Tuesday Things.
1. Dallas friends! Next week is a super fun party for The Pretty Dish at Room & Board in Dallas. I’ll be signing books and chatting! And they are giving away $250! All the exclamation points. You can register here.
2.Dying over this heart ombre cake! SO cute.
3. Speaking of, um why didn’t anyone tell me that in the toddler/preschool age universe, Valentine’s Day is basically another Halloween? The candy is INSANE.
4. TV things! This Is Us was good in it’s usual depressing way. Kevin! ugh. a Million Little Things was so good too but next week looks better. I love Drea de Matteo and I’m so glad she’s in the show. Other than that, I’m not watching anything! Oh, last week I watched Gilmore Girls reruns. Hhmmmpf.
5. I loooove this article (totally just wrote ARTICHOKE) about why we should stop striving for work life balance. I totally agree and I always say that the best balance for me is that knowing that things are rarely balanced! And it all averages out.
6. So yes I’m sure behind the times, but I kind of want to get a robot vacuum. Tell me all of the details! Roomba isn’t the best anymore, right? Are they worth it? Heelllp me.
7. This whole second screening thing is awful. And I’m doing it right now while typing on the computer and watching TV in the background. Annoyed with myself.
8. I loathe portrait mode on the iPhone. I thought the concept was amazing when it was first released, but it’s so wonky now. Like the photo above, it just blurs out random portions. Whyyyyy.
34 Comments on “Tuesday Things.”
the blurring of random places in portrait mode happens to me too…honestly thought it was just me and i was holding the phone incorrectly or something. apple is trying to get us to upgrade :/
it’s the worst! it’s just so unpredictable. i have the newest phone and it still does it.
OMG I want a roomba or something along those lines! I can’t wait to hear what people say. I actually want a cleaning person to come every week but that ain’t happening so Roomba or the like will have to be next option! A Million Little Things…my gawd! I love it so much. Totally agree about Drea. Dying to know how Barbara fits into all this. Haven’t watched this week yet….shhhhh!
i know right!! i hope she is a main character!
We got a Roomba for free from my husband’s work. It does a much better job than I thought it would (we have a black dog that sheds) I was impressed with how well it cleaned the floors. But it’s kind of annoying. Gets stuck in weird places and I kind of struggle to have all the things off the floor so it doesn’t get stuck.
Seconding this- our roomba works well, and I still find it useful, but I do need to make sure the floor is clear, and then it’s best if I’m home to supervise, in case it gets stuck.
Yes! Like it wouldn’t really be useful to do it when I’m not home. Ours always wedges itself under the beds or couches.
thank you for all this info! xo
I love my roomba. I use it on the mail level about twice a week and it helps get all the pet hair, random crumbs, and just keeps everything looking neater while I can do other things. I do still have to break out my other vacuum for stairs and other non reachable places and you do have to make sure you have items picked up off the floor – like before I let it clean my bedroom I make sure there are no clothes on the floor, etc. I do occasionally have to rescue you from under the couch but other than that, no complaints.
thanks ronda! great info!
I got my parents a Roomba 690 for Christmas. It works well if you do a little groundwork first (picking up any large obstacles basically, like dog/kid toys, the pet food dishes, etc) and can confine it to smaller areas. I looked at a few and read the Wirecutter reviews, and ended up with the 690 because the price was good, the reviews were good, it has an app/connects to WiFi, and iRobot sells all replacement parts for all of their models. There’s a little regular maintenance (empty the bin, check the brushes & wheels, wipe off the sensors) but it’s all very easy and all the instructions are right in the app. I think their house is a liiiiiittle too big for it, but when they shut the kitchen or dining room doors and use the little invisible barrier it came with, it does a pretty good job staying focused and keeps the dust bunnies and pet hair tumbleweeds at bay, which is exactly what I bought it for. It also does a good job of navigating around and underneath the furniture, and goes from hardwood floors onto rugs, carpets, bath mats, etc with no issues. It has a little trouble with the fringe on the dining room rug, but so does the regular vacuum so I don’t blame the Roomba haha.
thank you so much! very helpful.
i f*&^ing hate the strive for work life balance thing. its like i need more pressure ?? i agree its to limiting and certainly not a daily or even weekly concept. balance implies you need to have the same amount on both sides. well…i work 50 hours a week. There is no way to spend 50 hours on my house/family, 50 hours on me, 50 hours on friends, etc etc. oh wait i should workout and sleep to ? and i gotta ask…why does no one ask men how they “balance” it all ? why does this always seemed to be asked of women ? i still work in an old school company where face time matters, and to some extent i think it should. In my opinion to many women are pressured by this work life balance idea and often can use this as an excuse to not focus on work at times mostly because they feel guilty for what they are missing at home. I say dont feel guilty..if you want/have to work go for it. Its ok to not have everything equal every day of the week.
sorry getting off soap box here….its just something i feel passionately about because its brought up at least once a week in my experience. And not in a positive way at all. its weirdly comforting to know that even those who work from home experience the same feelings.
you’re absolutely right!!! i could not agree with you more!!
Agree. The problem with the term “balance” to me is that it is linked to this ideal notion of life. Except, I don’t have that ideal. I have my own standards, my own goals. I live by those.
I agree with Amanda’s comment above re: the Roomba. I received one as a gift and it frequently gets stuck/ hung up on our area rugs. I was really excited to get it and maybe I just haven’t quite figured it out yet, but I don’t love it as much as I thought I would.
good to know, thanks rachel!
We love our Roomba vacuum, but learned we have to make sure there isn’t anything it can get caught on (rugs, cords, etc.) or else it will just quit mid-cycle. Our dog, however, hates the Roomba. He just barks at it and runs away!
We also have a small Roomba mopping robot that works great for a quick bathroom floor cleaning, but isn’t great for larger areas.
thanks for the info christina!
We just upgraded recently to the Roomba i7 and bought the clean base dock. When it docks up, it empties the Roomba into the dock, so you can empty it out less often. This version also works with your smart phone, so you can give Roomba directions and get notifications about it being stuck from your phone. Overall, we like it (but be wary of cords on the ground, for sure!)
thanks amy!!
We have an iRobot 980. Love it…!! We have a Bernese Mountain Dog and 3 cats and she (we call the iRobot, Rosie ☺️) does a great job cleaning up all that pet hair. We have a base upstairs and down so we just have to move her. Our home is over 2400 square feet and we run Rosie every day, upstairs and down. I can’t recommend one enough. We only vacuum stairs now.
excellent to know!! thank you!
#8. It blurs part of the photo to put the emphasis on your subject. Great thing. Do you like to see random faces in the background when all you want is your kids face? I don’t…
i’m aware of that – that isn’t what i’m referring to. as an experienced photographer, it never blurs things correctly even when you focus on the subject and are far enough away. like above, the wine glasses on the right are blurred in a weird way. with my kids, it usually blurs out their ear or their head or some weird part of the photo and makes the picture look photoshopped.
We have a Roomba 980 and we absolutely love it!I pick up rugs before using so it doesn’t get hung up.
thanks kimberly!
I’ve thought about getting a Roomba for a long while. One of our two dogs sheds a lot. The same dog, is also extremely anxious. I think she would be terrified of the Roomba and we would have to find a dog psychiatrist.
I ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️ my Roomba. The amount of dust and dog hair it picks up is amazing – even after the cleaners have just left and I think the house looks awesome! My only complaint is that mine frequently gets stuck under some furniture, including night stands, dressers and my DR buffet. The noise can get annoying sometimes too, but then I remind myself what it’s accomplishing and I get over it. BUY ONE! It’s worth the money.
Yes Valentine’s Day is INSANE at school ( way more than Halloween at our schools because they don’t really let them celebrate). I also have a Valentine baby so birthday treats plus Valentine’s treats = oversugared!
I got a SHARK ION Robot Vacuum R75 (refurbished) for Christmas, and it does an awesome job – picks up a lot of dust and debris. Our house is pretty clear, so I just move the chairs away from the table, so it will get around there, and there are a couple strips I put down to keep it away from cords. If I had a more high maintenance house, I think I’d be irritated having to move things, but our floors are pretty clear. It has even cleaned under our bed, which got rid of a ton of dust (again, it’s pretty clear to get under there). I still vaccuum in a few hard to reach areas once a week, but it’s really nice to have almost daily clean-up and it does a great job! It frees me up to have the kids practice other chores on the days we do family cleaning. I can control it from my phone, but I prefer to run it when I’m home.
We named our’s Klaatu. . . which you’ll only get if you are into old school sci-fi (day the earth stood still). Haha!
I cut this out of Real simple a couple of years ago and I like it.
Baseline on me, I’m a 55 yo woman 2 girls 13 and 18 (one in college)
SAHM and antique dealer from home and co-op shop.
Here it is: Say No! by Tracie Seed RI
” I’ll say no to letting social media affect how I feel about myself, It’s Ok that I don’t run 5k’s or run at all;brag how smart my children are; or go on exotic trips.No to extending myself at work longer than I’m getting paid for and no to volunteering for yet another school event. No to beating myself up because we don’t have family dinners every week, I don’t keep a Pinterest worthy house and I don’t closely regulate my children screen time. Best of all? I will finally say YES to being me”.
It’s something to think about, huh?
I love my cordless Dyson and good old Kenmore canister vacuum. Could you imagine a Roomba and a cat or trying to clean your car out?
The Neato robot vac changed my life. No, really it did! My hisband did lots of research and found this would be the best for us. We don’t have a cleaning service, and with a little prep by picking stuff up off the floor and putting things away, it does an amazing job cleaning each of our floors. I just bring a charged Neato to the basement or upstairs level to vacuum there and return to the charger when it is finished. Our carpets and floors are getting so much more love!
I saw this about thought of you! A Roomba-esque vaccum is on sale today.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/amazon-sale-robot-vacuum-eufy-robovac_l_5c740075e4b03cfdaa584779