Clean Your Floor like the Jetsons: I finally gave in and invested in the Neato XV-11 All Floor Robotic Vacuum System. I’ve had it for three weeks. It’s amazing. Aside from the obvious joy of having a ROBOT at your house, it actually does a good job of cleaning a room while you’re not looking. I like that it cleans systematically, rather than just bouncing around like the Zoomba, so that it actually covers the entire floor. Perhaps its biggest advantage is the fact that it cleans under the beds and tables, which I never manage to get to myself. While it’s not as powerful as my Dyson, it is more powerful than several cheaper traditional vacuum cleaners I’ve owned, and because I can set it to go and shut the door, the more needy rooms of my house now get vacuumed every other day instead of every other…hmmm, we won’t go there. It has genuinely reduced dust and lint in our house, so we sneeze less. And it leaves those cool vacuum stripes, so when people come over they think we’re very tidy. Bonus fun: when the Neato finishes a room, it backs right on up to the recharging station, hooks up like it’s party time at the disco, and makes a little musical sigh of contentment.
Prettify Your Space: I was bummed when I received a note in the mail from Domino some time ago saying that the magazine had folded and my subscription would be replaced with a magazine, which I shall not name here, that focuses primarily on articles like “How to Make Your Man Happy While Walking in High Heels and Making Endamame dishes.” So I was pleased to discover Domino: The Book of Decorating: A Room-by-Room Guide to Creating a Home That Makes You Happy, which includes a bunch of gorgeous photos and practical ideas for how to choose a rug, balance the various elements in a room, and make your space more inviting. Great list of resources at the end of the book, ranging from the high-end to the Ikea in all of us. If decorating seems overwhelming, this book has some good advice on prioritizing and budgeting to create the best space your schedule and your wallet can afford.
Fix Your Pants: I’m short, but I always buy jeans in regular lengths, because the ones labeled A (for ankle) or P (for petite) or, more basically, S (for short) are so short they make me look like I’m wearing floods. And going to the tailor and trying on clothes behind the flimsy curtain and having someone stick pins in my pants ranks right up there with going to the dentist. So I have to wear heels to keep my jeans from dragging on the ground, which is fine, except on T-ball day, when I really have no good excuse for wearing stilettos (although, believe me, some of the moms do). Thank you Taylor Denim, for your strong and lovelyDouble-Stick Fashion Hem Tape, which is made specially for denim, and which requires no sewing, and which saved me from having to take out the sewing machine and thread the bobbin. Some of my most vivid nightmares involve threading the bobbin.
Michelle Richmond
Michelle Richmond is the New York Times and Sunday Times bestselling author of The Marriage Pact, Golden State, The Year of Fog, No One You Know, Dream of the Blue Room, Hum, and The Girl in the Fall-Away Dress. Her books have been published in 30 languages. A native of Alabama, she makes her home in Northern California and Paris.