Life Without the Cable

I was reading BooMama this morning and decided I needed to share my dilemma. I call it my HGTV-detox. Ummm, Hi my name is GrumpyPants, and I miss my HGTV. I know I'm being a baby about this, but I miss it, I really do. Here's the deal...My husband, Don, has not had cable since around his 3rd or 4th year in college. He and his roommates moved in and just never found the time to get cable. They weren't home much anyway and when they were they'd watch DVDs. Then, in his first job after graduation, he'd work 60+ hours a week. So there was no need for cable. Also, he joined the Blockbuster Club, which is just like NetFlix except it's Blockbuster. So there was never a shortage of entertainment. Don was great with me when we got married and we tried the cable. But, we really only watched it first thing in the morning when we were getting dressed and on Saturday mornings. And, let's face it, I need to be cleaning my house on Saturday morning instead of watching other people clean up their house. But, dang it, sometimes - say Saturday mornings - I want to watch a peppy designer transform a run down house into a mansion, all for $2,000. Can I hear an Amen!?

But, Don's right. We are so much more productive without cable and the $70 extra bucks a month is nice as well. Plus, we still watch a good deal of TV during the week. We get The Office, House, The X Files, and Lost in from Blockbuster and watch that quite a lot. We have even discussed cutting back on this. Because the couch potato body is just not attractive and the laundry should be done at some point.

Anyway, all this rambling to say, I miss HGTV. Can someone create a way that I can get my HGTV, FoodNetwork, TNT, USA, The History Channel, TLC, and Animal Planet only and leave everything else out. Because I really do not need all the sports, news, and hunting (really? do we really need to watch someone fish?) channels. Anyone else feel as I do, or am I just crazy? Anyone ever cut out TV cold turkey? What was it like?

I will end with saying that TV is fine in moderation, but when it gets out of hand - say more than 6 hours on average per week - it's time to cut it off. And we plan to limit TV severely with our children - we do not want overweight kids who have no idea how to play because they sit in front of the TV all day - no TV babysitter in the Echols' household. Thank You Very Much.