Thursday, January 12, 2006

ReCap

I submit to you for your re-reading pleasure a post I had written previously: "Partners in Crime". I suggest that if you have not read that post that you do before you continue to read this one. If you need a refresher as to what that post is about, I suggest you do that now; I'll wait...
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There now, done reading? Good.

Let this post stand as testimony to the fact that vaccuuming up corn, frozen or otherwise (except of course popcorn) is NOT a good idea. If in the future one of YOUR children spreads corn all over the house I would suggest to you that you use a shop vac, NOT a vaccuum with rotating-bristle brushhead. Remember me saying that as I was vaccuuming up the corn that it had defrosted and that the brushhead was breaking up the corn and making a bigger mess? It did more than just make THAT event take longer to clean up, it created TWO more events.

I submit to you as evidence December 30, 2005. We took down the Christmas decorations that day. We decided that was the day when we observed "W" driving a car back and forth over the branches to watch the needles fall to the floor. After everything was put away and the tree was dragged into the backyard I got out the vaccuum to start cleaning up the needles. I noticed that it wasn't sucking very well, I turned it off and flipped it over to investigate. Lo, and behold, what did I discover? The broken up corn from weeks before had created a masa paste(the soft outside part of a tamale), combined with the normal things a vaccuum sucks up to create a cement that completely coated the inside of the vaccuum. I used a screwdriver to pry out everything I could see built up around the brushhead, emptied the bag, and continued to vaccuum. It worked fine.

Friday, January 5th, 2005.
Second item of evidence. The kids were taking a nap, I felt I needed to use the free moment and quickly run a vaccuum around the dining room area, and the rest of the living area. As I neared the end, my nose distinctly picked up the smell of something burning. I then started to notice a squealing sound coming from the vaccuum, and it wasn't sucking as well (again). I turned it off and checked that the belts were all in place, I turned it back over and quickly finished the dining room, and hurried and put it away, hoping that whatever the problem was it would magically fix itself by the next time I needed to use it.

Today. January 12, 2005.
I wanted to vaccuum yesterday. It really needed it. I ran out of time in the day, so I KNEW I had to do it today.

I even told Proud Mum that I needed to vaccuum today, but that I hoped that it wouldn't blow up. I relayed to her the events of the last time it was used. She sent me this: "RIP our vacuum, you served us well and died making tamales. May you rest in New Mexican peace."

Tonight at dinner gave me ample reason to get out the vaccuum. I made the kids dinosaur chicken nuggets. I left the room for a minute ("S" was still in there). A minute later, "S" also left the room. I returned to the dining table to discover that "W" had chewed up his dinosaur chickens into tiny pieces and spit them all over "Sy" and throughout the rest of the house.

I put "W" to bed, and sent my husband on his way to his Quartet rehearsal. I then got out the vaccuum, within seconds the same problems started to happen. i.e. burning smell, squealing sound and lack of sucking. (They didn't magically go away while it was sitting in the laundry room.) This time I knew I would have to get down and dirty. I got out the screwdriver and started to take that baby apart, piece by piece. The masa paste had completely engulfed the inside of the vaccuum. It was down inside of the motor, which was the reason for the burning and squealing. When I was finished I had pulled out a good 2 cups of cement hard corn paste mixed with dirt. I put that baby back together, and it worked like a dream.

So let it be made known, that two (not so) innocent toddlers never would have thought that their one little mess would have turned into three large ordeals. So let me tell you again, it may have seemed like it was an easy shortcut to clean up the mess by using the vaccuum, but I am here today to tell you DON'T BE FOOLED! If indeed you want to save yourself some time, use the shop-vac out in the garage FIRST!

Thank you, your Honor, I rest my case.
Posted by ABQ Mom :: 1/12/2006 07:14:00 PM :: 6 Comments:

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