This post is sponsored by Neato Robotics. Thanks, Neato!

When I was growing up, it was absolutely impossible to shop for my dad at his birthday and the holidays. There was nothing he wanted, and there was nothing I could think of that he might want. Infuriatingly, when we’d ask him what he wanted he’d always say some malarkey like, “I don’t need anything. I just want to spend the day with you guys.” I remember thinking, “Um…that’s sweet and all, Dad, but what stuff do you want?” (Because we all want stuff.)

Well, bad news for me, because now that Mike is a dad I’m transported back to the frustration of my childhood. Mike’s birthday is next week and he says he doesn’t want anything. Whenever I suggest something, he has a reason for why he doesn’t want it: “When am I going to get the time to use that?” “Where would I put it?” And my favorite: “That sounds like a nice gift, but I don’t know if it’s right for me.” Eventually, he dropped a line on me that made me feel like I was twelve again, “I don’t need anything. I just want to spend the day with you.”

As annoying as this is, I didn’t give up trying to think of what to get Mike – because he IS getting something whether he likes it or not. I was pacing my home, thinking, when I suddenly had an epiphany upon looking down at our hardwood floors. You see, I’d always dreamed of having hard wood floors in my home, and it was a major selling point of our house for me. Upon moving in, we learned that hard wood floors get dirty fast. And, because we have a dog and two kids running around the house all the day, the floors always have tumbleweeds of hair hiding in the corners. This drives Mike nuts, and he is always pulling out the vacuum to suck up the mess (win for me!). The floors look great… until two minutes later when they’re a mess again (because kids and dog).

Lotsa hair

All of that hair….

So what was my epiphany? To get him an automatic vacuum – specifically one of these Neato vacuums.

neato

It will keep the hard wood floors clean (okay, cleaner) without his having to pull out the vacuum every five minutes. Beyond that, the Back to the Future fan in him will think it’s super cool to have a vacuum that is a robot.

Does anyone else have a vacuum like this? I’m thinking that the dog will hate it but the kids will probably be entertained for hours!

Happy early birthday, Mike! Hahahaha!

Visit Neato for more information on why the Neato Robot Vacuum is best for pets! 

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Neato Robotics® Best for Pets Vacuums. The opinions and text are all mine.