So, we’ve been thinking a lot lately about what’s really important to us and what we can live without. Sean and I are pretty frugal, we don’t eat out or go to the movies or any of the things most people our age enjoy. We pay $30 a month to play WoW (and then rarely get to play) and we pay about $15 a month for Netflix (seriously, who uses Blockbuster anymore?). Occasionally we’ll buy a book or video game and once every blue moon we’ll get a coffee at Starbucks but honestly we’re penny pincers and proud of it.

Before we got married we had many long conversations about what we wanted out of life. Kids were at the top of our list but we wanted the best life possible for our kids and decided the right thing to do was to wait until Sean graduated and had a good job, we were financially stable and my health problems were under control. If we’d known then what we know now I don’t think we would have made the same choice. We keep waiting for the perfect time (we’ll go to the beach when I’m feeling better, we’ll buy a house when we’ve got better credit, etc) but we’re beginning to realize that there’s no such thing as the perfect time. I’m not suggesting everyone have babies straight out of high school or buy a house with a huge interest rate when they really can’t afford it, I’m just saying that if you wait for things to be perfect you’ll be waiting forever.

We’ve been thinking a lot about how we spend our money and even more importantly our time. There’s nothing like a double cancer scare to make you reevaluate your life. At our house the TV is almost always on, not because we’re watching it but because the house is just creepy quiet without some background noise. The past few years the quality of television has gone down drastically and we consistently find ourselves disappointed in bad shows that could have been good or really good shows that get canceled before they even have a chance. We loved Battlestar Galactica so much that the idea of it being canceled before it could come to a satisfying conclusion caused us to skip the entire last season until it comes out on DVD. Other shows have gotten so bad that we’re not even sure why we watch them anymore (I’m looking at you Heroes!).

So yesterday I made a list of all the shows we watch, the time and station their on, and whether or not they can be watched online. Here’s how they faired (shows with an asterisk aren’t available online):
Ch. 3 CBS – Grade: 3/10 = D
CSI (Hulu & CBS)
Eleventh Hour *
Gary Unmarried (Hulu & CBS)
How I Met Your Mother (Hulu & CBS)
The Big Bang Theory *
The Doctors *
The Mentalist *
The New Adventures Of Old Christine *
Two and a Half Men *
Without A Trace *

Ch. 4 Fox – Grade: 3/3 = A (We generally hate Fox though…)
Dollhouse (Hulu & Fox)
Fringe (Hulu & Fox)
House (Hulu & Fox)

CH. 6 ABC Grade: 8/9 = A-
Better Off Ted (Hulu & ABC)
Castle (Hulu & ABC)
Grey’s Anatomy (Hulu & ABC)
Lost (Hulu & ABC)
Private Practice (Hulu & ABC)
Samantha Who *
Scrubs (Hulu & ABC)
The View (Hulu & ABC)
Ugly Betty (Hulu & ABC)

Ch. 9 – Grade: 1/1 = A (What happened to CW? Such a shame!)
Reaper (Hulu & CW)

CH. 10 – Grade: 8/8 = A
30 Rock (Hulu & NBC)
Chuck (Hulu & NBC)
Heroes (Hulu & NBC)
Kath & Kim (Hulu & NBC)
Medium (Hulu & NBC)
My Name Is Earl (Hulu & NBC)
SNL (Hulu & NBC)
The Office (Hulu & NBC)

Ch. 47 (Comedy) – Grade 2/2 = A
The Colbert Report (Hulu & Comedy Central)
The Daily Show (Hulu & Comedy Central)

Ch. 54 (Cartoon Network) – Grade: 1/1 = A
The Venture Brothers (Hulu & Adult Swim)

Ch. 57 (E) – Grade 0/1 = F (I’ll miss you, ::sniffle::)
The Soup *

Ch. 60 (SciFi) – Grade 4/6 = B (SyFy is dying a slow death)
Doctor Who *
Eureka (Hulu & SciFi)
Ghost Hunters (Hulu & SciFi)
Ghost Hunters International (Hulu & SciFi)
Sanctuary (Hulu & SciFi)
The Sarah Jane Adventures *

I pretty sure we’re going to cancel cable as soon as I can find a decent phone service (we have phone/cable/internet through Comcast and get a discount) and just get a digital TV tuner. Sean’s pushing for a HDHomeRun which is essentially a double digital tuner that will allow us to watch all the basic channels and record two shows at once (which is what we do now). It runs about $150.

Other ways we’re saving money is through our meal plan (I’ll post about that later), utilizing Freecycle more often and borrowing from neighbors. The last one is intensely uncomfortable for us, we’re pretty shy and private, we don’t socialize a lot with our neighbors, but it pays to be friendly. We recently had to replace some break pads on our van and would have spent at least a couple hundred dollars on tools had our neighbor not loaned us his (and stayed to help Sean with the work to boot!). I guess part of moving forward is coming out of our comfort zone.

If anyone has practical suggestions on how to save/make money, re-purpose old items, borrow/barter things we need etc, we’re all ears. And I’d be interested in hearing what your doing in this economy to affect positive change in your life.

I apologize for leaving everyone hanging so long. Between dealing with my health issues and my mom’s we still have to deal with the everyday worries everyone else has and things have been hectic around here.

So lets catch up. My mom is doing well. She had her second surgery to remove more breast tissue and Monday had her first chemo treatment. She doesn’t feel good, which is to be expected and she’s having a lot of trouble paying for things since she obviously can’t work right. I suspect she’s depressed about having to quit school (for now anyway) after working so hard to get her degree these last few years. I’m trying hard to be supportive emotionally and financially but I’m just one person and she really needs more help than I can give her. So, family, friends, neighbors, school mates and work mates, if you can help in any way, even just to pray for her, please do.

As for me, I had the foot surgery and the D&C. Ultimately we decided to take the risk and treat the cancer with progesterone treatments which will sort of put the cancer to sleep for a short while. Every three months I’ll go for a new biopsy to see if the cancer is disappearing and when they can’t see it anymore we’re going to try to get pregnant. Our chances of having a child are slim, time is short and we don’t have a lot going in our favor. We also know that this is really risky and it’s not the choice most people would make but we need to try everything so that when I do have my hysterectomy (which is inevitable) we won’t have any regrets. We hope everyone will understand and support our choice.

In an effort to give ourselves the best chance possible we’re trying really hard to get healthy. Sean and I are on a diet and exercise plan and I’ve seen a bunch of docs and I’m on some meds I think will help. If you’re interested in being weight-loss buddies check out my Spark Page. I’ll be posting more about the program we’re on in the near future.

Thank you for all your support and assistance the past few months. We wouldn’t have made it this far without you