No Cable Month Analysis

August 31st: 30 days without cable (We cheated one night and watched an hour of the US Open)

Going without cable might have been the best decision we have made all year. We have read books, talked over dinner, played cribbage, gone to bed early, stayed up late, watched some movies, gone on bike rides through the park, baked more goodies, so many things that we couldn't seem to find time for before.


This is a proper Sunday lunch after church. A novelty pre-No Cable Month.

And we're actually not going to continue it (Ben's watching the US Open right now). We're not going to promise to raise our children without TV's. We're not going to make you feel guilty if you watch 4 hours of TV per day. But we learned some really valuable information: like what a hold TV really did have on our lives, how it made me cranky when I felt guilty about it, how it made me believe that reading a book after work would make me feel exhausted...which as it turns out isn't true, that spending time together watching TV together still leaves me feeling like we haven't seen each other all week. So I know we will be watching a lot less TV from now on and we are both really excited :)

And now for this month's new subtraction: NO TRAVEL MONTH. Thank God...Really.

And one more thing...

And one more thing I love about Benny...he sacrifices...whole heartedly. We have been lamenting all summer that we haven't grilled out as much as we would have liked. So Wednesday night Benny planned dinner and planned to grill. I knew that as he drove to our fabulous farmers market he would be salivating the whole way there thinking about the giant beef selection.

I arrived at home in the evening before he did. I open the fridge expecting to see a 20 ounce steak for Benny (probably a ribeye) and 6 ounce NY strip for me. However, there was no beef to be found--not even any MEAT. There was TOFU in the fridge. Yes, Benny, the man who LOVES a good steak and loves a good grilled steak even more had purchased and marinated and researched grilling tofu...all for me :)



And lest you scoff at the idea...it was delicious and even Benny really loved it! (And we both really loved the price)

He marinated the tofu in a little red wine vinegar, soy sauce, a dash of fish sauce, and honey. He served it with grilled corn on the cob and grilled Anaheim peppers with blue cheese crumbles. Yum!!!

Happy Anniversary!

Two days ago (a little late on my blogging) was our two year wedding anniversary! This November will be 7 years of dating. Whew! I can't even remember being an adult without Benny and I guess I wasn't...we met my freshmen year of college when I was a lowly 18.

We both always say that marriage is both the best and the hardest thing that we have ever done. And it's really true.

And I am so thankful for him for SO many reasons. Here are just a few:

He is a GREAT cook (much better than I am)


When I have to do laundry downstairs, he carries the heavy hamper down and back up.

He makes me adventurous (makes me try new things like Greek beer)


He goes to bed with me at 9:30.

He's brave (drinks out of water fountains in foreign countries)


He watches Enchanted, Jaws, Shakespeare in Love, and Elf with me over and over :)

He trained for (and ran) a half marathon with me last year even though he HATES running. And he had to cheer me on!


He makes the bed when I forget.

He's romantic.


He's really good with kids.

He wore my light weight pink robe all winter so I could wear his warm winter robe.


He makes really good coffee (and makes it for me every morning)

He's not afraid to act like a kid :)


He really loves me.


He's my best friend.

August 1st: No Cable Month

Here are my upcoming blog posts: "Day of the Jobs," "Sleeping on the family room floor because it's 80 degrees in here," "Homemade German meal," and "Brand new bike." But first, because it is August 1st today, is "August 1st: No Cable Month." This concept has three real inspirations.

1) The store where I bought my new bike today has a postcard that quotes Ghandi saying, "The goal of life is not to increase its speed."

2) My friend Amanda and I were leafing through a book at Anthropolgie (since I can only leaf through books there and not try on clothes...$$$) about one woman's year long pursuit of happiness. Each month she had a new endeavor: exercise, friendship, etc. But it all sounded like a lot of work: a more fulfilling life via addition versus subtraction.

3) One of my favorite blogs, of which I made reference to recently, smallnotebook, discusses how she has a "No spend month" once yearly where she and her family remarkably cut down on their expenses for one month a year.

Well, Ben is back from Germany and we are both dreamy over the European way of life: biking for transportation, sitting down to dinner at a table every night and not at the couch where you watch Seinfeld with your spouse but don't really talk, rushing from church to the Farmers market to vacuuming the apartment, to weeding through the files for outdated documents...etc. What happened to cooking and eating a breakfast together, riding our bikes to church, coming home for lunch and reading a good book, to taking a 20 minutes nap (I know...we don't have children yet). I spend all week long exhausted, waiting for the weekend which usually wears me out. How did this happen? How did I get so busy? How did I get so busy with stuff I don't even care about? Like TV.



Which brings us to No Cable Month. This is what a typical Wednesday looks like for me: wake up at 6:45, shower, make coffee, make lunch for Benny and me (while I listen to the morning news show), make breakfast, leave the house at 7:45 and eat my breakfast in the car on my 1 hour commute to work, start work at 9:00, lunch break 1:30, end work at 5:00 (or later), drive one hour home, stop by grocery store for something I inevitably forgot on Sunday, get home around 7:00, promise myself I am not going to watch TV, kiss Benny, make dinner (or kiss Benny an extra time or two because he made dinner), turn on Seinfeld, eat at the couch, turn to Law & Order: SVU at 8:00, watch one episode (maybe two if I had a hard day at work), get into bed at 10:00, feel guilty for 15 minutes that I didn't read or pray or go for a walk or pet my cat but instead watched the TV bleary eyed for 2 (ALMOST 3 HOURS), go to sleep and vow never to do that again. Thursday: repeat.

TV isn't the problem. I am the problem...I keep choosing things I don't want to do over the things I do want to do and then feel guilty about it later. There are so many books I want to read, I have Rosetta Stone Spanish I want to use, kitty wants to be petted, I (now) want to ride my new bike. I so often don't do what I think would be most fulfilling and rewarding because it's new or different or seems like more effort (or just some effort).

So I don't want to watch TV in the evenings but I watch TV every evening. And I don't want to drive everywhere but I never ride my bike or walk. I don't want to travel every weekend but we are never home. It's amazing how easily I forfeit the way of life I dream about for a lesser version so I don't have to be creative or blow up the bike tires or suggest staying home for the weekend. Well, yesterday, Benny and I decided to actually do all these things...or rather NOT do them. Slow down. Read a book. Walk to church. Eat at the table and laugh with my spouse instead of at Jerry Seinfeld. So we made some commitments. August: NO CABLE (sorry brothers). Coming up: NO SPEND, NO TRAVEL, DO IT YOURSELF, etc.

I also just realized how challenging this was going to be this month when today I remembered...it's shark week!


Photo credit

So stay tuned and pray for us. We are treading on unknown territory (life without TV, and later...a car?)