Mission: Little Green Machine

A new gadget has found its way to the top of my Must Have List. You may remember (but probably not... who remembers such a sillly thing as this??...) last year my favorite Black Friday purchase was a Bissell steam mop. That little baby has rocked my world. Now, you'll never hear my name associated with June Cleaver or Martha Stewart with regard to... well, with regard to anything... but especially with housekeeping talents. (I'd much rather play with Martha's line of scrapbook products than cook with her kitchenware or clean with her cleaning products.) But, oh! How I love my Bissell Steam Mop. Especially with two toddlers who are very messy eaters, and three adults who somehow seem to track and then grind into the floor every form of dirt imaginable. My once-beautiful, ceramic tile kitchen floor is constantly abused. But thanks to the steam mop, it is cleaned to perfection with very little effort (which is the BEST part!!!).

Now I have discovered another little green Bissell gadget that is desperately needed at The 409. A little mini upholstery-carpet cleaner thingy!!! Not only has my poor kitchen floor suffered greatly under the extra traffic, but the carpet throughout my house has taken an especially hard hit. I've had it professionally cleaned twice within a year, and once myself using Mary Kay's Monster Bissell Carpet Cleaner (which works great but will absolutely wear you out and took me all day!) Warning: After the first professional cleaning of your carpet, count on it getting nasty ten times faster than it did the first time. I guess cleaning it also strips the Stain Master stuff off of it. Anyway, the spots on my carpet have become a great source of anxiety for me, and vacuuming just puts me in a bad mood. But vacuum often we must, because Corey is still in the Billy Goat phase, and will put any and everything into his mouth. Including crumbs, bits of paper, yard debris, or whatever other foriegn objects happen to be loose on the carpet, so I'm just resigned to be in a perpetual bad-carpet-mood. So... whatever money I can find behind the sofa cushions, in the washing machine, at the bottom of my purse, in the sock drawer, etc. will be put in a jar in hopes of saving enough to pick up this handy dandy little power cleaner. And I'm hoping for another big sale at Kohl's and some coupons!

The reason I know that Kohl's carries this item is because I saw it my own personal self last night. I ran in to check on some 50% off Christmas jammies for the children. It was to be a quick dash in the store. My trip to Athens was for the sole purpose of going in Lowes and exchanging some shelves (yes... THOSE shelves, the ones I had such a hard time hanging) for the longer version. I was dressed in a long, comfy sweatshirt, sloppy jeans with paint stains, the ugliest shoes in the history of the world, and I hadn't shampooed my hair yet. I wouldn't be seeing anyone in Lowes, right? And if I did, I could point to my shelves and say I was in the middle of a construction project. BUT... then I decided I'd sneak into Kohl's. And wouldn't you know... I'd run into my (forever) mother-in-law and (forever) sister-in-law!!! As always, so nicely dressed and lovely... and here I am looking like the Blob-Slob From The Black Lagoon. Oh, and did I forget to mention that I had spilled ketchup all down the front of my long, comfy sweatshirt???

So how come it always happens. When I think I can sneak out without seeing anyone that I run into ex-boyfriends, family members who are way more dressed up than me, the bosslady from work, the pastor... you know... folks that you would prefer not see you looking that way? Well, I guess the moral of the story is, if I'm are too ashamed for my friends to see me looking so... ummm.... "comfy casual" we'll call it... then I guess I'd best just stay at home. Or at least change my clothes.

All was not a total loss, though, because I discovered The Little Green Machine. Maybe once I purchase one, I should use it on myself before I go out looking like that again....

And I really enjoyed talking to my SIL about how much better things would be if WE could be the boss of everything... and we discussed to such great depth and detail that by the time we finished, Lowes had barricaded the parking lot and shut the place down before I could exchange my shelves. How rude. Oh well... that just means another trip to town. I promise I'll clean up better before I go. And then of course I won't see a soul. But if you do see me on Friday, please tell me how gorgeous I look. And drop a few coins on the ground so I can find them and add them to my jar. I must have that Little Green Machine!!!