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Her Name is Alice, and i’M iN LoVe!

Melissa Beene Ford/ Uncategorized


One of the dumb things I say often, as I get exasperated by trying to keep up with cleaning, cooking, laundry, etc., all the while having 2 kids destroy everything I’ve accomplished the instant I turn my back for two seconds, is, “I NEED AN ALICE!!!!” You know, Alice, from the Brady Bunch. Somebody to live here, do our cooking and cleaning, grocery buying, the driving the kids where they need to go, and all that. Really!! Who doesn’t need an Alice??

Well, friends, I found my Alice. And she has made my life SO much easier, and I’m totally, completely in love with her. This is Alice:

Yes, Alice is a floor-washing ROBOT!! How great is that? Having hardwood floors throughout our house is wonderful, but they get so dusty that they need to be mopped once a week, at least, or dust bunny tumbleweeds take over, and that is dis-gus-TING!! (Makes you wonder what’s down in your carpet that you CAN’T see…) And the mopping took me, literally, days to complete each week. Mondays, I clean the upstairs, and used to spend at least two hours mopping the upstairs alone, which KILLED my back. It would make my Monday chores take ALL DAY Monday, in between, of course, changing diapers, making lunch, etc. So this past Monday, I made the beds and picked up clutter for about 30 minutes, then let Alice do her thing, and I was DONE for the day, which frees me up for other things, like quality time with my children, for example.

She’s really becoming a valued member of the family. We all really do call her Alice, and I catch myself saying things like, “Hold on a second, I have to go get Alice out from under the bed.” Or, “Alice really did a good job, didn’t she??” Or, “That Alice is a cleaning fool! Look at her go!” KB, of course, pretends that Alice is a floor-cleaning dog who sniffs around looking for crumbs to eat, and “woof woofs” at Alice when she rolls by.

I LOVE that you don’t have to use the pricey Scooba brand cleaner in it either; you can use white vinegar, which is great because you know how I love green cleaning products and I especially love not having to buy pricey cleaning products! Of course it smells horrible WHILE its cleaning but evaporates quickly, leaving no smell at all, and vinegar is even great for removing odors from the air, like the lingering smell of the catfish that BF fried the other night.

Watch this video, and you’ll be sold. Yes, it is sort of a major purchase, but freeing up hours upon hours of my life to have time for what’s really important, well, you just can’t put a price on that. She doesn’t buy our groceries or drive the kids around, but I’ll never have to mop again, and that WORKS FOR ME! 🙂

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Comments

  1. Sandi says

    July 23, 2008 at 2:38 pm

    My husband and I purchased our Scooba last Thanksgiving, and I LOVE it!! How do you make your vinegar cleaning solution? I’m clueless. =) I also have a suggestion for other readers who are interested in purchasing a Scooba. Checkout http://www.woot.com for special deals. That’s where we bought our scooba for $100. It was well worth it! Thanks!

    Reply
  2. Melissa says

    July 23, 2008 at 2:43 pm

    I put in two ounces of white vinegar, and fill the rest of the tank with water!

    Reply
  3. Koryn says

    July 23, 2008 at 4:00 pm

    That is so funny! Who knew we’d post on the same topic on the same day! Too funny. Well I hope readers sit up and take notice! Then sit down and relax and let "Alice" do the rest! Ha!

    Reply
  4. franticallysimple says

    July 23, 2008 at 5:26 pm

    Yeah but can this Alice get you a discount from Sam the Butcher?<BR/>(Said in a bitterly jealous tone.)

    Reply
  5. Melissa says

    July 23, 2008 at 7:01 pm

    Nah, but then there’s none of that ongoing romance drama with Sam the Butcher, either…..

    Reply
  6. mom_at_home says

    July 23, 2008 at 7:15 pm

    I, too, had a Scooba to love. Sadly, it found a patch of dried liquid hand soap on the floor in the kid’s bathroom, and died. A new battery and reprogram didn’t even work. The moral is: be careful about not putting in the wrong kinds of cleaners, and watch out for those foreign soapy spots. BTW, the Roomba is just as loveable, and mine survived 2 years with children trying to ride on it.

    Reply
  7. team hill says

    July 27, 2008 at 10:56 pm

    Girl I swear we were meant to be friends. I am a GREEN freak. I use the lovely Get Clean system by shaklee.and have also been making my own vinegar and water cleaners for the last 2 years. It is so funny reading your stuff bc I am the same way. Do yall try to eat organic? It is pricey but all those hormones and pesticides ugg don’t get me started. 🙂 I hope you have a good one.

    Reply
  8. Modern June31 says

    July 28, 2008 at 5:02 pm

    I’ve had my eye one of these for a while now. I would love to be able to push a button and walk away and come back to clean hardwoods. How does it do around the base-moulding? Does it get into corners? <BR/>Thanks for the review!

    Reply
  9. Melissa says

    July 28, 2008 at 5:44 pm

    It doesn’t clean so well in the corners, since its round it can’t really get all the way into a corner; although its pretty good about getting very close to the baseboards. But I figure I’d have to clean those corners myself anyway, so it doesn’t add that much to my workload. <BR/>I love the way it really scrubs hard if a spot is extra-dirty. One of my kids spilled a little juice on the floor

    Reply

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About Me


Hey there... I'm Melissa! Texas girl. Mom to three + one goldendoodle. Believer. Old house fanatic. Creating a happy + healthy home with purpose is my passion. I'm so glad you're here!

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I don’t know who’s big idea it was to strip 80 I don’t know who’s big idea it was to strip 80 years of paint off of this door down to the wood and start over… but that person has no business starting new projects. 😅 My neighbors must have thought this project would never end. *I* thought this project would never end. 😰 If you’re thinking of doing this yourself? Just don’t, ok? Throw the whole door away and buy a new one. 😂🤣 Just kidding.  Old house weirdos like me… we can’t just do things the easy way. Anyhoo… after some trial and error, @sherwinwilliams Celestial is what I landed on, and I have to say… I like it. Periwinkle-ish blue looks great with the yellow house and will look even better when the azaleas are in bloom. Was it all worth it? That’s not important right now. 🤭 Will I do this all again in two years? The magic eight ball says… without a doubt. 👏🏻 I’ve already picked the next color. #gluttonforpunishment #somefoolsneverlearn #oldhouselove #oldhomelove #makinghome #southernliving #gardenandgun #azaleadistrict #tylertx
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Happy Saturday ☀️ Happy Saturday ☀️
Salt Lake City is always magical ✨ Salt Lake City is always magical ✨
2022 had its highs and lows for sure, but scrollin 2022 had its highs and lows for sure, but scrolling through my pics from the last twelve months made me realize how blessed and content I am. Prosperity, love, and peace have been ours in abundance, in spite of the pain of losing my dad. The second picture is the last picture of him… the last time I saw him. 💔 But God has been good to my family this year and 2022 is ending far better than it began. 😄 #2022inreview #thanksforthememories
Who wants a Christmas tour of my home? 🙋🏼‍ Who wants a Christmas tour of my home? 🙋🏼‍♀️
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That’s it. That’s the tour. (Slide two). 
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It’s a new trend I’m starting: bare Christmas tree. Lowe’s tag still attached (so quirky and unexpected)! Christmas ornaments still in boxes. Coming soon to an Anthropologie window display near you. 
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Every year I think, “next year I’ll do better. Next year I’ll have it together.” And then, here we are on the SIXTH Christmas that we’ve been in this house, the sixth Christmas I’ve dragged our chaotic bunch of Christmas mess out of a chaotic garage I still haven’t unpacked from our move six years ago. 
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Maybe this year is the year I’ll organize it all and put it back neatly so that by Christmas number 7, it will be smooth sailing. People will flock to my social media to see how I’ve pulled everything off SO PERFECTLY. Next year will be my year. 
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Seems every year there’s less and less bandwidth for all these things. There’s more grief and stress, less money. More demands, less grace. 
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I put this sign on the wall in my office so I could keep it in front of my eyes: Love. Joy. Peace. And all that. I am SO unlike Jesus most days. So lacking in all of these character qualities. And that’s WITH waking up most mornings and spending my first 30 minutes with God Himself. 
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How lost would I be without that? Geez. I can’t fathom. I REQUIRE being transformed by renewing my mind every single morning, and even then, responding to people and life with love, joy, peace and patience doesn’t come naturally. 
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It’s the goal, though. 
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This weary world needs that from us Believers during this season, more than ever… even more than an Anthropologie-window-display worthy Christmas home tour. 
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I’m working on both.
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