Dyson: 1, Robyn: 0

I somehow missed the warning label that housework can be hazardous to your health. Yet, in the back of my mind, I must have known that since I have been known to avoid it all costs. On occasion.

Today should have been one of those occasions.

Carter was going to have a friend over this morning so I wanted to get some quick dusting and vacuuming done first. I was just about done with both when I remembered there were some crumbs or something on the top step going down to the basement.

Now normally when I vacuum the steps, I have the Dyson situated at the bottom of the steps and work my way up with the long hose. Today, since I was just reaching down a step, I kept it up top. Not a dangerous situation until I decided to move down and do "just one more." That was my undoing.

I was standing about 4 steps down and pulled on the hose so I could face the second step at a good angle. In a split second, before I had any awareness to stop it, the whole vacuum cleaner fell down the steps, landing at a sharp angle on my head. Holy crap did that hurt!

I was holding my head, yelling "Ow, ow, ow" and amazingly now swearing, just clutching the top of my head and thinking, "That's gonna leave a mark!" The guys had to grab the vacuum cleaner and turn it off. I just couldn't let go of my head. When Jim asked what happened, I pulled my hands away to show him where I got hit and my hands were filled with blood. Oh crap.

He had Carter grab a towel quick, then wisely got me to the dining room so I wouldn't drip any more blood on the carpet. Rather than faint, I figured I better voluntarily lay on the floor. Jim went to get a pillow so I wouldn't have to lay on the hard floor, but the by the time he got back, the blood was spreading on the floor. That's about the time Carter wisely left the room and sat on the couch a bit.

I just could not believe the blood. Amazingly, I didn't faint either. It took awhile to sit up. I pressed a towel firmly on the area I assumed had the gash. It was hard to tell at first. I thought the whole top of my head had split open. But after awhile, we were able to determine it was only about an inch-long cut and Dr. Austin said it shouldn't require stitches. Good thing I'm hard-headed.

I kept a towel on there a good 2 hours before it completely stopped bleeding. I also had an ice pack on the back of my neck so I wouldn't faint. (I know all the tricks now.) When Jim and Carter returned with Carter's friend, they also brought me an Eggnog Shake. Just what the doctor ordered.

My loving husband rinsed the blood out of my hair (even though he typically likes redheads). And I was ordered to take it easy just long enough to sneak in a Hallmark movie (like that's a surprise).

When I felt normal enough, I decided I better tackle another cleaning/de-cluttering project. I spent about 3 hours in the basement in the area where all my gift bags, bows, wrapping paper, candles and crap are stored in some fashion. At one point, I had to make friends with my Dyson again (You know what they say: Keep your friends close and your enemies closer). I used it without further incident.

In fact, all was well until I was getting ready to go the Assumption girls basketball game this evening. When I slipped a sweatshirt over my head, I must have nicked the scab and my head started bleeding again. There was no way I was going to sit home. So I held a tissue to it for 3o minutes, got it to stop, then wore a baseball hat so no one would get grossed out. That worked.

Of course, it didn't prevent me from telling my story. Hey, I was just doing some public service. It's important people know the dangers of housekeeping. As my brother pointed out, getting attacked by a vacuum cleaner sucks! (Pun intended.)

Or it could be I would do just about anything for ice cream. Trust me when I say, this is not one of those things!

Be careful out there!