You know those TV shows of the ‘70s? They set us up.

I bet there’s not a woman of my generation out there who doesn’t covet the power of Bewitched’s Samantha, or I Dream of Jeannie’s, well, Jeannie. And although magic wasn’t involved, who wouldn’t be delighted to welcome Alice, the funny Brady Bunch live-in housekeeper/cook/ personal assistant/family negotiator/Jill-of-all-trades into their home?

Why, just the other weekend, my sister and I both declared almost simultaneously, “We need an Alice!”

What wouldn’t we all do to have a car-driving, vacuum wielding, spatula waving sidekick who actually seems to enjoy taking over our most onerous and time-consuming chores that are always present, but that we don’t get paid to do? It’s no accident that Alice is at the heart of the Brady Bunch lineup that, in 70’s clairvoyance, looks for all the world like a Zoom screen.

Well, I’m happy to share that about three weeks, I got a tool that’s as close to an Alice as I’ll probably ever get.

A friend on facebook mentioned she’d purchased a lipstick right before the pandemic that she’s never yet worn and asked what silly things we attribute to COVID, I admitted that my excitement for the week was getting a cordless vacuum. I consider this tool my new Alice. Now, my Alice doesn’t cook, and she hasn’t made me laugh…yet…but she will save me tons of time when my house starts to complain that it needs an overhaul, and there’s no alternative but to oblige.

My “Alice” is a slim, lightweight model, and not really into heavy-duty jobs, but hey, if she helps lighten the load, I’m thrilled.

I do have to say that I find it sad to admit that a vacuum cleaner is my excitement for the week. Sadder still is that COVID would inspire me to use the words vacuum cleaner and excitement in the same sentence. Oh, the depths to which we sink in a pandemic!