Dyson Animal
Today's Friday Fixation is a new gadget that makes my life a little easier: the Dyson Animal (DC25).
Since our old Eureka has pretty much given up the ghost we decided that the extra money for the Dyson would be money well spent. We ran around town looking for it last Sunday, but unfortunately we could not find the DC25 Animal in town (the DC25 line are the "Ball" line of vacuums.) I wanted the Ball for a variety of reasons:
1. They weigh less than their traditional counterparts.
2. They maneuver more easily, since they can pivot in any direction.
3. They are fancier and cooler than the non-Ball vacuums.
We did end up finding the vacuum locally, at Best Buy (I actually placed my order on-line for in-store pick-up which was an easy and smooth transaction and I recommend it). We went out in a heavy rain on Monday evening to pick it up. It comes needing a little assembly (you need to snap on the handle and connect the brush to the ball, no tools involved) but by the time it was ready to go, it was too late to run it. Tuesday morning I was finally able to run my test, and joy of joys! This vacuum is amazing. I had run the old vacuum on Saturday and when I vacuumed with the Dyson on Tuesday, I swear you'd have thought there was half a cat in the carpet! It also runs more quietly than the old vacuum so the cat is less afraid of it. All-in-all I am very pleased and think it was an investment well made.
Happy Halloween
We're not doing anything for Halloween this year (we're staying home and cleaning the apartment since D's parents are coming to visit tomorrow) but I'd be remiss if I didn't share our birthday-cat's Halloween costume:
She hates it. Hates. It is kind of funny how defeated she looks when I put it on. Lest you think we are mean cat owners, here she is--all happy--with D.
When we got Pica a few months ago, they estimated her birthday to be October 31st so today our sweet girl is officially a two-year old cat. Let's hope she has many many more years left in her!
Join us back here tomorrow to kick off NaBloPoMo.
There and Back Again
We recently drove to California (and back!) We've been back home for two weeks and I've written nary a word here on the blog about the trip. I'm slowly processing the nearly 1100 photos I took. Until I finish that I'm going to hold off on the blog recap. Instead, here's an adorable photo of the cat.
In related news, it's been so hot here that we decided to seek respite from the oppressive heat in our apartment but felt bad leaving the cat home (it was cool enough that she was not in danger). Instead of leaving her, we harnessed her, hooked on the leash and headed out. We took her carrier in case she freaked out but she took it in stride, sitting on my lap--purring and watching out the windows. We saw several crows, two donkeys and what appeared to be a yearling buck deer. We grabbed coffee via the Starbucks drive through and really surprised the girl working the window. Guess it's not every day you see a cat riding in the car.