We ditched the dish.
The days of recording our favorite shows and complaining about having to watch live tv are through.
With my husband's new job came new financial challenges. You may remember from this post that he is currently living in two places. An apartment that we were SO blessed to have been hooked up with, and here at home with us, 1.5 hours away from work. This new chapter in our lives has presented some new challenges, and reminded us of some old ones, not the least of which is the pay cut that we took for this job.
When I tell people how significant the pay cut was to take this new job people think that we are nuts, but let me explain: The schools here in the county we have been living in are rated between 2 and 3.... and that's out of TEN mind you! That's horrible! Don't get me wrong, this place had its uses and charms, and we are all too grateful for the opportunities that we have had here, but we have always known that this place was just a pitstop for us. The schools in our new county are rated up in the 8 and 9 range! Good gracious, what a glorious change! I know that leaving the good money and taking less all for the sake of providing our children a better education and a better community and really, a better quality of life was the righteous choice for us to make for our family, and I am proud of and stand behind that decision, no matter how hard this is.
When I tell people how significant the pay cut was to take this new job people think that we are nuts, but let me explain: The schools here in the county we have been living in are rated between 2 and 3.... and that's out of TEN mind you! That's horrible! Don't get me wrong, this place had its uses and charms, and we are all too grateful for the opportunities that we have had here, but we have always known that this place was just a pitstop for us. The schools in our new county are rated up in the 8 and 9 range! Good gracious, what a glorious change! I know that leaving the good money and taking less all for the sake of providing our children a better education and a better community and really, a better quality of life was the righteous choice for us to make for our family, and I am proud of and stand behind that decision, no matter how hard this is.
What we've gained...
In a way, ditching the dish is something I have been secretly wanting to do for a while. Having "cable" hinders us from getting up and getting going. It keeps us from interacting as much with each other. It keeps us lazy, and it keeps us plugged into the TV when we should be plugged into each other and having quality time together.
Cable is a trap. Don't get me wrong, I am having withdrawals (to a certain extent). I hate that I missed Sister Wives on Sunday, and the finale of Top Shot All-Stars, and Futurama, and Adventure Time (lol, that's an odd collection, huh), But something I am definitely NOT going to miss is the $73 per month we were paying for it. Having cable or satellite is a luxury and not a necessity, so we kicked the dish to the curb, and we aren't looking back!
We aren't totally lost without it though, we still have tons of shows on DVD and enough movies to make your eyes bug out, and oh dear the video games! We are still able to entertain ourselves, only none of those other sources of TV fun make you feel trapped the way satellite/cable seems to. And frankly, it is so much easier to get lost in TV because there are so many choices, you can hardly step away. But with all these other things, you can only be sucked in for so long, and then you get kind of bored.
Another thing that rocks about ditching the dish is that I have gotten back into reading more. I didn't realize how much I missed it. So that's a bonus! Right now I am speeding through the 3rd installment of the Fallen series, "Passion". It's not too bad, and it's a pretty quick read. who knows what is next, I'll probably read Catching Fire again so that I can refresh my memory before the movie comes out (<---so stoked about this!). I'll probably throw the Twilight and Harry Potter books in the queue as well, I can never go too long without reading them through again.
What comes next...
I just found out this morning that another house we looked at a while back, which ended up going under contract, is back on the market. Could this one be our house?? Who knows. But Lord knows I'm on my knees daily praying for the opportunity for us all to live together again! I want so badly for us all to be together, and to be homeowners for the first time!
I know God will bless us in due time, and unfortunately for my nerves, I just need to keep praying and stay positive and most of all trust that when the right thing comes along God will set it aside for us!
I hope y'all are having a PERFECTLY AWESOME long weekend and I look forward to hearing from you
(nudge nudge comments? nudge nudge) lol
4 comments:
Way to go for ditching the dish. We ditched a while back but Mike caved and got it again because its college football season and we can't get regular TV here where we live without someone risking an eye over antenna's.
I feel you on the needing a better school, we moved for that reason. I refused to put my child in a failing school system.
Hope the house pulls through for you, or another, soon so you can all be together again. I can't imagine living apart from Mike, I think it would drive me nuts.
Thankfully neither of us care a flip about sports! lol We live way out in the boonies here and so we had dish AND we have to have sattellite internet too, which really stinks, btw.
I'm glad to hear we aren't alone when it comes to school system woes.
I hope so too! Living apart has had its tolls for sure. We're one of those couples who are best friends, and we love to be together all the time, my dad and stepmom tell us all the time that they have never met a couple like us who just wanna be with each other nonstop, so yeah, it's been hard, but we keep coming through ok, and I am just so eager to live together FULLTIME again!
Thanks for the comment!
We cancelled our cable awhile ago, and honestly, things in general are just much better. We kept Netflix and Hulu Plus, and we didn't really feel like we were missing out on shows too much. I hope things work out soon for your new housing situation. You're in my thoughts and prayers daily.
Yeah, things are better here too, I'm really pleased about it. We plan to get either Netflix or Hulu Plus if we move to a place with better internet options. We have satelite out here as the only option other than dial up, and it is way too slow for those programs. ugh!
I hope so too girl! Thank you for always being so sweet and taking the time to think of us! <3
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