Spring Cleaning

So I've been in the market for a steam vac lately. Now that Taylor's done potty-training (good heavens, I thought it would never end), the carpet in his room is in desperate need for a nice cleaning. When we first moved in, the carpet in the closet smelled weird (even though we got the entire house cleaned professionally), and add that to a potty-training child and it smells not-so-good.

So I'm hunting for opinions. I've been looking at a few different ones. Hoover has a new one that is supposed to clean really well. Check it out here.

Another one I've been looking at is the Rug Doctor that Costco is carrying. It's the most expensive, and while I don't mind paying more money for a product that's going to last and clean better, if it's not going to clean $200 better, than it's not worth it. Check that out here.


Do any of you out there have a steam vac? Any recommendations? That carpet is desperate...

Infestation

So I've been finding evidence lately of a rodent in our house. It's disgusting what it's doing to the food in my pantry- mainly the boxed items. Here's what it did to a box of rice:

That's what a lot of my Jello, pudding, and macaroni boxes look like. We've seen it a few times. It's an awfully large rodent. Quite hairy on top, and surprisingly it makes a lot of noise. It seems to really like cheese as well. I actually got a picture of it after it managed to get into my flour.

Maybe I need a cat. Or something bigger like a cougar that loves small children.

Accident-Prone

It's been a rough couple of days for Erik. The kid never seems to catch a break. Here's the rundown of his battle wounds:

1. Yesterday, while walking around with a plastic pole in his mouth, he tripped and scraped the roof of his mouth. Yes, he drew quite a bit of blood.
2. Not five minutes after the previous incident, he slammed his hand in the dryer. At least he didn't draw blood.
3. While playing in the pantry, he dropped a can of sliced pineapple on his bare toes.
4. According to Taylor (I was trying to vacuum my stairs and wasn't witness to the casualty), Erik "fell down on his belly and mouth" resulting in Erik biting a hole straight through his bottom lip. This one drew even more blood.
5. At least this one was on Kent's watch. Erik tried to pet our neighbor's dog, but the dog ran away. So Erik face-planted on the pavement.

Here he is after the latest mishap.

(Yes, we had to get a picture, even though he was crying.)

Some of you might wonder what's going on at our house that is resulting in such gore. This, my friends, is it:

I'm pretty sure this is what he was doing before he bit the hole in his lip (at least I was actually doing housework as opposed to watching the latest episode of "What Not To Wear.").

And yes, about 1 minute after taking this picture, he fell face-first off the cooler again. But at least he caught himself with his forehead and not his mouth.