A Sucker for a Sucker

Nathan's parents bought us our Christmas present tonight. We've been needing a vacuum for a while now, so the gift-giving holiday came at a perfect time. Our old one was in sad shape: its hose attachments are broken, the hose itself has a hole in it, it smells like burning rubber when it runs for more than 2 minutes, the self-propel feature doesn't work, and it barely stands up on its own. They treated us to dinner at LaRosa's and then we all headed to Sears to look at the different models. I hated asking for a vacuum for Christmas (they bought us our current one 5 years ago), but with as much as we vacuum, it was a necessity. Here she is in all her glory:

This baby has lots of bells and whistles and I can't wait to try it out tomorrow (the kids are sleeping as I type and I wouldn't dare do anything to ruin the quiet!). It has a dirt sensor, performance indicator, 3 speeds for the hose attachments (so you don't suck up your curtains trying to remove dust), and an agitator reset button. That last one will be a lifesaver for us. If something gets stuck in the brush (like shoe laces, toy parts, etc.), the brush stops turning until you remove the part and hit the reset button. Pretty cool!

My friend's mom, Kathy, recently blogged about her excitement over getting a new kitchen floor and range for Christmas. She said that it must be showing her age, but I must agree that this new vacuum has me pretty excited as well.