I'm in love with....

...the vacuum cleaner. Or more specifically, the vacuum cleaner attachments. Not quite to the level of fetishism, LOL, but pretty intense nevertheless. I'll try to elaborate, but there are some things you just can't explain....

We have Pergo floors in most of our house. This was my request from about 5 years ago, after seeing them in other houses and how great they looked while being super-easy to keep clean, etc. What I didn't take into account was how obsessive I would become about keeping them clean and keeping "bits" of any kind off of them. It just drives me to distraction to walk barefoot on the floor and feel that I've stepped on anything other than just plain floor. But I also live in a busy household, with 2 boys and an elderly cat.....which means food crumbs, stray cat litter, tidbits of grass/dirt/sand coming in on our shoes, etc. Remember the old Princess and the Pea story? Well, that's me with my feet on these floors--even the tiniest, microscopic speck on the floor makes me insane if I step on it.

So I sweep. A lot. I "swiffer". I steam-mop. And every day, several times a day, I vacuum. Vacuums are for carpet, you say? Only for the unimaginative, I say. I've found that nothing, no method of floor cleaning gives me the satisfaction that vacuuming does, and using the hose attachment is even better. The budding psychologist/therapist in me keeps trying to figure out why I feel this way, and I think I'm on to something.....what do you think?

Life is messy. MY life is very messy most of the time. Cluttered, dirty, far from perfect. Bits of unwanted crud all around, getting in my way, interfering with smooth progress from one place to another. Kind of like my floors.........

But now picture me with the vacuum, super-duper hose attachment firmly in hand, walking around the house just searching for dirt. Searching for crumbs, bits of grass, grains of sand that fell out of the boys' shoes. One minute, the floor is messy and covered with dirt. Next minute, vacuum power comes to the rescue and vanquishes the dirt, making it disappear! And everywhere I go, the same story....the all-powerful vacuum takes away all of the dirt, leaving the floor clean and uncluttered. If only the clutter in life were as easy to control and easy to remove.