Kirby. My whole family uses Kirbys. I am a professional housekeeper and I am always dismayed to find a Dyson in my clients' closets. Dysons are very fragile machines, I have had nothing but trouble with them. The Dyson Ball in particular loses suction very quickly and the carpet beater brush runs on a plastic bearing which wears out very quickly and is not serviceable by you, the user. The Ball also has the tiniest little waste cup you've ever seen, if you have kids or pets or go outdoors from time to time, you'll find it full before you've even vacuumed a whole room. The Dyson Animal is a little more robust, but all in all I'm not a fan of bagless vacuums. The waste cups fill up quickly and emit a plume of dust and hair when emptied into your wastebasket. Then you have to wipe the gasket with a damp paper towel before shutting and re-installing it, or it won't seal up well. Sometimes they don't seal up well even when the gasket is clean. Dysons also come with what I would consider to be a very paltry assortment of tools. A Kirby's bare-floor attachment allows you to vacuum a wide swath well under your furniture--couches, beds, etc. A Dyson Animal is so bulky, it won't fit under the toe kick of your kitchen cabinets, so you have vacuum the room, then hook up the hose and go back around with the stick to get in corners and under the toe kick. In my opinion, the Dyson craze is the result of nothing more than a very effective advertising campaign. Consumer Reports has little to say about them that's good; to my knowledge no Dyson has ever made it to their top 10 vacuum cleaners. In my experience as a professional housekeeper, Dysons are bought by people who know little about cleaning and know a lot about keeping up appearances in other ways. ;)

Annie, spoon spatula sounds interesting but I am looking for a flat solid or slotted spatula that is soft enough to be used when flipping on nonstick kitchenware. I have an EKco solid flexible stainless steel spatula that has to be 50 years old, I use it for many things, cutting, serving, cleaning stuck on food on pans. It's begining to show wear. It has a composit handle that is holding up surprisingly well. These were sold everywhere in those days, when things used to be made in the good old USA.Sounds like what Mimsic is looking for. I'll check out the Lamson Sharp. And, I agree, it's impossible to depend on brands any longer.

Going off to college and / or getting his or her own apartment will be the fastest learning experience a kid will have...It's not like a kid will wither away with no clean clothes and no food, even if that kid had no chores at home growing up. Just because he or she didn't do the work doesn't mean he or she didn't know how or realize it needed to be done. Doing laundry at college is the major wake-up call for a lot of kids, and when they do it on their own, it's amazing how much more appreciative they are when they come home! I don't want the kids doing their own laundry at home because they'll be doing loads too often, running the dryer too much, and filling up the septic tank too fast. And I don't want to have to plan some schedule for who can use the machine when... it just doesn't work. But as far as putting laundry away...SD had a hissy fit that I was invading her privacy by cleaning up her room (and I thought I was showing love! Ha!), so from then on, I stuffed her clean, UNFOLDED laundry into plastic grocery bags and I hang it on her doorknob and CLOSE THE BEDROOM DOOR so I don't have to look at ground zero. She had it really good for a while, but thanks to some good advice here, now she's on her own in that department. I like the advice given about loading up the garbage bags and giving the animals away (even if temporarily). It's the only way to get through to some kids, even if it goes against your natural tendancy to "be nice" and "help." My SD didn't get a ride to school from me today because she said yesterday that she wanted Daddy to take her...she was mad at me and my daughter. Okay...Daddy can take her every day, rework his busy schedule to accommodate her, and if she wants a ride from me, she'll have to ask me for it, not expect it. My own daughter drives herself to school but can't take passengers yet (just got license). And if Daddy's busy, then she can walk. It's only a mile and a half! Ha! The only way I can have peace of mind is to have this attitude; otherwise, I am a doormat. My primary relationship is with the man, not the girl, and I am NOT going to let her take over my place (just as she won't let me take hers). I am twice as attentive and affectionate with her father now that I am not worrying about lavishing her with enough love, and it feels good. I will NEVER be able to do enough for her or spend enough on her to be her "real" mother, so I'm not even going to try any more. She's lost two mothers now...and the first one left in good part because of this child and her relationship with Daddy! It drove her crazy! Good luck to all of us struggling to be ourselves when we are expected to take on the role someone else held.

recordaras - both my Miele upstairs & downstairs canisters have the electric motorized carpet head and they work quite well. We have some faux oriental rugs in the kitchen, made of olefin (well, they are in the kitchen LOL) that grab and hold dog hair like nobody's business. My old beloved Hoover Wind Tunnel upright can't even pick it up. So I usually rub the carpets with sole of my shoe to get the hair or ball up, then hit it with the upright. Yesterday, I used my Miele canister carpet head and OMG the stuff came right up! Our son needs a new vac and put it in his Xmas wish list. I really wanted to get him a Sebo 'Felix', but there are no authorized service centers nowhere near him. No way is he going to ship anything anywhere for repair or whatever, especially with the long hours he works. So we bought him the Miele canister that Costco has online. I hope he likes it! * * *. It is so nice to have a support group for my vacuum cleaner addiction. All seven of them. LOL!!! Each one has a dedicated job. The best of the lot is the Panasonic canister vac I bought 30+ years ago. That motor refuses to die! It has lived in the basement/garage for ages and has even sucked up crud from the bottom of an outdoor grill. Kenmore bags still fit it, it takes a lickin' and keeps on ticking. (and if you are of a certain age, you will remember that old commercial.... :-))