1.  My beloved Roomba stopped Roomba-ing.  I was sad, but took it to my trusty miehle dealers, who looked at it, and said, “Sorry, we hate Roombas.  We don’t know what’s wrong.  Try replacing the filters.  No charge.”  Which was nice that they didn’t charge me for not fixing my vacuum, but also not super helpful since the filters were already new.  So I attempted to wade through the craziness that is the Roomba website looking for a listing of authorized repair places.  No go.  I went through their troubleshooting guide.  Nothing that fit with the trouble I was having.  I emailed my plea and got back a “try changing the filters” canned response.  Argh.  So I replied very politely (I must say) to the canned response, and you know what I heard back?

They’re sending me a new cleaning module head (whatever that is) and a link to a video on how to install it.  No charge.

Folks, we love this vacuum so much that we’d've just bought a new one of these if it hadn’t been fixable (and still will if this doesn’t do the trick.)  But this level of “Handled” is pretty excellent customer service, even if it was provided by a Customer Service Roombot.

2.  Dinner party was a success, though the largest lobster I could get hold of was only 7#.  Most disappointing.  Also, the dog made off with two of the three roast-beast bones–bones I was intending to turn into soup the next day.  Grrr.  She also took them to my bed.  GRRRRRR.  Nothing like bloody-rare beef bones on your down comforter to end a lovely evening on.

3.  While donning underwear is still a no-go, going commando is apparently ok.  We spent an hour hanging out (ahem) in the bathroom, just chilling, checking out the gear in all the cabinets, and eventually just missing a tinkling opportunity.  Sadly, he was squatting at the time, so it didn’t make a mess on him (which will likely be an excellent incentive for this mess-averse child) but happily, he seems willing to do it again tomorrow.  Happy Nakey-Baby.

4.  Speaking of happy baby, Cadbury eggs are back.  He remembered enough from last year to know that he wanted one, though he couldn’t remember what they were called.  When I gave him his post-dinner treat, he nibbled and coddled and enjoyed the heck out of that egg for upwards of 10 minutes.  I’ve never seen anything like it.  Kid knows how to make the good stuff last, and has more willpower than any 2-year-old I’ve ever known.  (Shoot, he has more willpower than I do.  I tend to eat my treats too fast even by 43-year-old standards!)

5.  It was almost 60* here today.  We ran around outside in shirt sleeves.  It was awesome.  Can’t wait for spring & the beginning of gardening season!  I’m already coveting geese & chickens and guinea hens, though realistically, I should probably wait another year.  Though if this weather holds, I ought to be able to put together a coop without much difficulty…