Extraordinary Faith for Everyday Life
It’s Wednesday when I share my outfits from the week.
I pair my outfits with inspirational photos. Read more about that here.
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The Pleated Poppy’s What I Wore Wednesday
Lexi watching Saved by the Bell through Netflix on my phone
One year ago we decided within days to get rid of both cable and our traditional home phone. A few people have asked me how it’s going so I thought it’d be good to share a review one year later.
So, here’s all the ins and outs of life without traditional phone or cable.
Because of the hours I spend on conference calls, I used the phone so much for this purpose that I have an Analytic Call Tracking, we’ve been using a Google voice line in combination with an OBi box as well as our cell phones, of course.
I have had connection issues on my meetings a handful of times but compared to the number of hours I’ve used it–probably 1,000 hours–it’s been inconsequential. In those moments, I’ve switched over to my cell.
The savings of about $500 this year make it worth it. The fact that we’ve had no telemarketers calling confirms we have no plans to go back.
There’s multiple aspects to how we’ve felt about surviving without cable so I thought I’d review from a few different perspectives.
The kids had a hard time in the beginning when they couldn’t just switch on the TV and stream their favorite shows one after another.
Since then, Netflix has become the staple. Please don’t make the mistake thinking the kids don’t watch TV without cable. They log plenty of hours (maybe more) watching marathons of a particular series. Sometimes they’ll cycle through all the Good Luck, Charlie episodes while other days they’re cycling through Saved by the Bell.
They’d tell you they want DirecTV back but it’s certainly enough to keep them satisfied.
Scott was a news and documentary TV watcher. He misses Fox News and can’t get enough of it when we stay at a hotel.
We bought an XM radio base for him to listen to Fox News channel but over the year, even time on that has decreased.
Netflix has enough Discovery Channel type shows like Shark Week to handle his sciencey preferences.
Scott agrees it’d be nice to have back but it’s not worth the money.
In the past, you could have easily called me a TV addict but I do not miss cable in the least. In fact, my TV time has decreased over the last year to almost no screen time unless I’m watching something with the kids.
Last fall, I kept up with the last few shows I was watching (Revenge, Once Upon a Time, Parenthood, Arrow) through Hulu but all of them fizzled for me mid-season.
I watched a few of the season finales in the spring just to see how they ended. This summer I couldn’t even tell you what was on TV—except The Bachelorette which I do kind of miss on finale nights like last night!
Every once in awhile I’ll watch a few Mad Men episodes, finally watching Gilmore Girls is on my to-do list and I’ll watch Sherlock Holmes and Downton Abbey when they come back out. Maybe I’ll stay up to date with Parenthood or Arrow this fall but all in all, TV is just way down the priority list these days.
Anything I do want to watch will be later through Hulu or Netflix.
My inner fan girl is shedding a few tears but honestly, I feel more free than ever before. I have plenty of time to read and I’m not constantly hounded by a list of shows I’m behind on. I don’t feel like I’m wasting time while I watch and it’s just right for me in this season.
We have a PS3 in the living room and use our subscriptions on that device but we bought the Roku device for our bedroom. The Roku itself works perfectly but we bought the wifi version and our connection in our bedroom is horrible so we often get frustrated and give up. I would have skipped the Roku or at the very least, gotten the hard-wired one.
We rarely–RARELY–watch live TV. It’s been great to pick up live national events like the Christmas parade or Super Bowl but other than that, we don’t use it.
I’d guess for those that watch Sports, this would be a must if you got rid of DirecTV but for us, it’s a good thing this was only a one-time cost or it certainly wouldn’t have been worth it.
As I mentioned above, we bought an XM radio base for Scott to listen to FOX News. His time on that steadily decreased but it has been nice to have the music on in the background. While I doubt I’d buy it again, it is a nice-to-have.
We had Netflix before leaving cable and it’s an absolute must without cable.
We bought this subscription thinking we’d keep up with our shows on Hulu on our Roku but that hasn’t been the case. Even when I was watching my shows, I found I watched them on my computer and given our issues with Roku, I’d cancel Hulu Plus if it were not for the kids who love of Minute to Win It and Wipe Out.
I already had Amazon Prime for the shipping but a few times we have picked up some movies and streamed them through our PS3. I certainly wouldn’t buy Amazon Prime just for the streaming but it’s been nice as a package deal.
All that to say we could do just fine with a regular Hulu account, a Netflix subscription and our PS3 and computer. We’ve saved at minimum $600 this year with no plans to change a thing.
Lots of questions for you—if you have cable, are you thinking of making the switch, what would you miss the most, what shows am I missing?! If you’ve cut the cords, what other tips and tricks have you learned?
I finished The Fault in Our Stars yesterday and declared it one of my favorite novels ever. Although I haven’t reviewed a book on its own in awhile and I even had plans for another post today, I need some space to gush.
If you haven’t read the book, please do two things for me. Go buy the book. And until you do, don’t read anymore of this post.
If you’ve read the book, please prepare your typing fingers because I need you to gush with me in the comments.
Here are some Gushy Thoughts about the book:
“As he read, I fell in love the way you fall asleep: slowly, then all at once.”
“Oh, I wouldn’t mind, Hazel Grace. It would be a privilege to have my heart broken by you.”
“Some tourists think Amsterdam is a city of sin, but in truth it is a city of freedom. And in freedom, most people find sin.”
I know I’ll post this and think of 27 more things to gush about. Ever since I finished it yesterday, I keep thinking about it.
So here’s your chance folks, gush about this book with me. I mean, please tell me you loved it too. There wasn’t anyone that hated is there? I can’t imagine but tell me if you did.
Is there a movie in the works for this book? I haven’t looked it up and haven’t decided whether I want one although I already have been trying to decide who could do Augustus justice. Michael Rady (Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants) is at the top of my list right now.
Now, GO GUSH! Okay? Okay.
I got braces during my 9th grade year. I had to get 4 teeth pulled because my mouth was so crowded.
I remember having to gnaw on PB&Js at school lunch, change out bands and nurse sore cheeks with wax. There’s no doubt braces aren’t exactly fun.
My 10th grade picture, about 6 months after getting braces. (The necklace was a birthday gift from Scott. Hello 90’s and gold chains.)
I’d had them 2.5 years when I begged to get them off for my senior pictures but he said they just weren’t ready. I finally had them removed at the end of my senior year and all the discomfort was worth it.
Fast forward 15 years.
I had no idea that orthodontists these days start looking at kids’ teeth as early as 7 or 8 years old. When one of Emma’s best friends got braces on over a year ago, we realized we were already behind.
When Emma saw what her friend was going through at first, Emma didn’t want a single thing to do with braces. And that meant I didn’t want to either. There’s no way I would force the issue. It’s enough work and pain when you want them but it would be absolute torture if she didn’t want them and I was having to force extra hygiene, bands and wax on her.
But now that Emma’s friend is nearly getting hers off, Emma wants her turn. And listen, I’m striking while the iron is hot. If she’s into it and ready for the work, then I am too. The orthodontist said there was no harm in her waiting until she was older. She doesn’t have any glaring issues worthy of an emergency but she’s ready, she has a buddy that’s been-there, done-that and that’s enough for me.
So, her treatment plan looked something like this: she’ll have spacers for one week in her back teeth to make room for brackets.
Then, get the expander which will widen the roof of her mouth by turning a screw device twice a day for 10 days. Her mouth is tiny like mine and they’re trying to avoid pulling her teeth like mine.
The expander will stay in her mouth for at least 3 months to ensure her mouth doesn’t move back. However, the braces will go in along with the expander and they’ll stay for 2 years.
*Deep breath*
So far we’ve completed the spacers and tomorrow will be our last day of turning the expander. Braces will be coming in just a few weeks.
The first few days weren’t really fun. She was having trouble keeping things out of the roof of her mouth and her teeth were sore. We were keeping her hopped up on medicine almost all the time. She only wanted to eat things like cottage cheese, yogurt, mashed potatoes and smoothies. Since we’re gluten free, it made eating EXTRA fun.
Right now, things are getting worse before they’re getting better and I admit I’m a little panicky.
Here she is last week before the expander.
Her front two teeth are perfectly aligned but you can see the back of her mouth is very narrow, she has an overbite and her bottom teeth are not growing properly because of it.
She got her expander last Wednesday and here’s how much it’s changed already:
You can see the back of her mouth is wider. On her right side, you can see a back tooth you couldn’t see before. Most glaring though is the space in the front.
Last night I told Scott, “Did we really pay for her to have a gap in her teeth??”
It’s totally expected (I actually think it’s kind of adorable) and the braces will immediately fix it but still, it makes me a little panicky for it to get worse before it gets better.
I had originally planned to get her braces on several weeks before school started so we were doing all of this during the summer but due to vacation and holidays, it looks like she’ll be getting her braces right as school starts.
*Deep breath*
She’s actually having fun with it all though. Just this morning, she said she likes turning the key and will miss it after tomorrow and she likes using her waterpik. She’s already got the color picked out she wants on her bands the first time.
That’s exactly the attitude I’d hoped she’d have when we ever decided to get braces so all in all, I’m calling it so far, so good.
I’ll be updating you (with permission from Emma) through our braces journey to let you know how it goes. I know it’s helped tremendously having someone we know go through the same thing just before us.
Did you have braces? Do your kids have braces? Any tips/tricks/advice is welcome!
Posted with permission from Miss Emma