Thwarted

Good intentions were the road to nowhere yesterday.  Oh, I got a few things accomplished before Arden's arrival, leaving the vacuuming to last.  It's an exercise in futility to do it early.  Take Michael for one walk and he brings in dry leaves to decorate the house.  Stamp and wipe as I might, damp sandy soil collects in the tread of my shoes, enough that I could declare the living room beachfront property.  The cats had torn up tissue paper confetti so that it looked like a New Year's party the day after.  Okay, I'm exaggerating, but you get the idea.

Some time back I had trouble with the vacuum cleaner.  That's when I called the company and Snippy Miss told me everything I was doing wrong.  Her supervisor promised to send me a new part to fix the problem.  It took forever to get here, so long, in fact, that I'd called again to ask why.  Snippy Miss, Jr., said, "Well, it's been shipped."  "Yes, I got notification when it was shipped, but it's been well over the time indicated and I still don't have it."  "Well, it's been shipped."  Is there special training school specializing in Rude?

Dave always stops at the mail box before heading to the house, so I know the part arrived on December 28 (shipped on the 9th).  I'd been making do with the vacuum as it was, but glad there was hope on the horizon.  I put the new part in yesterday.  Yeah, well.  The old part may have spewed dust, but the new part stopped the vacuum from running at all.  Thwarted, I did that thing we all do when a light bulb blows out (flip the switch again and again).  I took the part out and put it back in several times.  Nope, nothing.  I can't tell you how much I'm not looking forward to calling the company again.  Totally aside, I get a kick out of the word 'thwart.'  Say it three times fast and you'll smile.

The best I could do for Arden was to pick up Michael's fluffs and most of the leaves by hand, and hope that her eyesight was bad enough or that she was kind enough not to mention the rest.