Sunday, August 14, 2011

A Family Reunion and A New Toy


To quote Al Pacino's Tony Montana in "Scarface": "Say hello to my little friend!" Yup, I bought myself a Roomba. I've been thinking about it for awhile and finally decided to buy one. This is something I should have done for myself way back when my back was giving me so much trouble! If you'd like to see an admittedly terrible video of Roomba in action, take a peek on YouTube by clicking here.

If you're not familiar with the Roomba, it's a robotic vacuum cleaner. Yes, there is a household appliance that not only vacuums my carpets and sweeps the vinyl flooring in the kitchen and bathrooms, but also goes and parks itself on its charger when it's finished! I think I'm in love! *LOL*

There's a VERY wide price range on robotic vacuums; like a lot of electronics these days, you can pay just about anything you want for one, depending on how many bells and whistles you want.

My wants and needs are definitely middle-of-the-line:
  1. I needed a vacuum that could go under furniture. This is the number one requirement. Since my back surgery in 2009 I've been unable to move my unspeakably heavy bedroom furniture, and I suspected that killer dust bunnies lurk in the areas out of reach under my queen-sized bed.
  2. I wanted a vacuum that would return to its charger when it finishes its work. I didn't particularly want to have to worry that the little guy would run out of power while chasing the above-mentioned dust bunnies under my bed.
  3. I didn't particularly need the "program to run while I'm at work" feature, because I want to be at home when it runs in case there's a problem.
Considering my list of requirements I did some reading online and decided that the iRobot Roomba 540 suited my needs and my budget. Even after making this decision, I hesitated for a bit, just to give myself plenty of time to change my mind.

Last Saturday I dragged out my good ol' Kirby and vacuumed the apartment. After pushing the very efficient but very HEAVY machine back and forth for what seemed an eternity (it wasn't really), I settled into my recliner with my netbook and ordered my Roomba.

It arrived very quickly (on Wednesday!) and was exactly as advertised. I charged it overnight and could hardly wait to get home Thursday to see how it worked. Thursday I had it clean the living room kitchen, hallway and guest bathroom. Keep in mind that I had vacuumed with the Kirby the Saturday before. I was amazed (and a little horrified) at the amount of stuff the Roomba found! On Friday evening I had it clean my bedroom and bathroom. I'd been correct: there WERE killer dust bunnies under my bed!! *LOL* Roomba killed 'em though, bless its little electronic heart!

So, if you're like me and have developed a back problem, or if you're like me and a total geek, consider a Roomba. Robots are cool. :-)

Yesterday I went with Mom and Dad to the 30th Lucas-Sweeney reunion. They had a good crowd this year, and TONS of food! There are a lot of wonderful cooks in the family, so tables were piled with platters of chicken, barbecue, casseroles, fresh garden veggies, pies, cakes, candies, homemade breads....makes me full just to remember it!! I took a couple of Tang pies; I got the recipe from a friend at the office, and several folks commented to me that they really liked them. It was good to see such a good crowd. It was awfully hot, but the building we were in (Copper Creek Ruritan building) was air conditioned, so we were able to go in to cool down if we got too warm.

I (of course) took my knitting along and made good progress on some Christmas gifts I was working on. Today I've spent the day doing a little laundry and resting up from the busy day yesterday. I've also managed to make good progress on a pair of socks I've been working on off and on for awhile. In fact, I've turned the heels and I started on the gussets just before I stopped to write this blog post. I'll get a little more done on them before bedtime, I think.

Well, back to the knitting needles. Have a good week, everyone!

2 comments:

El said...

Another things for Kris to covet (even though I do most of the vacuuming LOL)

Bejeweled Barbie said...

TANG PIES? do tell...