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AuburnChick is LOVING the Dyson!

Oh man, but who would have thought vacuuming could be so much fun?!

Of course, with what I paid for my new Dyson, I better be smiling.

After Saturday’s church yard sale, I headed home, only to spend the ENTIRE afternoon cleaning.

I have no idea what got into me, but once I started, I just couldn’t stop!

My initial objective was to vacuum Chicky’s room.  As directed, she had not gone out of town until she cleaned her room.  All week, there had been piles of clothes and other junk on her floor.

I vacuumed once and emptied the canister.

Out of curiosity, I vacuumed a second time and got another full canister of pet hair and dirt.

I pulled off the attachment and cleaned the dusty baseboards.

I couldn’t stop myself from cleaning the blinds with the vacuum wand.  Even the walls got a swipe.

Next, I headed another bedroom where Molly sleeps.

Oy, but the hair and dust that lives in that room!

I had taken the sheets off the futon, and when I saw all the hair, I knew I just had to try out my newest contraption.  The picture speaks for itself…

I’m sure you can see that the right half is the “clean” side, and the left, well, it’s still icky.

My old vacuum was a very nice Eureka (the Wind Tunnel, I think), but it never got results like this!

I am psyched and feel like a little kid with a new toy…wondering what I can use it on next!

Look out Pele…here I come!

teeheehee

AuburnChick’s Vacuum Goes Kaput

Last week, when I attempted to vacuum, I heard a pop, and the vacuum went kaput.

My sweet vacuum, which has withstood my tinkering, finally up and died.

With three dogs and two allergy-ridden humans in the house, this spelled D-I-S-A-S-T-E-R.

I didn’t stress about it, but the Mr. did.

The thing that pushed him over the top was when he thought he was picking dog hair off his socks, and it started moving!  It was a spider!!!

Hence, his immediate decision to go vacuum-shopping.

Armed with a 10% coupon, we headed to Best Buy.  The Mr. had studied the reviews, so he had some idea of what he wanted.

He wanted a Dyson, plain and simple.

Now, let me ask you.  How many of you have gone vacuum cleaner shopping?

You know it’s not easy!

Any time we go in to buy an object with the price tag that the Dyson carries, it’s no simple feat.  I mean, you don’t just grab a box and go.  Oh no – not in this family.

We eyeballed the models and carefully read the specs.

Of course, we also compared the prices, trying to decide if certain features were worth the expenses associated with them.

We pulled the models off the display shelf and pushed them around the floor.

Finally, an associate came over and offered to help.

He quickly narrowed in on our two favorite models, the DC 25 and the DC 28 and plugged them in for us.  While spouting off the pro’s of his favorite model (the more expensive one, of course), he shredded up some paper and scattered the pieces on the floor.

Then he did the test, which both passed.

Along the way, we learned that the 28 has new technology to improve the suction and keep the front of the vacuum down low, against the floor.  This, obviously, leads to more debris being picked up.

The Mr. really liked the ball structure of the DC 25.  It was a little smaller and lighter, making for easier maneuvering.  The primary area we need to use the new machine is the bedroom carpet.  With bedrooms comes a lot of furniture.

Back and forth we went before finally deciding to get the newest model.  We figured that if we were going to spend so much money, we might as well get the best.

We sucked in our breaths as the associate rang up our purchase and tried not to throw up as we drove home.

We don’t like spending this much money.  My hope is that we’ll save money on allergy medicine and, thus, make up the money.

Being the good blogger that I am, I took pictures of my new baby…

This model comes with the motorized tool and bare floor attachment, which you connect to the hose and use the base as a “canister.”

The Mr. took the Dyson for its maiden voyage.  I was impressed with the deep “skid” marks left by it…

Here’s what we got from that one room…

Do you see the small granuals of dirt?  That was one of my biggest concerns when making a decision.

I wanted to ensure that I would be able to use the vacuum in my main living areas, which have wood floors, and know that even the dirt that the dogs drag in would be picked up.

Another nice feature of my new toy is the ease in setting up the hose and extension rod…

Overall, I am pleased.  With the five year warranty, I am confident that this vacuum was a good purchase and will more than pay for itself in the long run.

Thank goodness, because we’ll be eating a lot of tuna salad and pb&j in the meantime!

AuburnChick Repairs the Vacuum

For some time now, we’ve had serious issues with our vacuum cleaner.  You know how, when something is sort-of broken, you tell yourself and everyone else that you’ll get to it…eventually?

Well, that’s how I’ve been with the vacuum.  Shame on me!  With three dogs, being able to vacuum is extremely important!  There’s a lot of dog hair in this house!

Just last weekend, the Mr. and I had talked about the need for a new vacuum; however, because of my lack of a job, it is not high on the list of must-buy items.

Yesterday, I decided to see if there was anything I could do.  I mean, last week, I fixed Chicky’s dehumidifier.  You’ve already read about me fixing the doorbell and the garbage disposal.  I’m in Fix-It Mode.

First, I retrieved the manual from the bag where I keep such items.  The back had a section for troubleshooting, and one of the things the manual suggested was that the hoses be checked.

I ambled over and peered down the long black coil.  I didn’t see anything amiss.

Back to the manual, where I read about taking apart such and such part off of such and such part.

Insert Tim the Toolman’s Ar, Ar, Ar.

AuburnChick was gonna get her hands dirty.

Woo Hoo!

Armed with a variety of screwdrives, I got to work.

First, I turned the cleaner on its side to look at the roller brush…

Oh boy.  Not good.  Chicky and I have long-ish hair.  I wondered if this could be the problem.

I found the reset button on the side…the one the manual suggested to get the roller brush turning again.  Could this be the problem?

Alas, no, it wasn’t.  Sure, the brush was turning, but it was still spitting out gunk.

No such thing as a quick fix, eh?  Time to get serious.

I unplugged it and began removing screws and eventually had the thing taken apart.  Look at what I found when I took the top cover off…

That’s dust and dog hair.

Gross!

I made a quick pass at the initial line of dust/hair only to spy this…sticking out of the hose that connects to the roller…

That was just the tip of the iceburg, so to speak.  I removed the rest of the hose and had to use the longest screwdriver to push out the rest of the junk that had gotten jammed inside…

What a nasty, icky job!  I meticulously cleaned the rest of the vacuum, cut the hair from the roller brush, and put all of the parts back together.  I didn’t even have any parts left over!

It was now time to test it.

Would it work?

Of course!  Never doubt AuburnChick’s ability to figure things out!

Never has vacuuming been so much fun (except for the first time I used it after pulling it out of the box).  After cleaning on 1/2 half of one bedroom, here’s what I collected…

Almost an entire container of gunk.

Ewww.

I eagerly made my way through three bedrooms, rearranging furniture in the process.

If you ever want Chicky to do something, let her fix it first.