How do you suck it up?

Vacuuming is big business in my house. 

We vacuum every day. 

This is not an exaggeration. 

If I don't vacuum the downstairs by the time Chris gets home, he does it. The upstairs gets vacuumed at least once, or twice, a week. 

So, vacuuming is a big deal. Almost six years ago, when we got married, we chose a canister vacuum. It looks like this one:

Before we purchased it--actually it was a gift. Thanks!--I did my due diligence in research. At the time, we lived in a one-story, all-wood-floors home. From my research, canisters are the best vacuums for hard-surface flooring. 

Today, the vacuum is slowly falling apart. There are tears in the electrical cord, where we've run over it with the canister. The carpet-rolling part only works when you turn the handle all the way to the right. And, Chris took off a piece of the handle cover so "it would work better." 

Now that it's falling apart, Chris declares it a piece of crud and says we should buy something totally different. Just for the record, this vacuum has vacuumed approximately 2,190 times. It's survived 3 moves, and it DOES still work. SIX years later!!

With that being said, I agree it's time for a new one. But what should we buy? 

I may be the only person left, but I love bagged vacuums. I really don't think I want to dump out all the dirt and hair. It seems like it would make another huge mess. Also, remember, we have a lot of hair in our house: a cat, a dog and me. Doesn't all the hair get tangled up in those "filters"? Currently, I like just taking the filled bag out of the vacuum and throwing it away in its nice, contained package. 

Chris thinks an upright would be easier to manage than chasing around the canister and cord. I don't entirely disagree. However, most of the uprights I've seen weight a minimum of 25 pounds. I can't imagine lugging that up and down our stairs almost every day! And, most uprights are bag-less. 

So this is where you come in, dear readers. 

What vacuum do you use? Do you like it? Are bag-less vacuums gross? 

I'm up for any and all suggestions!

Oh, and I don't want to pay $500 or something crazy.....so go!

A place for everything

And everything in its place!

I've been after Chris for quite some time about the sideboard in our dining room. 

I knew in my heart that it actually belonged in our bedroom. The wood and lines would go with our bed perfectly.

However, the only kind of change Chris likes is the kind in his pocket. 

The movers had put our dining room table facing into the window. In Chris' mind, the table was put in glue. Now, we couldn't turn the table without moving the sideboard. Soooo...we just lived with it.

The really good thing about the sideboard in the dining room was that it offered incredible storage and a nice place to serve or place cakes and presents.

Finally, I broke. I wanted to purchase new chairs for our dining table, and I knew the table needed to be turned to make that happen, AND the sideboard would finish out our master bedroom. 

SO, I cleaned out the sideboard. Turned out that if I reorganized my other cabinets, all of our things would fit.

Empty sideboard...minus the cat.  

With the sideboard empty, I asked Chris to move it into our bedroom. And then I left the house. Somethings are better done without me there. 

When I returned home, I asked Chris to help me move the table 180 degrees. He obliged. Then he said, "that looks better already." 

Yes, sir. Yes, it does. 

Now, we just need a small cabinet of some kind for the space on the right. And we need to rehang the mirror to be centered. And we need new chairs and really a new table. And we need some more art. 

Maybe this is why Chris isn't a fan of change?

Then Chris went out of town. So I went shopping. 

I found these two canvases for our bedroom and the box lamp. I wanted two of the lamps, but there was only one. I think it looks good, but I may hunt for a matching one. With a few more touches, our bedroom may actually be finished!

Now back to shopping. 

Practice makes perfect

Our neighbor, Amy, had her birthday party last weekend, and she asked me to make her a cake. I was so flattered and happy to do it. 

She requested the strawberry cake and icing from Nicole's shower...you know, the cake that almost killed me? 

But, instead of the crazy vertical layers, she just wanted strawberry. Piece of cake!

And, for the icing that speckled my entire kitchen last time, I decided to make the batch in two parts. I made half the batch of icing, and then the other half. This technique changed the entire experience! The icing was easier to manage and mixed better, making a nice consistency. It didn't overflow the mixing bowl, and we won't be finding specks of it until Christmas. Miraculous! 

So it turns out that The Cake That Almost Killed Me actually taught me something. 

I feel like there is a life lesson in there. 

Happy blog birthday!

Today is my blog's 2nd birthday. 

Just for fun, here's a list of a few facts about my blog. 

Since May 18, 2009, my blog has had:

7,156 unique visitors

12,247 pageviews

86 visitors so far today

Several popular posts, including The Ghost Chili Vodka experiment with 269 pageviews and River Watch 2011: Island Life with 143 pageviews

These numbers of visitors from 

United States

10,574

Canada 131

Russia 127

Germany 68

South Korea 54

United Kingdom 49

Japan 40

France 29

Slovenia 24

Netherlands 23

Thanks to everyone for reading The Muddy Truth! 

Y'all come on back now, ya here?

The Swarm

"What cha' looking at, Porter?"

Oh yeah. Our continual swarm of hummingbirds!

Sometimes they will sit together and eat.

But, then they all jump and scatter.

Porter finds all of this intriguing.

I count eight in this photo.

Ever since the cold weather broke a few weeks ago, we've seen a constant swarm of hummers.

They look like bees swarming a hive!

They are drinking us out of sugar, but I love watching them fly around, fight with each other and generally be cute. So they can swarm us all they want!

I see nine in this photo.

They've even found funny places to perch to await their turn. You can see one on the fence in the above photo, and this one is seated on Chris' tomato cage.

 Happy Hummingbird Season!

Back to napping

With all this flooding past us, have you missed this face?

 Do you know what he's been doing during all this flooding?

Sleeping. More specifically, sleeping on this sweater. A few weeks ago, I was moving clothes around in my closet, and this sweater fell of its hanger. I had my hands full, so I walked away to finish my task before hanging it back up. No sooner had I returned than Porter found his new favorite nap spot. 

Some days he sits on it. And naps. 

Some days he rests his head on it. And naps. 

And, some days he stretches out on it. And naps. 

I just don't have the heart to pick the sweater back up. It might break his heart!

River Watch 2011: The Crest

We survived the river's crest!

Hopefully, we can put all of this flood behind us soon; although, the water is projected to remain at this high level until June. 

Here are the last flood photos I hope to post for a very long time. 

This is not safe. That water is moving incredibly fast, and it's nasty.

Another smart pair.

This is an eye-level shot of the road build up. The car is not driving on the build-up, as it appears. We're still down to one lane each way.

That's the bike stand that I stood in front of for my shots for so many days. 

We've had LOTS of helicopter activity. News, police, just people with helicopters seeing the sights.

We watched this one land on the other side of the roundabout! 

Proof that surveyors did their jobs and plotted our safety with the river's rise.

Another kayaker in the water!

And, I'll leave you with the view. It's a good day on the island.

River Watch 2011, The Trashy Side

Ever thrown something out of your car? 

Ever missed your shot into the park trash can and walked away? 

Ever had your trash bag tear on your way outside and not picked up the debris? 

We got it. 

 All the water that our area is receiving is congested with trash. The trash will be the aftermath of the flood.

And, for the people who live on the waterfront of our island and are bracing for water in their homes, they are actually facing trash inside their homes.

Is it worse that the water is 12-feet above flood stage, or is it worse that the trash is 12-feet above flood stage?