You know the part on Billy Madison when he spells "couch" (or something?) right and he yells out, "I am the smartest man aliiiiive!!!"?
Well, I just did that.
Not the spelling couch part. I totally can do that no prob. C...o...r...are you going to the mall later, that's what I'm asking...
You see, I just changed the head of a plug on my vacuum cleaner. If you've ever done this before in your life, you are now scoffing at me (but I can't hear you or see you so I'm going to pretend that you aren't doing such things) and if you've never done it, well, I just want you to sit there and admire me and be very impressed and think that only Mensa members can achieve such feats.
By the way, this reminds me of something. My hubby said that everything in my life is dramatic. I have no idea what he means. What-EVER. I am soooo not dramatic at all (okay, maybe a teensy bit, I mean, I did, after all, receive the Best Actress Award in my acting class. If you weren't impressed with the plug head, you can be impressed with my cherished award.).
Anyway, where was I? Oh yes, saving the world. I mean, changing a plug head. It felt like I kind of did something amazing. (Do shush, you scoffers!)
Armed with motivation to be a do-it-myselfer and one previous experience over the summer in plug-head-changing, I decided that my awesome Filter Queen vacuum would be an appropriate mini-project as it decided that it would die in the middle of my cleaning frenzy. (It was Friday, you know.)
In the summer, I had my other nearest and dearest electrical friend, the edger, go up in a small puff of smoke and die - and HELLO! Anyone worth their weight in salt (is that even a thing?) knows you can't get through a week of summer without having a deliciously carved edging tantalizingly framing your yard and walks. Unless you are just not into that. (Although you do not know the depth of the bafflement that causes me.)
At that time I had facebook and people who ccould help me in such adventures. I have since quit that arena of social networking and am now all alone in the world (the cyberworld, anyway) to figure things out on my own. I was pretty sure I remembered (mostly) what to do and recalled a feeling that it was a rather simple task.
So with a general sense of having done something once and believing that I certainly ought to be able to do this again, I began the electrical surgery on my Filter Queen.
And basically, it goes like this - you get to cut the (unplugged) cord of your appliance off near the pluggy thinger, pull back the rubbery part to expose two twisty covered copper wire bunches and then stick those wiry bunches around a screw in your new plug head. I am only using this professional language because I have watched one youtube video on it and this is the extent of my electrical education.
But this brings me to the whole philosophy that I want to encourage in all those I love out there - you can do it, you can make it, you can fix it. Seriously. I mean, unless it's rocket science, and then - if it is, well, just read up on it and probably you can figure it out, too. If you think about it, the world is not mostly filled to the brim with complete and utter geniuses. There are some out there, yes, indeedy. But the majority of people are just regular Joe Schmoes (not to be confused with the famous Joe the plumber) and if they can do it, why can't you? You can.
And if you get stuck, well, ask for help. While I was shredding my copper coverings off, I realized that last time I did this I had a two prong plug head and now I had a 3 prong. Um, uh oh. What to do? Do I link them together and blow up the world? (I love my vacuum way too much for that.) I'm going to guess that I just ignore that third thing because my thingy didn't have three wire thingys. As I wondered, I said, "Wherefore art thou Romeo!?" (That was because my husband was sleeping in a near coma-like state and we have a friend who is an electrician named Romeo.) So, just call your local Romeo and you'll be all set. (Even though it was a Friday night and your local Romeo probably has a life and was out having a great time while your great time is defined by fixing a vacuum cleaner plug...)
Anyway, when you do things for yourself, you have a satisfaction in learning how to do things and you develop a sense of confidence that heck yeah, you can do something else. So...what is it that you want to do? What's stoppin' yas?
To utilize a Nike saying - just do it.
Peace, love and go on with your bad selves!
Ms. Daisy
(and don't forget to let me know about it!)
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