Stingy or Frugal?

Now since I have cut back to only working part time, there are several luxuries that we simply cannot afford (actually, when we could afford them we still didn’t have them). For years luxuries like cable television, internet, home phone line, and Tivo/DVR were not found at the Shuttlesworth Shack. We were the proud Urban Amish family (as John’s co-workers fondly referred to us as).

Luckily (and only because it is at the firm’s expense), we have upgraded our status within the past year and got the internet (which included a home phone line) so that I could work from home. Our phone line ringer gets turned on and off since my co-workers and telemarketers are the only ones that have the number. During the hours that I am working, I have it on for such events as meetings, training, or conference calls. Every now and then a telemarketer gets through in which case I simply give them my usual response:
“Yes, this is Mrs. Shuttlesworth, but I am currently working at the moment. So unless you have a charge code that I can bill this call to, I am afraid that you will have to call back another time.”
They are usually a little taken back by what I have said, and therefore agree confusingly to call back later.

So last night my television watching hit an all time low. We still do not have cable, so I am confined to the only 5 channels (3 of which are Spanish) our little rabbit ears can tune in. I am standing at the television- let me stop right here to stress the fact that I am STANDING at the television only because my klutz of a husband accidentally dropped the television remote in a cup of Dr. Pepper (don’t ask how… I simply do not know) and it no longer works.
As I was saying, I was standing at the television flipping channels and there was NOTHING on. But because Braden was already in bed, I felt I had to have the TV on for background noise as I was getting ready for bed. Out of my 5 TV channels, I stopped on one of the Spanish stations that was showing the movie “The Bride of Chucky.”
Yes, that’s right…for 20 minutes I found myself watching these two little demon possessed dolls go around killing people. Now mind you, I can’t understand a word they are saying… IT’S IN SPANISH!

When I got bored of making up my own dialog to what I thought was being said (which mostly consisted of the repeated line, “I’m the doll Chucky and I’m going to kill you!”), I recalled a time when I saw my first Chucky movie.

I was in junior high spending the night at a friend’s house and she turned the original movie on. The little part that we watched back then (which was only about 15-20 minutes) scared the heck out of me so badly that for the next 5 months I would only get in bed by running and jumping onto it so that nothing underneath would grab me! Don’t even get me started on the nightmares! Another thing that came to mind was the fact that these dolls are only about a foot tall- WHY ARE THESE PEOPLE NOT JUST KICKING THEM IN THE HEAD?!?!? Ahh, the greatness of the early 1990’s movies.

After last night, I am seriously thinking I am going to have to break down and invest in some cable (and a remote).