Gerard's New Toy: The Shark

On Christmas morning before going to church, Gerard asked me to take a picture of him with his new toy that he got for his birthday:  The Shark vacuum cleaner.  I was very pleased with myself that I was able to put it together without any help and it worked!


Actually, it works really well!  Our old Dirt Devil was useless, I was so frustrated with it after trying to vacuum the cat litter off the carpet that I decided it was time to get a new vacuum.  We found a great deal at Sears on Black Friday--only paid $107 for the Stark which has super suction and actually cleans the carpet.  I could see a big difference after using this one. It has adjustable suction and two switch positions:  one for tile/wood and one for carpeting.

We are very pleased with this purchase and highly recommend this to anyone looking for a new vacuum cleaner.  We also opened a couple presents before church after the vacuuming was done.

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I Love Laundry Day!

Laundry day is one of my favorite days! I like laying on the nice warm clothes when they just come out of the dryer. Gerard says I get my furs all over his things but if I lay on his jeans, those don't seem to show my furs as much as some other things, like his white sweatshirts.

Another really cool thing I like about laundry is the basket. It's a big plastic basket that I love jumping into and laying in. Sometimes Karen will be funny and tip it over upside down on top of me and it looks like I'm in jail. I like it either way. Manny is not interested in joining me in here at all so that is good. Do you like laundry day?

Actually, doing the laundry is Karen's favorite household chore, if she had to pick one. It's pretty easy to throw everything in the washer, set the time and change it over to the dryer and set the timer again. The best part is that she can still do other things WHILE she's actually doing the laundry. She loves to multi-task!

If you are looking for Christmas posts, there are plenty listed on the left side bar from last year that you may have missed.

When Are You Going To Empty Your Wastebasket?

Gerard is just super about cleaning our house and always on the ball. He empties all our wastebaskets and takes out the garbage several times a day. Usually, this is a good thing, but not always. At work, I am used to having a basket for recycling which is nice because sometimes, after throwing something away in my "File 13" I realize I need to refer to it later. All I need to do is fish it out and there it is.

At home though, on several occasions we threw something away and by the time we discovered we wanted it back, it was already mixed in with the garbage or even on its way to the dump! After about the third time this happened, I asked Gerard if he could just let me have one basket that he wouldn't empty until I gave the okay. He was agreeable so I chose my big Browns can next to my computer desk. It'll only be a quarter full and he'll ask, "Can I empty it yet?" I say, "No, not yet." Then at halfway full, again he asks, "Aren't you going to empty it now?" I'll say, "No, there's still plenty of room yet." Finally, when it reached almost to the top, I told him he could empty any time he wanted now. I guess he didn't hear me because a day or two later he asked me again, "Can I empty it yet?" I said "Yes, I said you could."

I don't understand why it bugs him so because it is a high basket so it's not like stuff is sticking out of it like it is at my work one. It just seems that as soon as I empty it, that's when I'll need something back that I threw away. That is why I empty it as little as possible. My work one is very small but you'd be surprised how much I can stuff into it!

How often do you empty your wastebaskets? Who are you like: Gerard, who wants them to be empty at all times or me, who likes to fill them to capacity and only empty them when absolutely necessary?

5 Reasons Not To Make The Bed Every Day

I consider myself to be a very practical person and yet one thing I do that is really unnecessary is making our bed every morning. I can't think of one good reason for doing this, but there are several reasons I can think of not to do it that I list below:


1) It is not necessary. What would happen if we didn't make the bed? Hmm. Nothing. It would absolutely make no difference at all!

2) In fact, it would save some time if we didn't make it. I could pet my cats a few minutes longer or be on the computer a few minutes longer before going off to work.

3) At night, we could actually get into bed faster!

4) No one is home through the day except the cats, and I'm sure they wouldn't mind if it wasn't made. It's not like we have company coming over every day.

5) According to a post at Mommy's Little Corner, it would be better not to make the bed because by leaving pillows and mattresses uncovered and exposed to direct sunlight and fresh dry air, it reduces dust mite populations by dehydrating the critters, which crave moist and warm areas. So, maybe one of my New Year's Resolutions should have been not to make the bed every day. The problem is that I was raised to do it. It does look better made but that really doesn't matter much since no one sees it through the day anyhow.

Maybe I can force myself to break this bad habit I have of making the bed. I don't think Gerard would go for it though, being the neat freak that he is when it comes to the house. Maybe it's worth a try though. Can you think of any good reason why we should make the bed everyday? What unnecessary things do you find yourself doing every day?