A Great Experiment

I love TV. I grew up watching a lot of TV; I'm a Sesame Street baby. I like having the TV on as "background" noise. I also like having the TV as a way to distract Maggie when she gets up early or I want to do something without her hanging on my leg. However, I know we watch too much TV. And in never ending quest to find ways to save money, we started talking about getting rid of DirecTV. Yesterday, we bit the bullet and suspended our account for 6 months. Now, this does not mean we are giving up TV. In fact, we have Netflix, so Maggie is currently watching Bugs Bunny through the Wii and Rocky is watching the football playoffs on the over the air channels. But I believe, I KNOW, this will change the way we watch TV. I'm hoping it means no more mindless channel surfing, looking for something good to watch. We can go to our Netflix and watch a National Geographic documentary or some trashy movie we may have otherwise watched on Comedy Central. Or maybe it will push us to turn it off, turn on the radio or other music and do a puzzle or play a game with Maggie. Not that we don't do that now, but sometimes, I can get distracted by what's on TV and pay attention to THAT (and so can Maggie). It will also mean going to the internet for "The Daily Show" or a Food Network show, but that's something easily done.

Now, this isn't going to suddenly transform our budget and make life oh so easy. It will add a bit of a cushion and we can always change our mind. The boxes and satellite aren't going anywhere, yet.