Meet My New Friend

I'd like to introduce you to someone:

This is my vacuum. I think we may become best friends.


As you'll notice, I didn't get a Dyson like I thought I would. Here's what happened.


We decided to go to Vacuum Specialists. If you're local and you ever need a vacuum, this is the place to go. They sell every vacuum that can be sold in Canada and they supply all the other stores as well as builders and other commercial people. You will get the best price through them. And they were wonderful. Very informative, not at all pushy.


I told Mark on the way there I was not going to name any brands when I walked in the door. I was going to tell them what kind of vacuuming needs I have and let them give me recommendations. He did show me a Dyson, but he also told me that he has carpet companies who send them warranty policies that name Dyson (along with some other brands) as carpet warranty voiders. Meaning if you use a Dyson (or these other brands) on their carpet, your warranty is no good. This is because of the brushes that are used in the beater head. They pull up the carpet, not just the dirt. Now I don't have nice carpet in my house, but some day I will probably replace it and when I do I don't want to buy a new vacuum, so...NEXT!


We ended up going with a Sebo. I love this vacuum. Can I gush for a just a minute?


Here are all the things I love about it:


First of all, it's powerful, it literally pulls you around the room. It's more powerful than 95% of the built-in units available.
It's also compact. I don't have tons of space for a monster of a vacuum, this one packs some punch. 
It allows you easy access for fixing it/unclogging etc. No tools required. Those Germans sure are smart when they design things. I can open this thing up everywhere I could ever need to with a flip of a button or a switch. It's fabulous.

(stair attachment which is air powered. So cool!)

The unit is small enough that it can sit on the stairs, but with the long hose, I don't think I will even need to do that.
All the tools except one (the stair tool that we purchased separately) are attached to the unit. That's kind of brilliant. More brilliant is that all but the duster attachment are flush with the unit (and it clips on the handle.

It does have bags (I thought I didn't want that, but now I'm more educated), but they are bigger and cheaper (so lower cost to run) than most other machines. Even the bag-less ones that just replace the bag cost with more expensive filters.
It swivels. Both at the handle and at the machine head the wand swivels so it gives it the glide capabilities that are the same as the Dyson ball. but less bulky. On the same token the wheels on the canister swivel 360º (or is it 180º? Whatever, all the way around in any direction) so the canister follows you in any direction you need to go. The hose also swivels at both ends so it doesn't get tangle up.
Oh and it's a super bendy hose.
The beater head goes right up to the wall so I don't have to pull out a crevice tool to do that part of my floor like I did with my old vacuum.
It has both a long hose and a long power cord (which is also very bendy so it doesn't get stuck places. I know you've all used stiff cords and know how annoying they are).  
Also long is the crevice tool. Whoever invented those teeny short ones obviously didn't have real cleaning needs.

(the crevice tool slides into this little cubby)

It's not super loud for it's suction. And it has adjustable speeds so I can both dust delicate pictures and art (if I had any real stuff) and get down to the nitty gritty tough floor jobs.

(one touch speed control. This will also turn the unit on/off)

I can use it on all floor surfaces and the non-carpet brush will polish my floors as I vacuum. Now I just need floors worth polishing.

(For my kitchen floor etc.)

(It slips onto the end of the unit so I can take it with me.)

The filter in it is hospital grade and will trap everything from dust, mites, spores, mold etc. etc. Basically if it can be in the air, get breathed in and cause you to get sick, it filters it out. I'm a fan. I'm looking forward to the amount of dusting I have to do to go down. We all know I'm not a fan of housework.
It even has a bumper pad around the canister so that it doesn't ding up my walls. 'Cause when I'm trying to work quickly I'm not always careful... :)
And there's something to be said when a guy who has worked in a vacuum store for 25 years has one in his house and has NEVER had a single return of this brand.


He's kind of pretty for such a work horse, too. Wouldn't you say?

I think he needs a name. Suggestions?

Meet my Nemesis...

I'd like to introduce you to someone:

This is my vacuum. We are not friends.

I inherited this vacuum along with my husband. I didn't realize what was happening. You see, Mark and I both had vacuums when we got married. But the roommate I was leaving (with a fully carpeted residence) didn't have a vacuum. The one I had I didn't really like and in Mark's words his vacuum was "the best vacuum ever." I should have known to ask if he used it more than the 4 times a year his parents came to visit.

In our first year of marriage Mark took on the job of vacuuming since it's not really my favourite chore. I did it a few times, but not enough to loathe the vacuum, just enough to kind of hate it.

Then we moved into our current house. Which was double the size of the rental place from our first year of marriage.

Our house was built in 1979 when everyone thought carpet was the best thing ever so they put it everywhere (except the kitchen and bathrooms - so glad that trend died quickly - and my teeny tiny front entrance). We don't have a huge house (1200 square feet upstairs and a basement that's around 900 of carpeted area), but it's pretty much all carpet and there are a lot of stairs and there is just enough vacuuming to do to make me detest the vacuum. Any time I complain Mark tells me his vacuum is fantastic. I tell him it's old. He tells me 1980-whatever was a good year for vacuums. I gaffaw.

You see my vacuum sucks, except it doesn't. Well, that's not true, the first day you put in a new bag for the first 2 rooms (if they're small rooms) you can feel it suction itself to the floor. After that, you basically can only get surface dirt (we're talking cheerios). Then there is the whole issue of it being a canister style. I hear these are supposed to be great for stairs. Here's the problem. It has the shortest hose so I can't reach all the stairs with the vacuum at the bottom and the vacuum is too big to actually sit on the stairs. So it's this crazy stretching/balancing act whenever I need to do the stairs. Annoying! Oh and it has bags. I hate bags. And the bags for this thing are not carried by every store, so I have to make special trips for vacuum bags. I don't have time for special trips.

Have I mentioned I have a near 3 year old and a 10 month old who are not exactly clean eaters? Oh ya, and a dining room that is carpeted. If I was a good girl I would vacuum that room daily, but I'm not because I HATE MY VACUUM.

So I came up with a plan. To kill my vacuum.

Okay, that's not entirely true. Last August I did by accident. And I was totally happy. You see this is a 1980-something model and the plastic on the handle started to crack (because it's old, that's what happens. "But Mel, 1980-something was a GREAT year for vacuums" "That's nice, honey, but plastic gets brittle when it's over 20 years old"), which meant that it was leaking air so it didn't suck as well. Sweet! Dyson here I come!

I told Mark about it when he got home. And he FIXED IT. Boo. No new vacuum for me.

Then in November it did this weird thing where I could go back and forth at most 3 times and it would shut off and I'd have to hit the reset button to make it work again. I thought for sure that was the end. Mark thought so too. But he decided to "inspect" it. Turns out there was just stuff (hair, string etc) wrapped around the beater-head bar and once he cleaned it out it worked like it did before. Boo. No new vacuum for me.

Then in March it started cracking farther down the handle. Mark fixed it. Gah! This thing won't die.

And then the day happened a couple of weeks ago: Mark was vacuuming and then he came and asked where the scissors were while holding the vacuum bag. Turns out it had cracked enough to loosen a piece and then he vacuumed it up. He got the piece out and tried to put it back together, but no amount of duct tape (we're classy like that) could hold it together properly. I vacuumed two more times (cursing the vacuum the entire time) and then it just fell apart. Screws came loose, pieces wouldn't fit back together. The thing is done.

YEAH!! Now I get a new vacuum. The only problem is this: I want a Dyson, Mark doesn't like that they don't come out very high on the consumer reports charts (meaning not the top 3). But the vacuums that do require fixing more often. I'm tired of dealing with broken vacuums. I think I've pretty much convinced him to let me get what I want since I'll be using it the most.  Now I need to figure out which one (upright, canister, which model). I figured I'd talk to the professionals (and not the teenager at Sears) but the place I want to get it from is only open from 9-6 and Mark gets home every day at 5:45. So we'll have to go on a Saturday. We couldn't last week, which means that's how we will be spending our long weekend (and hopefully planting our garden too).

For those of you who are savvy, yes, I haven't vacuumed in about 2 weeks. Eww, I know. I'm grossed out too, but there has really been no other time to go. And I figure once I get the good vacuum then it can do a really good job and fix it all for me.

Do you have a Dyson? Which one? What should I get with wall to wall carpet? Do you have a different recommendation for me?


Thoughts please!

Wreaths for the Girls' Room

Back in the fall my sister made a fabulous wreath for her daughters room. It was one of those projects that made me whine, "I want one!" Except I wanted two. (Jen, I don't have the link, so if you do, can you put it in the comments??)

I bought the supplies and even got one half finished, but then Christmas happened and I got a little busy with other projects and never finished the wreaths.

Then this week I was walking through Michaels and saw cute Monogram hangers that would be perfect for hanging these wreaths and they had the initials for both my girls. I pretty much took that as a sign that I had to have them. And I love them.

That was enough to kick me in the pants encourage me to finish.

Their room is light green on the walls and my plan is to decorate with white furniture (that means some paint will be coming out soon. Ha!) and pink (for Mady) and purple (for Kate) accents. I don't want them to be stuck to "their" colour, but for the most part they will each have their colour with little bits of the other one.

So, Mady's wreath has more pink in it and her framed birth info is done in pinks. Kaitlyn's wreath has more purple and her framed birth info is done in purples.

Oh ya, in the frames under the wreaths is all their birth info. I didn't want to forget it. Which I didn't think was possible, except it is. I almost printed both of them with a detail wrong. Thank goodness for baby books.

These are hung on either side of the window. I didn't take a picture where you can see both because their room gets amazing amounts of light and I'm not that at all talented with a camera. In fact I couldn't get a good one of Mady's without flash. Sorry.

Here they are!

Help My House: The Mantel

(before I post, can I just say, that I hate how as soon as you put a label on a post and hit return blogger posts your post?! So, now I will repost this in its finished form with pictures...)

If you've been to my house, you will see that I have all of 4 pictures hanging on my walls. Yup, just 4. In my ENTIRE HOUSE. And I have one that is leaning against the wall in the guest room in the basement. So that sort of counts, right?

A couple of months ago I hung a clock. It took me 3 years because I wasn't sure of the correct placement.

To say that I'm a timid decorator is an understatement. I know when I see a finished room if I like it or not and I can tell you what I DON'T like (cluttered and kitschy!), but I have no idea how to make a room feel put together and finished.

So I'm going to ask for help.

I need suggestions, and lots of them. So, even if you've never commented before, I need you to comment now. Actually my blank walls need you to comment.

But I'm not going to start there, that's too daunting. We're going to start with my mantel.

I had it all decorated for Christmas, and this is what it looked like:

It was simple and I liked it. But today (yes, only finally today, I'm TOTALLY behind thanks to a teething 6 month old) I took down the Christmas and now I'm left with a blank mantel:

I have no idea what to do with it. Should I go for seasonal themes (so I don't get tired of it and can keep the room fresh?), or do I find something really great and get it set up perfect and leave it that way all the time?

So I need suggestions of what to place, where to place it, how much to put on, etc., etc.

Some things to keep in mind:

-We have a sunken living room which means we have a huge vaulted ceiling. Things tend to look dwarfed on the mantel.

-I don't want to spend a lot of money on this project, so cheap ideas (or even better, suggestions of how to use things I probably already have) is better.

-There is not a lot of colour in my living room (ha, or my whole house!). I love brown. Maybe too much, and put a lot of it in there. I do have some light green in my kitchen (that looks into the living room). I could kind of go anywhere with colour as long is it's not totally out there. But I need colour and probably anything that will lighten/brighten it up.

-My husband likes to use the mantel to "store" things. It drives me nuts, hence why I want it decorated. It discourages the habit a bit more.

So bring it on (please!!!). Help me help my house.