For my birthday I received an experimental gift… an iRobot Roomba vacuum cleaner.
I have wanted one of these robot vacuum cleaners for a few years, but hubby isn’t too certain we need one. While I am feeling spoiled by Uncle Glen’s loaner vacuum, I am also aware that there are terrific lessons to be learned from his generosity.
Uncle Glen gifted the vacuum to me so that I might have the opportunity to see if I even liked it. The vacuums are costly and hubby is afraid it will damage things in our home so I haven’t pushed too hard for the purchase.
After a week and a half of utilizing my borrowed gift, I have compiled as list of lessons taught by my iRobot:
The iRobot really helps in picking up hair and dust. It is not so great with bigger crumbs and sawdust from the farm. Just like life, you can’t get rid of all the yucky stuff; some of it takes manual labor to remove.
The iRobot takes away from my time sweeping and vacuuming, but runs for a long time and is kind of noisy on the hardwoods. Progress can be noisy.
The iRobot has made my kids very aware of how dusty the floors can get and therefore they are more eager to have them cleaned. (Hubby is afraid of what the robot vacuum will break; I am more afraid of how soon the kids will break the robot.)
There is definitely a sense of accomplishment for me after seeing the floor and carpets swept. There is greater sense of annoyance when I spy dirt and dust in spots where I thought the vacuum should have gone. Technology is great but spoils us.
Having a robot vacuum is definitely a first world conundrum. Seriously!?! It’s a robot vacuum.
Having a generous uncle, like Glen, is a blessing. (Love you, Glen!)
The Intentergy challenge for you today is to be open to opportunities to share or try new things. Just as we have welcomed the opportunity to improve our lives with the vacuum, I encourage you to try something that might make your life better. As Glen has shared one of his gifts, I hope you will find ways to bring joy and enhanced living to those you encounter. Don’t give beyond your abilities but give beyond your normal generosity.
By: Melanie A. Peters
P.S. This is not a commercial for the iRobot. It is an advertisement for generosity and open-mindedness. 🙂
P.P.S. A robot vacuum cleaner is one of those things from the future I wrote about last week with hoverboards.
Intentergy 
Good read. Thanks for sharing.
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I am always up for sharing 😉
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The only thing I kept thinking when you wrote that hubby was afraid of what the vacuum or robot might break was he should sweep the floors then. My hubs told me the same thing and I said “ok, no problem I hate doing floors just leave ur shoes at the door,” after 3 weeks he asked if I could wash the floors. My response was I don’t play in mud, if there is dirt on the floors and I wash them it will be mud. So he swept, I washed. He took so so long just sweaping one area I was going out of my mind, though he felt so accomplished (myeyesrolling) So now I just do the floors with our vacuum that is built into the walls of our house, only a hose and I am not dragging a body around on his precious wood floors.
P.S. I tryed the iBot but it did not work well with throw rugs and I really hate doing floors I am too tall it hurts my back, how I love excuses lol.
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That is hilarious. My husband is “allergic” to house work. It might kill him to sweep too much. 😉 I, too, am tall so I understand the backaches of sweeping.
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LOL!!!!
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I love my Roomba. Even after Joe set out glue traps and I tried to scrub the glue off. And that caused the electronics to fail a bit and now I believe he
speaks Portuguese when there is a problem. But still, I love him. He’s in the process of drying out.
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Portuguese is a tough language 😉 Thank you for the feedback. I will have to talk to Joe about endangering your Roomba. 🙂
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Loved your robot story. I could just hear Greg saying those things. I can’t imagine what Dave would say. Probably not printable!!!! Our son, Dan, and his wife have one. They live in St Charles. I was visiting them recently and the thing started up. I said, “What’s that!”. Oh, that’s just the vacuum cleaner. He does his thing every morning at 7:30. I was so amazed. My goodness, what’s next!!! Life is never dull.
Keep the blogs coming!
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Thank you, Linda. We are still giving the robo vacuum a try. The kids are fascinated when it starts but lose interest pretty quickly. Greg is still NOT interested. 🙂
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