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Boob Tube

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I try to work the word boob into conversation whenever possible.  Please note this fact when reading this post.

Yes – I have been confused with a 12 year old boy at times.

And since I get a gazigillion emails about how to mount the television on our stone fireplace (all of which I replied I HAVE NO IDEA) and you guys seem generally interested in the Boob Tube just as much as we do, I thought it was high time to sit Jeremy down and ask him how it’s done.

You may remember our family room when we bought the house – specifically the fireplace.  Were you paying attention?  Because if you were on top of your details-game, you would have noticed that there were two pieces of wood attached to the fireplace, as well as an outlet and some wires.  Yup…that is the start of our tv-mounting story.

The rest of the story started seven months ago…shortly after Christmas, when our beloved television started acting up.  It was like the kid that you give drugs to for ADD except the ritalin worked backwards and your kid ends up in juvie.  Yup.  That was our boob tube.  And the medicated treatment we used was ‘let’s keep the sucker warm by watching it ALL THE TIME.” 

At first it was just a little pixel flicker in the corner.  maybe a tiny line for a split second. 

After the move and seven months later, watching television turned into a very trippy experience.  I started charging hippies a fee to come into our house to get high and turn on the tube.  Not really…but I should have.   

Jeremy & I decided that it was in the best interest of our marriage that we move ‘New TV’ to the top of our save-for list…and just a couple weeks ago, Wells-Fargo decided that we finally had enough to splurge on a new boob tube.  BARELY. 

After a few months of research, Jeremy decided that his best bet was to wait till HHGregg put stuff on sale.  And so he did.  Then he narrowed it down to two televisions based on all sorts of newfangled things like hertz, light, color clarity, size, etc.  Stuff I have no idea what he is talking about.  My only requirements were that it needs to be big  and it needs to be black.  just like how I like my babies.  Don’t worry Will – 50% ain’t that bad 🙂

And when he went in to haggle with the HHGregg folks, he was really quite confused.  You see, my boyfriend had his eye on this 55″ LED LG tv….but there was also the same model WITH 3D that was cheaper.  Why?  Well, apparently LG does 3D televisions with different technology than other 3D televisions.  It’s in the glasses.  Most 3D tv’s use battery-powered glasses (which cost an arm and a leg…seriously, HHGregg has the bone saw right there in the store)…whereas LG 3D televisions use glasses that are like the ones you get at the theater – like Real D glasses.  And the glasses are cheaper (which is great if you have a large group over to watch the SuperBowl or have a raving lunatic toddler around that likes to throw -aka break – things). 

It was kinda one of those DUH moments in life where getting the nicer item was actually the cheaper option.  So he ran to the register to purchase…and got ten pairs of glasses to boot 🙂     

Which leads us back to the television mounting tutorial.

My dad gave us this mount for the television…he got it with his boob tube but wasn’t going to use it and since mounts are generally universal, we got to use it for free 🙂  Thanks Pops….(mom, tell him I said so).

The mount is bolted to those wood boards…the instructions with your mount will tell you how to secure it.

The key here is to make sure that the mount is level – this one had a little green level built in so even if the boards weren’t straight – the mount will be.

Now comes the tricky part – okay…it ain’t that tricky…just confusing to explain.

There are two hooks on the back of your tv (labeled A).  At the top of the hooks it looks like, well, a hook.  At the bottom of the hooks it has a screw (labeled B)…to lock the hook into place.  When you tighten the screw up, it keeps the television completely secured onto your mount…more on that later.  The back of your tv should also have a power cord (labeled C) and the HDMI input areas and cable plug-ins (labeled D).  In order to do this you will want to make sure you have a strong man in your life (like my darling boytoy) and a strong helper (labeled E).   

The first thing is – lift and hook onto the mount.

Both top part of the hooks need to be securely behind the top ledge of the mount. 

It’s a good idea always to have one person holding the base of the tube so that the other person can check things out…and do this next step.

….which is make sure the tv is evenly centered on the fireplace (or wall or whatever).

Then as your ridiculously strong beast of a father-in-law is holding the television securely in place, have your husband tighten the screws below those hooks cinching the television to the mount…while you take photos through his armpit.

See that little screw – yup, now that bad boy is locked up tighter than Wesley Snipes.

Now plug everything in by squeezing your hand behind the television.

Time to celebrate!  And peel!  Isn’t that the best part?!?

Just so that everyone knows – this is our Christmas present…in July.  Yup…and our marriage is okay.  Thanks to the brain dump that is called television watching.

And how cool is 3D? 

It’s pretty awesome.  We have only one movie so far – but dang if that fish isn’t floating right in the middle of the  room ready to eat my face off.

And the coolest part is – it’s totally switch-offable.  So normal television watching is back to, well, normal.  

So there you have it – our boob-tube-hoisting tutorial and the best Christmas-in-July present we have ever gotten.

Are you guys total tv junkies like us?  Ever watched 3D?  I must admit that since we don’t have anything but free basic cable that this is definitely an upscale television…but hey, if they are gonna practically beg us to buy a 3D tv, I am gonna bite.  I am especially gracious like that 🙂

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  2. Oh you can definitely turn it off. There is a little button on the controller and you can also turn it on even when things are not filmed in 3D and it is really just a smidge more 3D-ish 😉
    xo – kb

  4. Our TV is above the fireplace too. We have just drywall above the mantle, but did not have power or cables up there when we began. It was a major pain to accomplish, but I love it now! Congrats on the big boob tube! It looks nice & shiny 🙂

  5. Now you can watch the Food Network and HGTV REALLY BIG!! (I told my husband this when we got our new TV, and I saw the “oh, damn” realization go across his face.) 🙂

  7. Is this a much larger TV than your old one? It seems to fit the space much better. Bigger is always better in my book! :o)

  8. I am a new follower… and this was the first time I have seen that fireplace. I DIE. OMG. Love at first place. Tell me that wasn’t on your top 3 reasons to buy the house! Wow – what a beauty!

    …and the TV is nice, too 🙂

  9. I have to say my favorite picture in this post is of everyone- including Will- with the glasses! and aren’t you glad men know the in’s and out’s of tv buying? I would just buy the one that looks best at the store…

  10. I meant “Love at first sight.”, but I’m sure you knew that. Sorry for the typo!

  12. 3D is becoming one of those things that I’m weirdly stubborn about. I refuse to pay to see anything in 3D in theaters, since movies are expensive enough. Seriously, ridic.
    Plus, I read somewhere that 3D was really bad for your eyes because of the way you focus on it, and as someone who’s had glasses since 3rd grade and has a lifelong terror of blindness (what? I have no explanation), it makes me a little uneasy.
    Now I’m going to quit being 87 yr old Edna Sue and go back to being 26 yr old me.
    Whew.
    Those Depends are a doozy.

  13. Looks great! Your tv is bigger than mine, I’m picking mine up and going home.

    I love my tv over the fireplace, I wouldn’t have done it, but there was no where else in the room and I mean it, I’m not making it up to justify the tv up there you haters who come to visit me and say oh you did that huh? I say look around where else would I put it in this weirdo corner window, 2 door way walk through the middle in front of the FP room? I had to take the first brand back(weird buzzing noise) and it had a speaker along the bottom of the tv, so the new brand(afraid of said weird noise happening again) is a bit higher on the wall then intended, but no one will notice, I’m too lazy to redo the bracket.

    Anyway – your post is so hillarious – I was laughing and people were looking at me weird? I can’t laugh and snort at my desk???

  15. If only we had Food Network & HGTV! We only have standard free cable…but one day when we finalize the sale of the other house and maybe sell a kidney or two, we will be able to get it back 🙂
    xo – kb

  16. I’ve never seen anything in 3D either – well, that is until I saw the fish movie. In layman’s terms – the 3Dness is totally a bonus…and 99.9% of the time we are watching it just 2D…but it’s definitely cool to have the option…especially since this TV was cheaper than the 2D version!
    xo – kb

  17. It’s roughly 3 inches bigger 🙂 Which yes, does make a difference when you are watching hours of bacon being fried….
    xo – kb

  18. Oh man I better show my husband this post!!! A boob tube is high on our “to buy” list too!! We have an old “need 15 people to even lift the darn thing” tv right now and getting a new one is ALL my husband ever talks about!! At first I wasn’t sold on getting a 3D version…….I believed it was all hype…………but we watched a movie at a friends house recentally and I am def. sold!! Maybe Christmas will be coming sooner than later at our casa too!!!
    I swear your boytoy reminds me of my boytoy………you know they have the whole redneck thing going on but still like to dress up like they’re modeling for Jcrew or something!! Love it!

  19. We, too, are living with a 52,000-lb. oldie (like the above poster). The really awful part is that there’s only one set of AUX plug-ins, so when we want to switch from DVD to Wii (or vice versa) the hubby has to pull the huge thing out of our big wooden entertainment center while I slip back there and switch the cords, praying he’s able to hold the weight long enough that I don’t meet my fate under a 20-year-old television.

    Moral of the story? We really need a new TV. And to lose the big wooden entertainment center.

  21. That is really, really nice. I inherited a big tv like that from my Dad when he passed away, and my fiance and I watch that one 90% of the time – but our other tv that we sometimes watch, it’s hilarious, it’s like.. 15″ maybe 17″, and it’s sitting on this nice tv stand in between two tall bookcases – it cracks me up just looking at it. Maybe we’ll get another big one for our Christmas.

  22. I’m holding out on getting cable until I start my new job in September and it’s killing us/the BF.

    I used to work for CSN Stores customer service in their department that sold TV mounts. Those things are so scary and I’m really amazed they work considering they’re so flimsy compared to how heavy a tv is. It’s really cool how you have it mounted though!!

  23. Admittedly, I watch too much TV. I love TV. TV is always there for me. To make me laugh…to help me get out a good cry. Its content gives me a platform for me to get on my soap box and preach about, well, anything. I’ll admit it TMZ is my ‘news’. I have a friend who doesnt own a TV and I always wonder what her and her husband talk about

    Im still not sold on the 3D Tvs…I didnt know you had the option of switching them off though. THAT may sway me. I watched Blades of GLory on a friends 3D TV and was uncomfortable having Will Ferrell quite so close to me…it was like he was IN THE LIVING ROOM.

    Love the TV Love the post. Love your Blog.

    PS Does the BF ever tell you to stop taking pictures? 🙂 Mines always telling me to put the camera away and help move whatever it is hes lifting 🙂

  24. Fun & fantastic! I’ve been thinking it would be cool to have a 3D TV (well, it would be nice to just to have any TV really) but I would never have considered it because I’m not too crazy about the battery powered glasses, so great to see there’s another option out there! I’m pretty new to your blog (loving it!), so that’s the first time I’ve seen that picture of the living room. It’s gorgeous and the windows make me swoon.

  25. I love TV. I always have it one. THen I feel total Mommy guilt if Logan is around while I am watching One Life to Live or some Lifetime movie. So I try to have on Sesame Street or something when he is awake and we are in the room. What are your thoughts on bambinos and TV?

  27. haha! Yup…he sure does. BUT he especially hates being IN photos – so as long as I can promise that I am not gonna get him in it, he is less likely to pitch a fit 🙂
    xo – kb

  28. In general, we don’t let Will watch tv during the day in the house. Although it is a completely different story in the car. We need to have a movie running at all times in the car otherwise Will literally pitches a royal fit. It’s not that we are against babies and tv….it’s just that we don’t have tv on during the day anyway…it’s a habit since we are usually neglecting Will while working or on the computer reading blogs 🙂
    xo – kb

  29. Ok, I read your blog all the time but have never posted before. I felt compelled today to say that I absolutely, probably more than a grown woman should, love peeling the plastic off of new stuff! It’s a sickness but I get mad when someone else does it…lol

    Love your fancy new TV btw
    And your fireplace
    And your blog
    And your baby
    And your striped rug!

  30. My friend’s mother-in-law just got that same TV! We have all been instructed to keep our 3D glasses that we get from the movies, so we can give them to her. She already has quite a (free) collection she keeps in a little basket on the coffee table.

    We’re TV junkies too. I completely understand the need for a big TV for a happy marriage. I don’t know how Husband and I would still be together without one! I kid, I kid. Not really.

  31. We had the same thing happen to our Samsung!! We took it to a repair guy and he said it was fairly typical…how come no one mentioned that when they sell it to you?? We had to buy a new TV last month as well….but for the same price we moved to a 60″ LED, woo hoo!

  32. This is the exact tv that my husband and I bought. My favorite thing about the LG TV is the Netcast button. You can watch netfilx and youtube directly from your TV if you have it connected to the Wifi.

  33. Just an FYI for anyone looking, my hubby is always in the know when it comes to all things geek. His favorite place to get stuff like tv mounts, hdmi(?) cables, etc is monoprice.com. They are ridiculously cheaper than any store. Also on a side note, if anyone is wanting to hide components DH also rigged our DVR/DVD storage. I blogged about it here: http://www.leslieadavis.com/2011/01/living-room/

  34. First of all, I was laughing this whole post at all of your jargon. So thanks for the laugh. Second of all, thanks for the intricate and detailed post on TV mounting and the review on 3D TV, I have been a little skeptical.

  35. Wasn’t your old tv not all that old? I thought I remembered a blog post when you got it, and your blog just turned 3 years old — so your fancy tv was less than three years old when it started dying?!? If that’s true, would you mind sharing what brand the old tv was — it sounds like one to avoid!

  36. That TV is EXACTLY what I have been looking for and its good to know that any 3d glasses will work. Could you please let me know which model it is so that I can purchase the same one! yay!

  37. The old tv wasn’t that old – true…but it was cheap because it was a floor model…so there is no telling how many hours it logged while on display at Circuit City 🙁 Note to self- sometimes the cost of new is worth it 🙂
    xo – kb

  39. Allyn, you are not alone. I won’t watch 3D movies at the theater either, not since Avatar. Totally made me sick and I didn’t think it was that great anyway. Not worried about my eyes, just think it’s a stupid bandwagon the industry is jumping on to try to make more $$$. And well, I have 10 years on you, but I’m not 87. 😉

  40. KT- Jeremy totally looks HOT in those 3d shades! I’d say the purchase was worth it just so you can stare at him while he’s watching the 3d boob tube!

  42. Very cool new t.v.! Looks great. Not to be “Debbie Downer”, but just be careful how much 3D the little guy watches. Apparently the manufacturers have warned that it’s not so good for little kids’ eye development, but the verdict is still out on that. Sounds like you’ve got his t.v. viewing under control (in the house, that is!). Good luck with getting the house ready for the wedding!

  43. This is soooo timely. I plan to hang my HD about my fireplace this weekend! Although my boyfriend has to play the role of husband…which I guess will mean that I play the role of father-in-law. Unless we teach the cat to snap photos, this process will go undocumented. Which is ok, since there will likely be some tense moments.

    Question: if one was to mount it directly on drywall, would the wood under the mount be necessary? Or could we just mount the mount directly to the wall?

    P.S. Looks great 🙂

  44. I think that as long as the mount is attached to studs, then the tv could be hung…but not just to drywall….that is a sure fire way to break something expensive 🙂
    xo – kb

  46. Oh I hear that all the time from Jer. Unfortunately our stone fireplace was already wired for the tv and there really isn’t any other place for it. Boo!
    xo – kb

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