Okay. So I like to think that I’m sort of “with it” when it comes to new things and technology. I mean, I manage the eCommunications group for a Fortune 50 company where I’m responsible for all the corporate electronic communications vehicles, including our corporate web and social media presences. Yes, it’s true that I have hired a team of amazing young people who tell me what to do everyday. But still, I rub shoulders with technology-savvy people constantly.

How is it possible, then, that I have missed the Roomba Revolution?!

John (my retired husband and live-in maid) and I were shopping in Costco yesterday when we came upon a pallet of Roombas billed as “Pet Series” models. Now, anything that cleans up after pets is high on my radar, especially since we recently adopted our third Persian cat. We studied the box and marveled at the claims of effortlessly clean floors listed thereon. But we were very skeptical that anything so small, cheesy and poorly named could effectively clean floors. Really?

Still, we were intrigued, so later, I read all the Roomba reviews on Amazon and decided that we had to give this thing a try. We drove to back Costco and procured one, naming her Rosie–because it seems much more maid-like and productive than Roomba.

We brought Rosie home and plugged her in. While Rosie was charging, John vacumed our floors–a combination of handscraped dark wood and wool area rugs with a few scatter rugs in the kitchen and mud room. I sat and enjoyed a glass of wine on the couch during this observation phase.

Once Rosie indicated she was fully charged, we set her off to clean our kitchen-great room-informal dining room-mud room area. Basically, everywhere we live downstairs minus our bedroom and bath. On Rosie’s inaugural run, she cleaned our floor for around two hours, easily gliding over the hardwood and making flawless transitions to the rugs. Ceramic tile in the mudroom/powder room? No problem for her! Rosie has this really cool “whisker” brush that she uses like a tenticle to get even fine crumbs (or cat hair) located in corners and along the baseboard. When Rosie was done, John emptied her “holding tank.” You would NOT believe how much dirt, ick and yuckiness she had managed to pick up.

In the past couple of days, we have run Rosie in this same area three times, each time disgusted by the amound of dirt she continually finds on our floors. Earlier today, we put Rosie to work in our master suite, a combo of carpet and ceramic tile with scatter rugs in the bathroom. The results? Unbelievable! She actually raises the nap on the carpet, so you can tell where she’s been. It is seriously like someone ran the vacum in there while I sat on the couch drinking a glass of wine. One of the coolest things? When Rosie gets low on energy, she goes back to her dock and recharges herself!

A couple of things: Rosie is not systematic and her pattern of cleaning might make you crazy if you’re deliberative and methodical. But I will say there’s a method to her madness, and by my non-scientific estimation gets about 80% of the floors each time she runs. Then she gets a different 80% the next go-round. It’s kinda like shaving your legs quickly every day–what you don’t get today, you’ll get tomorrow. And Rosie probably won’t replace vacuming altogether, especially when you need a deep clean or have particularly dirty floors for whatever reason.

I have to say, tho, after only two full days of Rosie cleaning our floors, we’re delighted with her and we’d purchase all over again. Apparently there is a wet washing version for wood and ceramic that I’m going to check into. I’d love for Rosie’s cousin to mop my ceramic tile while I’m at work. Or while I have a glass of wine on the couch!!