If I’ve used that one before, please forgive.  How many of you have put something ‘in a safe place’ and it has never been seen again?  With over 500 subscribers, I’m thinking at least half of you must have experienced this, right? No? You have got to be kidding!

At any rate this seems to happen with some regularity around here.  No pattern, not coinciding with moon phases, just noticeable.  The culprit, or victim, this time was vacuum cleaner belts. Four of them, brand new, package unopened.  Not usable for any other purpose [no, I did NOT use them on my rock tumbler]  and something you must have for an upright vacuum to be worth more than a lousy anchor or floppy club.

You all know that distinctive smell when something jams in the beater bar and subsequently the belt WILL need to be replaced. Never smelled that? It IS distinctive, and I’ve come home from being away a couple days and knew instantly that hubby had vacuumed, gotten something stuck and had not clue what to do about it.  Points for him that a) he did a good job of vacuuming and b) owned up to “killing it again”.  This is what started the search for those belts.  They were not tucked inside the container of bags. Nope.  Even found another package of bags I didn’t know I had, but nowhere are there belts.

Three stores [none closer than 10 miles, mind you] later and although they have belts, there is no chart to cross reference and the numbering system is completely different than it used to be.  “How old IS your vacuum?” I kept getting.  I had the brand and model number in hand.  No, I do not remember when I got it, this century, but hey.  Sears store 18 miles away finally said, hmmm, give me your phone number and miraculously there it was in their system.  It is only 12 years old, who remembered?  It still took about three cross referencing moves to “Aha, think we’ve got it!” and they produced one.

Home, and amazingly it fit and works.  Was even less difficult than the last couple to install.  Quick run, and yes it works like a champ!  Now, that done, the ‘safe place’ belts should have come out of hiding.  Nope, still not seen them.  Beginning to wonder if I shipped them off to a customer with an order of memory bears [www.bellybuttonbears.com] or to a grandchild with their birthday pkg.  So if you are still wondering WHY I sent you vac belts….don’t ask!