We Did It! (Do you think we've gone too far?)

We canceled our cable (guilty as charged)!

(Anyone get that Dave Matthews allusion?)

Here's our TV stand sans a cable box:














Wes said to me, "I knew I'd lived with you too long when I looked at our TV stand and thought, 'What are we going to put on the left side now that the cable box is gone??'"

I laughed out loud. Of course I thought the exact same thing. (I also thought, 'Honey, you've only lived with me one year, so what's going to happen after 50?' -- Maybe he'll actually want to decorate!)

(Or maybe not.)

At any rate, I'm open to suggestion on what to put there, but we really need a clock of some sort. The cable box displayed the time, and we don't have a clock (or a place to hang a clock, really) in the living/dining room area. A DVD player would be a great solution... but the TV has a built-in DVD player, so that would be weird. If you find any thin, long, boxy clocks -- let me know!

As far as the "why" of canceling cable, I think I touched on that before, but our decision was two-fold. One reason -- the simplest reason -- was money. Canceling it saved us $36/month, and since we just took over our car insurance payment from my mom, the extra cash helps! Plus, we didn't feel like we were being good stewards of our finances. The second reason was more personal, and had more to do with me than Wes. I just really felt like I was being controlled by TV. And it's not like I watched it all the time -- I really didn't. I was always up for an episode or two of Law and Order in the evenings (or Jon and Kate plus 8), and on weekends I was known for indulging in some HGTV. But thought of not being able to turn on the TV when I wanted to was stressing me out, even though lots of great people advised me to cancel it (thanks, friends!). I woke up Wednesday morning and realized how absurdly I was acting. I was stressed out over TV. I was agonizing over television. Seriously -- how sad is that? I decided right then and there that we were getting rid of it -- and we did that evening. I don't want something in my life that's that controlling... unless it's the Holy Spirit. :)

I am looking forward to life without TV, although I'm not going to lie -- I'm tempted to buy a season of Law and Order Criminal Intent on DVD (I've seen every SVU episode, so I guess it's time to expand my horizons!). There's just something relaxing after coming home from being cooped up in an office all day long and winding down to some good detective work. But I want that to be a treat -- not the norm. I recently finished a book for the first time in over a year. That's sad. One book in a year! I used to read all the time. Perhaps now Wes and I will be more adventerous, too... take walks in the evenings, explore Louisville, etc. For instance, tonight we're going canoeing with a couple from church. Fun!

That's all for now. Last video in the Anniversary series to come soon... hope you've enjoyed them. :)