we are that couple.

Today, like any other day, Mike and I get ready at the same time. More often than we'd like to admit we end up dressing a lot a like. We're THAT couple. Not twins mind you, but similar colors. We might both have on a green shirt, or a navy sweater. It happens. I've heard a lot of couples go through this. The margin narrows even more when we purchase the same items in different sizes.

To date I think we both have the same Smoky and the Bandit T-shirts, a few of the same OTR (our favorite local bar) t-shirts and a few cardigans that are all the same, just in different sizes. I'm sure there are more, but you get the idea.

I'm the biggest cause of this issue - I like to purchase my "boyfriend cardigans" from the men's department. I mean isn't the that the point? And when it comes to dress shirts, or button downs, I'd rather shop in the men's department as well. They accommodate my chest better and frankly, I hate wearing pink, or purple. I'm not a girly girl, but not quite butch. Most recently I purchased a military style jacket, and then realized one night we both put them on as we went out the door. He has one I gave him years ago.

So yeah, most days you could say that we dress the same. Purely by accident. We usually laugh it off, or make a joke over who was dressed that way first and someone needs to change and it should be the one completely dressed, second.

This morning as I was getting dressed, Mike commented... "Man, I was going to wear my yellow cardigan." to which I replied, "Go for it, I mean it's not like we work in the same office."

We went about our morning routine. Getting breakfast, making coffee, putting on make-up (me, not him, just wanted to be clear), feeding the pets, letting June, our dog go outside about 10 times (read twice) and then we headed out the door.

As we were walking through the yard to the cars a vehicle drove by and I started to feel a bit self conscious, we looked like twins for the most part, or at least like we worked together. And then it hit me, we were totally Honey and Vinegar. As in Honey and Vinegar Realtors. Good Realtor, Bad Realtor. If you get this reference, I love you. If you don't read below.

Mac and Dennis on Always Sunny start their own Realty business. I can't for the life of me remember the circumstances it's been forever since I watched the episode but they wear matching mustard yellow sports coats. One was the good realtor (Dennis I believe) and one was the Bad Realtor (Mac). Needless to say it fit what Mike and I were doing to a T. And it made me chuckle.

via google • Dennis and Mac - rocking the mustard

I like to think I'm Honey in this situation, but truth be told I'm probably Vinegar.

via google • Get a Honey of a Deal!

saying good-bye to an old friend.

I know that title sounds serious, it's totally not. You see, my old friend, or should I call it my addiction because frankly it was both, is our DVR. Yesterday, Mike took our old friend Mr. DVR/HIGH DEF cable box back to Comcast.  We down graded our services to basic cable and high speed internet.

I know you're thinking, WTF? Are you wanting to live in the stone ages? How are you living without a DVR? I thought the same thing last year when Mike initially introduced this idea to me. I thought he was a savage, or worse, wanting to become a hipster. You know the type, "We don't own a TV." No offense to those of you that read and don't use a TV and aren't hipsters - I'm making generalizations and maybe that was rude, but frankly I can't image NOT having a TV. Yes, I'd survive, but I wouldn't feel it was living. At least not living to the standards I want to. *spoiled*

About a month ago Mike signed us up for Netflix. We got a free trial run which I really loved. I used that free month to the fullest extent, at least in my eyes I did. Watching 5 seasons of Supernatural (season 3-7), not stop until I reached the end. It took some time, and a lot of commitment and I finished the series, only to be left with how I was going to get the newest Season 8 episodes not available on Netflix. I found the first three of season 8 on Hulu. Praise! Watched them, then realized that I had little to no way to get episodes 4-9. I'm only slightly ashamed to say I downloaded those bitches, off the internet and while I had to suffer though Spanish, German and some other language subtitles it was totally worth it to get caught up with episodes 10 and 11 that were on our Comcast On Demand. I was finally caught up and watched the last episode on my DVR to be live with the show.

Through all this I started to think about TV differently. Mike has already been thinking all this it just took me a while to leg go of the security blanket that is our DVR.  We went ahead and did the free week of HuluPlus and realized there were a TON of movies on this, as well as getting your shows most likely NEXT DAY. Truth be told with a DVR we watched MOST of our TV next day. The only days we were sitting down to watch a show as it happened, was on Thursdays. We still DVRed the NBC line up on Thursday, but that was usually to be sure we didn't miss anything if cooking dinner ran over (prime time here is 7 PM).

The more I thought about Mike's proposal to drop the DVR services and HD box, the more it made sense. For about a month I had barely touched the cable unless I was watching a DVR recording, or was bored as hell and watching Diners, Drive-In's and Dives [I can only tolerate Guy on that show because I've learned to tune him out]. I would channel surf before dinner, or when I should have probably been working out or reading a book or doing something more constructive.

I started realizing dropping the box wasn't a punishment but maybe even a way to free myself from my addiction that is TV.

Mike took the research approach he always does with big decisions or purchases and started comparing. Pros and Cons lists, and even spreadsheets were made. He made a list of all the shows we loved to watch. Our MUST HAVES. The "I can't do without this show" list. It wasn't very large. Between the two of us there were maybe 20 shows. Ones we watch together, ones he loves to watch alone and ones I love to watch alone. 20 Shows. Seriously, hardly reason to be too worried. And after looking through them, we realized there were very few that weren't network TV shows. In our list there were maybe 4 shows that might be a bit harder to come across brand new [The Walking Dead, Mad Men, Portlandia and possibly one more show]. It was harder to find AMC and IFC live feeds, and/or day after streaming. This was almost a deal breaker - If there are 2 shows we watch live, it's usually The Walking Dead and Portlandia (and Supernatural for me). We don't like to wait a day, due to spoilers and/or just really wanting a great laugh (Portlandia).

Mike did some more research and found a solution for this. And worse case, if we are saving money with cable I think I can stay off the internet for a day - away from any Walking Dead spoilers. I HATE spoilers. I rarely even want to watch "next weeks previews" for most of my shows because I LOVE to be surprised.

Like I said, Mike took our box over to the cable company yesterday and dropped him off. He will be missed. Pausing a show to pee, or make a snack is my favorite. I will still be able to do that, just not with live TV.

We are now set up for Netflix ($7.99 / month) and HuluPlus ($7.99/month), We have our regular cable bill and internet bill which has dropped in price by $80+. That's $80.00 in our budget for savings, trips, ANYTHING!

We will still get to watch ALL our favorite shows, with little or no effort. Just fire up the PS3 and cue up Hulu or Netflix. We also discovered being able to go to Amazon for entertainment but haven't decided if we want to do that just yet. Summer is coming and frankly most shows stop at that time. I always thought about that issue every summer. Why am I paying THIS MUCH and not watching TV or using the internet because I'm outdoors!

Mike had read and article about all this and they stated "Get ready to consume entertainment in a whole different way!" (I'm paraphrasing, obviously). But dude, think about that. It's true.

I can now sit down whenever I have time, to watch all the shows I love. Be it a lazy Sunday. Right before dinner, after I've worked out. And never again do I have to worry about my DVR being full, and/or a show messing with another show's recording. I hated that.

I know this choice isn't for everyone, but for us it seems like a great idea! I'm just happy I have a super tech savvy husband that has hooked all this up!!! We are officially a basic cable / internet streaming home.

God Bless the Internet. And tech savvy people everywhere!

--
Our Favorite Shows: (Not all but most)
The Walking Dead, Game of Thrones, Community, Parks & Rec, The Office, Supernatural, Arrow, Grimm, Hart of Dixie, Mad Men, True Blood, Work-a-holics, and Portlanida (there are other small shows we each watch but these were our main kickers. I'm sure I forgot at least one).

you remind me...

Ever hear a song, and it reminds you of a person, and event or a time in your life? All the time right? Well for the past few days on Facebook, I've found myself commenting about hearing certain songs and thinking of only one thing, or more specifically, one movie [or TV show]... I thought I would share.

SONGS and the MOVIES / SHOWS they remind me of:

"Dust In The Wind" by Kansas

I can't hear this song without wanting to yell "You're my boy Blue!" It always reminds me of Old School and Will Ferrel's teary rendition during Blue's funeral. Oops, sorry *SPOILER ALERT!!!*

"Eye of the Tiger" by Survivor 

I bet you think I'm going to say Rocky right? Well as of a few months ago, that would have been the case. That is until Jensen Ackles did a lip-sync version on Supernatural Extras (the show is my new obsession). His fist pumping, leg air guitar, rendition I've watched twice, now makes me think of him every time. [youtube it, you'll chuckle even if you don't watch the show, trust me].

Dean does Eye of the Tiger, not Debbie, well he's probably done Debbie too • via google

"Carry On My Wayward Son" by Kansas

Totally Supernatural.

I know, my NERD is totally showing • via google

"The Final Countdown" by Europe

I can't help but think of Gob's magic act on Arrested Development. Any other memories of this song, were wiped out after seeing him do his "magic" show.

oh Gob you slay me • via google

"American Girl" by Tom Petty

I get the chills and skeeved out whenever I hear this song. I am instantly reminded of the scene in Silence of the Lambs when the girl is singing this song, right before she pulls over to help a "broken armed", skin filet specialist load a heavy couch into a van. VOM! But I do love that song.

It doesn't help with a couch in a dark alley, or else it gets the hose again! • via google

"Lady" by Styx

I am always reminded of the Dan Band's rendition of the song in Old School and Vince Vaughn's character pumping his fist to the song. (I could go on and on about Old School's music - I mean tell me you don't always want to sing "Total Eclipse of the Heart" with a lot of F-Bombs!)

"Renegade" by Styx

Makes me think of Billy Madison. EVERY time I hear it I immediately envision Billy wearing his pants on his head, and tossing an empty keg around the yard.

Similarly - almost all Styx songs remind me of Adam Sandler movies. I feel like he had at least ONE in every single older movie he's done.

"Stuck in the Middle" by Stealers Wheel

I am always reminded of Reservior Dogs. I've seen the movie only two times all the way through, love it but never seem to remember the whole plot if I catch it in the middle (which I did the other day). But without fail, I hear hear this song, I'm reminded of all those colorful men.

mr. yellow • mr. pink • mr. white • mr. orange • via google

"Looking for Love" by Johnny Lee

I always without fail think of Urban Cowboy. It's a total guilty pleasure movie for me and I love the soundtrack, but this song stands out above them all.  I don't believe there are any Eagles songs in the movie but for some reason "Peaceful Easy Feeling" by the Eagles makes me think of the movie too, maybe it just sounds like it should be in the movie. 

sissy and bud • via google

"Fortunate Son" by John Fogerty

Without fail, the first few licks of this song make me think of Forrest Gump, when they are getting ready to touch down in Vietnam. There are a lot more songs in the movie, that do the same but this is the biggest one for me.

"Gimme Shelter" by The Rolling Stones

Goodfellas. Toward the end there is the cocaine fueled / paranoia scenes. I always think of this when the song comes on. That and how much I miss having Guitar Hero at the house to play this song, it was my favorite. This and Boston's "More than a Feeling" - I can't hear that w/out thinking about Guitar Hero.

"Best Friend" by Queen

Opening credits to The Break-up, always. Well that and my wedding. We walked back up the isle to an instrumental version of this song.

"Looking Out My Back Door" by CCR

Big Lebowski, period. Anything by CCR really makes me think of The Dude, and my father.

One more Sandler...
"It's Ladies Night" by Kool & The Gang
I can't hear this song without thinking about Wedding Singer. And John Lovitz dancing / singing it.
"Oh what a night!" *pelvic thrust*

"Bohemian Rhapsody" by Queen
Probably one of the biggest one that most people will relate to, is Wayne's World. Seriously I can't hear this song without seeing the scene in the movie. I credit Wayne's World for introducing me to Queen in HS. I was a late bloomer with good music, trust me. It took a while but I am glad I discovered it. I dare you to not think of this film, when you hear this song!

Party on Garth • via google

I could probably go on and on, and might revisit this another time for another day. Most of these came to mind today while listening to Pandora's "KANSAS" station. I've been on a Kansas kick, and I blame Supernatural for that. I told you, obsessed! Anyone that watches 7.5 seasons of one show in less than two months may, or may not need some help.

HAPPY WEEKEND EVERYONE!!!