Our house, in the middle of our street

Actually, our house IS in the middle of our street – well, our block. I thought it would be fun to share more about our household. You already know who’s in the household and that most of us are sarcastic, song and movie quoting smart alecks.  Here are a few facts you might not know about our household.

Sometime in the last decade (maybe 8 years ago?), we decided to eliminate cable tv from our home. We realized the children really only watched PBS Kids so the remaining channels were wasted. We didn't watch most network evening television because we don’t like the whole reality tv movement. I could get on my soapbox here, but won’t digress. The boys enjoyed the occasional Dirty Jobs or Mythbusters episode, but the cost of cable was higher than our desire for those shows.

Thus, we cancelled the cable and Mr. Neoclassic scaled the chimney and installed a huge antenna. We bought a converter box for our non-HD tv, accepted that television watching would involve at least three remotes, and moved on. Meanwhile, due to an electrical glitch that takes too long to explain (i.e. I’m not sure I really understand), we realized that only one phone jack in the entire house worked. This was fine since we had a cordless system with two or three handsets.

Then the handsets died, one by one, at the hands of small children and random accidents (they don’t survive the wash cycle). We plugged an old-fashioned corded phone into the one working jack and vowed to buy a new cordless. But then, we didn’t. Friends knew that if I didn’t answer the phone they should try again in 10 minutes. I was probably upstairs changing a diaper or such and just didn’t make it down to answer the corded, ancient phone. In the meantime, they could leave a message on the answering machine!

I need to state that the adults and Classic Rock (at age 12) had cell phones. That is, phones that make calls and send texts. Not phones that are small computers. That would mean entering the technological age and we just couldn't have that.

At some point during this stretch of non-electronics age voodoo, our toaster oven expelled black smoke and died. I aired the kitchen, vowed to replace it and….didn't. Several years later, I still make toast by kicking on the oven and putting slices of bread on a pizza screen.

I would be remiss if I didn't mention the computer situation during those years. The adults in the house shared a laptop that wasn't a laptop because its  internal battery had died.  It resided, always plugged in, on the bar counter in the kitchen, making surfing very uncomfortable and explaining my lack of Pinterest pins. The children shared a desk top computer that was generally monopolized by Classic Rock’s school work requirements.

All of these issues led poor, socially isolated, and frustrated Zydeco to declare our house “THE HOUSE OF LAME!” We laughed and took this as a moniker of sorts. “Oh, I’m sorry, we've never seen Dancing with the Stars because we’re the house of lame.” Or, “We don’t know what a PS3 is because we’re the house of lame.”  Or, "We'd call, but the one phone is dead because we're the house of lame."

Interestingly, our children’s friends seem to enjoy gathering at our house, despite its record of lameness. We open our doors, our pantry, and our game cabinet to welcome friends and make them feel comfortable. The boys enjoy inviting friends over for movie nights, even though the tv has a tube is only 27 inches! They know I’ll make popcorn (on the stove) and serve their favorite chips.   Jazz’s neighborhood buddy, whose own house boasts cable, gaming systems, and other exciting media, loves to be in our backyard where they are free to dig in the dirt pile and create imaginary worlds of fun.

After my husband’s recent Facebook update about another facet of lameness, a good friend responded with the following comment:

”You’re not the House of Lame, you’re the House of Eclectic Awesomeness!”

That sounds so much better!

How is your household counter-cultural? That's what we're claiming really drives our Eclectic Awesomeness.  Otherwise, we're just lame :)

Today's post title from Madness' Our House.

**PS - There are no pictures today just to enhance the whole idea of lameness!