UPDATED: This contest is now closed. The randomly selected winner of the might Oreck and his sidekick hand held vac is commenter number 366 – Michelle Small!

Congrats, Michelle and thanks everyone else who entered.

We have a Cheerios problem at our house.

Also a dirt-tracked-in-from-the-muddy-backyard problem.

There’s a sandbox-sand problem on the deck and a hamster-shredded-bedding problem in the boys’ bedroom.

There’s a crushed-goldfish-cracker-problem that is especially bad around the high chair area.

And I’d rather not talk about the random half-chewed-bits-of-toilet-paper problem we currently have.

I kid you not when I say we’ve been through two vacuum cleaners in the last year. I’ve started to feel sorry for our appliances. I feel I need to apologize to the vacuum before I even take it out of the over crowded coat closet.  I hear it cry uncle right as I start it up. Poor baby.

Well, the fine folks at Oreck think they can change that. They sent over a vacuum cleaner that is supposed to be able to look the carpet of a “three-kids-under-six” house in the eye without blinking.

Boy has it been fun putting it to the test!

Things I love about the Oreck Magnesium {super hero} vacuum:

  • I get to give one away! Perfect timing for Mother’s Day Month!
  • It’s super pretty. I mean, like cobalt blue, makes your husband and boys ooh and ahh over it’s “corners like it’s on rails” curves, shiny chrome and sky blue pretty.
  • It’s easy peasy to snap together while your three kids are all trying to “help.”
  • It’s tall, yo. I’m 5.9 and no longer suffering from hunch-over-the-vacuum-handle-itis.
  • At the first sign of a sucked in curtain, super hero cape, or baby doll it stops sucking. Seriously, this has been my favorite factor because our last vacuum kept right on sucking till there were sparks. Not the good kind.
  • It’s light, light, light.
  • I can drive it with just one hand.
  • Did I mention how light it is? I vacuum much less resentfully or unwillingly these days because it’s so easy to whip that little pretty in and out of our coat closet where it lives.
  • It’s the exact same color as my husband’s running shoes.
  • It has LED headlights. My sons asked me to mention that this is their favorite feature.
  • It’s comfortable with carpets and carpetless floors. So I can follow the trail of crumbs from the dining room right into the kitchen no problem.
  • It glides wherever I want it to. Under the high chair, up against the wall line, around corners – it’s got moves.

Things I love less about it:

  • Dude, it’s one expensive vacuum {$500}. But having recently been through two cheapies I cannot get over the difference. Apparently I keep muttering to myself as I vacuum, “So this is why people spend money on vacuum cleaners.”
  • The high/low power button. I realize it’s supposed to be beneficial to have these different settings for wood vs carpet, but it means that when I hit the off button in a panic when the baby starts to cry or I suck up a favorite toy it doesn’t go off, it just switches to the lower setting. This is annoying. But then the Oreck and I make eye contact over another bowl of spilled Cheerios and all is forgiven.
  • The wrap around power cord. It’s long and that’s lovely. But is it just me who misses the days when vacuum cleaners came with a handy little button that made the cord retract and rewind all by themselves? I’d love one of those on my pretty Oreck.

But what helps make up for all of that? Oreck also sent me the sidekick that makes up this Cleaner Power Team. Yup, he’s called The Ultimate Handheld Vac and he’s my boys’ new best friend.

You wear him like a shoulder bag and suddenly everyone’s begging to do chores.

 They’re the cutest little pair. Sometimes I wink at them when I pass the coat closet. They make me want to crank up some old school Garth Brooks and get my vacuum on.

And one of you super women will be able to boogie down to some Oreck magic too.

Giveaway mandatory entry, in other words – do this first before anything else, yo: Visit Oreck.com and then tell us {by leaving a comment on this post} one thing you learned over there about the Magnesium.

Suffering from crushed-Cheerio-exhausted-vacuum-fatigue and want more ways to win this super hero vacuuming team? Here you go:

  • Follow @oreck on Twitter.
  • Like Oreck on Facebook.
  • Sign up for Oreck’s email list by clicking on “Sign up for Email” in the top navigation bar and entering your email address.
  • Tweet about the giveaway, mentioning @oreck with a link to this post, for example, “Did you hear that @thegypsymama is giving away a pair of @Oreck’s vacuum cleaning super heroes?” <—click to Tweet this

Then come on back here and leave a separate comment for each of these entries.

Best of luck to all of you. Because who doesn’t deserve a team of super cleaning heroes?

{Contest closes midnight EST this Friday April 20, 2012}

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Disclosure: Oreck provided me with this beautiful vacuuming combo for free. But the opinions are all my happy own. This vacuuming duo will not stop the influx of inevitable crushed Cheerios, sand, mud, dog hair or hamster shedding into your home. But it will help you beat them. With style. And perhaps even dancing.

Giveaway winner must be a resident of the U.S. 48 contiguous states. Oreck Corporation provided the prize for the sweepstakes but is not the sponsor of the sweepstakes. And Oreck will be the ones shipping the vacuum to the lucky winner.

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I think motherhood should come with a super hero cape and a cheerleader.
My {free} ebook The Cheerleader for Tired Moms might be the next best thing.
Enter your email address and it’s coming your way just before Mother’s Day!

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