I have been wanting to have my eyes checked for some years now. I can see properly, but the glasses I have are horrid. The frames were expensive, and they have never really fit properly. Since it was a drive to have them adjusted, and I was working when I purchased them, they did not get a proper adjustment while under warranty. So now they almost hurt to wear, pressing on my skull, where they have caused indentations. It has just been too complicated to try and drive the distance on the unreliable schedule I have been living under.
This visit to the little house in the city offers me an opportunity to get an appointment with an optometrist, and to purchase new glasses. I went to the optometrist’s office this morning, near the little house in the city, and was pleased that they could offer me an immediate appointment, due to a cancellation.
I was very glad to hear that I’ve had no degeneration of my eyesight, and that my eyes are healthy inside and out. Great news!
I then visited the local optician’s shop, which had been recommended by Terra. They were helpful, as I wanted lightweight, sturdy, durable and attractive frames. It was the lenses that caused the gasping of breath at the cost. My eyes require special lenses, which compensate for my vision issues. $600 for the lenses! The last time I got new glasses was in 2006 and I had vision coverage. I don’t have that vision coverage anymore, so I’ll be paying for these out of pocket, just for the lenses. Since this is a major purchase, and therefore needs to be a long-term investment, I decided to spend more on the frames than I had originally planned. If my eyesight remains good, I may not ever have to replace these glasses. I chose a purplish metal frame, very practical, lightweight, comfortable and with good peripheral vision. Some of the modern frames cut the peripheral vision, which is not a good thing for driving. The bill will be quite a financial bite; thank goodness it is not an everyday expense!
I will be able to pick up the new glasses later in the month, so I will need to plan another visit to the little house in the city at the end of the month.
My calls via Skype are a big success! Attila and I can chat over speakers as we putter about in our respective spaces. The cost of the internet would easily have been spent on cell phone charges, so having an internet connection at the little house in the city is much more practical. There is the added bonus that the charges are up front and finite, so we can talk as much as we like, without concern for cost. Attila and I always have an eye out for costs, we have to.
Worldly Distractions
Weather
10°C
Observed at: Muskoka Airport
Date: 7:43 PM EDT Thursday 6 June 2013
Condition: Light Rain
Pressure: 101.6 kPa
Visibility: 8 km
Temperature: 10.3°C
Dewpoint: 9.1°C
Humidity: 92%
Wind: ENE 9 km/h
Quote
“For me, it’s that I contributed, … That I’m on this planet doing some good and making people happy. That’s to me the most important thing, that my hour of television is positive and upbeat and an antidote for all the negative stuff going on in life.”
Ellen DeGeneres
Eyeglasses seems to be a common topic lately on the Web. I’m sure it’s because all of us baby boomers need them and maybe the younger population has reached the need for them so much yet. They will. I’m sure with all the screen-reading that goes on these days, young people will be losing their healthy eyesight a lot faster than we did.
Developing children are going to be physically different than their parents and grandparents, because they will experience less physical movement in so many ways. It is sad to me, but to them it will just seem normal. Makes me wonder how much change saddened my own grandparents as they watched us grow up. They never mentioned it to us, but I am sure my Mom heard about it.
You know Bex, I wondered about all the computer use and how it was affecting my eyesight. I do have a little program installed that enforces short breaks at frequent intervals, which means my eyes are wandering around a few times an hour. When I had my eyes examined he said they were healthy and my eyesight has not deteriorated!! I was very happy to hear it, I can tell you!
Eyeglasses are a HUGE investment. The pair I am wearing now were not fitted properly, despite several visits back, and I suspect they have caused ringing in my ears, as well as indentations in my skull and on the bridge of my nose. The new pair will be incredibly light weight, at a cost of course, but since these things will be fitted on my face, up close and personal, every waking hour, for the next five to ten years, well it seems worth sacrificing other things for years of personal comfort and freedom from pain. Hopefully the quality of the frames will be adequate for the job. My computer glasses began disassembling themselves shortly after the warranty expired. Disgusting really, that something so costly so be so shoddy.
I will need new computer glasses eventually, but will be putting that off almost indefinitely, as long as my eyes hold out. I will crazy glue the lens in place if I have to, to keep them going!
I hear you about the cost of new glasses. I didn’t mention it in my journal entry at the time, but the new glasses–really, just the lenses–cost me hundreds of dollars. I nearly choked when the optician gave me the total. Like you, I hope they last for at least 5 years, maybe 10, without replacement, because that’s an expense that’s hard to fit into any budget (for us regular people, I mean, not the Warren Buffetts of the world).
The elementary school across the street has developed a vital and active physical education program with relay races, hula hoops, all kinds of fun and interesting (and physically strenuous) activities. This is just in the last couple of years as parents and the school district have become painfully aware that we were raising a generation of couch potatoes and as their elders develop the ailments associated with poor diet and lack of exercise.
Voices that were crying in the wilderness before about the need for healthy bodies, healthy minds, are finally being heeded more and more.
Hope you enjoy your new lightweight glasses. They sound great!
I too am in need of new glasses. My eyes have changed a lot since 2004, when they were new. Tri-focals aren’t cheap, but single-vision lens don’t work well either. I hope your new glasses are perfect.
Joan, my new lenses are progressive.
I got a copy of the prescription, so I am thinking of getting a backup pair by ordering online, where the prices might be cheaper. I would order ordinary bifocals though, which I think would bring the cost down considerably.
I spent a small fortune on the pair I just bought, because they will be the ones I wear consistently, day after day. But a pair for doing yard and renovation work would be good I think. The distance between the eyes is the trick to getting glasses that work. I watched carefully, how the optician measured, she used a marker on a pair of glasses and then measured the distance between the marks, good idea!