Home Sweet Home

It's amazing how much a house feels more like a home once a TV gets plugged in. I don't really think that's what happened but my husband seems to think so. I think the TV tuned HIM in all the way to actually living in our house and THAT is what did the trick, but I won't bother trying to explain that to him. He's got the satellite hooked up, the DVR boxes set and we're all happy campers because the kids get their cartoons again, he can watch whatever he wants and I can tape shows to watch whenever I want. Three TVs are hooked up with the potential for a fourth if we ever wanted it. Simply a great deal for everyone. I'm a little tired this morning because of it, however.

We've always had cable - together and before we married. Satellite was always a lure but interfering weather was a concern. We talked to satisfied friends who have "sat" (as the remote control calls it) but since our local cable company harassed the heck out of me when I made an appointment with them then cancelled because I wanted us to really think about it some more, we said satellite it is. That's right, Cablevision. You lost a customer at least partly because you didn't listen when I told you 5 times in a row NOT to call me, I MAY call you. They even came to my house, ya'll!

Anyway, the manual has chapters. Literally. I thin kI made it up to chapter 9 last night. That is how much there is to know about this thing. But when you go through all the trouble of getting this service, you want to know how to operate it. Plus Mr. T wanted HD so there is that little extra feature as well.

Last night we chased the kids to bed then sat in our bed as Mr. T watched TV and pushed buttons while I read the book out loud telling him what it could do. You know most men do not want to give up the remote, but he was as clueless as I was thus happy to have me decode the mysteries of satellite TV watching while he just did what I said.

We browsed the channels; flipped between 1st and 2nd mode; turned on the caller ID feature so Mr. T could call the house and we could watch his name pop up on the screen; we watched House and I paused it, rewound it and jumped back to normal TV again; we played with picture in picture and headed over to the special channel that explains how to use the system. I also checked our bill. Apparently we can do that too. Wouldn't want a person to ever get up to go pay a pesky bill, now would we?

Now mind you, we can't get local stations, as in CT, because local for us is NY so we'll have to listen to the radio for school closings. And I guess if our neighbor's house burned down we would be the last to know. But when the world and all its music is literally at your fingertips like this, I guess you can miss out on one little state.

So Mr. T seems pretty content right now. Content enough to talk about actually staying in the house until he retires which is only another 13 years or so. So we started wondering what we could do to expand the house because after all we only have 3 bedrooms and if we turn my office downstairs into a 4th bedroom, I'd have no place of my own anymore! Ay caramba!

And what if we do have another baby? It'll be a boy (I keep telling him that, though he won't listen to me.) and he could stay in Daughter's room only so long before he'd either have to share with a potentially 11-year-old brother or we'd have to move. Of course staying means we could open up that wall in the family room and put on that deck that the backyard is screaming to have and we could close off that pointless side door. And if we could convince the family that owns the empty lot next door to sell it to us we'd have all the space we needed and get our 2, make it 3-car garage, though I don't know how easy it would be to make changes given the way the house is made and situated. At least not without practically knocking it down and starting all over. And you don't want to overimprove and outprice your house for the neighborhood. Lots of HGTV and TLC taught me that.

But already it's hard to think about moving. It's been a long road and years of renting, though that was by choice and the best choice for the time. Mr. T is imagining his friends hanging out to watch the big screen downstairs. I see the kids in my circle of friends hanging out at my house so my kids will have their friends over to play with. We both like to entertain so bring the noise!

Once you start putting your heart into a place and making it your own...sigh. The wanderer in my Sagittarian heart is used to moving around but my Capricorn husband helps satisfy a desire I've always had to grow roots as well, for the sake of the kids and familiarity, if nothing else. It's just nice to finally be able to relax in the arms of my own little family in our own little piece of the world and dream our little dreams. That, dear Husband, is what make a house feel like home.