Sunday, June 21, 2009

RAIN, ROBOTS AND TOTEM POLES


A terrible thing happened while I was out garaging on Saturday.

I had to put the top up on my car.

Yes, my friends, it rained. Practically unheard of here in June, and certainly unwelcome on Saturday morning! Weather was fine when I started out, then it began to mist, but I took that for the normal ‘marine layer’ we see a lot of. But the mist was having such a good time it got more enthusiastic until I had to concede it was more rain than mist.

So I had to raise my roof. Dang, I hate when that happens!

This is not to say I did not score. One thing in particular still has me bouncing in excitement. I found a Roomba! Yup, one of those robot vacuum cleaners.
The box was dusty, but when I got it home and unpacked it, the thing looked like it's barely been used. The extra Virtual Wall was never even unpacked. I plugged in the charger and fed it for several hours, then tried it out. It works! It's a hoot! It sings a few notes to say hello, then starts circling and bumping and sweeping, making its way around the room. You have to clear cords and small rugs out of the way, but with bigger rugs it just rolls on and sweeps those too. The pets were agog at first.

But they quickly decided it was not dispensing food and ignored it. It's the first model that came out about seven years ago. A bit noisy, but much less than my Electrolux. It doesn’t automatically go to a docking station to recharge like the new models. But I absolutely detest vacuuming (which is obvious from the amount of pet hair you will usually find in our corners) and now I have a robot to do it for me. So I'm totally jazzed. Isn’t it funny what makes us happy?

Other than Roomba (I need a pet name for it. Any ideas?) I scored a few useful items. I found another mug to try out…
Not sure it's as large as I want, but I like the color (chocolate brown…I think I need to go make some cocoa…) and oddly enough it's a very close color match for this find:
A new pair of Crocs—and they’re Mary Janes! I know, how could I possibly need more shoes. But these will actually let me get rid of a pair of gardening clogs I've had for over 15 years. I haven’t been using them much because they’re not as comfortable as I like my shoes to be. Now I can let them go. And the Crocs are handy because when I get hot working in the yard, I like to just walk into the pool and cool off. With these I don’t even have to take them off!

And speaking of gardening, last week I bought those tee shirts to make do rags for my husband to wear on his head when he’s working in the yard. Then kept one shirt for myself. Well, we now have a lifetime supply of knit fabric to use, because I found a gray knitted jersey sheet to cut up. No picture. Just think sweatshirt gray fabric. You got it.

When I asked how much it was, the lady hollered at her daughter standing in the garage, “Hey, don’t you want to keep your top sheet?” The girl hollered back no. Lady shook her head and told me, “None of my kids will use a top sheet on their beds, just the bottom sheet and a blanket. If I put on the top sheet, they just lay on top of it." I said it's like the duvets used in Europe, they’re just being very cosmopolitan.

It was a morning for color matches. I picked up a gray waffly shirt at possibly the friendliest yard sale of the month. Their signs were terrible, almost didn’t find the sale, but the people were so filled with happiness over arranging their castoffs and talking to strangers on their driveway that I kind of wanted to hang out for a while.
My last find is for a colleague at work. She asked me months ago to keep an eye out for a denim skirt for her. Which naturally meant that all denim skirts were immediately taken off the yard sale market; haven’t seen one for ages. Then this one appeared.
It's a Calvin Klein. I think it's about her size, and I figure the wrap styling will let her adjust if needed.

My total outlay was $27.75. Pretty good for a morning that included a working robot!

Favorite comment of the day: I was chatting with three or four folks at their sale about how heavy the mist was getting, and they noticed a car slowing down to ogle their sale. Then the car turned around and came by again, which they thought was both funny and peculiar. “Why don’t they just get out and come look?” one of them said. I ventured that sometimes people are looking for something specific, like furniture. One of the ladies nodded in agreement. “Oh yes, or totem poles.”

Totem poles! If I were looking for totem poles on driveways in Southern California, I would probably assume I could see them from the car. Yup, makes perfect sense.

30 comments:

  1. I have a Roomba - mine is red and I named her Reba after Reba McEntye. She's fiesty and sassy and I love here. She is a far better vacumm-er that I am - I have found her under the recliner , under the dressers and under the bed. Sometimes she get stuck and chortles a "BEP beep" which sounds exactly like "Help me!" I still run the regular vaccuum, but she's great for the days I don't have time - I do the laundry, Reba does the floors. Good buy on her!

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  2. Man, I don't even have any carpet, just area rugs and even I would LOVE a roomba. So jealous! :) Great finds!

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  3. I hate top sheets too! I won't use them; there's no need since I love my blankie :)

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  4. Hmmm...name for a Roomba...maybe "Hazel" like in the vintage comedy show? Or if it's a boy Roomba, maybe Fuzz Glutton 1.0?

    I think that's one of your all-time best buys!

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  5. Ha,ha on the Roomba! Hope it works for you & you love it. I am laughing at your cat's reaction, that is hilarious.

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  6. Did you get Scooter, the Roomba, for 50cents? I think you have a viral video on your hands!

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  7. Well I knew exactly where you were from when you described Saturday. We drove through misty rain on the way to Malibu but had no rain or mist there. You got some good deals even with your car top up :0)
    love watching the cat with the roomba!

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  8. How cute - rain or shine - we must garage sale. I do admit to sometimes doing the drive by when I see a ton of little kids stuff and only little kids stuff..don't need that kind of stuff, hee hee. Looks like you got great buys and the cats are funny with your new toy !
    Hugs ~ Kammy

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  9. Great finds!! Too funny about the sheet.:-)

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  10. It's me again. Right now we are living in Camarillo but we kept our home in Washington in Kenmore, which is on the East side of Lake Washington. We hope to get back to Washington in the future but are enjoying Southern Cal while we're here...

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  11. or totem poles, that is funny!

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  12. LUCKY!! A Roomba??!! How awesome is that!! With the serious pet hair problem we have at our home, we could really use one of these little robots at our house too. :)

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  13. Miss Diva, you can NEVER have too many pairs of shoes! Even if your husband starts calling you Imelda, pay no attention. I love that your mug matches your Crocs!

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  14. Wow--you did great on Saturday! I like "Alfred" for a pet name for the Roomba. Have fun with it!

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  15. What a great post! Love the video! Thanks for sharing that comment you heard about the totem poles too. People are so funny!

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  16. Still laughing from the video....too cute :) My boys won't use a top sheet either, could never understand why not. I'll do a drive by if all I see is little kid stuff, mine are grown...been there done that :) Great finds. How about Rascal for your new toy? you know, like..."where is that little Rascal"?
    Toni

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  17. What a great find. My Mum loves her Roomba. I am sure Noll has reacted better to it that our cats would. I will have to think more about a name: my husband says Zac the vac. My daugther kicks her top sheet down to her feet and sleeps under her duvet; it drives me nuts! Especially now that we are over the little kid phase, I sometimes do a drive by but never looking for totem poles. Friendly and funny people definitely make for a better experience. Not much sympathy for the rain -you live in climate heaven!

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  18. A Roomba! Wow! Now that's what I call a great find! If I had one I'd name it Rosie, after the robot housekeeper on the Jetson.

    I don't mind vacuuming, I want a robot to clean out the bathrooms! Yuck! I hate that chore! lol

    Have a great week!

    Tina

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  19. I found your blog today from....hmmm, I can't remember now! Anyway, you must have cats like mine: always on the lookout for food! Your statement about the Roomba not dispensing treats cracked me up! I might name it Robbie if I were you.

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  20. How about Dusty for a name??? LOL

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  21. Great job finding the Roomba! I LOVE mine...no nickname for it yet though

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  22. You got an amazing deal on the Roomba! My husband and I love ours - we call it our only child... hahaha. Occasionally it will get hold of something and drag it around, but it's just so darn cute. Once I found it trying to hide a CD under the couch.

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  23. If it picks up cat hair, I'm definitely getting one for all my cat hair tumbleweeds. And you have GOT to call it Rosie (although if it's a boy Roomba, the Zac the Vac suggestion is the only way to go).

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  24. Hi there-fabulous bargains, love the denim skirt and the Roomba!! I had to dodge the rain for a couple of weeks too this month, but I still got some bargains, LOL! Well done on the stash of magazines, they were an awesome find!

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  25. One of my blog friends just sent me here...I have to say I haven't read everything yet, but based on the Roomba alone, you are my new hero! I'm going to be here drooling over your finds for a LONG time.

    I like Wall-E or Number 5 for robot names...but I'm very unoriginal like that.

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  26. OMGosh!! Why haven't I thought about a Roomba in my never ending quest to conquer dog hair!!!!

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  27. You will love your Roomba! I got one for Christmas last year from my daughter--she got it off woot.com for $1!! We have dark carpeting and it literally needs vacuuming a couple of times a day. The Roomba has been a lifesaver. I set it going in the living room, go take a shower, and it's done by the time I am!

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I really love your comments. Thanks for coming along on my thrifty adventures!

 
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