Cable-Free

I thought I'd share our experience being cable-free for a whole year now. Do I regret it? Not one bit.

1. We started by changing our internet provider to the fastest and cheapest around. 
2. We bought a Roku box to access all of our online streaming subscriptions in one place. We hooked this directly to our router to provide continuous internet feed.
3. We added our Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime accounts. We also watch the PBS channel quite a bit. And we'll put on the Presto fireplace channel to have on in the background at times.
4. We purchased a PlayOn subscription, thinking this would allow us to stream ESPN, BigTen network, etc. It did not. We can watch YouTube videos through it, but it's a pain and just easier to watch that stuff on our computers.
5. We bought an antenna for our TV, so we can watch available Packers and Badgers games (note - we do miss pausing the game when dealing with the kids...).
6. We also purchased a side subscription that allows us to watch shows on the BBC.

That's it! Certain shows that we know we'll rewatch (Doctor Who, Psych and Archer), we purchase a season pass from Amazon Instant Video and they are downloaded to our account after they air. Amazon also is our source for old Iron Chef America episodes. Hulu is good for network shows (Parks & Rec, New Girl). We've used Netflix to discover series that we can watch at our own pace (Eureka, Top Gear, old episodes of all of the above). And the PBS channel on Roku has given me my Sherlock and Downton Abbey fixes. Speaking of the BBC, if you see Broadchurch or The Musketeers, WATCH THEM. They are amazing. [note: these are just a few of the shows to which I am particular.]

We're not big movie watchers, but there are several movie subscription channels that are available.

Badger game not on a network channel? Old school radio, baby.

Gratitude

Just when you think you're getting close to the light at the end of the tunnel, sometimes it collapses and you have to dig yourself out again by hand. This winter already seemed terrible and interminable when things got worse. This is officially going down in my memory as A Bad Winter (yes, capitalized).

But, it's the times when you struggle that make you grateful for what you've got. And we certainly have a lot. We've got our health (well, what's left of it after this winter), each other, incredible children, supportive families and friends, and lots of opportunities. We just hope they pan out soon.

We've thankfully had plenty of distractions lately, like three kids' birthday parties to attend. Those have been lots of fun for everybody, and it's so interesting to watch friends' kids grow up as well. We've gotten into homebrewing, and currently have two brews fermenting merrily in our basement. We've also taken the opportunity to rid of house of unwanted clutter. It's nice to have some storage space again. We have semi-nightly dance parties to Disney songs in our living room. Both kids very much like to "Move It".


The kids are doing well. Felix is really becoming an artist, making detailed pictures that have an equally detailed storyline. Here's a couple examples of recent artwork. I wish I had the story verbatim behind each one to share with you.

Iris is talking up a storm. She says more than 225 words (about half of them you don't need an Iris-to-English translation guide), is starting to use two-word phrases, and knows the numbers from 1-12 (even a few by sight), plus some letters. I'm really impressed with her language skills. She does have some funny pronunciations that we've struggled to translate. "Pyot" is spider. "Mugeet" is music. "Painah" is peanut butter. Context is everything...

We are confident things will work out for us, and soon. They did before, right? Right. And it could always be worse.

Felix: 4.5 yrs & Iris: 18 mos