Housework Helpers with Style & Sass

--Chicago, IL The International Home Housewares Show is pretty cool, in its own way. But it's tiring--taking a little breather at the "blogger's lounge," really just a group of five tables and chairs, and some USB ports.

Think "The Jetsons" or WALL-E, all about making life easier, with robots and robotic conveniences that lighten the load.

Vin Podium, a rapid wine chiller, sends a zen waterfall pouring over your bottle of vino or bubbly, to set the mood. Kettle Krazy cooks popcorn or seasoned nuts with a special stirring motion--the scent of pecans spun in cinnamon and sugar drew people to the booth. Singer has cute, lightweight sewing machines for kids, in pretty pastels. [Wish I got one when Fig was younger.] Hamilton Beach is making little slow cookers in cheery colors, perfect for taking to your vacation rental. Jack LaLanne's Power Juicer brings back fond memories of the strong man in tights pictured on the cover of a record album my mother had.

Domestic Goddess
I saw three demonstrations that stick with me. One was at Westinghouse.

"Is there anything new in irons?" I asked the woman at the booth. One iron looks like the next to me, and there were quite a few on view. The thought of standing up ironing made my eyes glaze over.

"Yes," she said with a cheery smile, and started ironing a blue men's shirt to demonstrate the new steam sensor--you don't have to keep pushing the steam button.

Since I've only seen a vacuum cleaner salesman dump dirt on the rug and clean it up on TV, I liked the demo at the Hoover/Dirt Devil booth. A friendly man in a suit spilled brightly colored Gatorade on wood flooring and took it right up with a new wet/dry vac. He also Bewitched away a sticky Kitchen Bouquet browning & seasoning sauce spill on linoleum.

And at the Helen of Troy beauty booth, I had a paraffin treatment on my hands and saw how the new Wave Artist ceramic waver can give you beachy-looking waves.

Color My World
I love color this year: the red Dirt Devils and the cute fat little ones in great designs. God knows, when I do housework, I want to be uplifted--by a smell [piney, pink grapefruity, orange] or color [blue, green, yellow, pink, red]. It's energizing. I hate housework and want to change that if I can.

Soda Pop Shop
While blogging here at the table, a smart PR person came up to me and asked what products I really liked. I started to tell her about the rapid wine chiller.

"Have you seen the SodaStream?" she asked.

I said I'd seen an ad in SkyMall magazine on the plane today.

She ran and got me the press kit, since she works for them. Actually, a refreshing idea. Make your own soda, stop filling landfills with bottles, use tap water, do lots of different flavors, even diet. But the price pops, too: $80 to $200. Still, a savings if you buy a lot of soda.

Recharge
I need to take a little rest and recharge. Which reminds me, the Hoover LiNX slender stick vac looks really sleek in black and silver and has a rechargeable lithium battery. Kate, at the PR agency, told me she leaves hers out because it looks so good.

Here's to not hating housework. To maybe even making it sexy.