Domestic Bliss

Over the weekend, the husband and I went on a little shopping spree to fill some of our domestic needs. Our first major purchase was an LG washer/dryer set. We have a proper laundry room (doubles as the litter box room) in our new place but for the first two months we continued to go to the Laundromat to get our clothes washed. I considered user reviews online (like at Sear’s and Home Depot) along with professional reviews to settle on the LG brand. I then borrowed a friend’s Consumer Reports and was pleased to find out that LG was three of their top 10 washer models. The washer model we settled on was CR #8; it’s the lower end front-loader (WM2016C). I really wanted the higher-end front loader (CR #1) which was a steam washer but I couldn’t justify the ~$1300 extra it would have cost apart from using the "I really want it" argument (the husband used his veto power). We got the matching dryer, which was not ranked by CR, but getting it would allow us to stack the machines, giving us (and the kitties) more space in the laundry room. So far I’m quite pleased with the machines. The washer has a very long cycle but it uses little water and front loaders are gentler on clothes in general. Ask me in a month how I feel about the machines.

Another item we purchased over the weekend was a new vacuum. It is awesome. It’s the Kenmore Progressive Upright with Inteli-Clean System vacuum. I had always wanted a Dyson vacuum cleaner and swore that when my vacuumed died, I would get a Dyson. However, after reading the consumer reports, I opted for their #1 pick (Dyson was much lower on the list, but still top 15, I think). The bagless version was ranked #2 and about $60 more expensive. The vacuum does a great job with fur and dirt. It has a sensor that tells you how much dirt is left and adjusts sucking power accordingly. The vacuum came with a few really good attachments (although a couple of them do not have a home on the vacuum which is annoying), it has a power switch on the handle which is really convenient, and it’s really easy to roll. It’s a little on the heavy side but since I don’t have to haul up and down the stairs anymore, I don’t care. The vacuum is definitely a step up but so far I’m quite pleased.

Now on to the husband’s new toys…after much begging and pleading from my husband, I finally gave in and let him buy a projector to replace our current, non-digital tv. Our current TV is an old, 50”+ projection tv that works just fine, in my opinion. But now the husband says we’ll have a 110” HD image projected in our living room. I don’t know anything about the projector or surround sound speakers, computer, screen, and projector mount he bought (and I think I’m fine not knowing), but hopefully it will be a pretty sweet system. It will probably be another month or so before everything is up and running so I’ll give an update then and let you know whether I like the system or not.