Hooray For Saturday!

Keeping It Moist

Living in southern Louisiana for the majority of my life, I never thought I would have to buy something that would produce humidity for me.  It's humid down there.  Seriously humid.  However, now that we have lived in places that actually have the season winter, we need some humidity in our home.

We have tried numerous varieties of humidifiers, and have now found the one we love the most.  It is the ultrasonic humidifier by Crane.  This style of humidifier doesn't require a wick, like some cool mist types do, and isn't a pain in the backside to clean, like some of the warm mist type.  It creates the cool mist by using a nebulizer, which is then pushed up and out of the top of the humidifier by a small quiet fan. 

The Crane humidifiers come in a wide range of styles including, some adorable animals, a few kids favorites, ones for sports fans and heck they even have a some standard looking ones for the grown folks room.  But let's be honest, who wouldn't want a humidifier that looks like an elephant blowing mist out of it's trunk?

 

Which is your favorite?

The gallon tank fits perfect in our bathroom sink for refilling and requires nothing but water.  The knob on the front of the humidifier is easily adjusted to the amount of moisture you want to provide in your room and the cool mist is constant.  If the tank runs dry the nebulizer automatically shuts itself off, which is nice.

During the winter months, with the heater on, our kids would dry out like crazy while they sleep.  The two of them would get a stuffy nose, which led to them breathing through their mouths, which brought on the chapped lips, scratchy throats and a chorus of tiny snoring throughout the night. 

Now it's nice to have a couple of frogs in the house keeping their bedrooms as moist as a Louisiana swamp, if need be.

Crane humidifiers are available through a wide variety of retailers. 

Wow Wee! A Lion

Thanks go out to WowWee for sending our family a WowWee Alive Baby Lion Cub.

The Cub is a plush animal with sensors that can tell when one is petting it.  It reacts by making purring noises, meows, and even snores before powering itself down, once it's left alone .  The thing also features motorized animated eyes and mouth, which to me are kind of creepy, but our daughter seems to dig it.

She really likes the baby lion cub and has spent a lot of time with it, since it's arrival.  She has given it numerous names including, Pudding, Softy, Bruce, Maria and Meow.  I can't seem to get past the robot sounds it makes when the eyes and mouth move, but it doesn't seem to bother her at all.  Her favorite thing to do is tuck it in and put it to sleep, then laugh hysterically when it starts to snore making reference to, "That sounds like you Daddy!".

I can't be held responsible for what noises come from this body once I fall asleep. 

The Little Man keeps his distance from the cub and hasn't messed with it much.  He's still into the silly train table that I built him.

The product sells for $59.99 and is available online here.

This Sucks!

We have had the same vacuum cleaner since we were married, actually we received our old Hoover as a wedding gift.  The old bag cleaner has served us well, but the thing is now a hunk of junk. 

With that being said, The Lady had a birthday a few weeks ago and cashed in with a few gift cards.  For her birthday gift, she went out and purchased a Dyson vacuum cleaner.  I didn't know what to think of her purchase, did she agree with me that we desperately needed a new cleaner or was this some sort of comment as to my lack of quality housework recently?

Whatever the case my be, we now never have to wonder if the other will vacuum anytime soon.  The thing sucks incredible!  One of us is always wanting to dance around the house with the red Dyson.  We joke with one another sometimes by looking right at the other person and dropping crumbs, then stating, "It's Dyson time."  Of course this is a double edged sword, because in the same breath you can exclaim, "Wow, look at that amazing cyclone of sucking power!" and "Holy moly, that is a tornado of filth that we create!"

Sure the Dyson is pricey and we most likely would not drop that kind of money on a vacuum if there were not gift cards involved, but this thing is well worth the price.  I think you already get a handle on the sucking power, and it's handle is one of the coolest features.  It comes apart to turn into quite a nice cleaning tool with a really long hose.  We are very happy with the Dyson, however it is pretty disgusting to see all the stuff that the old Hoover wasn't taking care off.

On another note about The Lady's birthday, I will never know what to get her anymore.  I used to always fall back to the spa massage.  I would go buy her a gift card so she could go get someone else to rub on her.  Now that we have been in the area for a while, she has found a place that she can get a massage for a lot cheaper than what she was paying in the Chicago area.  So now it's nothing for her to schedule a massage on a regular Thursday, instead of it being my fall back, go to gift for those type of occassions.  Darn you cheap massage ladies!

Ugh!

"If everyone went and jumped off a bridge, would you?"

That's a question my mom would ask me on occasion as a youngster, when I was being an idiot.  I always kind of wanted to answer, "Yes.", but I recall ever doing so.

Not that I'm calling bloggers out there idiots by any means, but I'm going to do something just because everybody else is doing it.  The holidays took a lot out of me and I just can't seem to get this year going, I have no idea what's wrong with me, so I'm going to do as a lot of other folks are doing.  I'm going to look back at 2007, then see if I can't get my backside in gear and get 2008 started.

I don't blame you one bit if you hit the "x" in the top right hand corner of this window.

• We are nearing this time of year again, when I rely only on my kids for sport, ugh!
• I went and did some shopping for my wardrobe.
• Doodlebug started dropping deuces in the right place.
• I was interviewed and I also conducted an interview.
• This story was told, just to get it out and realize that everything is good now.
• We learned a big lesson about kids and music.
• This summer was almost unbearable.
• The comments came fast on the live music post.
• The mailman rang a few time during the Halloween season.
• Art class was in session.

There is a little review of stuff from last year, when I started airing my laundry.  Remember, I don't consider myself a writer, neither should you.

Thanks for reading.

Germ Free Humidity...I'm Not In Louisiana Anymore

Tis' the season for cold and dry air, which in our house means scratchy throats, stuffy noses and chapped everything.

So just in time, Vicks, the number one brand in humidifiers, has introduced a new Germ Free Humidifier that sanitizes the water for pure, clean warm mist to provide worry free, healthy moisture.  The patented germicidal UV chamber safely kills up to 99.999% of bacteria, mold and spores, impressive.  The latest in anti-bacterial technology, this humidifier is ideal for making dry indoor air easier to breathe, and is proven to help relieve cold & flu symptoms. 

I can really tell the difference between the warm mist that this Vicks unit produces, compared to the cool mist, evaporative type, humidifier we have used in the past and that's just with the humidity dial turned on a quarter of a turn.  I'm guessing if we really turned it to the max, The Little Man's room would become a sauna and some of the senior crowd from the neighborhood might be in there, hanging out in towels, talking glory days, politics and "The Price Is Right". 

The Vicks, model number V790, humidifier runs relatively quiet and has a blue colored light on the front control panel, which doubles as a night-light.  The light is brighter than what our son is used to in his room, but that's nothing a small piece of duct tape couldn't take care of.  It has two one gallon tanks, so it can run quite a while without refilling, and doesn't require a filter or wick, just occasional cleaning.  There is also a medicine cup for adding such potions as Vicks VapoSteam, to add the comfort of Vicks Vapors into the air.

The Vicks Germ Free Warm Mist Humidifier, model number V790, has a suggested retail price of $99.99 and is available at major retailers and drug store chains throughout the United States.

Additional information about humidification and caring for children with colds or flu can be found here.

Attitude That Starts With The Letter D

I received a copy of the book Dadditude as a special delivery today. 

Doodlebug gets excited and screams at the top of her lungs "Special Delivery!" anytime the doorbell rings.  Be it an actual package or a neighborhood scholar peddling cookies or coupon books, "Special Delivery!"

I'm going to try and sit down to read this book, written by Phil Lerman, even though I can't recall the last time I read a book.  I'll make time for this one seeing that it's not too thick, it's supposed to be funny and it's about being a father.  Plus, of course, curiosity killed the cat plays a part, just to see how Phil's days go.

Phil is a tad bit older than I am and prior to becoming a full time father he was co-executive producer for America's Most Wanted and formerly a national editor for USA Today, so I'm curious as to how much or how little we will have in common.  I'm just guessing from the previous jobs in his career, Phil was probably good for at least $8 an hour, his lifestyle and budget might differ from mine a bit.

Thanks for the book Phil, look forward to giving it a look.  Written report to follow....did I just sound like a 7th grade language arts teacher?