Vacuum Maintenance with Macular Degeneration

It has not been a good week. My husband’s back went out again and he is going to be flat in bed for who knows how long.

Broken glasses

Since I really don’t need my glasses to be able to see anything close to me, I am constantly pulling them off by the temples (apparently that is the official term for the side pieces that go over your ears. You learn something new every day!). This caused them to break.

For this little problem, I called a neighbor and she got me to Walmart and back. It took the eye center at my Walmart 10 minutes to put my lenses in new frames, just so I can break the temple off of them… again. As long as you don’t have lenses that are weird-shaped, Walmart can get you frames fairly quickly. Been there, done that. Several times.

My vacuum needed maintenance

My next adventure was a vacuum that was not sweeping. I thought it was the belt. I went to two stores looking for the proper belt and I played the little old, blind lady card in both places.

Trying to read the small print

Have you noticed how SMALL the print is on vacuum belt packages? Jeez. There were lovely people to help me in both places, but, beyond that, no joy. I ordered a belt online.

With two dogs and no vacuum, by this time, I am practically wading through the dog hair. The belt came yesterday and my husband is in bed whimpering. Decision point. Since people are not lining up to fix my vacuum, I have to give it a shot. Vacuum maintenance by braille.

Fixing my vacuum using touch

Ok, so not really braille, but I did a heck of a lot of this procedure by touch. Touching the tips of a half dozen screwdrivers in a bucket, I finally found a Phillips-head one.

I had already determined the vacuum screws were Phillips-head by touch. I took out the screws and made sure I put them in a pile where I could find them again. I pulled the cover off, took off the roller, and replaced the belt, the cover, and the screws.

And now for the moment of truth….my vacuum worked! Wow! I did not think I could do it! I feel pretty good about this.

The moral(s) of this story...

I guess I should get along and write some morals for my little story.

First of all, it is alright to ask for help. People are willing to do things for you when you admit a visual impairment. I messed up a few weeks ago and I blamed it on my vision. My friend jokingly wanted to know if that “excuse” was the best I could come up with. I told her it was either the eye excuse or telling people I am old and befuddled. I prefer people to think it is my eyes!

Moral next: try. You might just surprise yourself.

That brings us to how good it feels to master something. Want to improve your mood? Master something.