An Apology to My Dear Husband...

At the start of 2011, Steve and I sat down together to make New Year's resolutions for ourselves and our family.  One of our resolutions focused on Dave Ramsey and getting ourselves in better financial shape.  We went through Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University over a year ago with a few friends that I work with, an although we made great financial strides last year (yay for no more student loan payments!!!), we wanted to try even harder to meet a few more financial goals during 2011.

So, in the midst of our January budget meeting, I noticed how much we were paying for our cable.  Given the fact that we have Netflix and don't watch too much TV anyway, I suggested that we could and get rid of cable....only as a trial period for three months...because sadly, getting rid of cable scared me half to death.

Steve was on board with the idea, but didn't want to completely "cut the cord"(hallelujah!) and started looking into buying antennas that would allow us to at least get the basic channels (thankfully giving me back shows like Modern Family and Private Practice, phew!).

Then, it happened.  At some point during his research, Steve stumbled across this YouTube video that shows how to BUILD your very own antenna.  When I first heard about his idea, I laughed out loud.  When Steve started listing the supplies he needed for the project, I laughed so hard I fell over.  Like some coat hangers and a piece of wood would really allow me to keep up with Barney and the gang on How I Met Your Mother...

After and hour of creating in the basement, Steve walked upstairs with this monstrosity creation.  Really, who wouldn't want THAT sitting out in the middle of their family room???

When he plugged it in, we watched to see what would happen.  At this point, I figured that maybe we might get a local channel or two, but with lots of fuzz and static.

Imagine my surprise when we ended up getting in over THIRTY channels!  I couldn't believe it!  With this homemade creation, we were able to pick up all of the major stations (like NBC, ABC, etc.) from two nearby cities, along with a bunch of other channels (mostly PBS, but with little ones, that suits us just fine).  Not only do we get all of these channels, but the picture quality is fantastic!  Not bad for some coat hangers and wood!

So Steve...my apologies to you.  I definitely doubted your project (remember, the one that I called "crazy" and "ridiculous").  Your project (you know, the one I might have suggested was a "waste of time") ended up working better than I ever imagined!  Thanks for helping us stick to our resolutions for 2011 in a BIG way.  Oh, and thanks for making sure both antennas are hidden behind large pieces of furniture and not REALLY turning the one in the family room into a piece of art for the wall...