Couple of updates........

Update on the central vac.

The store replaced the powerhead and the hose under warranty.  It turns out I have a lifetime warranty on this unit.  It also turns out this particular model has had numerous problems with the powerhead and hose, and that is why I am now on powerhead number three.

A little nugget of information for the fellow Canadians out there.  Mentioned to him about wanting a Dyson V8 cordless and right away he said NO.  To fix any problems with it, you have to deal with the head office in the States.......and there will be problems he said.  It's supposed to run for 40 minutes; it will when you first get it but over time it will run for less and less time.  If you have weak hands/wrists (I do) you will find the unit heavy over time, as you are carrying the motor all the time.

So for the time being I am sticking with my central vac.

Update on the basement:

We are getting there slowly but surely.  I have been doing some painting of the doors and trim work.  We picked up a closet organizer for the closet in the back room, so "my" goal is to get dh to install it on Saturday so I can fill it up!!

I picked up floor paint for the furnace room, as it is still and will remain bare concrete.  When painted though it cuts down on the dust.  I also picked up paint for the bathroom down there, a terracotta colour.  So I am hoping to get both areas painted this coming week.  

"My" goal is to have everything done and carpet installed by the beginning of December.  Realistically though before Christmas it should be done by.

Update on Christmas:

If I can clear out the spare bedroom, then I can actually see what I have bought already!!!  As it's November I need to sort the Christmas Cards as well.  I bought a lot of Family one's in the sales in January, but I need to sort out who I am sending them too.  With the price of stamps rising again, I will be cutting right back to the bare minimum.

Update on me:

Well I am feeling a bit better, and have a little more energy.  When I have energy I am using it.  When I have only a little energy I don't do much.  I have also discovered I can get more done in the morning and then rest up in the afternoon, when my energy level is low.

In the scheme of things, life is good, as the t-shirt says!!!

Another one bites the dust..........

In this case it's my powerhead from my central vac.  We have been in this house just over two years and this will be the second time I have had to have it replaced.  I have no idea what I do with it, but I have such bad luck with vacuum cleaners.  I am hoping that it will be replaced under warranty like the last powerhead was.  

I have made up my mind that I will get the Dyson V8 cordless Vacuum when I have saved up enough pennies!!

I just have too many other things that need my pennies at the moment!

The "anaconda" has to go.......

The "anaconda" is in fact my central vac system.  In theory it is a great machine, but having to drag a 50 foot hose with you wherever you go, gets annoying pretty fast.

So I have turned my focus to one of these; a Dyson cordless vacuum:

Now I have no experience with any of these; but Dyson has a good name.  They are expensive and there are different models.

The Dyson V6 Slim retails for $399.99
The Dyson V6 + retails for $499.99 and is pictured above
The Dyson V8 Animal retails for $599.99
The Dyson V8 Absolute retails for $699.99

Now which model is the best?  Do I buy the most expensive or just go with the cheapest?  Has anyone had any experience with these?  Should I be looking at another brand?

Currently I try not to vacuum more than twice a week.  We mainly have hardwood in this house with the bedrooms being carpet and the area rugs on the floors elsewhere.

I will not be buying this anytime soon.  It's on my wish list; like a 48 inch tv is on dh's wish list!!!

Snakes

Decided to haul out the anaconda (aka. central vac) on Tuesday to do a bit of hoovering.  My mother nicknamed it the anaconda, as it must be as long as one.  The hose does have a habit of coiling round like a snake. Ours is a Beam unit.

One of my favourite things in this house is the vac pan I have in the kitchen that is attached to the central vac.

Can you see it under the kitchen sink cupboard?

I had one in one of our other houses and it is the best thing ever.  You sweep your kitchen floor, kick open the lever and all the dust and dirt is sucked up.

Please don't mind the splashes on my kitchen cupboards.  Dark colours it turns out are hard to keep clean.  I will say though putting the vac pan under the kitchen sink would not be my first choice as I can't put a kitchen mat down there.  If though you are thinking of installing a central vac unit, make a point of getting a vac pan put in; you'll love it.

I try to hoover only once or twice a week.  How many times do you vacuum each week?

P.S. I am terrified of snakes!!!

P.P.S. Just posted another book review on a book I brought back from Britain.  Click on this link.

P.P.P.S. Playing around with my blog layout, so please be patient things will get moved around a bit!!

So I am guessing you're all ready to strangle me with my lack of posts?

I would love to say I have been super, super busy but I haven't.  Well I have been busy but can always be busier if you know what I mean. So lets catch you up with what has been going on.

House:

No grass.........which = lots of dust and stupid me went off my allergy pills.  Suffice to say I am suffering royally with allergies and am now back on allergy pills for the foreseeable!  I am hoping we will see grass by the end of September........it if comes before hand it will be a bonus.  If I look out of our back windows today this is what I see:

I think I have shares in the Swiffer company, with the amount of their product I use at the moment!

Got the basement organized and tidied up a bit, so we don't have to step over boxes to go from A to B.  I now know where everything is, sort of, and that in itself is a huge help.

Dh has got the central vac working and the garage door opener installed and running.  Still don't have my car parked in the garage as it needs a tidy up, but that is dh's domain, so I leave it well alone.  Talking of my car, Betsy is looking worse for the wear, due to the dust.  Now me making this comment must mean it's bloody bad, as I NEVER clean/wash my car, but even I am fed up with how she is looking!

The Central Vac we purchases is a Beam Electrolux Alliance Special Spring Edition (it's white not black). It cost us just over $1,100 (including all taxes) and was well worth the money, very pleased with how it works.  Plus I got a "vac pan" installed under the sink cupboard, so I can sweep the kitchen floor, kick the lever and all the dust/crumbs etc, is sucked up through the vac pan.

The garage door opener was a Craftsman from Sears.  We have one double garage door and I got a 1/2 hp opener and it works fine.  I picked it up on sale for well under $200, and it came with two car openers, a key pad and an opener to put by the door to the house.  We have purchased this type of opener before and have always had good luck with them.

I have to say the way the builder finished off the garage makes it look immaculate.  Never had such a good looking garage interior....LOL

Dh's next job will be installing a custom closet organizer we got from Solutions.  We are big fans of their systems and had done a few closets using their product.  I will post about that when we put it up.

We, actually dh is helping renovate our daughter and son-in-laws basement, so that is also taking up a little bit of time.  My job is to take care of our little munchkin.  Here is her 8 month old photo which was taken last week:

She is of course sitting up, she is crawling and she can pull herself up to standing and walk around furniture.  She has got her four top teeth in all at once, so the poor thing hasn't been awfully happy, but she is over the worst as three of the four are through.  So that will be six teeth in all.  She is a grand eater and dd has been teaching her how to pick up pieces of cracker herself.  She will also "kiss" you when asked.  Do I sound like a proud Nana?  I know shut up!!

I have been busy reading.  As not only have I been reviewing books, I also attended my first book club meeting.  Thoroughly enjoyed it and a great set of ladies.  The book club with max out at 12 members and we have 11 members at the moment.  To read my book reviews you can click on this link.  If you have read any of the books I have reviewed I would love to hear your opinion.

I have much more to talk about, as it's been quite an eye opening experience moving from the country to a community where the average age is probably at least 60 to 70.  I know you will not only laugh at but also commiserate with me about some of the daft things that happen around here.

On that note I will sign off and try and get another post written for tomorrow.

Oh, and please feel free to yell at me for not writing more posts...LOL!

Honestly, I should have just gone back to bed...........

It was one of those days when I walked two steps forward and then one step back.  I had a list a mile long of what I wanted to do but barely got anything done all day.  I was in a grumpy mood all day and that mood affected everything I did.

One of the things that put me in a bad mood, was back in March we put down a deposit a central vacuum system to be picked up in June.  We were at the Toronto Home Show and saw a display for Beam Central Vacuum systems.  There were a number a guys at this stand and the guy we dealt with asked us for $100 cash deposit.  To cut a long annoying story short I ended up calling Beam Canada today and they no longer have an affiliation with this guy and his company; thankfully they will honour (eat up) our deposit and get a local dealer to sell us a system for the remainder of the amount.

So I am waiting for an email for them to see when we can pick up the system.

We kept getting interrupted this morning, so that put me behind.  On the plus side we went to the lawyers office to sign everything for the new house and to pick up our cheque.  On the downside, once I had allocated the money to what we owed for what, there was very little left :0(

The drapery situation in our bedroom is giving me a headache, I hope to make headway on that over the weekend, but am not holding my breath with it all.

I think overall we are tired and for me especially it is catching up with me.  Poor dh is back at work on Monday.  I did tell him to take an extra week off but he won't.  He has three weeks off in September, so fingers crossed he will be okay until then.

Mind you in the scheme of things we have nothing to complain about as we have a roof over our heads, unlike a lot of people 15 minutes away from us who got caught up in the tornado the other night, see more about it here.  Then a poor person was killed and another seriously injured in the town  overnight by a driver who was charged with impaired driving and leaving the scene of an accident.  More on that tragic story here.

Finally on a happier note our little Munchkin turned 7 months this past Monday.  Here is this months photo:

Then on Thursday she graduated from the Starfish level of swimming.  She will have to wait until she is a year old though to take the duck level!!

And yes she is turning blonder!