The Rabbit Ears Experience

About two years ago we got fed up with the ever rising cost of cable television. With each increase, we would threaten to end our service if they did it one more time. Mostly we were all talk. Then they finally pushed us one dollar too far and we canceled it.

Thus began our rabbit ears experience.

We purchased a new set of ears to proudly display hide behind the picture frames on the entertainment center. I barely see them anymore, as they've become part of the "decor". (along with the stacks of DVDs, box of tissues, Netflix envelopes, and everything we don't want Daniel to reach.) At first, we genuinely missed Nick Jr. Brenna was definitely attached to Dora, Blue, and a bug show that I can't remember anymore. But over time she adjusted to Sesame Street, Mr. Rogers, Dragon Tales, and Clifford. PBS is free and really, their kids programming is wonderful.

Since we saved so much on cable (about $50 a month), we decided to try Netflix. And we never turned back. For less than $15 a month, we get as many videos as we can watch in a month and I never have to go to the store. How cool is that??

Rabbit ears bring most of the shows the rest of America is watching (like American Idol, Extreme Makeover: HE, and The Office) but there have been a few times we've missed having cable. Michael misses it most when certain football or basketball games are broadcast on ESPN. I miss watching the Food Network and the design shows. And on occasion, like after the Virginia Tech shootings, we wished we had access to one of the cable news networks. Mostly, though, if we wanted to watch cable, we've gone over to my parents house to get our "fix".

All in all, the rabbit ears have been good. We've watched a lot less tv and likely kept a lot of junk out of our house.

However...

We're switching to a new internet and phone provider that bundles internet, phone, AND cable. Based on what we pay for internet and phone now (and our pretty crummy DSL service), we'll be getting cable back for much less than what we were paying before. Plus it comes into our house on a fiber optic cable! How's that for an upgrade?

In the meantime, if I drop off the blog for a while...you'll know what happened - the old company shut us down and the new one hasn't connected yet.