Internet TV...week one, in review

So far, so good :o)  Seriously.  We have spent the week watching nothing but what can be received via regular broadcast HDTV and the internet.

Broadcast TV has a lot of bugs to work out.  Reception is sketchy at best but it is livable.  Sometimes though its like watching satellite TV when a storm is coming thru.  The images gets really pixally and it freezes a lot.  I now know why the decided to postpone the permanent switch.

Internet TV has way fewer hang ups.  It stops rarely, only when its buffering something.  We have not missed anything we would have watched on TV.  I have to say, the best part about it is that we can watch what we want when we want it...its like TiVo only completely FREE :o)  Complete seasons of various hit TV shows are available on Netflix and Hulu or the network stations sites themselves have the rest available.  The caveat, many shows only become available to watch over the internet after they were originally aired.  For us, that is no problem.  The thought of waiting a day to watch a show is no bother at all...especially since its free :o)

Its not all advertising free.  There are the occasional commercials (one per break) and some networks have a mini advertisement logo at the bottom of the screen...if you are used to ignoring the station identification, you will be fine with this.  

The image quality is great.  I have absolutely no complaints about this...its excellent.

The kids have taken to it with ease...as kids tend to do so easily.  They know where their shows are and where to find them and they just go to it :o)

All in all, I would have to say, so far, so good.  We are still a bit overwhelmed with all the choices we have at our finger tips but we all seem to be enjoying it :o)  

Happy B-Day Meagan!

My fourth kiddo is 10 today.  I honestly cannot believe that she is getting so big.  I know its a cliche but seriously, it was just yesterday that she was a toddler roaming around trying desperately to keep up with her two crazy, older brothers while intermittently hanging with her older sister playing dress up  :o)  

She now is an amazing 10 year old who can be as feminine as girls can be, but is strong and confident enough to take on any boy and win :o)  Its so funny watching her out on skate ramps with her pink bmx bike :o)  In minutes, she ends up with a flock of kids around her trading tips.

That's our Meagan :o)

Our tradition is that the B-Day kiddo gets to dictate the family schedule for the day of their B-Day.  If they want to hang out, go out, play games whatever, it is their call.  Meg has decided that she wants to play video games with the gang today....until its time to go to lunch with mom & dad...alone :o)

The Great Television Experiment

We have decided to test out whether or not it is possible to replace our regular TV (we currently have satellite) with only using our internet.  With sites like Hulu.com and Netflix.com as well as the fact that every channel out there seems to have their shows available online, it would seem as though one could...on the surface...simply use their TV as a monitor and watch the shows that way. 

Netflix has full downloadable "watch instantly" DVD's and Hulu has a ton of shows available. We have wondered about it for a while so we decided to give it a try and see if it was possible and what, if anything, we would be giving up.  So far, we have realized its not as passive as the TV.  You do have to be more interactive in that you have to actually choose what you will watch rather than have it fed to you.  It took us a bit to get used to it...we still kinda are not...the first time we tried it, there were so many choices to choose from we could not decide on anything so we just turned it off :o)  Not really a bad thing if you think about it :o)

We officially started this past weekend, and so far, so good.  Today the kids watched several shows on Cartoonnetwork.com that they usually watch on TV.  The best part...no irritating commercials :o)  and no ridiculous teen queen pop videos...yay...that alone would make this worth it :o)

We are beginning this exercise using nothing more than a regular PC hooked up to our TV.  I will keep you all updated as it goes along.  

Rale

This is Rale, my oldest daughter's pet corn snake.  I had to show off this picture because it turned out so well.  He has won me over completely.  When we first got him, he was so small, I had strands of yarn that was thicker than he was :o)  He has grown quite a bit since then.

Three Guys and a Shovel

DH got home and got to work. He had the boys help him out...actually, the boys spent much of the time watching as Dad did most of the work :o)  They did provide a whole lot of comic relief though.

The fix cost a total of $13.00 ...most of which was consumed with purchasing the glue needed to adhere the pieces together.

In the end, it took almost no time at all to fix and everything was set to right again...yeah

Is Everything OK?.....

That's how it started yesterday afternoon when a friend came over to visit for the afternoon.  I opened the door and she immediately asked me if everything was OK.  My response...sure...what do you mean?  She then pointed out to me that there was all sorts of water in front of my house.  I casually brushed it off to her saying.."That's probably left over from the rain"  she stood there patiently waiting for me to realize it hadn't rained recently.  

Needless to say, a water maine broke (or at least a small plastic part of it) in front of my house.  Water was seeping out and pooling up in the gutter in front of our house.  It was flowing down the road right into our neighbor's from yard creating a nice reflecting pool :o)  On the upside, we realized that our house sits on the highest point of our hill :o)  On the down side, their house sat slightly lower...it has also been for sale forever and finally found a buyer...in this market, no small feat...

We called the water company and they sent out a crew who subsequently went about turning off our water to stop the flow at least ( we had already established that it would not hurt us at all but our neighbor probably doesn't have flood insurance).  The plastic part that broke was on "our side" so we had to fix it.  No worries, DH can take care of it in a snap...oh, I forgot to mention...he was out of town.  Yup, the first time he goes out of town in MONTHS and this happens.  So, no water until DH gets back to replace the tiny plastic part...urrrrggg

The kids and I took it all in stride...what exactly would getting upset do?  

Now due to the water in the front of the house, the side yard...where the dog's pen is...was a mud bog.  Or at least a portion of it was muddy.  That would be the very same portion they could NOT resist going into and out of repeatedly...at least it seemed because they had mud all over...and they got it all over.  So, no water and two muddy dogs who were getting mud everywhere.  

We went out and dropped off DD at her friend's home and picked up some bottled water (lots of bottled water).  We got home, let the muddy dogs back in and called it a night.  Well, not before spending a few hours being followed around by Brandy (the teenage dog :o) who was frankly upset that DD was not home ( the two of them like to get...or rather NEED to get their beauty sleep together) so she felt compelled to follow me around and at every opportunity, sit in front of me, stare and growl or moan at me.  

Needless to say, its all OK.  The pipe piece will be fixed soon and as of this moment, the neighbor is not burning effigies of us :o)  and I get to have two days of no cooking...yeah!  That alone almost makes it worth it :o)

Just another day :o)

New Month....

Well, surprisingly enough, its been a busy month so far. Not complaining, just stating the facts. Its great to be so busy. Needless to say, I have been forced to put some things I wanted to get going on hold for a bit...not so much on hold as pushed back a week or two. I am working feverishly to get my instructions finished for both my gnome families and giant gnome. I am also working on the patterns for clothing as well as my own set of doll body patterns. I have completed the full step by step instructions for making the dolls. I am giving them away free to anyone who orders doll making supplies.

Whew! all that aside :o) These are the things I was able to get done...

I listed a bunch of new items today as well as some things from my daughter...drop by and check it out.

I just got word that the CPSIA was voted unanimously to be put on hold for 12 months...its not over, it just gives us all 12 more months to fight it and make sure it uses common sense :o)

Beginning this week, I will post a special here on the blog. I will not say what day, or even what it will be so be on the look out :o) my own version of an online scavenger hunt :o)

I am now officially a member of the Etsykids team...yeah. As soon as I have the time and the will to sit and play with it, I will put a link to my Etsykids profile here, like I did the link for the sheteam.

That's it for today...I will see you all tomorrow :o)