Vacuum cleaner bites the dust...

We are in the market for a new vacuum cleaner. I actually, if you can imagine, bought this vacuum cleaner several years ago as a birthday present for myself because I was tired of using the old reconditioned Kirby that we had received as a wedding gift from Bruce's parents. I guess it was OK for awhile, but now it is a piece of junk. This is why:

• The thing no longer stays upright without propping it up on something
• The thingies that hold the cord on are broken off
• The rubber bumper guard thingy will not stay on
• Each time Bruce vacuums (I refuse to with this heavy piece of junk-I'm using the word "junk" here to replace a different word that I usually use starting with the letter "c"), another screw falls out and he vacuums it up.
• The entire front part of the vacuum is now falling off because of the missing screws. Bruce refuses to hunt through the dirt to find the missing screws...as a result the vacuum cleaner is now held together with sealing tape (probably because we ran out of duct tape). It reminds me of a "Red Green" moment.
• You can only run the vacuum cleaner for 5-10 minutes before the motor overheats, and then you have to wait for 40 minutes before it will start running again for only 5-10 minutes and on and on...you get the picture. Therefore, it takes all day to vacuum our 1700 square foot home. Last week, Bruce swore at the old piece of c___ and went and got the shop vac out of the garage and got down on his hands and knees to complete the vacuuming task.
• The attachments continue to fall out of their assigned place, so part of them are missing.
• This heavy piece of c___ is a bear to take up and down the stairs, or even use to clean the stairs, partially because remember, it will no longer remain upright.
• As you can see, the ugly piece of c___ has wall paint scratches all over it from getting too close to the wall areas that we were trying to clean, which should have been cleaned with the attachments that were missing because they had fallen off somewhere and we couldn't find them.

So, I have been spending my days researching vacuum cleaners on the internet, and I think I have found one that is not too expensive, is lighter weight, and will do a decent job. I might even take over the task of vacuuming again. I will write another post when we actually purchase the new machine...which will need to be soon because the floors are getting dirty again, and Bruce refuses to use the old useless piece of c___ one more time.