Lottie Makes My Life Easy!

Tuesday 5th November, 2013

Today, being the first Tuesday in November, is a big day in Australia's horse racing calendar.......it is the Melbourne Cup. People and horses have come from all over the world to gather at Flemington Racecourse in Melbourne to attend the Cup.

This could be the year a woman trains the Melbourne Cup winner.  Gai Waterhouse, one of Australia's top horse trainers has a horse called Fiorente running, and the horse is a favourite to win.

For the first time in around 15 years Tony didn't attend any Melbourne Cup luncheon.  He was asked to go to a lunch but seeing they have just called for tenders for the cleaning contracts he thought it was best to decline as it could be seen as a conflict of interest.  

You see the company that asked him to go to lunch is one of the cleaning companies that is tendering for the contract.

Instead I went into town and met him as we had to go and make the final payment on our recliner chairs.  Apparently they are just about ready for delivery.  

Driving into the city from home was like driving in a ghost town.  There were hardly any cars on the road as I think everybody was stuck in front of the TV watching the race or out to lunch.  The race was run at 2.30pm local time.  They say it's a race that stops a nation.

The race was run and history was made.  Finally Gai Waterhouse got her wish.........the winning trainer of a Melbourne Cup winner.  Fiorente won! 

  
Last weekend we went to several places to find out about replacing the timbers  in our courtyard.  We are still no closer to solving that problem, but we have arranged to have our kitchen updated.  I wanted to replace the cupboard doors and get a new wall oven and hotplates.

The guy came out on Sunday morning to have a look at the kitchen.  He was rather surprised at how good the condition was of the cupboards and so he said rather than have a complete new kitchen (which he thought might have been the way to go) he is just going to replace the doors.  We have also decided to replace the bench tops.

Included in the cost will be a new sink, hotplates and wall oven.  We are getting rid of the dishwasher and in it's place I am having 3 drawers, 2 extra large ones and a smaller drawer.  Unfortunately I have to wait until January for this to be done as he is so busy.  Can I wait that long.......I'll have too!

While we were out Tony spoiled me......again!!!  He bought me a robotic vacuum cleaner and I LOVE it!!!!!  OMG it is great and my carpets are so clean which makes my whole house 'feel' clean and I've done no cleaning.  We have called the machine Lottie.

Every morning I turn Lottie on and she goes off and does her vacuuming.  When the battery starts to get low she returns to the mother ship to recharge herself and off she goes again.  It takes her all day to do the whole house.  

I know she doesn't replace a regular vacuum cleaner but if it means I only have to drag that out every 2-3 weeks then I am happy.  It is surprising just how much dust Lottie picks up but then she goes into places where I only go every few months with the vacuum like under the lounge, lounge chairs, bed and any furniture. 

My regular vacuum is a Dyson and I don't use the attachments every week when I vacuum and so the head of the vacuum cleaner can't get all the way under the furniture.  Tony usually does the vacuuming when we gotta start moving furniture.

If it is going to save me a few hours each week vacuuming then I am very, very happy with Lottie.  Once the novelty factor wears off I'll only need to turn her on a few times a week. 

This is Lottie.........