5. Take Maddie out on 5 dates

Maddie and I got to go out to Oberweis last week.  We both had a good time.  She sure is getting big!

38. Find a new doctor and get a physical

I got a physical yesterday. It wasn't the best day to do it for me health wise.  I opened a box of kleenex in the morning and threw the box away before lunch time because it was empty.  My allergies were out of control.  I also had a headache. As I say, it wasn't the best day to get checked out.
Unfortunately the physical wasn't a very good one.  My appointment was at 4:20 but I didn't see the doctor until 5:05. I sat in a room by myself waiting for most of that time. 

I read everything in that room.  I read the posters twice.  I was so bored!

When I finally met with the doctor we talked mostly about my headaches and my allergies and he seemed to think they were pretty closely linked.  He may be right.  I'm hoping that my new routine with medicines will do the trick.  He also gave me a prescription for a steriod that might help too.  I sure hope so.  These last three weeks have been rough. I am really wanting to find out what I need to do to have a regular day without having to consult more medications and endless kleenex.  Hopefully this does the trick.
While it wasn't the most thorough of physicals, it was still a physical.
16 goals down!

45. Host a movie night outside

After thinking about doing this for awhile we finally got around to having friends over for a movie night last night. 

We made popcorn.

Melissa did a great job setting everything up.

The kids enjoyed playing on the swing set as we waited for it to get dark.  I climbed up 20 ft. on the tree to hang a light.  It lights up the swing set perfectly. 

The kids enjoyed it so much. We watched Toy Story 3. They are already asking when we are going to do it again.  I had such a great time.  I want to do it again soon too.

 I built a frame on one of our fences and used a canvas drop cloth as our screen. I don't know what the diagonal measurement but it was about 8 feet wide by about 6 feet high. It worked out well.

I'm ready to do it again. Maybe October 10th or 16th to watch the Chicago Bears' night games.  We shall see...

15 goals down!

Update on going without cable TV

We have made it a little over 2 months now without having Cable Television.  It hasn't been terribly bad.  We have used the library for movies and tv series' that we hadn't watched in the past.  The library has been great because everything that we get from there is free.  My brother Matt clued me into putting requests on books and movies and I have been using it pretty faithfully ever since.
For our normal viewing of shows we bought the Roku box and we pay for Hulu and Netflix service which is around $8 a month for each of them. 
For netflix we are able to stream tv shows and movies to our TV.  Most of their stuff that they have is older.  If it is on DVD, then there is a chance that Netflix has it.
Hulu is a little different.  They have old TV shows (Quantum Leap, Hill Street Blues, and older), but they also have up to date shows that play each week.  They update within a day of the show being on and allow you to watch it pretty soon after it is broadcast.  We haven't had our regular shows start to see how this will impact our viewing.  I will update later to give the thumbs up or down on that one.
Through Hulu and Netflix we get tons of shows and movies that supplement what we used to watch in the past.  It has been fun to see old shows (Inspector Gadget, Fraggle Rock...) that I used to watch when I was little.  The kids don't appreciate those shows like I did when I was little.  Maybe some day they will come along.
For live television we have an antenna in the attic that gets CBS, FOX, NBC, ABC, WGN, PBS and a few more channels.  That will allow us to watch shows coming up in the fall live if we choose.  I will be able to watch most NFL games and follow along with my fantasy team.
All in all, I would say that it hasn't been too bad making the switch.  We still do miss watching some of our cable shows, but I am in the process of ordering a cable to attach our computer to our TV.  After we get that hooked up we should be able to get just about everything that we were missing.
I had thought about doing this for months/years before we actually did it.  I am glad I put it on my list so I would be motivated to actually give it a try.  Time will tell if we really have gotten rid of our monthly cable bill.