How dirty is your carpet?

We rented a Rug Doctor today and cleaned the carpets. Now, cleaning the carpets is a major undertaking, akin to moving or getting new furniture....it's a daunting physical feat not for the weak-hearted! First you must move ALL your furniture. This includes heavy items such as a piano, and smaller items like a buffalo-plaid doggie coat that was inexplicably left lying on the living room floor. After huffing and puffing chairs, ottomans and dining tables to other locations (having a large spread of hardwood floors, or a deck on a sunny day helps in this process), you must then vacuum. Not just ANY vacuuming, mind you. You must vacuum like you've never vacuumed before in order to remove every last stray dog hair, speck of dust and fake pine needles from Christmases past that have been hiding behind the piano for years. While you're at it, might as well do the baseboards, wainscoting and tops of the window frames. Once the entire house has been freed of dust and dander, then, and only then, can you fire up the Rug Doctor. First, you must measure out the correct amount of solution (that you paid $18 a bottle for and found out later you could have just used your trusty old Tide!), mixed with hot water (but not hot enough to "scald or burn skin" as the bottle warns - duh), and pour the whole lot in the BOTTOM of the machine (not the removable bucket - this is for the waste water - many stickers warn you to this fact). Then, you move the machine that weighs approximately the weight of the average husband back and forth across the carpet, pressing a little red button that dispenses the hot cleaning fluid, then drag the behemoth in slow, methodical paths, thus cleaning years' worth of grime out of your carpets (warning: do not attempt to look at the wastewater. It is horrifyingly black, the result of not cleaning your carpets for years...). Repeat this process for 3 or six hours and voila! Your carpets are pristine! Wait overnight for them to dry and spend the entire next day reassembling your home, and realizing that the treadmill really does look dreadful in the family room, that chair needs to be recovered, and might as well rearrange the living room while you're at it. Yes, done correctly, carpet cleaning can be a whole weekend of fun for just the price of machine rental! Advil doesn't even begin to cover it.........