You’d think the car vomiting would be disaster enough for one weekend, but I had another scare after the turkey dinner on Saturday when I looked down at my engagement ring and one of the diamonds was missing. I noticed recently that it had been a bit loose and had been meaning to take it in to my local jeweller, but since there is never enough time in a day (!), that never happened. I tried not to panic, but as my family members and I searched the couch cushions and carpet for the rock, I started to lose hope. I knew the diamond had been there when I put my ring on earlier that day, but it could be in the car or outside or…well, just about anywhere.

My wonderful mother is at the root of many of my great tips.

This situation is a great example of why. After about 10 minutes of fruitless searching, she went upstairs and got the vacuum — a move that was met with some very skeptical looks. She then whipped out a pair of old nylons and covered the vacuum head with the nylons. She told everyone to get up and started vacuuming the carpet and furniture with a look of sheer determination on her face. We all thought she had gone crazy.

But sure enough, after a couple of minutes of vaccuuming, my mother crouched down and looked at what the suctioning machine had collected (saved from the vaccuum bag, of course, by the nylons). Sure enough, my little diamond presented itself within a dust ball and we all cheered. It was a very memorable family moment and I took my ring to the jeweller first thing this morning to get that diamond secured.