It's 6am and I can't think of a clever title...I fail.

Since my roomie moved out the end of April, my other roomies and I have not had a vacuum. Blawaaabeelawaaaa...ahhhhh...bleeee!!!! That's the only way to adequately describe my life without a vacuum. I'm a clean person...perhaps considered by SOME, a "clean freak" and a clean freak without her vacuum is like a cook without a stove, a gardener without a spade, even a Hillary Clinton without her blind determination and pointless resolve - give up sista! It's time. (Almost done with the book by the way! 64 pages and FINALLY we're in the thick of Lewinsky. Oh Hillary, you really are just a silly woman when it comes to men like the rest of us, aren't you? Major Book Review to come - prepare yourselves! INSIGHTS!). As if not having a vacuum for to control the regular dirt and dust that naturally accumulates week to week wasn't enough, we also acquired a poop happy kitty around the time of our vacuum loss and thus, I always wondered if there were poop particles attached to the fibers of the carpet (specifically the stairs) that Lila could sniff out and make a brain connection "poop here" because any sort of proper cleaning tool (meaning a vacuum) wasn't there to do the job credibly. Sigh. So finally, FINALLY, Saturday I resolved to go and purchase my very own vacuum (odd I'd never done it before - I've always relied on roomies or willing neighbors to have one). TARGET! Where else? I had perused vacuums in Target the weekend before - noting that they are rather expensive...and the not so expensive ones don't look like they work as well. You know what I mean? If it's really cheap - there must be something faulty. I'm a "mid" buyer. I can't afford expensive, but I can't go scrapping the VERY bottom of the barrel either. I figured the goods right in the middle are reasonably priced and may work reasonabley well...for a reasonable amount of time. Seems like reasonable logic, no? When I entered Target, I journyed to the vacuum area and what heavenly light was descending from the ceiling but the "clearanced priced" sky blue, "no-bag-necessary" Dirt Devil "Vibe" - marked down from 69.99 to 34.99. SOLD! I picked up my "only 11 lbs!" baby vacuum and proudly touted it home...contemplating the suction possibilities.

Upon arrival at my house, I assembled my vacuum and began the much needed long awaited process of FINALLY vacuuming our apartment after a MONTH - a MONTH - of daily dirt and kitty poo build up. I even bought a "pet odor" eliminator SPRAY to go over the stairs after I was done thoroughly - THOROUGHLY - vacuuming each and every soiled stair. The joy! The rapture! The cleanliness! I used the attachments to reach those "hard to reach" places! I vacuumed the spaces in the tiles, the railings, the base boards!! I moved furniture and lifted cushions! In my mania I even tried to search for Lila and give her a good "sucking" - but by then, I realized my zeal had turned to mania and put the vacuum away. I do feel, however, my life improved greatly over the weekend just with that small purchase.

Also noteworthy - Lila has NOT pooped on the stairs for a week! I switched her litter and I feel she appreciates it. Appreciates it enough to poop on it. Also - the vacuuming and spray DEFINITELY played a large part in her not pooping. She's getting bigger - almost 9 weeks now - and has started to reign over the apartment. She's extremely frisky and attacks anything that moves; feet, hands, fingers, eye lashes (I've suffered TWO eye pokes - rather painful)...and she turns into a skittering streaking puff ball when stepping anywhere near her. She also enjoys climbing on you while you are lounging about and settling herself in odd places on your body - example, directly under your chin, or perched happily on your shoulder - cat butt directly in your face with cat fuzz tail flopping around your eyes (one watered from a poke) and nose (sneeze!). Last night -she climbed up my roomie, Natalie, and sprawled herself happily on her shoulder.

Our new game to play with her includes our glass coffee table coupled with her frisky attacks. Perhaps it's cruel, but the idea is to lift your feet up and down slowly from floor to coffee table in the hopes Lila will follow the up and down motion and jump, while UNDER glass coffee table, and hit her head. What? No it's pretty funny...see for yourself (pay no attention to the HOOK sound effects going on in the background...or do pay attention. That movie really takes me back).

Looks like the table won though....poor kitty kitty.