for a bit, the Holidays came around and life just got too busy to work on the TV stuff.

However each month when that Cox bill would come in the mail, I would ask myself WHY? Why do I keep paying them $80 a month for something that we could easily get for next to nothing?

So, two weeks ago we got serious about this.

I ordered a free trial of Hulu plus and would you know the VERY day I did this Hulu Plus got an app for the Wii?  Our timing couldn't have been better.

I don't like their interface as much as the Netflix interface for the Wii, but they JUST came out with it.  I'm sure it will take some time to get the glitches out of it.

Next, I called Cox and found out how low our bill would go and they talked about "data caps".  A word I had not yet heard.

Data caps?  Are you FREAKING serious?  We have a 200GB a month data limit on our internet.  My heart sank.  We could increase that limit by upping to premier or ultimate package, but what was the point?  We were trying to SAVE money, not spend more.

I thought at that point again our journey to cancel cable was over, however after some research it seems that 200GB will give you about 32 HD movies a month or 500 SD shows.  That's like a LOT of TV people, about 5 or more hours a day if not more, and yes, that is how long the TV blares in our house at times on our bad days.

So, I started looking at our data usage and we stopped using cable over the weekend.  We streamed LITERALLY all day yesterday on both TV's and ended up using under 5GB.  That keeps us well under our allowance monthly.

This past weekend my husband made an HD antenna this weekend. It is very similar to THIS antenna. It's up in our attic and you can't even see it. Our picture quality is just as good if not better than cable.  We are getting all our local channels on both TV's just fine.

There are still some more issues to work out but we will do that along the way.

1.  I don't like having a huge tower in my bedroom hooked to my TV, so eventually what I think we will do is move it to a closet one day. My husband plans to get a video capture card (I think that's what it is...he is the techie on this). With that we can record our HD shows like HIMYM, BBT and CSI etc...all off the air in HD.

Our next step is to get a ROKU box.  It will be much better looking than the tower in our room, and it will give us a remote that we can use.

Img from ROKU.com

Roku seems to perform better than Boxee does as far as an interface according to reviews.  It will take a bit of money to sink into getting our system where we want it, but it the long run it should pay off.

2.  We can't watch CBS through Hulu Plus or Netflix.  ALL my favorite shows seem to be on that channel, so for now I have to watch them on the iMac or else up in our bedroom with the tower (because I can do that through the browser).  They stream a bit slower through CBS than they do on Hulu or Netflix.  Seriously CBS, get with the program!  However I think when we get the capture card, hopefully we can just record these to the hard drive and Roku will let us pull them up.  Again, we are still working on it.

Still, when i made that call to Cox today I was a little paniced and scared.  Cable has been our crutch for YEARS now.  In fact funny thing was my job BEFORE I was a stay at home mom was working in retention for Cox.  Yeah, I was the gal who would try to convince you to KEEP your cable and I got paid WELL to do it.

However the deed is done.  The cable is GONE.

I mean, what will I do if I can't watch mindless hours of House Hunters International on HGTV when I'm sick in bed?  Or what about that evening on the sofa watching VH1's top 100 one hit wonders of the nineties?  And yes, I'll miss my hours upon hours of Nick at Night reruns of Friends.  Who knows, maybe I'll read a book or something or actually GET SOME SLEEP?  Go figure.

Anyhow, if you are thinking about cutting the cord ask me any questions and I'll be happy to fill you in on what we do.  Also I'll keep you posted on our updates to our system!

Randomness

I feel like I haven't posted in forever, because well I really haven't.

It's been a crazy few weeks here on the home front.  We all came down with some kind of cold and mine is still lingering on.  I just can't shake this sinus stuff. Problem is when I have all this pressure in my head I just can't make myself work out.  It's been THREE weeks since I've been to the gym and the more the time passes the more I begin to stress and stress that I haven't been going.

I've GOT to get back into it next week.

Last week also why we were all sick, my oldest played Little Red Riding Hood in her school musical "Into The Woods."  SUPER proud of that girl.  She is such a sweetheart and has so much talent, and she is absolutely gorgeous.  Her inside matches her outside though, she is wonderful through and through.

One of my dear friends asked me if I was wearing flannel pajamas.  NOPE just my big long thick jacket. (though as sick as I was and as cold as it was in there that may have been a better solution.  I think if you look close I have icicles hanging from my nose.)

Last week I also ordered my girls bunk bed.  We are anxiously awaiting the arrival of it.  If you missed my post I rationalized not building a bunk bed because we are just SO busy right now.

It's probably a good thing.  Remember my entryway bench?  Yup, still working on that.  I have ONE more coat of paint then poly to put on it and I'm done.  This project has been slow going for me but really I'm hoping to finish it this weekend.

Back onto bunk beds.  Yesterday I went out to buy the girls comforters and everything is CRAZY expensive for the cute stuff.  I found one at Kohls 65% off.  It's SUPER cute but has not ONE bit of purple in it, but the colors seem to blend.  My girls walls are a purple/lavender color.  I went ahead and bought them but I'm freaking out that they won't look well in the room.

It seems like it may blend ok.  I don't think Lucy is gonna let me take them back.  She seems to REALLY love her new comforter.

Also I've been in the middle of a pretty great parenting bible study by Andy Stanley.

It never ceases to amaze me that God puts me exactly where he wants me.  This is SO completely relevant to areas of our parenting life right now it is great.  It's so simple, yet so wonderful.  I'm learning SO much about the importance of relationships in my kids lives.  It talks a LOT about how this generation tends to be experience rich but relationally poor, and how to fine tune/dial in and out certain relationships in the kids lives.  I'm loving it.

The ONLY hiccups is the memory verse memorization that comes along with the bible study.  Arrgh that has me sweating bullets come Monday morning group time ;)

As if we were not busy enough last week my husband had drill (for those of you who don't know he is in the National Guard) AND we had our cub scouts blue and gold banquet.  Blue and Gold is like our BIG event of the year, and I was the chairman in charge of getting the banquet put together.

Thankfully it went off pretty well.  I'm so proud of my son he earned his Webelos badge!

My husband pinning on his badge

Sorry for the blurry photo, that's the best I got.  (as you can see my husband was still in uniform...came straight from drill to the banquet).

Isn't he just the most handsome boy scout ever?

Ok, him and Bear Grylls.  Behr Grylls may be the most handsome boy scout ever, but my son is right up there ;)

img from the scouting pages.com

I kid, I kid.  (My husband can't get jealous because I'm pretty certain he has a man crush on Bear Grylls).

Also we have been strongly thinking about cutting the cord on our cable.  I'm still in the research phase to see if I can actually do this, but it's looking promising!  The only hiccup right now is the stupid data caps that Cox has placed on their internet service.  I could write a whole blog post rant on that but I'll spare you the agony of me on my soapbox.

So, needless to say we have been pretty busy.  I don't ever see it slowing down anytime soon, but hopefully I'll start feeling better and get my train back on the track.

Why I'm NOT making a bunk bed

So, if you've been around our family or this blog for any amount of time,  you know we like to be frugal around here.  We also like to make things ourselves.  We kinda pride ourselves in it, being able to create and take something for little and make it into something kinda awesome.

That is why it pains me a bit to be PURCHASING bunk beds.

I had all intentions to make this bed:

img from Ana White.com courtesy of Ever Heard of Eueless

This is Ana's bunk bed plan, made by Ever Heard of Eueless.  Beautiful.  LOVE LOVE LOVE it.  Problem is when I started pricing out the cost of the materials, plus mattresses, plus paint, plus my time, I was only saving about $50 bucks.  $100 if I was lucky.  Let's be honest people.  I'd pay someone $50-$100 bucks to sand for me.  As much as I love to build, can you imagine all the SANDING on this bed.  (no sanding makes me happy).

There are times in your life when time is more precious than money.  This is one of those moments.

Right now our family is smack dab in the middle of military stuff, boy scout banquets, a lead role in a school musical, workout and weight loss plans, tumbling practice and training for 10K's.

Oh also my youngest has learned to climb in and out of her crib, so a new bed is really needed ASAP.

Taking 2-3 weekend to build a bed, actually just FINDING two to three free weekends to build a bed is just not feasible right now.

So, I bite the bullet, throw in the towel.  I'm buying the bed.  I'm sure someday sometime down the road I may regret this decision.  (trust me I've gone back and forth over this for the past several weeks), but for now its the best decision to be made.

2011 In Review

My first initial reaction was to say that I hope that 2012 is better than 2011. However when I really stop to look back 2011 was not bad at all, it was just full of busyness, which in turn makes things seem more stressful than what they really are. I think my biggest problem is that I need to chill. Relax. Stop and enjoy the small moments more, because when I truly look back and reflect on 2011 it was a pretty awesome year.

In January I started out really trying to organize my life and my heart. Traci from Beneath My Heart started posts about "Organizing My Heart and Home". It was something I could totally get on board with, so not only did I start working on my heart spiritually, but I started out by decrapifying (word stolen from TDC) my life. It started with my laundry closet project.

Next I moved on to my medicine cabinet:

Then my girls room:

 

After that I took a break on organization and went on a blogging hiatus.  I was busy doing some pretty cool things!  I went down to Austin, TX for spring break for SXSW, and got to spend some time with these lovely ladies:

I got REALLY sunburnt waiting in line for a band we never got to see, which was a bummer.  But I couldn't think of two better ladies to stand in line with.

I came home, and celebrated SIX years with this wonderful guy:

I went back home to Phoenix for a trip in April.  It was amazing.  I got to spend REALLY wonderful quality time with my sister in law, and of course dinner with my besties.  Miss these gals SO much.  It was a great night, full of fun, laughter and of course Sangria.

 

We traveled to Missouri to see my brother in law graduate from basic training.  So proud of that guy!  My husband decided to go back into the military and joined the National Guard.  Can't tell you how honored I am to be a soldiers wife, and how proud I am of the soldiers in our family!

We had all the cousins here at the same time!  It was great spending time with those kiddos!

Sometime in July, just like Forrest Gump I started running.  I really focused most of my summer on my fitness, working on me for a bit.  I spent time running, in boot camp, in Zumba.  My husband (who does Crossfit) convinced me to do a hero WOD with him, and in September we did 31 Heroes to help raise money for families the 31 Navy Seals that died in Afghanistan. 

Our WONDERFUL team.  Couldn't do it without them.

Then some other great stuff happened, my daughter started pre-k, my oldest made the cheer squad and my son graduated to Webelos.  So proud of my kids! 

Then the weather started cooling down and I got back into the spirit of all things DIY.  I started fall out by renovating my downstairs half bath.

Then I tagged along with my husband to Orlando for an IT conference.  Who knew how FUN some IT nerds could be?  We seriously had a BLAST dancing the night away!

Once I start a project it usually begins a whirlwind of other projects, and this was no exception.  Right after the bathroom I moved onto what is my favorite project of the year, painting my den bookcases white.

I'm so thrilled with this project I just linked it to Thrifty Decor Chicks Before and After Party.  So if you have a before and after you are pretty proud of, go on over there, visit her and link on up!

Then, just when I thought I was done for the year, the week before Thanksgiving I decided to renovate my dining room.  Crazy I know!

I started showing off my projects on Pinterest and other blogs and this little blog of mine started to take off a little.  I got featured on Ana White's blog in December and also on Knock off Decor, and got some great Christmas gifts from my husband!

Right before Thanksgiving, during the middle of my dining room renovation, I got a terrible phone call.  Dad had been taken to the hospital with chest pains.  Come to find out he had a mild heart attack, and a REALLY massive blockage that caused it.  We are all so fortunate that God had his hand on him and he made it through.  He was better and able to visit for Christmas.  I got to go see the OKC Thunder play with him on Christmas day.  I hadn't been to a game with my dad since back in the 90's when the we had season tickets to the Phoenix Suns.  I'm so glad I have this memory with my father, and SO thankful that he is here with me today.  I praise God for his recovery.  My dad is one amazing guy.

Looking back 2011 has been an amazing year, full of great things, some ups, some downs, but mainly ups.  I don't know WHY on earth I get so cynical at times.  Life truly is wonderful.  I have a great family and my life is full of so much joy.  So in 2012 I want to spend more time filling my heart full of joy and letting go of stress and strife.

Sigh

Ok.  Take a deep breath.  Count to ten.

(From my daughters room) "I want to watch Max and RUBEEEEE!"

Stop crying.  Stop crying.  Stop crying.

She stopped!

Nope.  She's at it again.  I guess she was just taking a breath.

I believe she has gotten louder.

Can you tell it's been one of those days?  I know, I spend quite a bit of time on here venting.  Most people must take me for an angry person, and I guess I am to some degree.  It's not that I'm angry as much as I have a VERY short fuse.

I ventured to the dreaded Wal-Mart today to try and fix that pesky overcharge that I was speaking of in my previous blog.  I stood in line for 20 minutes at customer service, then it took them another 10 to try and figure out how to give me the return.  I finally get my $14 back (which I'm beginning to think was NOT worth the hassle) and get my items.  I then go to the "express" lane.  This takes 30 minutes, because the cashier at the register was handed a gift card that was worth $15.  The cashier thought the guy said to PUT $15 on it.  He did not say that.  I heard him loud and clear.  So then it takes another 40 employees to come over and figure out how to fix this faux pas.

I swear, one day I'm gonna snap and burn that place down.

So, I get home at 2:45 and my two year old has not had a nap.  She is in thermo-nuclear meltdown right now.  I just realized that I have to go pick up my kids from school in an hour (I normally don't pick them up, they ride the bus but I have to pick up cinnamon rolls for my daughters fundraiser).  So trying to get my two year old to nap is almost futile since I have to leave in less than 45 minutes.

I love my kids, and I do love Christmas, but I've had just about enough Holiday "cheer" this season.  I'm turing into the Grinch, and I'm ready for it to be over.  There are only so many lines, so many pine needles on my floor, only so much pushing, shoving, rudeness, and bad customer service that a human being can handle.

This is SO NOT what Christmas is about, and frankly, I'm tired of it.

My roots may be brown, but I'm a blonde at heart.

Ok, I'm totally calling myself out here for being a total dumb-ass.

I went up to Cartridge World yesterday to refill my ink for my printer, came home and the big black ink wouldn't fit in the printer. So I look and notice it has a number 5 on it, while my other cartridges (CMYK) all have 8's on them. I realize the lady must have made a mistake. So, I pick up the phone and call. She informs me that I have to take off the cap on the ink, then it will fit in. Oh, duh, ok, I see that now.

It gets worse.

I go to print something and the printer won't turn on. I keep hitting the button and it finally comes to life. Lovely. I IM the hubby and tell him that I think our printer is going out because it won't power on very well. I go to print my document and it shuts off on me a second time. I sit here for five minutes and hit the button over and over again and it won't turn on. I'm getting extremely frustrated at this point, and I start hitting the machine and throwing a nasty hissy fit. I'm not kidding, I really wish I was. I hit the button again, and it turns on for a second then flips off. I started to envision myself as one of those people in the commercials that throw their computer equipment out the window (which of course I totally don't have the nerve to do), but I daydream about it for a bit while I fume.

Finally this light bulb (a dim one) goes off in my head. I'll check the power cord just to be sure. The printer was not plugged in. My first thought is that there is no power cord (yeah, it runs on little mice on wheels on the inside of the machine Jules), but then I realize it MUST have a power supply.

I trace the cord down to the floor and find it lying there, fallen out of the machine. I suppose the reason that it powered on to begin with is that it was barely hanging in there...and my little punch/hissy fit to the machine gave it it's final nudge out of it's hole.

I REALLY thought I was smarter than this.

My roots may have turned brown, but deep down, I'm still a blonde at heart.

I Don't Want To Grow Up

Ok, technically I'm a grown up, even though I don't feel like it at times.  Sometimes I still feel as young as a teenager, even though I'm not, and other times I feel MUCH older than what I really am.  However I do have this fear of getting OLD. 

Last night Jamin and I took the kids out to dinner at Golden Corral.  As we were eating there was an elderly (WAY ELDERLY) man a few tables behind us that began to fall ill.  His wife said he was diabetic.  The waitress was holding his head up trying to keep this poor man from passing out at the table, while the entire restaurant was looking on.  My hubby goes over to see what he can do to help out.  The waitress asked if she could call anybody for this old couple.  They said no, they didn't have anyone to call.

This was so sad to me.  Fortunately I know that when Jamin and I grow old we will be prepared for such situations, and because of our large brood of children, we will always have someone to call.  Imagine being at the end of your life, and knowing there was nobody there to help you.  It was so sad it brought tears to my eyes.

The paramedics showed up and transported the man to the hospital, but his wife was left there alone.  She was in a wheelchair because of a stroke that she had had.  He took care of her.  We overheard the waitresses trying to figure out how they were going to get her to the hospital with her husband.  Jamin offered to drive her there.  She had a van that had a lift in it.  Jamin took her and I followed him with the kids in our car.  

Come to find out he takes care of her.  They have a son whom they can't rely on.  We tried to call but he didn't answer.  He fought in World War 2.  He is ninety years old. They have been married for 67 years.  Jamin said they had this sad little black book that said "What to do in case mom or dad dies...step 1: call XXX funeral home", and it went on to say how much their house was worth etc...

What a sad little book to be carrying around.  My heart went out to this couple.  I wish that they had a child, someone who could look after them.  I guess I should be happy they at least have each other.

I looked at Jamin last night with tears in my eyes and said "We will NEVER be that couple."  When I get that age, I hope to be surrounded by a large family, kids, grandkids and great grandkids.  That is the legacy that Jamin and I are trying to build.  I look at Jamin's grandmother who has a lot of children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren and she will always have someone to help her, she will never be old and alone.  She is a wonderful Godly woman who has build a legacy and has raised children with strong values who would do anything for her.  That is our inspiration, that is what we want when Jamin and I are old and at the end of our life on this earth.

A long look back and a glance forward

2007 for me was an amazing year. I'm sad to see it go, sad to see my kids grow so fast, but I look forward in anticipation of what 2008 will hold.

2007 brought with it some big realizations for me. I realized that what I thought my goals and plans were was not what God wanted for me, and when I finally put my selfishness aside, he had a world of happiness awaiting for me.

Of course the biggest highlight for me of this past year was the arrival of Evie. She is everything that we could have hoped for and more. She has filled a void in our family we never would have known about until her arrival. Ginger put it best when we were talking about Ethan and Evie and said that if we would have never gotten pregnant and had her, we would have never missed her. I think that is a really profound statement. However my heart longed for her, and now she is here she has brought so much joy in this family.

I'm so happy to be at home with my children. I'm so happy to be going to school. It feels like such a big accomplishment, and I'm so proud of myself for finally doing it.

2007 was filled with wonderful times with family. I loved having so many of our friends/family from Phoenix come and visit and stay in our home with us. Even though we have a tiny little home it is bursting at the seems with love and lots of fun.

I think I've loosened up (a bit) this year. I still have a lot of work to do on myself about not sweating the small stuff, but God is working on me.

I must say the saddest part of the year was loosing Grandma Miser and Ted. We look forward to seeing them again when we all meet in heaven. Life is short and you don't know when your last day on earth will be, so it made me hug my kids a little tighter and tell my family every day just how much I love them.

In 2008 I hope to....

Loose 10 pounds.
Exercise more.
Find a home church.
Meet some new friends.
Keep a 4.0 GPA in school.
Buy a minivan.
Pay off debt.
Read my bible more.
Quit Smoking!!!! (I'm crossing my fingers that Chantix will work)
Continue telling my family every day just how wonderful they are.
Stress less.
Laugh more.

I Quit!

Ok, so I did it. After much thought, and stress, and thought, and stress I decided to follow my heart and leave my job to stay at home with the kids.

It was really hard for me to go full time once I came to Oklahoma after working part time for so long, but I did it in hopes that one day they would eventually offer part time at Cox, however that has not happened. After the birth of Evie, I just really started to think about my priorities, and what was important to me.

A year ago, I had stars in my eyes moving to Oklahoma. I was greedy and materialistic, and driven by my desires for a home and pretty things. I thought moving here would give us that. God has taken us down an unusual path over the past year, and I think that was a learning process for me to find out what exactly was important. Ginger put it best to me and said when I stand before God will he say "Great job at Cox."? No, he won't.

I've learned that I don't have to go to the movies every weekend to make my kids happy, that a walk up to the park and a push on the swings does much more. I've learned that prosperity is not the amount of money that I have, but the quality of life that my family has. I've learned that it's not the TV sets, or the XBOX that make the kids happy, but sitting down with the TV off playing a game of Monopoly with them.

I'm scared to death. Can we make it on one income? Please pray for us on this new endeavor.

One thing I know is, life is better once you quit your job. The grass is greener, the air smells sweeter...