The one chore I don’t mind doing any more is vacuuming. I used to hate it. Once upon a time we had a vacuum that had belonged to my husband’s parents. We kept it in the basement. It weighed about 100 lbs and was really difficult to carry. It was difficult to steer too. And you might not believe this but it was actually mean to me. It tripped me up about a million times, and had a hose with sharp edges that scratched my legs as I yanked it across the floor. I’m convinced that it must have had the engine of a lawn mower because it was absolutely deafening. I hated that thing.

It was for all those reasons – and more – that I avoided vacuuming at all costs. Thankfully we had an area rug underneath our dining room table that camouflaged all the crumbs. It never looked dirty down there! Ha!

But now we have the Rug of My Dreams. It is a deep chocolate brown area rug with an asymmetrical pattern of variously-sized sky and wasabi-coloured dots on it. The rug is a good news/bad news kind of situation. It is a work of art. (Yay!) And every crumb can be seen from across the room. (BOO.)

And this might sound statistically improbable, but if someone drops food on the carpet (not that I would EVER do that), it is amazing to see how often it lands saucy-side down on the lightest parts of the rug. Can someone explain this phenomenon? Because it kills me.

But that is neither here nor there. This rug, pretty as it is, amazingly magnifies the crumbs/bits of cheese/cheerios if they happen to find their way down there. This is something that happens quite often in our household because, silly me, I bought a designer rug and put it a place where the four people gather to eat two, sometimes three times a day.

Not long after the purchase of the new rug we realized that the old canister vacuum was sorely inadequate. It had been lying to us. Its roar was misleading. It was all bark, no bite. It just wasn’t hoovering like it used to, so we went to our neighborhood vacuum store (yes, there is such a thing!) and saw The New Vacuum. And we bought it. It was small. And light. And it SWIVVELED! And it had a specially-designed floor attachment that didn’t just push the crumbs around, but sucked them up faster than you can wonder “heyisthatabarbieshoe.”

I am fairly certain this glorious appliance was invented by a woman.

So now we have a Miele. I use it to vacuum crumbs off the table. I use it to dust. I use the lint brush attachment to vacuum my black wool coat. I just wish it came with an special attachment I can use to brush my dog.

I never thought I’d say this, but I have actually come around to enjoy vacuuming. I vacuum much more than I used to, and it has become the kind of experience that is almost, almost, kind of fun. (I know. I can’t believe it either.)

What chore do you think sucks the most? Other than vacuumming of course. 🙂