Well....its been a bit

I had surgery on my hip in December....it hasn't been fun to find out that there was a problem with it and go through several rounds of physical therapy and imaging and that whole thing. I am on the mend now....but there is still some stuff going on that I need to figure out, so that is slightly frustrating on top of that I have gained a considerable amount of weight back so I am nearly at where I began when I started to lose weight in 2013. Motivation is lacking, but I do not intend to lay down, I'll come back from this, it hasn't been a year yet. :) I wanted to update a bit, and one of the things that is fresh in my mind is that I bought a used vacuum. It is a Dyson DC 14, an older model to one I have (DC 41) and use a lot, so I thought this will be great! Well, the guy was asking $89 I offered him $40 he came back at $50 and I went and picked it up. I did have him meet me at a place that has an outlet to plug it in and make sure it works. He plugged it in, he even put the head down and moved it around like he was going to vacuum. I did notice a high pitch sound but thought nothing of it because I have heard sounds come from mine that sounded similar. He loaded it up, I gave him my $50, and went on my way.....but not before he took the opportunity on say "if you have any problems, please let me know" so of course that reassured me that my purchase was a good one. I got it home, brought it inside, and I realized then what I had done....the odor coming from the machine was awful, it was horrifically dirty (but that is an easy fix), and I immediately plugged it in and turned it on and realized there were a lot more issues with this machine than I had originally perceived. The sound it made was constant, the sound was so loud I had to test stuff quickly because my ears would have bled. I put the head down to try and vacuum the floor, and I realized it was on bare floor so I put it on "carpet" and.........nothing, the brushes were not spinning. Broken belt? Oh geez!!! I haven't the foggiest about how to maintain these machines, I had always had good experiences with Dyson customer service, so called them up and the guy wasn't able to help me because of how old the machine was so he gave me the number to a repair shop, but basically I was on my own! I was extremely frustrated and so angry I just sat there looking at the machine for a while, and then I took it outside (the odor was horrendous) and started to dismantle it....I found that the older models of DYSON vacuums weren't as complicated as the newer, and it had many places where they had built in easy tabs to take the machine apart to check for clogs etcetera. I was on on a mission.....and I was going to attempt to figure out the problem myself! As I took the pieces off that were made to be removed without a screwdriver or any other tool, it became clear I would need to clean this out, it appeared that the previous owner didn't have have A CLUE of what you can and can not use this type of machine on, it looked as though they had vacuumed up liquid or something to that effect....just stupid! I found where one of the filters for the machine was, and released the tabs and pulled it out, and there was a tear in the seal....so I turned the machine on without the filter in, and the sound was gone! It was like magic had just happened....I was now determined to fix this thing! I called DYSON again and had some help from a representative that took the time to tell me how to clean and take apart stuff I hadn't figured out yet, and he ordered a new filter $29.99 with shipping free. The filter would be a fix for the noise the machine was making, but there was still the issue of the brushes not rotating so I saw the belt was intact.....however with the help of YouTube videos, I was able to take the "clutch assembly" out of the machine (with a bit of trouble and frustration) and in there I found the clutch belt was broken....there are 2 belts in this model. So I then ordered a replacement belt off eBay for roughly $5, and left everything apart awaiting the arrival of the parts. Yay!!!! I was excited I had gotten that far and was so impressed with myself...lol The day came the parts arrived at the same time, and I was so excited I immediately went out to the garage (where I had been watching videos and dismantling the machine) and proceeded to first put in the filter and then I plugged the machine in and turned it on and there was no noise.....YES!!! So unplugged the machine and I put the clutch belt on the assembly and replaced that, and put the machine all back together and Bryen plugged it in. I remember thinking to myself "please let this be it".........I turned it on and it sounded great, the true test was to put the head down and see if the brushes turned. I told Bryen to slowly push the head to the floor and there came a loud sound from the machine like buzzer saying "ERRRRR NO!" Bryen stood it back up really fast, and I quickly turned it off....I then said a few choice words (swung my arms and shit) and went back to work. The sound was like that you hear when you vacuum up the corner of a rug and the brushes get seized up, so, naturally, I thought the brushes needed to be cleaned up. Well whatever the dude vacuumed up really messed the brushes up too because that brush bar was NOT moving so I ordered a new one of those.....got it off eBay for $10. So......at this point I'm roughly $95 in to this machine and I said to my friend "if this doesn't fix it I'm washing my hands of it." So, I waited, I was anxious and hopeful and the new brushes showed up quickly, which was fantastic!<----(speaking of I need to leave feedback for that) I took the brushes saw how nicely they spun in comparison to the one that was on it, and (along with Bryen) went to put it on the machine. After a bit of trouble getting the new brushes on, I told Bruen to plug the machine in and turn it on....he did and as I pushed the head down again he covered his ears, I scrunched my face and closed my eyes and pushed it to the floor and....ahhhhh. OMG!!!! High fives to Bryen we were both hooping and hollaring , I couldn't believe I fixed this piece of shit I bought from this dude for $50 that was broken and I did it by myself! Oh ya, I definitely had to try it, I unplugged it and took it in the house, and watched it beatifully vacuum a portion of my rug! HOT DAMN I FEEL GOOD ABOUT THAT!!!!