Howdy chicks,
Went to the casino yesterday morning - they were having a promotion regarding accumulating points I was interested in. While playing I won $1,000 on a slot machine.
Gave DH a few hundred dollars and packed away the rest for "my stash". We ate lunch at the casino and then stopped for me to pick up my new eyeglasses. I have several frames I barely used so I just had them put new lens into a relatively new frame I had at the house. According to the eye doctor (and me unable to see), my prescription changed quite a bit - needed stronger glasses. The place I got the glasses at was a discount place in town that most people like. I used them once before and was not happy how the glasses came out but I chalked that up to the fact that the doctor who did my cataract surgery didn't give me the correct prescription. When I put the new glasses on yesterday, they didn't seem quite right but there were alot of people in the store so I just took them and said let me see how this works and I will come back another day - they said great. These are progressive lens - I think they didn't do the middle part correctly and they have too much space allocated to the middle part. To see my computer screen which should be the middle of the glasses I have to look through the very bottom and I also have to look through the very top part to see distance (which is what I mostly need the glasses for). I could go to the eye doctor in town but they charge ridiculously for the glasses. I paid about $175 for these (lens only). The eye doctor said to replace just the lens in my current glasses with the new prescription would be over $400!!!!
I could see that when I had my old pre-cataract eyes where I was half blind and needed all sorts of things. I had paid about $2,000 for 3 pairs of glasses (distance/progressives, computer mid-range, and sunglasses) after I had the eye surgery. I picked up the glasses right before my knee surgery and didn't really use them that much while recovering from surgery. By the time I got back on my feet, I realized the glasses needed tweeking but several months had passed and the eye doctor said the lab who makes the glasses would charge me to adjust them so it was all on my dime.
I'm sort of stuck here between the cheap place that is really helpful but I wonder about the quality and the expensive doctor's place. Otherwise I have to go all the way to Duluth - 90 minutes away which is kinda crazy this time of year for about 3 trips - one to order them, another to go get them and possibly a third trip to adjust and remake them if needed. Frustrating!!! I will stop back at the glasses place the end of the week when they are open on Thursday and see what they have to say about adjusting them.
I also went on Friday to have the procedure done that resets the crystals in the ears for vertigo. I DID NOT LIKE that therapist. A young, cocky guy who runs the place - the kind who doesn't listen to you and just wants to hear himself talk. I am regretting I did not have the doctor's office re-fax the order to the therapy place at the hospital. Anyway he did what he needed to do. I go back Monday for a follow up. He said to keep my head as level as possible for 48 hours - which is what happened before as they don't want those crystals moving back. I had to sleep sitting up in the recliner and could not bend down to do any housework
But then when I mentioned I was going to the other PT clinic for my foot - he said my insurance might deny this vertigo claim because you are supposed to use one clinic for all P/T. I said that was not MY fault - the doctor's office sent the fax to you even though I said I was going to the hospital clinic. He said (pompously) that THEY don't have a doctor who can do this procedure. B/S I thought to myself - they are doing it now and I know the therapist who is doing the procedure. So Monday I will have to call the insurance company in the morning.
When we got home yesterday I gave DH a haircut/trim of sorts to get rid of the straggly ends on his hair. We went to dinner - just had caesar salads - him with chicken, mine with steak because we had a big lunch. DH ordered a crock of french onion soup - he said the broiled cheese was better but the soup itself - the one we made last week was much more flavorful and better. We went to a live performance yesterday of a Chicago blues band. DH brought us earplugs which we really needed. The performance is held in what was once the old movie theater in town. Those old seats are mighty UNCOMFORTABLE. My legs were cramping up alot. And of course, in a room full of seats, the TALLEST man in the room had to come and sit in front of me.
DH switched seats with me and after about 5 minutes I was overcome by this most unpleasant smell. The woman he was with had doused herself with the same body lotion that my Mom uses - Jergens Ultra Healing lotion. Forgive me but both my sister and I are repulsed by that smell. The regular Jergens scent of almonds is really nice but there is something about the Ultra lotion that is cloying and awful. I had to sit with my sweater pulled over my nose. By the time they sat down almost all the seats were taken and by the time I wanted to move, there was nowhere to move too. And on top of that, the group was ok, but nothing special. We stayed for the first set and left at the intermission.
Today I can bend down again so I'll pick up where I left off with cleaning and laundry. DH saw a recipe that looked interesting - pork roast that you cook up and then you add a can of baked beans with some chopped fresh apples to finish it off. I think I will do that in my Instant Pot. It's snowing outside - big, fluffy flakes. Looks pretty. Sadly it's going to be kind of treacherous out there - we had a couple of days of just over freezing temps. Enough to start to melt things but not enough warmth to completely melt so everywhere there are patches of melted water that refroze into slick ice. And we are headed to the deep freeze again for a week so no chance of that melting soon. Just have to be really careful.
Ceejay - ouch on the dental work expense!!! I hope they can take care of you with minimal discomfort. I have to brave it like you also and get this chipped tooth fixed. That was disturbing about your missing items. I hope there is not petty theft going on or that means that the nephew is using again. Good for you for getting on plan with your eating.
Susie - how sad about your friend losing her dad! Was it one of these cases where the person lost their partner and with it their will to carry on? Very sad. I hope next week is a little more calm for you at work - this one sure was a fast trot on the hamster wheel!
Annie - hope you are getting some rest this weekend and getting all cured. Everyone you talk to has a devastating flu story. It sure is knocking the stuffing out of people!
Shad - as we roll into February (my least favorite month of the year) I sure would love you to send some of your heat this way. Yesterday we were in the car and DH was chanting "come ON summer!!!"
If you are planning on coming out this way this year and we intend to meet as a group "at the commune" we should start laying some basic plans like how many and how long. I have to cover for my partner at the thrift shop and bingo when he goes on his European vacation and I told him that I might have guests at that time. He said he thought of that but had to book at a specific time (August 19th - September 9). There isn't really that much I have to personally deal with and he said I could always opt to cancel bingo when he's not there. But I am a planner and I would like to have some heads up even if it's very tentative at the moment.
Would the rest of you be interested in coming up here for a long weekend when Shad's here?
Alright - somehow it went from 9am to 11:30 without me noticing it. I have a sink of dishes to be washed and I don't want the day getting away from me - some specific things I want to accomplish today.
Enjoy your Sunday ladies.
Your power bill sounds like they are taking advantage of the situation - just like petrol/gas prices here - they ALWAYS seem to get jacked up every holiday when people are travelling. Coincidental that there is always some sort of explanation for the rise in prices and then immediately after the holiday is over, boom, the prices drop again. With the power they say that the demand is high so prices are high. Shouldn't it be the case if more people want it, they have plenty to sell so it should be LESS expensive??? Anyway hope you stay comfortable. 
with my Amazing friends here. 
funny how eating Healthy puts on fat when we are unable to be physically active. 
So I need to lose 10-15# to take weight off my knee & hernia. Does anybody know the name of a Easy-- Yoga DVD for me to try? 
wishing you a wonderful day.
I have been wearing my new glasses this weekend. I think they made the mid range progressive too wide in the lens and too high. I have to look at the top of my glasses to see distance (which is mostly why I want them) or look at the very bottom to see the computer or reading close up. I will take them back the end of the week when they are open again. I signed us up for lunch at the senior center today - not sure if DH wants to go. If we do we have to eat fast as they serve at 12 and I have to go for the follow up for the vertigo at 12:30. Should be do-able. Then I have to head to the thrift shop for my afternoon shift - am teaching one of the board members how the thrift shop works. She can be a close ally in trying to convince those who can/should make decisions that we need to start running this shop like a real retail business instead of the corner shop by the ladies auxiliary. 
DH says things sometimes that I think are really dumb - difference between boys and girls. I'm glad that your nephew is working to stay clean. I'm not sure what's cuter than a 7 year old doing cheerleading. 
