Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Review - Vroom Solo


What would you think of a device which you could pull out any second and clean up life's little messes? The Vroom Quick-Clean Appliance is installed in a kitchen or bathroom cabinet and is instantly accessible. It has been a lifesaver in our kitchen! Our son Adam routinely spills Cheerios on the floor and instead of hounding him to sweep them up everyday, he simply whips out the Vroom and whoosh, they are gone. We've vacuumed crumbs off the counter and even vacuumed our kitchen drawers for the first time in years. The Vroom is available in a freestanding unit (shown) and also as a central vacuum add-on.

The Vroom is NOT a glorified DustBuster. It is a full-powered vacuum with a collection bag. It is fairly loud during operation, so I wouldn't recommend it for prolonged use without hearing protection. The Vroom hose reaches 24 feet, although it is stretched pretty tight at that length. It comfortably reaches a 10 to 15 foot radius. It also comes with an adjustable wand and a floor/rug tool (a smaller crevice tool would be nice...)

The Vroom Solo is a real appliance that requires installation into your cabinet. Here are some photographs of our adventures installing the Vroom Solo.

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Since I'm pretty handy, I got out the drill and performed the mechanical installation.The Vroom Solo comes with a wired plug for power, but we don't have an electrical outlet under the sink. The easiest way for us to connect it was to tap into the power for our dishwasher. I got the expert (my husband) to wire it up.

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Afterwards, our cat examined the installation.

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The top shelf of the vacuum unit comes with a non-skid pad which is handy for smaller items. It really didn't take up that much space and I was able to fit almost everything back into the cabinet.

Finally, here is my son using the Vroom for his darn Cheerios!

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If you register on the Vroom website, you can enter to win your own Vroom. You can also follow them on Twitter @VroomVac.

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Giveaway - Dance Me Daddy books

Dance Me, Daddy by singer/songwriter/author Cindy Morgan is a delightful glimpse into the love between father and daughter. You can view a video of the book narrated by the author at www.dancemedaddy.com. My daughter was mesmerized by the video and then mesmerized by the book when we received it. The story is based on Cindy Morgan's song King of the World for Point of Grace. The story reminds me of the book Love You Forever, where the love between a mother and son is explored throughout their lifetime, but without the slightly creepy scene of mom crawling into her grown son's apartment at night. Although Point of Grace is a Christian group, the book has only a slight reference to God, and would be appropriate for religious and non-religious alike.

The book includes a CD of the narration and the song and is a perfect gift for Father's Day.

In addition, Zonderkidz is currently hosting a contest where you can enter to win a Sony BRAVIA on Father’s Day. Simply tell a story about a special man in your life who is a father figure for you, your children or a child you know. Check out this contest at www.dancemedaddy.com.

*** If you'd like to win one of three copies of Dance Me, Daddy, leave a comment below.***

For extra entries, promote this contest by tweet, blog, Stumble or other social media and leave an separate comment for each with the URL or username.

This giveaway ends June 21, 2008 at 11pm EDT and is open internationally.