The cable free life

When we moved to Alaska in 2011, we cancelled our cable plan. After finally finding an apartment after a month of living in a hotel, our budget didn't have room for cable. Since then, we've just never added it back in. My husband likes not having cable, but sometimes I miss it. Okay, I always miss Disney channel (especially since not all Disney Channel shows are on Netflix, and the DCOM "Alex vs Alex", the Wizards of Waverly Place follow up, is two years old and still not on Netflix). But, for the most part , the cable free life isn't so bad. After all, there aren't any commercials to deal with and we can pause and rewind as much as we need to when our toddler decided it's noise-making time in the middle of a crucial plot moment.

There are a few times of year when I genuinely miss cable, though. Here's a handy dandy list of things you, too, may miss if you've recently gone, or are thinking of going, cable free. Bonus: the list is in chronological order of TV events.

1. The Super Bowl. Sometimes they live-stream it, but it's slightly delayed and messes up frequently. 

2. The Oscars, and all other awards shows.

3. Summer reruns. Especially of old shows, like Boy Meets World.

4. Game shows. Just be glad this post isn't titled "An Ode to Jeopardy," because I miss Jeopardy, y'all. For real. Yes, I know I'm a dork.

5. TV specials. The Story behind Frozen: making a Disney animated classic aired last night and it was just put online a few hours ago, so I had to wait 12 hours and watch several YouTube clips to hold me over. Obsession at it's best.

6. Fall TV. New shows, new episodes of favorite shows. Sigh. Also? I STILL haven't seen the last season of How I Met Your Mother, and was subjected to several spoilers.

7. SPOILERS. Beware them. They're terrible, and people post all over Facebook about plot points.

8. ABC Family's 13 days of Halloween. Casper, The Addams Family, Toy Story of Terror (which came out on ABC last year and I still haven't seen!). The list goes on. Non-scary Halloween movies for those of us who love the lighter side of Halloween.

9. College football. Sigh. Kind of like the Super Bowl, college football is an event that unites our country into one community, albeit a community obsessed with winning and beating our rivals. But it still brings us together. Missing out on these nation-uniting moments sometimes leaves me feeling isolated and disconnected.

10. Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade. Just... Sadness.

11. ABC Family makes the list again with 25 days of Christmas. 25 days of birthing but Christmas movies and, for some inexplicable reason, Harry Potter movies? Count me in! Oh, wait. Never mind...

12. Disney channel, year round. Nothing makes the holidays more real than seasonally appropriate episodes.

13. Movie trailers. Most of the time, I just don't know what movies are in theaters. I often feel out of the loop, pop culture wise.

14. Jimmy Fallon is hilarious, and I wish I had cable so I could tape his Late show (because, honestly, I can't stay up that late anymore! Oh, yes, I'm old now. Blame the toddler).

15. Watching the ball drop on New Year's Eve.

So those are my major 15. What do you miss about having cable?