When I was a kid and I opened up an amazing gift, I would think to myself, “Oh my God, this is going to CHANGE my life!” (Yes, I’ve always been dramatic.) Well, as I have grown, those life changing gifts have changed to life changing purchases, which are even more satisfying. I’ve been meaning to blog my list of life changing purchases for a while, but tonight there is no list, I’m focusing all on one coveted item, our new Roomba automatic vacuum.

Before Miles, I used to vacuum the house and sweep my kitchen floor pretty much every day. Then once Miles came around, that totally went out the window. Like, TOTALLY, out the window. Floors have been (one of) the banes of my existence these past few years as I have attempted to juggle life as a mom and small biz owner. (Mind you, I do not have a house cleaner. I feel the need to clarify that as it seems the majority of working moms I know do have one. Someday man, SOMEDAY!!!) No matter how hard I tried, the hard floors in our house always felt crunchy under my feet, which drove me crazy and I KNEW the dog hair was out of control in the carpet. Then my second trimester from hell hit this past winter/spring and the floors REALLY took a nose dive. Yes, my husband helps, but he runs his own business too and is an awesome father to Miles and our two pugs that he walks three times a day, which means he really has zero time to help with floors.

John and I would always would talk about how great it would be to have a Roomba, but it was one of those luxuries we never really actually considered getting. Just one of those, “Man, we should get a Roomba” kind of thing. Plus we never really knew if they really worked. I figured they just kind of picked up stuff.

That is, until we were at the garage sale of a woman who was addicted to shopping on QVC. We were walking amongst things we had no interest in like Nascar model cars, collector plates and other miscellaneous items when my never impulsive husband peeked in a box and looked at me wide eyed, whisper yelling, “Oh my God, Betsy, there’s a ROOMBA in there! We have to get it!”

I’m pretty grossed out by used vacuum’s, so I didn’t jump right away. However, based on his excitement and the fact that John hardly ever gets excited about buying something that isn’t offered by Apple, I offered $25 for the thing that was boxed up with every accessory available and it was ours.

This was a life changing moment for us. Seriously.

Oh, and not to mention, the best deal of the year as the thing was BRAND NEW. (I can’t bargain worth crap and pay full price at antique stores and garage sales all the time so that was HUGE that I threw out such a low price for something that goes for between $200 and $350.) Granted, it was all thrown together in a box, so we had plenty of dusting off and figuring out to do, but it was totally worth it. We had no idea if it would even work, but after a few adjustments, it works AWESOME. Six weeks after it joined our life, our floors have never been cleaner and I’m IN LOVE. No more crunchies under our feet in the kitchen! THANK GOD!

It gets under the couches, which for wood floors, is where the dust bunnies go to procreate. It gets UNDER THE BED, which was NEVER touched before. It’s amazing. It cleans a whole room until it gets the whole thing (or the battery starts to die, which ever comes first) and then it returns to it’s home base to recharge. When we first got it, we just stood in amazement, watching it go. (Yes, it does a great job on carpets too.) It makes these fun swirly vacuum lines in the carpet too. Like someone brushed the floor like you would a horse or something.

I love that while I’m working at the computer, it’s buzzing away in the kitchen cleaning for me or working away while we are gone. I usually have a contest with myself to see how many rooms I can have it do in one day, but today was the first day I didn’t run it once. (and yes, as I sit here typing I feel crunchies under my feet. EWWWW!) So the Roomba and I need to make up for lost time tomorrow.

Ok, thanks for letting me go on and on about an appliance. It’s just that anything that cleans FOR me pretty much rocks my world. This was a purchase I should have made years ago! Even John said, “Bets, I think we will always have a Roomba in our life.” My husband is a pretty simple guy who could live in a cardboard box (with his ipad) and be happy and even HE thinks it’s a new non-negotiable in our life. So yea for the Roomba!

In other news, I should be all done with my product deliveries this Thursday and it will be maternity leave time. I will admit, that I’m two days into my preschool-less week and no structured work time and indeed, I am riddled with crazy ADD. So hang in there as I am sure I will be all over the place, even more than usual.

Nighty night!