And That's When I Realized My Kids Hadn't Seen a TV Commercial For More than a Year

Two things stood in the way of plastic window insulation this year:

1. Christmas lights
and
2. Cost

And besides, it's been barely below 45 degrees most of this winter, with just the one real snow...it's FREAKY. It's JANUARY and the one snow we had has melted away. I've heard more than a few mixed feelings on the issue. On the bright side, no snow and it's warm! On the down side, no snow and it's warm. Plus there's that whole global warming thing........**shudder**

For the places where the kids hang out the most, I've fashioned more durable window insulation. Thick plastic with velcro along the top, so I can affix it to the top of the window. Then I tape along the edges. Plus it's recyclable. I can fold it up and put it away over the summer and take it out and put it back up over the winter and tape along the edges again. The thinner stuff is good, but the kids can and do poke their fingers right through it.

Anyway, with the Christmas lights down and the temps FINALLY starting to drop, I stopped by to spring for a pack of insulation film and was intercepted by a man from Direct TV.

He said something about Direct TV and switching over and I said:

"How much is it?"

"Well, come over here and let me show you....with Direct TV you get dsafwer and gwerqaer, and 150 channels and free asdfasew, PLUS one asdfawer asdfasfwer and fgsdf and we also throw in sadfagwer"

"How much is it?"

"I'll show you right now...now with Comcast you have qw34qsgfa and asdfavage, and you have probably noticed that you can't adfga asasdfa asdf ascasdwergaa asfasdewracdageew adasdfweweadca or aarrwrdagasdfsdf but with Direct TV you CAN, and asdfasdfasd casd asdf a asdf wer a asf sdf fw e asd a sd we r adfg SDFAsdfwer sadfgv fsd asdf sesr asd fasdf..."

"How MUCH is it?"

"Here...look at this...I'll compare Comcast with Direct TV..."

The ultimate mistake of the evening from both of us is HE assumed I gave a crap about the Television and I assumed his company offered internet service to speak of. We parted ways cordially, but that's when it hit me, my children probably haven't seen an actual television commercial in our home for nearly two years.

It wasn't so much of a intentional effort to keep them from commercials. It was more of an economic decision. Heh...weird that it's CHEAPER to NOT have ads sprayed in your face.

I have the cheapest Television package possible from Comcast because for whatever bizarre reason it's actually five bucks cheaper per month than having just the Internet. Weird. My kids watch PBS and stuff from Netflix. Usually when they pester me for stuff, it's because their friends have it. For example, Bayblades. All his friends have Bayblades. Fortunately, Santa provided a Bayblade. That Guy is awesome. Incidentally if you're looking for Bayblades they can be had at Meijer for $4.99. It's basically a badass looking top that spins in a bowl with another badass looking top and the last badass looking top spinning wins. It's very exciting.

It's pretty cool going ad-free in the homestead.

My only regret with the lack of television commercials in the home is we're not there to inoculate the kids from the effects of commercials later on, deconstructing them as they play their siren song. It never hurts to explain the strings behind marketing as an ad is playing.