Sunday, April 21, 2013

Inching Through Another Week

This has been such a wild week with all of the news from across the country.  It is amazing how quickly we get information now with the internet.  Still, my nephew rarely hears about current events since we don't have network TV and I guess none of his teachers or classmates mentioned anything.  He starts high school next year.  Maybe he will start to care about things that go on in the world.

Last week I got a few things accomplished.  I made a simple business plan for my business and I set up a spreadsheet for expenses.  I decided to go with BigCommerce for my online shopping cart.  I tried hosting my own shopping cart but it was too confusing.  My free trial with BigCommerce will be over after this week but I am not ready to sign up yet.  I'm planning the shopping cart set-up when school gets out at the end of May.

My nephew and I went to the eye doctor on Friday.  I took a half day, went home and took a nap before the appointment.  The doctor said that my nephew is near-sighted and needs glasses and I can get reading glasses if I want them.  My insurance pays for glasses so I ordered reading glasses.  I haven't noticed a problem.  I am worried that my nephew is going to lose his glasses.  My benefits only pay for one pair a year.  He hasn't lost his cell phone yet (just misplaced it a couple of times) so maybe there is hope.  I must factor in the cost of the eye exam and glasses for my nephew for when I quit my job and get my own insurance.  I don't believe it covers vision.

After the eye doctor, we spent the evening at a school function for science, math and engineering.  He spent the whole time on the inflatable jousting, obstacle course and jumping castle.  At least he got some exercise.

Yesterday I took the puppies for their first shots.  A couple of them got car sick on the way so they were a mess by the time I got them to the vet.  Only 3 more weeks and they should be ready to go to new homes.  One of them is already pre-adopted.

I am trying to figure out when to go to the fair.  It is going on all this week.  I'd probably have to take another half day off to go though.  The weekend crowds are too much for me.  So far, I don't think I have anything else scheduled for this week except taking my truck in for an inspection.  I mustn't forget that or the registration will expire.

This evening we will be finishing up his book report project.  He read one of the Redwall books and we built this scene.  He just needs to add mice, rats, badgers, etc...and some explanation.  I think it is coming along quite nicely.

3 comments:

Dave said...

I realized a few months ago that my difficulty reading was easily remedied by buying reading glasses from a local store for $12. Wow, what an improvement! No eye doctor visit. No prescription.

Daizy said...

Yes, I was going to do that but then they said my exam and glasses were covered by insurance so I thought, what the heck. Hopefully they will be the only pair I will need for many years.

Amy K said...

Hi Daizy,

You might consider buying glasses online for your nephew. I did that last summer for myself, and here's my experience:

I had a hard time convincing the Optician to give my my pupil distance measurement. I told the eye doctor that I wanted to buy glasses online and I needed that measurement, and he wrote a note and the optician eventually caved, but he gave me dire warnings about online glasses and talked up the benefits of buying them from a local store.

Fresh prescription and pupil measurement in hand I went to the cheapest site I knew, Zenni Optical, and bought myself a pair of sunglasses. I've never had prescription sunglasses before becasue I was too cheap to buy a second pair of prescription glasses, and I have to admit I really like having them. Zenni ships from China, so it took several weeks. Satisfied with that I bought a second pair, but they didn't fit as well. I hadn't realized how important the fit was, and how much I had to pay attention to the measurement of the frame width and arm length.

I then tried Coastal, which makes the lenses in Canada. They had some sort of deal on Facebook that made my first pair cheap. They're more expensive than Zenni, but they have wonderful customer service and a great exchange policy. I bought one pair and had the same size issue, and they happily refunded the full amount - even the lenses, which blew my mind! After that experience I was happy to pay full price ($65 I think) for another pair with the peace of mind that if it didn't work, I was free to try again. The second pair worked wonderfully and I'm wearing them now.

I'm tempted to say you should buy a cheap pair for your nephew just as "insurance" for when he inevitably loses them, but really, I started wearing glasses at 11 or 12 and I have never lost a pair. Also, he's going to be growing so quickly in the next few years that his prescription will change, probably annually. I think my eyes stabilized in my early 20s.

I recomend getting on the mailing list for a couple of online glasses sellers, and get his and your Pupil distance measurements, so you're in the know if they have a sale. I won't need glasses for a while and I'm still on both mailing lists for the companies I tried, and they seem to run sales monthly.