My New Best Friend

I would like to introduce you to my new best friend. Her name is "Ruby". She is such a hard worker. Every day beginning at noon she races around our house and cleans up after us. All afternoon she works and works without taking any breaks. When she finally starts to run out of energy she makes her way back to her home to rest and recharge until the following day. I don't know what we do without her. She is really spoiling us.


Ta da . . . Meet Ruby!!!













Ok, it's actually just a Rumba. But in all seriousness, this is one of the greatest inventions ever. I got it for Christmas from Jeff and it really is making my life a little easier. I don't think Spiro felt the same way in the beginning. For the first few days he followed her around everytime she came to life and then would just lay and stare at her while she was charging. Luckily, he has gotten used to her now.


A good friend of mine (Julie) got one a few years ago when she got married and she always bragged about how well it did so I was super excited when I unwrapped mine. Jeff knows how much I worry about keeping the carpet clean so this was a great gift. I have to say I am really amazed at how much "stuff" she picks up. We have to be sure and dump out her little waste compartment every few days and keep her brushes clean. Luckily if we forget a little maintance light comes on to remind us. You can program a specific schedule for her, which we did, and set up little room guides but it doesn't really seem to be nessecary. We just kind of let her go on her own every day. She is even smart enough to sense where the stairs are and she stays clear of them. There have been a few times that when we got home she wasn't charging. She had managed to get herself stuck under a table or bed, but for the most part she is great!!! My only complaint is that she doesn't do nice straight lines. I'm a little crazy about things like that but I keep reminding myself that at least the carpet is clean and it is one less thing I am having to worry about.

In other exciting news . . . I have been using the Wii Fit every night. 2008 was the year of weight loss (55 lbs) and 2009 is going to be the year of getting in shape. For those of you who don't know all about the Wii Fit, you set it up for each person in your family and every day when you get on it weighs you and checks your BMI. Then it does a few balance tests and uses your real age along with the results of your balance tests to figure your "Wii Age". This is kind of scary because up until today mine has varied from 37-49, which I am not proud to admit. I guess my balance is way off, which I never would have guessed. But today for the first time I got my age down to 33 so I was pumped. I've been trying to do about 25 minutes of aerobics each day. So far my favorites are boxing, step aerobics and hula hooping, and let me tell you 10 minutes of shaking your hips like your using a hula hoop isn't as easy as it sounds. I've also been doing about 10 minutes of strength training such as squats, lunges, sit ups, etc . . . Hopefully all of this fun, I mean hard, work will pay off!!! I set a goal to lose 10 more pounds in the first 8 weeks. So far I think I'm down about 4 lbs since Christmas.