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Blogs I'm Loving

One of my favorite ways to relax at night is to climb into bed with my iPad and catch up on my favorite blogs. Here are the blogs I'm loving right now!

Enjoying the Small Things- Kelle has such a way with words. She can always make an ordinary moment seem extraordinary. If you don't read for her words read for her photos as they are simply breathtaking.

Bower Power- Katie is a woman who does not take herself too seriously and is always making me laugh. Follow along on their adventures as they raise 2 adorable boys and be inspired by all of their  great DIY projects.

Iowa Girl Eats- Kristin is always sharing the most yummy (and usually pretty healthy) recipes. I could spend all day just browsing her recipe archives. I also have a special place in my heart for blogs that are written by fellow Iowa bloggers!

The Mom Diggity --I'm a relatively new reader to The Mom Diggity but fell in love with the blog fast as I could instantly tell that Kara Kae is such a real and genuine person. I enjoy reading about her adventures raising 3 girls 3 and under.

O My Family - Allison has a way of sharing stories about motherhood that are so honest and heartfelt that I am always anticipating a new post from her. She is also a momma to 2 little boys and is often giving me a glimpse of what I have to look forward to as my boys grow up.

Words of Williams - Another blog written by Iowans!  Husband and wife team, Kelsey and Eric, both write on Words of Williams giving this blog a different feeling than other blogs that I read. They blog about a wide variety of topics ranging from their journey on becoming debt free to sharing pictures and stories of their sweet daughter Rooney.

Exploits of a Military Mama-  A fellow boy Momma who always makes me say "me too" when I'm reading along.  I love the way Sally keeps it very real on her blog sharing what is on her mind and heart.

Okay, BA I have been reading this blog for quite a few years now and have loved it since the very beginning  BA is  so honest and funny in her writing  that you just can't help but feel like you are sitting having a cup of coffee with her when you read her blog. 

Jenni From the Blog- I just started reading Jenni's blog about a year ago and had such a fun time following along with her 3rd pregnancy that I instantly became hooked. 

Mama Mandolin- Mandey is a former Iowan who lives in California with her husband and super adorable  twin boys.  She is also the wife to my sister's boyfriend's twin brother (clear as mud right?!) so even though we have only met once in real life I feel like I know her really well!

MODG -Plain and simple this blog is hilarious. If you are looking fora good laugh check it out!
Now it is your turn! What blogs are you loving right now?

 

Loving Where We Live While Dreaming About the Future

Want a Cup of Coffee?

I have been seeing these virtual coffee date posts floating around the internet the last few weeks. Since it is Monday I thought there is no better way to start the week than to have a cup of coffee with a friend. Will you join me for a cup?

If we were meeting for coffee today I would probably be drinking an iced coffee since I'm trying to watch my calories and I might be jealous of you if you ordered a caramel latte...my favorite!

I would tell you about how I somehow got tendonitis from repeatedly wearing the wrong shoes. I would probably ask you if you had any good supportive shoe recommendations. I would show you how swelled up my foot is and how it hardly fits in my shoe and I would laugh at myself telling you that this just proves how nonathletic I am.

I would tell you that Charlie is still is not walking. I have a love/hate relationship with that fact.  Since the weather is getting nicer I wish that he would walk as it would be so much easier to be outside with him as he is wearing holes in the knees on all of his pants from crawling on the concrete. But I would also tell you that because he is not walking that he still seems like he is a baby and I don't want to wish any of his babyhood away. Plus not walking means that I get to hold him and carry him around and I really like that.

I would ask for your advice on how to deal with Drake who seems to have selective listening  problems. I would also probably tell you that he and I have been butting heads lately, and I know it is because we are so much alike.  I would then tell you about something cute he said like how out of no where the other day he asked me to throw a pie in his face. I would probably be smiling the whole time I talked about him because even on his worst days he is pretty amazing.

I would ask you if you have taken your kids to Disney and if you had any tips for us?  I would tell you that we are thinking of taking just Drake in September of 2014 and although it seems like a long ways away I'm already so excited thinking about it.

Thanks for joining me for that cup of coffee and being a great listener! What would you tell me during our cup of coffee?

Living Without Cable

Why Did We Decide to Go Cable Free?

We were paying almost $50.00 a month for VERY basic cable with a service that was unpredictable in rain, snow or wind.  We also very rarely watched any channels except the main stations (NBC, ABC, PBS, CBS, FOX).  Basically, we felt like we were not seeing $50.00 worth of value in our cable so we decided to bite the bullet and cancel our service.

What Do We Use Instead of Cable?

We have a $7.99 subscription to Netflix streaming service. We had this while we had cable too. We use this to watch older TV series, documentaries and sometimes movies. They also have a great selection of kid shows and movies for Drake.

After we got rid of cable we subscribed to Hulu Plus (7.99 a month). The great thing about Hulu is that they run shows a day after they air so we can stay caught up with  Grey's Anatomy  New Girl, The Office and Modern Family. I'm not super impressed with their movie selection or kid shows but being able to watch current shows only a day late makes this subscription so worth it.

How Do We Stream?

We bought a Roku about a year ago and had been using that on our downstairs TV to stream Netflixs. When we decided to get rid of cable we moved the Roku upstairs to our bedroom and bought an AppleTV ($99.00) to use for streaming in the family room.

What About Local Channels?

I love to watch the news and the morning talk shows so I knew that we would without a doubt want to figure out a way to still get our local channels.  Our downstairs TV would not receive any local stations and our TV upstairs has a built-in antenna and some stations came in but the quality was not great. We ended up buying 2 antennas (we actually bought the cheapest ones they had at $14.99 each and they work great) and hooked them up to both of our TVs. We now get about 20 stations including all of our local stations that come in with a wonderful picture.

Cost Breakdown

Before-We were paying $58.00 a month for our cable and Netflix subscription

After- We are paying $16.00 a month for our Netflix and Hulu Plus subscriptions.

Savings-We are saving $42.00 a month by cutting cable. I think most people would actually see a much more substantial savings than that just because of they have larger cable packages.

We also had the upfront cost of a $130.00 for  the Apple TV and 2 antennas.  We will make that cost up in less than 3 months by not having to pay a cable bill. We already had our Roku but I think we paid about $60.00 for it a year ago.

Would We Recommend Going Cable Free?

Absolutely. We seriously have not missed having cable for one single second. I really thought I would miss not having a DVR, but in reality we very rarely sat and watched a TV episode on the day it actually aired so waiting an extra day for it to come on Hulu Plus is no big deal.

The only time that I think we might miss cable is during College Football season. We are big Iowa Hawkeye fans and most of their games air on the Big Ten network. Anybody else given up cable but found a way to watch their favorite college team?

Have you given up cable? Do you have any tips?