Photo: Great grandparents at their farm in Blandinsville, IL, with five of their six children .. my grandpa was yet a twinkle in grandma's eye. Stable boy and governess also pictured. Hodges farm, circa 1903-4

Saturday, February 12, 2011

Dang TV

fresh baked bread and rolls .. pic by Mrs. Mac
We have been TV free for over two years .. saving $1,440 .. and giving us back countless hours of time to devote to renewing .. relearning lost life skills.  Now .. my son-in-law brought over a $10 TV antenna .. to get about eleven 'free' channels.  I'm finding myself getting 'sucked' into the TV vortex from the 'newness' of this old habit .. and must once again break free from it's hold.  I have put down the remote .. and will bake bread today!  Turn on some nice music .. and get to work.  Daylight is burning.  If I can just learn to monitor my viewing .. it will be a nice pastime to sit and knit after all chores are done for the day.  We get quite a few cooking, nature, outdoorsy shows to choose from .. plus local ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX .. etc.  If you're paying too much for cable or satellite TV .. you might want to make a small investment in a 'rabbit-ear antenna' and ditch your monthly bill.   

10 comments:

Cabbage Tree Farm said...

We gave up watching TV when we moved onto our land 5 years ago. Although we do have one we only watch DVDs, we don't have it tuned in to any TV channels (the reception is very bad anyway without satellite). This works much better for us as we can a)watch a good movie instead of rubbish b) watch when we want to (or not) so freeing up time to do other things, and c) avoid all the trashy ads! It's great!
When we visit anyone who has TV on it reconfirms what a good decision this was!

Kathryn said...

I lived without TV for about 4 years when i was a young teen, and again for 13 years as an adult. I really didn't miss it. And i found that i was rather a "tv-aholoic" - if i turned it on it stayed on and i'd find an excuse to sit in front of it.

We have both replay TV (allowing us to record what we like and watch it at our convenience) and satellite. However, we find that it is worth it for us. And i find that since stuff is recorded, i turn the darn thing off and we enjoy it together in the evenings.

However, if we had children, i think it would be an entirely different issue. I really would prefer our children (that we don't have) to not be exposed to it for their first 4-5 years. Non-issue.

Lynda said...

Oh I admire you! I keep trying to give up TV, but for some reason it is so hard! I really have a love/hate relationship... AND your bread pictures are amazing...I'm so impressed I'm pulling out the ingredients for a loaf of Challah right now! I'm going turn off the boob-tube and spend my day baking, too. Thanks!

The Professor's Wife said...

We have been TV free for a year and a half, and I love it! It has been very good for our marriage ;), creativity, and productiveness. I hope we don't get one for a long time.

Corner Gardener Sue said...

I remember going through spells of not having the TV on, but the last number of years, I've had it on a lot while I'm blogging or doing chores around the house.

I've been planning on going to basic cable or an antenna of some kind if my husband dies before I do.

A Woman that Fears the Lord said...

The bread looks perfect. I'd love to be tv free but not sure it will happen in this lifestime.

Mr. H. said...

On a good day when one of the PBS channels comes in I really enjoy some of the world news and history shows...that's about it for me though. I wonder why we don't get 11 channels, only 3 or 4...must be the trees.

Geno said...

It has been about eight years for us, and your right, it is so worth it, especially with the children. it is amazing how mesmerized they look when they do encounter television, even more so the commercials. we do DVDs (The library has a very nice selection) and we download the rest off the net. Beautiful bread by the way!

Marilyn in NM said...

We have TV but we do not have satellite or cable. We've done away with the large expense of those options but we do have Netflix which we stream series and movies and we use hulu.com for the show we like. All in all, we set rules. Funny now that we've had an empty nest for 6 years...lol...but I'm definitely a person who loves the diy shows. We only turn our TV on after dinner and watch it for maybe a couple of hours. I'm getting so much more done in my house, like baking bread, and organizing.
I do not feel deprived and I definitely am not suffering. It has actually been a very positive move for us. There's freedom in watching on 'your' terms, not the networks'.

Laurie said...

Some gorgeous bread! I've been TV-free since moving here 15 yrs ago. We do rent Netflix movies, & get an occasional one from the library. I enjoy the peace of living without it. Though the computer can suck me in more than I'd like at times.