Mama Kat's Giving Away a Hoover

Yes, that's right. She's giving away an awesome new Hoover vacuum. Go enter yourself here.

I already own a Hoover. It's awesome. But it is 17 years old. I paid $99 for it in 1991. Best $99 I ever spent. It still runs and looks brand new. Maybe that's because it spent most of its life in a safe protected closet not being forced to work. But that was before I had kids and before I've been without a housekeeper for six months. Now that baby gets some serious use. I can speak from experience that it can inhale an entire box of Honey Nut Cheerios in just one swipe.

About the same time I bought my vacuum, my Mom bought a Kirby from a door-to-door salesman. If you're a door-to-door salesman, just go to my Mom's house. She'll buy your stuff from you. Encyclopedias, magazines, wrapping paper, vacuums, beef steak of the month club, whatever, she just can't say no. Anyway, she paid about $900 for this glamorous top of the line Kirby. It was even supposed to fluff your couch cushions, sand your tables, and blow up your beach balls for the pool. Of course she never used it to sand or to blow up beach balls, just vacuum. And it didn't really do that very well. And where is that Kirby now? It's been dead for about a decade. Some investment that was.

Maybe it's high time for Mama to upgrade? My current vacuum actually even still uses vacuum bags. Do you know how hard it is to find vaccum bags these days? Even the cheapo vacuums are bagless now. I think my current Hoover should be bound for the Smithsonian while I upgrade with a new one I'll be winning from Mama Kat.

On the off chance I don't win that vacuum, let's hear your recommendations? Is everyone still drinking the kool-aid and loving their Dysons? Or does the Dyson go the way of the Kirby after a few years of use? Does your vacuum blow up beach balls? Sand tables? Clean a fish tank? Have any other "special" talents?