i may have mentioned how much i love my vacuum… there is something about the way it sucks away all the yucky stuff that has fallen on my floor and makes that satisfying clickety sound as the crumbs or the little edges of lined paper from a spiral notebook that theo tears off his homework or the bits of the chewed up sticks that hank brings into the house go into the tube that gives me a much needed sense of peace. i imagine it’s how most people feel after meditating. when i try to meditate, i end of thinking about all the things i need to do, like vacuuming, which is calming in its own way, but not as nice as actually vacuuming. 

(this is what my vacuum looks like..)

so my vacuum is REALLY important to me… it’s a major component of my overall self care plan (along with my therapist, my colorist, my acupuncturist and see’s scotchmallows, which i haven’t been eating of late because i have really been trying to lose my extra coronas - i have given up candy and toast - not quite the severe diet of a typical boulder mom - they are constantly going on “cleanses” where they only drink juice or hot water for weeks on end, which is way beyond what i can handle. and frankly, i wonder if a flatter tummy is worth the risk of unraveling because i have been desperately missing a chocolatey piece of my sanity plan…

(DELICIOUS!)

unfortunately, my vacuum is due for a check up at the sew-vac shop. the body needs to opened up and cleaned, the hose might need some flushing and the brushes have loads of hair tangled around them. lu and i both have pretty long hair and now theo has grown his out into a huge mop too …there is A LOT of brown hair cluttering our floors. (hank also sheds more than i’d like, but his little hairs don’t interfere with the vacuum brushes.)

(here is theo with all of his hair - he has also started wearing my fruit of the loom tanks!)

for MONTHS i have been meaning to take my vacuum in, but there is always something nerve wracking going on and i just can’t part with it. in mid august lu started middle school and 99% of her friends were going to the other one across town - i thought it would be a delicate few weeks as she acclimated and that i would need my vacuum. as it turns out, (aside from one BIG borching about what kind of binders she was supposed to have) she made loads of lovely new girlfriends straight away - they all go to pekoe, the tea shop in the strip mall near my house (it is their peach pit) and spend their afternoons sucking down tea with giant straws to accommodate the gross jelly balls in it. (i read about a little girl in china who consumed so much of this tea that she had to have all the balls that her body couldn’t digest surgically removed… so even though things have been smooth socially for lucy, i still need my vacuum in case she has to have a stomach operation.)

(this is what lucy has been drinking… i would prefer a milkshake…)

(here is lu hanging out with her new friends)

in september the stressors were so numerous it was incomprehensible: the earthquake and “grace” storm that hit haiti, “ida” on the east coast, the abortion ruling in texas (my girlfriend sent a photo of a protester whose sign read, “TEXAS - where a virus has reproductive rights and women don’t” - just outrageous and terrifying), the fires in california, the delta all over the place, the military removal from afghanistan, the haitian migrants under that bridge… really just TOO MUCH so obviously i needed my vacuum. 

i am really going to try and bring it in this week (TODAY in fact!) the infrastructure bill has not been sorted and neither have the voting rights, but i will try and soldier through it anyway. if you see me looking disheveled or behaving strangely you know why… i am like a vulnerable toddler sitting in front of the washer when their best lovey is getting clean… wish me luck! 

(here i am waiting for my vacuum to be repaired)

(here i am with my mom and my first lovey (before i could hold a vacuum), my donkey)

to read more about my vacuum click here or here

to learn about the difference between robot vacuums and regular vacuums click about robot vacuums