A few days ago, I killed the vacuum cleaner. I inadvertently ran over a dog toy that clogged it up. I had halfheartedly tried to fix it, but I was not successful. As of this morning, I still had not told mom about the vacuum cleaner’s early demise – I kept hoping I could fix it.

Since mom was gone this morning, I decided it would be a good time to try to fix it. The first thing I did was take the bottom guard off the vacuum cleaner – thinking the toy would be right there within easy reach. When I finally got the guard off I did not see any sign of the toy. The belt looked a little askew, so I started thinking that was the problem. I straightened out the belt, plugged in the vacuum cleaner, turned it on and all I could hear was the awful racket it had been making before I started working on it. I decided the only way I was going to be able to revive it was to perform major surgery.

I took it apart. The only thing I did not dismantle was the motor itself. You can see what it looked like in the picture above. Once I got it apart, I found the offending toy, and was able to remove it.

I was very worried that I would not remember how it all went back together, but after about 15 minutes I managed to put everything back in place. I plugged it in, turned it on, and it worked!

I’m feeling rather proud of myself. Fixing the vacuum cleaner is going to be my victory for the day! I know it seems rather strange to be proud of fixing a vacuum cleaner, and considering it a victory. However, accomplishing little goals like this have done more to build up my self-confidence, self worth, and self-esteem than anything else.