2009-07-07 - 10:50 p.m.

OUCH I have hurt my ears by running an excessively loud vacuum for too long. This morning after dropping my Bolivian guest off at the airport I stopped at the pharmacy and picked up ear plugs, among other things. I wish I had the wisdom to have stopped vacumming when my vacume was excessively loud and put off that chore for another day until AFTER I bought the earplugs.

The belt to my vacume snapped and there is something else wrong (likely something stuck in it somewhere) which makes the machine screaming loud. Last weekend when I cleaned house for the guests arrival, I did everything but the floors because of the broken vacuum belt which I hadn't yet replaced. (I have to make a stop at a special vacume store to buy the needed belt for my machine.)

I then remembered that I can hook a hose up to my vacume, and another attachment and vacume with that without a belt. I did so and was thrilled to get the upstaris bedrooms vacumed this past Sunday while all the guests and Katerina and Soren were off shopping. I stayed home with the girls as they went off with one of bour guests relatives. I cleaned the house from top to bottom,scrubbing all the bathrooms, vacuming and emptying all the trash.

One night when all my guests and older kids were off at a party at the home of another host family whom had eleven MExican guests, who just happen to be a few doors down the street from me, I decided to finish the needed chore of vacuming the basement. That was quite a big job! It took at least an hour and a half to do the whole thing well with that little hand held attachment. I had to pick up and sort some toys in order to get that task completed. (Stray puzzle pieces, the mousetrap game pieces of cheese, Arthur game game pieces, dress up clothes...etc...)

My ears started ringing at one point but as I was intent on this mission of finishing that task I didn't stop.

I just tried to talk to my amore on the phone and I could BARELY hear him. He sounded underwater-- wavy sounds, far away and hard to understand.

I am reading articles on hearing loss and hope to discover it is not irreversable!

Glad to have found this site:

http://www.4hearingloss.com/archives/2007/07/stop_the_decibe.html

�

�