I pondered over getting a hand-held vacuum cleaner for a long time.  The main reason is because I live in Belize and it isn’t a matter of going down to the shopping mall or going online and ordering it on 24 hour delivery.  Making a decision to buy something which can’t be bought in Belize entails ordering it on-line, sending it to a shipping company which transports to Belize, sending the invoice to the shippers, waiting anywhere from 2 to 6 months to get it shipped here, paying duty and transportation and then driving to the final collection point which is a 2 to 3 hours away.

And so I cogitated, procrastinated and then did some more thinking and finally told Gnome that I really, really wanted a Eureka hand-held vacuum cleaner.  I went on-line to Amazon and noted that in some of the reviews, many people mentioned that it was very heavy for a hand-held machine.  And so I told Gnome that the vacuum cleaner was 5lbs in weight but I wasn’t sure if this was too much for me to handle.  With a glint in his eye he mentioned that the Cat was 5lbs in weight (at that time).  He said rather nonchalantly, “Try the cat.”

I wasn’t quite sure what he meant by that comment so he further explained that I should lift up the cat with one arm and shugle him about like I would a vacuum cleaner.  And so I did, with the kind permission of our pet cat, Ewan.  He didn’t seem too heavy to handle and he didn’t seem that bothered by my man-handling.  And so Gnome concluded from my cat-vacuum cleaner emulation experiment that the Eureka was to be bought and I should go on-line immediately to purchase it and fulfill my cleaning requirements.

Six months later we collected it and brought it home.  I was beaming with hope, pleasure and excitement as I unwrapped the box like a Christmas present (a belated one at that).  It didn’t turn out to be heavy at all…Munchkin power can handle a measly 5lbs in weight and it worked like a charm.

Now the funny thing is that it is a running joke that the Eureka and the Cat are both sucking up all the crumbs on the kitchen floor and under the dining room table.  We have a good old laugh about it…which is which?  We have even started calling the cat “Eureka!”

HaHa…we know how to entertain ourselves out here in the middle of  nowhere!

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