vroom, vroom!

i'm not meant to be perfect.....and that's that. i have just spent the morning trying to pick up some excess christmas needles that have been on the family room rug since we brought the tree in on saturday.....yes saturday! i vacuumed before the tree arrived....when all intentions were to do it right this year...which to me means, maybe i can be like those perfect people. now i know there is no such possibility...and deep down, i know there are no perfect people....they may appear perfect....but somewhere, something has to go imperfect. also, the higher the standards of perfection, the less likely we are to reach perfection.....and that's something i've had to learn....i just can't be perfect, so i just had to lower my standards! as an old professor once told me, "lower your expectations and serenity will follow".....and it's kind of true....but that's especially true about my expectations of others.....that's another story!

the christmas tree is one of those "lower your expectation........."kind of moments....now, that i expect the tree we cut down to have one quirk or another....it becomes a sweet christmas memory rather than a christmas nightmare! and we do have lots of christmas memories of our different trees throughout the year....look back at the blog about defrosting the tree.....

anyway, today is the day meant to clean up and get some work around the house done....i even had a neighbor, who just graduated from college, in to help me get organized with some of my christmas chaos cleaning....she just keeps me on track....kind of.

so, as she sweeps the kitchen floor, i pick up some excess decorations to put away.....i bring up the 2 week old vacuum cleaner to the kitchen and start to do my own work in the family room, christmas central. like a cruel joke, i am notified within minutes that this new million dollar vacuum is not picking up the 2000 pound of sand brought in from the beach by the dogs, daily dog,cat hair, crumbs and stuff......

i have purchased about 5 vacuums plus a rug steam cleaners and a floor steam cleaner in just 2 years time....don't i sound like i'm perfexct......i think i should at least accumulate some perfection points for money spent and effort! well, i have been through 3 good vacuums and had to resort to daily vacuuming chores with the wet-vac! yes, that's me......a lovely sight.
friends laugh. i never realized how much vacuuming enters a conversation. that's a crazy story right there....my life today....who ever knew that a vacuum could be so important.

i spent an hour this morning with screwdrivers, barbeque skewers, mop handles and a flashlight....with tears in my eyes (o.k.....tears weren't really from the drama, they were from the dust bunnies!).....trying to make the vacuum pick up from the big piece that rolls on the floor.....our friendly college grad used the straight tubey part to vaccum.....not really as effective......after literally unscrewing pieces of the vaccuum, i was desperate... i called my husband at his office to talk me off the ledge or at least, help me to get the vacuum running again.....he told me how to pull a piece apart and look inside and POOF....a POOF of dust bunnies and duct tape came out.....vroom, vroom!....it started.....i'll never be perfect!