Good morning!
I hope your day is off to a good start! I’m hoping my day doesn’t take a massive dive for the worse when I head off to the dentist this morning. I have an appointment to get a filling repaired. An old filling fell out last week and I have a nice little hole in my tooth that needs to be patched up. Sounds like a rockin’ good time!
Workout
Today’s workout began with a two mile run on the treadmill.
After my quick run, it was off to the weight room for a Best Body Boot Camp workout! I flip flopped the final two circuit workouts for the week and did the upper body circuit workout. That’ll do, pig. That’ll do. (<— If you can name that movie, we should probably be best friends.)
Breakfast
I made myself a plate of scrambled eggs with shredded cheese and spinach for breakfast this morning.
On the side I had a rather questionable toasted whole wheat English muffin. I found it in the freezer this morning and I’m pretty sure it was on its last leg. I ended up making myself an egg sandwich with the English muffin and scrambled eggs and all was well.
Television Decision
Last month Ryan and I started talking about canceling our cable. We actually went without television in our house for two years back when we first started living together.
(That apartment is still my favorite place that we’ve lived! I loved all of the windows and the hardwood floors.)
We weren’t sure how we would handle it, but we both didn’t really miss it at all. We had NetFlix and found that when we would watch TV together, it felt like a planned event rather than just a default activity since we were watching DVDs of movies or TV shows that we were both interested in watching together. If there was a show on TV that we really wanted to keep up with, we’d watch it online a few days after it originally aired. Most days we just didn’t watch TV at all and I honestly didn’t miss it.
We got cable again when we moved into our second apartment (a decision that was motivated by Ryan’s desire to watch the World Cup) and have kept it ever since. When we started talking about canceling our cable last week, we realized we don’t really have many shows we watch regularly. New Girl and Modern Family are the only two shows we watch together weekly, though I also watch The Bachelor and Ryan loves sports.
Paying for cable doesn’t seem worth it when we only care about a few shows, but aside from that, we realized that we’ve started to use TV as a default form of “filler entertainment.” We’ll find ourselves sitting on the couch watching random shows we don’t really care much about at all at night. When we didn’t have TV, we read more, went on more walks with Sadie and were more productive around the house in the evening.
But on the nights when neither of us feel like doing anything, TV is a pretty sweet thing. I’ve already told Ryan I’m all in for canceling cable but he really likes watching sports and isn’t fully on board yet. We shall see!
Question of the Morning
- Do you watch a lot of TV? How many minutes/hours of TV do you watch a day?
- Have you ever considered going TV-free in your house? Would you want to?
Fun fact: According to the New York Daily News, Americans watch an average of 34 hours of television a week.
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I am and have always been a TV fanatic ( I blame my parents). I pay a ridiculous amount for cable (but split it with 2 roommates) with an obscene amount of channels but it makes me happy. I can’t live without True Blood and Homeland! I’m not a netflix or hulu fan. I would rather watch stuff live or on demand.
haha I haven’t heard a BABE reference in forever…I was obsessed with wilbur, I even did a school project where I created the whole cast in clay–ha I guess you could say it was my favorite movie!! You just brought back childhood (made me smile) — as for the TV — I could live without the TV, I don’t think I even turned on a TV in college, but to watch movies…however, my hubbs is in love with Sports & HBO so I don’t think he could cut his ties, but I sure wouldn’t mind :] hope the dentist wasn’t too bad, I strongly fear the dentist & all those shiny tools! Love your posts & realness. xo. Ky
** Wilbur too (Charlotte’s Web) haha another great pig story :]
That quote is from Babe! 🙂 My husband and I haven’t ever had cable since we’ve been together. We just watch the basic stations and Netflix. I really haven’t missed it. It’s just too expensive to justify for us. Oh and I love watching The Bachelor, we should totally be friends. 😉
We decided to go cable free 2 years ago and have never looked back. With services like Netflix and Hulu plus, I still keep updated on shows like ‘New Girl’ (love that show soooo much), and my hubby finds most of the sport he wants to watch from live streaming.
Also quite afew channels (like CBS) are actually free to air – we brought an antenna, and we can still watch them 🙂
I’m more a dvd kind of girl. I don’t watch any tv barely. I don’t have time, and I’m more computer obsessed. Goodluck at the dentist, something must be in the air because my whole family has been this past week. Not me though…stuck that.
My husband uses that Babe quote all the time! It always makes me smile. That is one of our favorite movies. I love talking animals!!! Probably one of the reasons I like your blog so much – the voice bubble Sadie pictures are my favorite. My husband and I do have cable but I honestly don’t use it at all. I only watch a few shows (bachelor, parenthood, Nashville) and I always catch them online anyways. The only show my husband and I watch together is Downton Abbey (online). My husband’s sports addiction is the main reason we will always have cable. He LOVES watching all sports (especially football) and I don’t foresee that ever changing. I guess if it is that important to him I can deal with paying for cable. I mean, if someone cut off my wireless internet I would NOT be a happy camper (and I’m not even a professional blogger).
I was living without a TV for 4 years and it was great. All the shows that I want to see are available online, and I love podcasts for the news. Now we own a TV but we use it only as a big screen for movies and shows. My boyfriend is paying 10 euros a month for the baketball channel, and that are all of our TV costs
funny you should mention this…i just had a talk with my husband last night about how we need to seriously cut back on tv hours….i put it on just for noise and when i’m tired and he watches tons of shows on the internet (it’s a smart tv). but we don’t spend enough quality time together and he definitely isn’t active enough. our cable is free through a glitch due to having cable internet so there’s no turning it off….
I haven’t had cable for about a year and a half now, and I do not miss it whatsoever! I actually don’t see myself getting it again. I highly recommend that if you feel like you’re mindlessly watching it, you get rid of it (if you’re inclined to do so, that is). 🙂 Reading, going on walks, watching inspirational YouTube videos (like TED talks)… so many better things to do than watch an endless barrage of commercials and shows that don’t always promote the kindest messages!
When I first started living on my own, I had roommates who insisted on cable. I soon realized it just an added expense so now that I live on my own, I don’t have it and I don’t miss it at all! I got a blu ray player for Christmas and I can stream Netflix through it and all the other shows I watch I can stream through their online apps. I know it usually comes down to sports because you can’t watch most games on regular TV but I would have to say it’s easy to live without.
We got rid of cable over a year ago and it really is so freeing. We have Netflix for $7.99 and between that, a friend’s HBOGO account that he lets us use and pbs.org for my beloved Downton Abbey, we’re set. I also have a husband who couldn’t care less about sports and doesn’t watch any televised ones so that helps. But you’re right in that every time you do sit down to watch something it feels more planned and eventful. I don’t even miss background noise while I’m cooking or anything b/c I just use Pandora for that now. So much stuff is available online that the $100+ cable bill is just not worth it. Plus, I hate cable companies. They try to screw you left and right and telling them “peace out” was one of the more satisfying moments in my life 😉
I don’t have cable, and for the most part, I really don’t mind at all. I watch shows on Hulu and movies on Netflix. I was even able to watch the presidential debates on YouTube. And I watch HBO shows on HBO Go using my parents’ account. The only thing I’ve missed is the red carpet at awards shows and the awards shows themselves. And it’s sometimes nice to flip on the news instead of hunting it down online. But I really don’t think cable is worth the expense!
My husband and I have been talking about nixing our cable too…We both agreed that soon it won’t even be a thing. We’re guessing that in the relatively near future, we’ll either get to just pay by channel we want to subscribe through or everything will be put online (tvs will just be all internet)…
awww Babe!!!! I used to have pigs for the 4-H fair and always thought that movie was so sad! 🙁 I feel the same way about TV … excited to see what you do!
Babe!!! “La la la!”
BABE!
My husband and I have been tv free for our whole marriage (with the exception of a few short months when we lived in an apartment that they hadn’t cancelled the last tenant’s cable yet) so that is 6.5 years of just Netflix, and internet streaming. I have to say that it is a little bit frustrating to wait to watch things (like the Bachelor) when everyone else has seen it already. However, my husband who is also a sports FANATIC has been able to always find just about any game/match online streaming without much trouble. Either that or he will plan a boys nite to watch “the game” with friends. That said, cable is around $80-$100 a month where we live so he does not mind that savings! I hope that you feel great about whatever decision you make on the great TV debate 🙂
I recently moved, and like you, I only have a few shows that I really wanted to watch. Cable is just too expensive these days, so I opted for a Roku box (got the idea from Caitlin at Healthy Tipping Point). I got a Hulu Plus subscription (for $7.99/month) for all the current shows and a year of Amazon Prime (because they still think I’m a student and it was only $39.99). I haven’t missed a single one of my shows and feel so much better about not watching too much TV! The significant difference in price isn’t too shabby either. I highly recommend it!
Haha, I cannot express how much I wish we didn’t have cable. In college, I personally thought cable was a waste of money and didn’t want it. I was so productive. The only time I watched tv was when I would go over to my boyfriend’s (awkward to say now since we are married) place for the night.
Now, we watch certain shows every night when we get home from work.. I told him yesterday I feel like we are wasting our life away just watching tv. I don’t think he can part with it anyntime soon though..
Get Netflix. Plenty of TV shows there and no commercials. I would go without TV. I only really watch it idly and to fall asleep at night. There aren’t any shows I must see. I could learn to fall asleep without it. There are so many other ways to watch shows these days – online, Netflix, the library (our libraries in Vegas have a massive selection of DVDs).
Hi Julie, I dont know how i got here, but I have been reading your blog for less than a year now. I don’t live in a warm city like yours, I also run, am married with one cat but I would love to have a dog too and I seldom have breakfast. Your breakfast have been a source of inspiration for me, I love your scrambled eggs with differents toppings. So yesterday I’ve decided to start having some breakfast in the morning and pitty I cannot send you a pic, but I had scrambled eggs with spinach and were yummy yummy! Thank you very much for your posts and your funny and nice stories. Take care, greetings from Switzerland.
My husband and I have been discussing getting rid of cable, and I think we have just about reached our decision. We are generally pretty active and enjoy spending lots of time outside most of the year. We also have a 13 year old who gets pretty frustrated with the parental controls we set on the television and internet. It seems like the amount of programming with reasonable content has seriously declined since we were teenagers. Cable television seems like a waste of money. Especially since you can watch just about anything online.
We don’t have a TV in our new house (we bought it almost a year ago) and I could not be happier. I read twice as much and feel just better not knowing/watching TV…..
At first, I did wonder what was going on with my favorite shows but, a year later, I don’t even remember what I used to watch
I do miss out on a lot of “pop culture” references but I have no desire to have a TV again!
Guys need their cable. I looove your blog, but I personally think that it would not be fair to cancel cable to be more productive around the house. I think men and women use TV in different ways. When I’m lazy I watch whatever is on TV, but my boyfriend merely used the television to watch his sports! I see the TV as a way for my boyfriend to relax and unwind from his day, not to mention watch sports (his passion).