There are Hello Kitty vacuum cleaners. I've seen them, LOL.

There are?!? There ARE!?! Where???

Um. Okay. Standing back and taking a look at myself... it's kinda scary.

The fact that I envy Beth the Dyson... even scarier.

Um... where exactly can one get the "As We Change" catalog?

Add me to the jealous camp! I soooo want a Dyson!

Although part of the appeal of the Dyson is James Dyson himself. You know -- the chic British guy with the sexy accent who does his own commercials.

I'm guessing that if the vacuum had been invented by a guy named Stan from Fargo, it wouldn't have had nearly the same cache.

Well, I feel like a total groupie now, since I just finished reading "My Favorite Mistake" but your new book is on it's way to my house for my will-be-thirteen-this-week year old daughter.

"It’s funny—in some ways I feel so adult but most of the time, my mental age is about 19."

Welcome to the club. I'm approaching 60, yet feel like I'm still in my 20's and faking adulthood - sometimes with more success than at other times.

Lauren--

You are not a groupie; you are my new best friend!

My husband thanks you.

Beth, I'm cracking up since we just ordered the same vac!! With two dogs, I live in dog hair central if I don't vac every day. And the vet today? nearly $200. woohoo!! this puppy now officially cost a couple hundred bucks a pound. Maybe I could at least teach her to vacuum . . .

And one review called Beth's new teen book delicious brain candy so you KNOW it's going to rock!!

Alesia, my oldest daughter (really, I'm completely too young to be her mother) came to me with most pathetic, tear-stained face ever seen and held out her hand in which was her hamster. The hamster was suffering from some malady that I could not determine, so like any mom, I called Petco. Petco told me she most likely had an inner-ear infection and I should call a vet.

It was a Saturday, it was New Years weekend. And I needed a vet for our sick hamster. (ohmygod). I finally found one (it's astounding how many vets do NOT treat hamsters) that was a mere 45 minutes away, but agreed to see us that very day. We piled into the car, and after being weighed (not quite an ounce) and poked and prodded, our little hamster was given an antibiotic and steroid for her inner-ear infection. Of course, you can't just pump a hamster full of steroids and antibiotics, they have to be in hamster-friendly doses. Which requires dilution. In order to administer medication to a hamster, mom has to become a master chemist and handy with a syringe.

But $150 later, we had a hamster that lived for another 3 months.

I still think that I am faking adult hood too. I wait for someone to come and haul me away for having such a large amount of Disney movies and stuff animals, and not having children to claim it all belongs too.

Lauren, you are a terrific mother and a walking testimonial for why I will never get my kids a hamster. LOL.

Lauren--make that hamster a guniea pig and times it by three and that was MY story! LOL! Unfortunately for our pigs there are NO vets who will treat guinea pigs and I lost three in one day to what I later determined to be scurvy (after much frantic research online!). Saved two out of five, so guess we did ok. And oh, I am SO jealous about the Dyson! I should write them a letter and offer to do free advertisements for them if they would just give me that vacuum--I top y'alls two dogs and raise you four dogs, two cats, a messy cockatiel and an even messier guinea pig! You want to talk about HAIR?!! I got it in spades, baby!! LOL! EVERYTHING sheds in my house, except maybe the bird and the tortoise, and even the bird flings feathers everywhere! We go through vacuums like nobody's business! Color me green too!

Oh, I'm all for faking adulthood - I've been doing it all of my adult life :-)

And now I am deseprate for a Dyson, too.

Michelle

I notice no one is desperate for a hamster after my hamster story. *frowns*

Speak to me more of the Dyson. How is it on the grout lines between the tiles? That's what defeats me entirely.

Eileen

Eileen...have you tried one of those steam machines for grout? It's amazing... Unless it's some form of small animal feed in the grout lines, in which case forget the Dyson and the steam machine and just get a hamster.

Seriously? I was looking at one of those, but I thought it would be more for Things One and Two's bathroom which generally needs something like a high-pressure hose that shoots boiling water to clean it.

I will admit that kitty litter in the grout lines drives me nuts, but it's only in one room of the house. The rest is just dirt. Will soccer season ever be over?

I just got a Dyson and I totally adore it. My carpet is free of dog hair (for now).

Although no one will be eating sushi off the tile anytime soon.

MC

You guys are the 64745 best, thanks so much for the help.