Sucking It Up!

Vacuums sucking it up. After a recent Facebook post regarding my vacuum, I realized many of us strive to find the perfect vacuum cleaner. Here is an Odd and completely useless fact for you: vacuum cleaners have the largest sales volume of any major appliance in this country. 20 million full-size vacuums were sold in 2008. (Brought to us by the Carpet and Rug institute.)

Recently, I replaced my Dyson. Unfortunately our relationship was just not working. It broke down, lost suction, and was difficult to repair. Other than those few things, it was a fine vacuum. (I’m just saying that for all of you who are exclaiming, “But I loooovvvee my Dyson!”) Okay, the truth is, I hated my Dyson with all my heart.  However, a Dyson vacuum is an investment and after making a commitment to one, (writing a check) it’s not easy to break up. My mother owned the same Hoover for countless years, but then she has towels and sheets dating back to when I was in 1st grade, and her white pants and tennis shoes are spotless – a blog post for another time.

With some hesitance, I will admit to replacing my Dyson with a Dyson. For all of you who offered me encouragement and counseled me to stick with my  Dyson, I hope you will believe me when I say I really did give it my all. The vacuum cleaner salesman (Note, I went to a real vacuum cleaner store – one where the salesman dumps the dirt on the carpet!) recommended the racy little canister Sebo. I had to agree it seemed to meet our needs, and well, it was pretty darn cute. However, when the salesman offered me a choice of colors for my Sebo, I wanted to scream, “Does this really need to be another choice?” But I sucked it up and chose Porsche grey. I mean you could get tired of burnt orange, right?

I have strayed completely off the beaten blog post. I really intended to tell you about a vacuum cleaner you may never have considered. In your humble abode, you probably have an upright or canister vacuum that you use on your floor. Maybe, like my Aunt Jill, you even have a Seboor perhaps you have a DustBuster to clean up smaller messes. However, it may be time to add the Extreme Bug Vacuum for kids to your cornucopia of vacuums.

The Roomba , as described by Amazon, is the kinder, gentler way to catch and examine bugs. Your child chases the insect down in its outdoor environment, captures it by sucking it up in a battery-operated vacuum without harm, (really?) where it is held in a plastic capsule. There the captured insect can be viewed through the magnifier in the capsule and then released back into the wild or into the Extreme Bug Vacuumt (sold separately) built especially to house small insects. Do the Peta nuts know about this?

The first picture floating through my head is of four-foot tall bug terrorists zooming through our neighborhoods, sucking up everything in sight. The second picture is of the patient mom (when we use the word patient before parent followed by vacuum, it usually adds up to mom!)  trying to unclog the vacuum cleaner which just sucked up a grasshopper, the tiny terrorist in tears because, “You just killed my favorite bug!” and bug guts magnified on the inside of the plastic capsule dashing mom’s hopes of selling “It’s just resting, honey.”  This product should really offer a rebate towards future therapy!

Flash forward to the wise therapist saying, “Ah yes, your poor mother must have had the life sucked out of her by a Dyson.”

Glad you were in my Odd neighborhood. Feel free to drop by any time. Odd Loves Company and odd loves you and you and you!! I would love to hear from you in the comment section of this blog, or on Facebook or Twitter!