Quite awhile back, I did a post on different household items that I couldn't live without. It has shifted a bit so I thought I would write an updated list.
1. The Shark 2 in 1 Hand and Stick Vacuum
I just got this for Christmas and I am LOVING it. As most of you know, at least half of our house floors are either ceramic tile or hardwood. And this little battery operated vacuum does a great job keeping them swept and looking nice. Especially with a 4 year old who manages to trail crumbs throughout the house (even though he's not allowed to eat all over the place, this still happens) and a 7 month old who makes a gigantic mess around the floor of his highchair. It has 2 suction powers and the high one does a great job vacuuming my area rug in the living room too. Plus, it breaks down into a handheld vacuum for jobs where this is needed. The negative is that breaking it down to use this part is kind of a pain, so I've only used the handheld vacuum once.
2. The Shark Steam Mop
I know I've mentioned this mop before but it's still applicable that it's a much needed and used appliance in our house. (Are mops appliances? I'm not sure. It does plug into the wall in case that's a requirement for getting the "appliance" label...) This mop literally makes our floors squeaky clean. A couple of years ago, our refrigerator went on the fritz, so Keith pulled it into the middle of the kitchen to see if he could figure out what was wrong. There was a bunch of sticky juice underneath from a juice spill awhile before this. I got out the steam mop and after a few swipes with it, the juice was gone and the floor was spotless. It only uses water so you don't have to worry about putting chemicals into your house. I'm not necessarily anti-chemical because I rely heavily on bleach wipes to do a lot of my cleaning, but it's nice to know that Cooper isn't (eventually...) crawling around on a bunch of cleaning chemicals. (I'm not paid by Shark to promote their products by the way, but I do love the ones that I own. We also have a Shark Iron which is great, but not really an appliance I use often so it doesn't make this list. I hate ironing whether I have a great iron or not.)
3. Kenmore 7 qt Crockpot
I do ALOT of cooking in my crockpot right now. It's just the easiest method for me considering that between 5pm-7pm Cooper turns into a pumpkin and rarely cooperates long enough for me to make anything. This crockpot is nice because it's really big, it has a timer on it (which I've never had one with that feature before so bear with me) and it's fairly easy to clean. The insert does come out but its size makes it hard to either fit in the dishwasher or find the space to try and hand wash it (and I rarely hand wash anything. Just being honest.) So I love using those crockpot liners that you can find on the ziplock baggie aisle. Makes clean-up super easy.
4. Chi Flat Iron
Once Rachel on Friends started the hair straightening phase ("My hair is straight! Straight, straight, straight, straight, straight!" Name that episode!), I've owned several hair straighteners in order to attempt to flatten out my wavy, frizzy, doesn't-know-what-to-do-with-itself hair. Once I asked my hair tamer/friend Mistie what the brand of hair straightener was that she used on my hair, I immediately ordered a Chi and it's been the BEST hair straightener ever. I've had it for at least 2 years and use it several times a week (yes, I know that's not good for your hair. I don't care.) I love how smooth my hair is and it lasts that way until I wash it again.
5. iPod Classic
I've had this iPod for 2 years now and I still love it. It's only recently started developing a few little quirks, but it still works great. It holds a good majority of my music collection, along with a few videos for Garrett. I could not walk one step on the treadmill without this. I have not owned another brand of mp3 player, so I can't attest to whether or not the iPod is a better brand. And I am NOT a Mac enthusiast, but I do love this and iTunes is very easy to manuever. The drawback to the iPod is that it was almost impossible for me to get my music off of it when our computer hard drive crashed and I had nothing backed up. The iPod was not meant to function where you can download everything off of it, but I finally figured it out.
6. Canon Powershot Digital Camera
A few weeks before Cooper was born, our camera died. It was a quick and relatively painless death, but a death nonetheless. It had lived a relatively long life of 4 years when it just started taking pictures of black nothingness, even though the lens was completely clean and appeared to be functioning properly. Because we had a great time with that Canon camera, we decided to stick with the brand and bought the one I linked to above to replace it. It's a great camera, takes great pictures and video as well. When Keith and I were engaged, he bought me the Canon Rebel 35 mm camera and we both LOVED it. It still works great, but unfortunately we live in a digital age and it's virtually been rendered obsolete. We still use it every once in a while, but for pictures of kids digital is the way to go. I would love to own the digital version of the Rebel, but sadly it's quite a bit too expensive for my tastes. But maybe someday...
7. Nintendo Wii
I know this is probably a strange choice, but Keith bought this for me for Mother's Day when I was pregnant with Cooper. It has been awesome because it has kept Garrett entertained on days when I was pregnant and could barely function, on days with a newborn when I could barely function, and on cold days when we can't get out. He doesn't play it all day, but when he does play, it's great for his hand eye coordination and it keeps him active where computer games and other video games don't. I also love it for myself as a fun outlet for playing games. For Christmas, Keith bought me the Wii Fit which has been a fun edition to my attempts to lose weight and get in shape this year.
Most of the other items that are coming to mind right now are baby things, so I'll probably post a Baby Equipment Edition the next chance I get to blog.
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