Man Vacuum

To my delight (and shock) the Christmas decorations were taken down and stowed by Friday afternoon. I find it astounding how much roomier our living room feels without the ginormous tree, assorted decorations and large snowman countdown to Christmas calendar. I am making a concerted effort to enjoy the space because I know it will quickly be occupied with plastic army men, tanks, Legos and Robby's new favorite obsession- dominos. 

Packing up all of our festive decor only took a fraction of the time that it usually takes me because I had two eager helpers. Robby wanted to undress the tree, carefully placing the ornaments into various boxes based upon an organization system that only he understands. Scott just acquired a new toy, a large wet/dry vacuum, and he was chomping at the bit to put the machine through its paces. If I had known that I only needed colorful boxes and an imposingly large vacuum to get the boys motivated, I would have made the purchases years ago!

Working together, all remnants of holiday (with the exception of the new toys) were stowed back in the garage. Easily winded (primarily because of my frustrating thyroid issues) I sat down to rest for a few minutes. I was shocked as I watched Scott continue to clean. Enthralled by what Robby refers to as the "man vacuum," my husband spent the next two hours detailing the living room and kitchen. To my amazement, I was witnessing the first miracle of 2014! 

While I quietly observed, afraid to make a sound for fear of stopping his progress, Scott put every extension through its paces. Robby helped, moving chairs and cheering his Daddy as the two made full use of the new man vacuum. 

When the vacuum was finally turned off, Scott walked me through to evaluate the results. He sounded like a QVC pitchman touting the features of his new vacuum. Duly impressed, probably more so at his new found enthusiasm for cleaning than the actual results, I encouraged him to store the vacuum in the corner of the living room. I'm hoping that if it is easy to retrieve, he will be able to quickly rediscover the adrenaline rush he received from feeling the "power of the suction." At this point I don't really care that there is a wet/dry vacuum in the corner because the benefits, should I be lucky enough, far outweigh the space it takes up.

 **On a completely separate note, I've joined the 100 Happy Day challenge.  For the next 100 days I will tweet a photo of something which brought me happiness. (I thought I would also include the image in the blog as well.)  If you are on twitter, feel free to follow me @amputeemommy.

 Lately I feel as if I have been drowning in the negativity of others, I thought it would be fun to purposely focus on the positive. Here is my happy memory from yesterday. ***