{taco tasting}
{dessert}
{herbs}
{Circe + D, spring cleaning}
{cornmeal muffins}
{plants}
{freshly picked}
We've been doing lots of eating and lots of cooking. Finally got the herb garden re-planted (third time in two years?). Hopefully I'll remember to water it. I'm better in summer because I'm motivated to go out there more often.
Circe came for a quick visit. Poor girl is going through a grey period while her undercoat falls out, but she'll be her usual spotted self again soon.
Made a big batch of cornmeal muffins and added a bit of diced rosemary before baking. Perfect.
We are (really, truly) going to cut the cable next week. It's decided. I'm hoping that transitioning during summer will be easier and we'll magically become people that eat outside and have long conversations instead of sitting at the coffee table and getting teary during RuPaul. To prepare I went through our DVR and wrote down what series we record and then figured out if/where we can get them and how much it will cost to do it. Even if we pay for the premium stuff we'll still be saving money. I'll report back.
I have such trouble commenting since I don't have any of the accounts below - I have an old blogger account that I never use & is tied to a different email address & my new google account is just email - I haven't registered for anything else which makes commenting difficult! But, I'm going to try this out because I like your blog and always find myself trying to comment & then miserably failing.
ReplyDeleteAs for your post, we cut out cable years ago & it's made us so much happier. We still watch all the shows we wanna watch (RuPaul included) but are now much more selective. We just don't sit in front of a tv show that is just on for laziness sakes. Hooray for more cooking and gardening!! Happy summer fun to you.
Boo! So sorry for all the commenting hoops, Jeanette! I had to get rid of anonymous comments because I was getting flooded with spam. But maybe I should try just using a captcha instead? I hate that it's difficult.
DeleteI'm hoping we end up like you - more selective but still getting to see the stuff we really want to see. We've talked about it for two years, so it's definitely time to just do it already!
Some advice pertaining to cutting the cable, which we did 9 months ago. I'd never go back. NO COMMERCIALS IS SO SO NICE! Get the HD Roku, it's about $80. We're lucky, because our family gave us access to their Netflix account. Through Roku you can use the Netflix streaming app (which you'd have to subscribe to). We subscribed to Amazon Prime, which we love because not only do we get 2 day shipping, but it gives us access to a really decent catalogue of movies and TV shows on Amazon. We also use the PlayOn and Plex apps which are great because they wirelessly connect to your computer and enable you to watch TV through specific websites (i.e.: lifetime, foodnetwork, HGTV, ABC, NBC, HULU). We don't watch alot of TV but there's always something to watch. It's actually helped us get in to documentaries. We also hooked up an antenna so we could get the local TV stations, and so I can watch the Today Show in the morning. We rarely watch antenna TV.. but it's definitely worth it just for the local news. So basically all we paid for initially was the Roku and the antenna. Then $80 a year for Amazon prime. We've talked many of our friends into going the same route and they're all really happy. Good luck!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the tips! We were thinking we could avoid buying the Roku because we have a Playstation and it can stream most of those things but I'm not sure we can get anything like the PlayOn or Plex apps, which sound perfect. I'll do more research!
DeleteYay for no cable! I must say I like my life a lot better without it. I mean I still find time to black hole myself with bad shit on netflix, but since we no longer have a tv in the house, all the watching is on an iPad which means I really have to be motivated.
ReplyDeleteYeah, we are not giving up the actual TV. If I only used the iPad I would be cutting WAY down. I'm impressed, lady.
DeleteAgree with the other cable comments. You won't even miss it after a while!
ReplyDeleteCable-free is the way to be! I thought it would be awful, but it's made me loads happier. Hope you find the same!
ReplyDeleteI fucking love my cable.
ReplyDeleteFuck.
Yeah, we've been putting this off for so long. But I'd rather have the extra $80 a month to spend on something else, so I'm sucking it up. Note - if I worked from home, I would NOT get rid of cable.
Deletebah. i have a pretty strict no-tv-when-it's-light-outside rule. i'd never get anything done.
Deleteps. you have inspired me to srsly consider giving it up. last night i realized we've only got three shows recording at the moment. (and we're not even watching jamie oliver on the daily show)
DeleteUm, I still haven't made that phone call. But yes, we're watching basically nothing right now anyways and True Blood is just depressing. I can get almost everything I want to watch without cable anyways. I'm not giving up TV by any means. Just trying to be cheap about it.
DeleteI am so jealous that you guys are cutting the cable. I want to cut the ties, but The Hubs is hesitant, and for good reason - his "hobby" is sports, and there aren't many non-cable options for watching his favorite teams as those teams aren't technically "local" teams, and the games are typically only shown on cable. :/ I think I'm going to try a "Turn off the TV" night once a week to get us BOTH off our TV addiction (I barely even watch it, but it's on all the time because I'm used to the background noise - I need to just buy a cheap stereo or something!)
ReplyDeleteYes, that would make it more difficult! We don't watch sports on TV, except for cycling, which you can usually track down online.
DeleteWe actually never have the TV on unless we're sitting down and watching it because I hate background noise from the TV (oddly, I'm fine with radio background noise, so I have NPR on a lot). The TV noise just makes me feel all jangly somehow!
We tried doing no TV during dinner but we fell back into it after a couple weeks. : (
"I'm hoping that transitioning during summer will be easier and we'll magically become people that eat outside and have long conversations instead of sitting at the coffee table and getting teary during RuPaul"
ReplyDeleteHave you been peeking in our window? I feel the exact same way. My fiance and I are moving to a townhouse where we'll have a good sized deck (ie a grill, a table to eat outside etc), so I keep telling myself that we will magically only dine al fresco and discuss important issues every night.
..in reality, we'll probably still be inside, at the coffee table, arguing about the quality of Frasier (which in fact, is a GREAT show, pffft)
We cut cable about 6 months ago and have never looked back! The fiance is a sports nut and he misses his ESPN at times, but between Amazon Prime, Netflix and Hulu, we miss almost nothing. Makes me realize how much time I wasted just flicking and sitting and staring. You will feel liberated, trust me!
ReplyDeleteI have never had cable, and I rarely watch TV (once in 3 weeks). Good decision!
ReplyDeleteBest of luck to you! We haven't had TV since my oldest was born (6 1/2 years now). We still have internet and netflix. And honestly, I still feel like some days I'm in front of a screen too often (computer, phone, ipad, etc.).
ReplyDeleteGood to hear about how you make yourself busy.
ReplyDeleteAlways a nice writeup from you. Thanks.
Irene (Seward Alaska Fishing)