>i write to you this morning from my kitchen table as i enjoy a homemade iced coffee and a piece (or two or three) of great harvest’s apple cinnamon crunch bread. i have already talked to my sweetheart, been to body pump (thanks to megan for keeping me accountable!) and showered/prepared for the day. and it’s not even 11!
today i plan to continue reading power of a praying wife and my study of a line she uses in her book, and i paraphrase, “a miracle happens with prayer, a submitted heart, and the transforming power of the Holy Spirit.” sigh. how i wish i had a ctrl+f function in real books. so, i’m taking those three things and finding references in the Bible and breaking it down further to the hebrew/greek. can’t wait to blog about it!
so. to the title. when we moved in, we had cable up to 100-some channels and internet. after the 12-month promotion was over, i went down to 20 channels + internet. i told comcast i was not paying $100/month for regular cable and internet. and i wasn’t home much anyway between work, exercising and family. then, i cancelled the cable. so we’ve had only internet for about six months. a little bit ago my sister came and took our tv, tv stand and entertainment cabinet for her new studio apartment. we plan on buying a brand-new tv (ours had been a 15-yr-old hand-me-down from my parents) and tv stand (and ps3, speakers, etc). that was almost two months ago.
how can i survive without a tv? well, i watch my favorite shows on the internet. i had watched biggest loser, and followed army wives a little bit. but overall, i rarely watch movies unless it’s with friends. i have a hard time sitting still for so long by myself. when aaron was home on leave, we watched quite a bit of smallville using my laptop, which has a great picture and “surround sound” (whatever that means for a laptop). after he left, i stopped watching it. i didn’t want to go ahead with season 8 without him. 🙂
i’ve found my overall outlook on life is better. i get very emotionally involved with tv shows and movies. my mind has become more pure, for sure. of course it will when it’s not affected by the violence, cussing and sex found in movies and tv. before i’ve never really felt a conviction on r-rated movies. now i find myself scrutinizing the reasons of why it’s labeled “r”. if there’s nudity, lots of sex-related content, bloody gore, i don’t watch it. i still like your typical action sniperish movies like the bourne series. recently i watched shutter island and enjoyed that one. i’m just much more careful now.
i have a hard time watching army wives because of how close it can hit to home. i figure we’ll be going through a deployment soon enough; why waste my emotions and energy on one that’s not even real?
now, when i go to someone’s house, it’s a treat to “get to” watch tv. it’s a way for me to relax, rather than a way to constantly occupy my mind. i can also watch it at the gym since every treadmill has its own tv.
i want to spend less time on the internet. i really don’t do a whole lot. i facebook (yes, it’s a verb), go to my army wives board, twitter, blogger, and the weather channel. none of it is bad, per se, but there can be too much.
all in all, i’m looking forward to not having to have a relationship with skype. nothing compares to actually being with my husband in the same city, country, time zone. how i took these things for granted before, even when he was in master’s commission.
yesterday…
i bought my first pair of AE jeans yesterday. i had a $10 off $40 purchase coupon and decided to use it. my sister, who is 5’10” and about 30 pounds lighter than me with longer legs, raves about their jeans. i can see why. i tried on three pairs that fit well, but got the “new boyfriend” jeans. so comfortable! i will only shell out that much for jeans when they fit like a glove.
starting today, i’m going to try a dairy-free diet for a week to see how it affects things. at the girls’ night in at kramer chiropractic (i was a guest of a patient) they mentioned trying either a gluten-free or dairy-free diet for a week or two to see if you have an intolerance. hmm. we’ll see. i buy soy milk anyway because regular milk goes bad so fast with only me drinking it.
have a great day, and a great start to the week. as tracy says in the video with “koolaid hurr”, “peace and blessings, peace and blessings.”
mercies per mile 
>I had the exact same experience when I cancelled cable in Illinois. I guess absence doesn't always make the heart grow fonder!
>I grew up without a tv in the home. None whatsoever and we didn't watch shows on the internet either…TV was zero. It was actually very good. I didn't know what it was like to have a TV in the home until I was 23 and moved in with my husband. And even now I have a couple shows that I like to watch in the evenings but thats about it. I also ask myself why I'm paying so much for something I never watch. And anytime there is something going on people tell me to just put a movie on for Caelan. I rarely have the tv on during the day and so when it is on she pays no attention. TV does not hold her attention at all. Give her a book and she will sit there, a kids show she can care less about. I think its a good thing.
>i want my kids to be more excited about books than tv for sure. i can't believe the number of people who use it to "babysit" their children. of course, in moderation it's fine.