Yesterday Was an Adventure and Treadmill Photos

Yesterday turned into a really great day - a very busy one, but lots of smiles and interactions with people that were positive. My swim went really well, so it started the day out beautifully. Then I headed to my eye doctor appointment for my annual eye exam. My prescription has changed slightly, but not enough to worry about getting sets of new eyeglasses unless I decide I'd prefer that. Right now, I'm going to hold off on that, but I'm taking a copy of the prescription with me when I go to the State Fair in case I find a set of frames that I simply MUST order. 

Every year, on the second floor of the Grandstand at the 
MN State Fair, my favorite eyeglasses shop has a "Frame 
Sale". I've purchased a LOT of frames from them at this 
sale, but you have to have a prescription from within the 
past year to actually order lenses at that time. I now have 
an up-to-date prescription, so I'll take a look when I'm 
back at the Fair in late August with Sharon. 

After the eye doctor, I was in my general area and headed toward Radiology for a final meeting with the nursing staff and Doc Zac. I took a quick side trip to purchase three additional pink roses because my main Front Desk person hadn't been there on the day when I gave roses to everyone. So ... what the heck. I didn't want her missing out. (As it turned out. one of the others saved one of the roses from the last batch for her, so she didn't miss out after all), I still had a nice conversation with her, though. The update with the nurse went really smoothly, and I had my usual excellent time with Doc Zac (who is heading back to New Mexico later this week for a family event - I'm so envious and a bit homesick - LOL). 

I've been at the Radiology building quite a lot over the 
past month or so, but I've never been so close to someone 
in an orange jumpsuit and shackles with armed personnel 
close by. It was a little unnerving. 

As I left, there was a small group near the door to the inside clinic rooms and to my left, there was a man in an orange jumpsuit wearing shackles, with a County Sheriff standing behind him to the side, and a couple of other people there as well. Leaving the building, the County Sheriff's SUV was parked directly in front of the doors to the clinic - no parking restrictions for this vehicle, I guess. It was a bit of a shock, but I suppose prisoners also can have cancer and need treatment. I suppose that's our tax dollars at work since I'm quite sure we're all footing the bills for anyone's medical treatment if they are incarcerated. It's probably the closest I've ever come to a prisoner - at least one in an orange jumpsuit with shackles. 

I removed the motor cover as instructed. It won't help 
the issue with the piece of metal sticking out at all, 
but it looked clean and in good condition. 

The rest of my day was uneventful. I did remove the motor cover on my treadmill (which didn't affect the rod sticking out from the side at all), and I even grabbed DH's fancy drill to unscrew the header over the metal strip and see if it would be more visible that way. Unfortunately, not really. I compiled all of the photos, however, and sent them on to my treadmill people. This needs to be resolved, and it's quite apparent that it's nothing I can fix on my end - someone from their service staff will have to come over and get that exposed bar back into its' proper position. 

You can see the metal I'm talking about a bit 
clearer in this photo. On the right side, there's 
this piece of yellow metal sticking out from the 
side. That's not supposed to be there. That's 
supposed to be inside that rail. They're going 
to have to get this fixed. It's back in their court 
now. I've sent them the photos they requested. 

All in all, it was a day of accomplishments, a few hugs, lots of good feelings, and it was topped off by a lovely conversation with Aearwen. I'm hoping today will be as wonderful, but I suspect it will be a bit more tiring and fraught with personalities as I deal with DH and Chickie and any customers who might need my assistance. I love my customers, but sometimes they can be a bit of a hand full - LOL. Have an excellent Thursday, I'm off to the pool, but I'll be back tomorrow. Slava Ukraini. 

It's a Very Busy Day Today - Time to Get to the Pool

I had time this morning so I took the time to pay the first half of my property taxes. Thus ... I no longer have time this morning - LOL. It's a full day today. I start out (after my swim) with an eye doctor appointment out at the clinic which is a fair distance away, but I like these people and they've always done a good job for me. They did my Lasik way back when, and my cataracts almost two years ago. And they've done my annual exams regularly for decades. Good people. 

When I first went to the clinic, it was one of several 
small locations scattered throughout the Cities. Now they 
have large buildings in several of the suburbs and they're 
one of (if not THE) largest eye clinic in the Twin Cities. 

After I'm finished with them (and can't see because of the dilating drops) I'll make my way back to my own area (carefully). I have a phone consultation with my Radiology Doc this morning, and then it's on to groceries and my most important job today - working on my treadmill. 

Doc Wilson is absolutely awesome, and the 
Radiology team he heads is efficient, competent, 
professional and caring. Great people from 
front desk to the Head Honcho! 

My treadmill company has sent me the instructions for removing the front plate so that I can take additional photos of the slipped rail to show them. I found the correct Allen wrench for the bolts last night, so I'm ready to get going on this ASAP. I'll also be contacting the software people regarding my virtual runs. Apparently they're local, so if necessary, I'll drive out to their suburb and knock on their door. I want my virtuals back, and I'm not understanding why I don't have them. 

The fitness software I use on the treadmill is powered 
by Treo Wellness. If they're not a local company, they 
at least have a local branch. If I can't get anywhere by 
phone today, I'll have to try and go to their offices 
on Friday. 

But today also must include grocery shopping (there are items we MUST have) and cooking. So, generally, I won't be bored today - at all! LOL. I'm really glad I postponed my orthodontist appointment - adding that into today's mix would have been extremely difficult. 

I love my local supermarket. I remember shopping at 
Byerlys and at Lunds separately, and when they merged 
it was a perfect marriage. They have a deep selection, 
excellent produce, and great people. 

So, I hope your day will be a bit more relaxing than mine. Have an excellent one, no matter what, and spread some love today. A little love can go a long way to help heal the person you're giving it to, as well as yourself. I'll be back tomorrow. Slava Ukraini. 

An Encounter with a McLaren - $300,000+ For a CAR!!!

Yesterday's schedule actually went better than expected. It was relatively smooth and easy, despite the fact that I did have a few small bumps in the road. Still, I did have some fun too. To start with, while driving to the eye doctor shortly before 7:00 am, an amazing car pulled ahead of me on the freeeway and caught my eye. To anyone who loves cars, this one would have caught them too. I didn't know what it was, but it was fast, sleek, unique and I totally loved it. 

I happen to dearly love cars - unique and amazing sports 
cars are always on my radar. DH, on the other hand, 
could give a darn about cars - they exist to get us from Point 
A to Point B and back again. Nothing much more than that. 
This particular car took my breath away. 

When I took the off-ramp, I realized the car was ahead of me, and when I turned into the parking lot for the clinic, it was still ahead of me. I wanted to find out where it parked, so I watched as it pulled into a parking spot at the UrGency Clinic - the building just to the west of my eye clinic's building. I gave myself a bit more eye candy, but had an appointment I had to get to, so I headed in to get my eyes checked. 

I had no idea what type of car it was - had to look at the hood 
and rear to find out it was a McLaren. I'll have to do a bit 
more research on this car. I'm totally in love. The doctor 
driving it was middle aged and a bit overweight, so this was 
definitely his dream car. 

This appointment went SO much better than my last one. I now have a prescription that I can use to send off a couple of my favorite sets of eyeglasses and get them re-lensed. I'm also going to get my Craft-Optics relensed to the correct prescription. They are what I wear when I'm beading, and right now, I'm beading when I can for this year's holiday card "gift". But ... to return to my tale. 

Left side detail - the doors are gull wing doors, one of 
the things I really loved about this model of car. I haven't 
seen a McLaren car on the road in decades, so this was 
a real treat. 

After completing my eye doctor appointment, and passing with flying colors, I returned to the parking lot. As it turned out, the doctor didn't dilate my eyes at all, so I wasn't bothered by the sunlight. I made my way to my car, dropped off my paperwork, and continued on to take a closer look at this amazing sports car. 

You might remember the gull wing doors from the old 
DeLorean cars of the 1980's and 90's. Same idea, different 
manufacturer, and totally different styling. This was 
totally "sex on a stick" - automobile style - LOL. 

Now, I live in the Frozen Northlands of Minnesota. Sports cars like this - very expensive and rare - simply aren't seen on our streets because they can only be driven a maximum of six months a year. So whoever was driving this one had enough money to keep the car stored for the winter months. As I got closer, I realized it was parked in the "Physician Only" slots for the clinic, so that explained the income - LOL. I took a bit of time to admire it, and took a number of photos that I'm sharing here. If you also get Facebook with me, you might already have seen them, but that's OK. How often do you get a chance to see a McLaren car? 

I probably should have blurred the license plate, but 
what the heck. I'm rather amazed it didn't have a vanity 
plate to go along with the full package. Current price 
for one of these? $309,000!!! More than a LOT of houses. 

I satisfied my curiosity, posted the photos onto Facebook, and headed onward to my day, which turned out to be a rather productive one. I conquered some computer problems/issues, cooked my chicken, had my weekly chat with my dear friend Aearwen, and generally, had a very good Wednesday. Today I'm swimming, then heading to the shop, and hopefully I'll get some productive work done there. Maybe. LOL In any case, it's Thursday, so have a fabulous day, enjoy the car photos, and I'll be back tomorrow. Slava Ukraini. 

Onward - Time Continues and Life Progresses

I hope all of my US friends had a lovely 4th of July holiday yesterday, and those of you outside the US had a lovely day all around. We started the day out in the garden, loving the lilies which are in full bloom right now, and talking about this and that. Then the rain came and chased us indoors. It came down swiftly and heavily, reminding DH that he hadn't cleaned the rain gutters yet this year. I think that's on his agenda for tomorrow now - LOL. 

Not my gutters, but very much like what we were 
seeing yesterday afternoon. Eventually the rain 
went away, the mosquitoes came out, and we 
settled down to an afternoon watching movies 
on TV. 

Although we attempted to return to the outdoors when the rain had stopped, the mosquitoes were on a hunt for 4th of July food, and we were apparently on the menu. Our time outside came to a rather rapid stop and we returned indoors. 

Once again, the new crockpot was called into use. It 
performed beautifully, and the ribs were fall-off-the-bone 
tender. I'm liking my new piece of equipment. 

The dinner agenda was ribs, so once again I pulled out the new crockpot and had two different wells - one for his ribs with his BBQ sauce, and one for my ribs with my homemade BBQ sauce. They turned out wonderfully. I think I'm keeping this new crockpot - it's a winner. 

We have a little bit of up and down in today's stage, it's 
not a pure sprinters stage as yesterday was. Today should 
be interesting, though. Lots of psychological back and 
forth with a profile like today's. 

I did watch Le Tour yesterday, of course. I was hoping Mark Cavendish could achieve the win, since it was a sprint stage, but he didn't have a good lead-in, and only came in 6th. Not too shabby at all, but I'm also sure it's not what he wanted. Still, there's a lot of racing still to do. Today is Day 6 of Le Tour, and it's again a rather flat stage, then we'll be in mountains for the weekend before everyone collapses for the first Rest Day of this year's Tour. It's been an excellent race thus far, and I hope, if you're a fan of bicycle racing, that you've had a chance to catch a day or two. 

I start the day out with a 7:15 am eye doctor appointment. 
I'm hopeful that my eyes will cooperate enough to get 
a prescription this time. I'd love to get a couple of sets 
of my favorite eyeglass frames re-lensed. 

I'm starting my day with a 7:30 am appointment at my eye doctor's clinic. I have hopes that my eyes will have stabilized enough to get an actual prescription prescribed. I'd really like to be wearing eyeglasses that help my eyes, rather than ones that are only helping with certain aspects of my vision. I'm quite happy with my distance vision, but my close-up vision sucks, so it's making my beading project a bit challenging. However, everything good is worth the struggle, and this is no exception. It's going to be glorious. I hope to get some more beadwork done this afternoon. 

On that note, I'm out of here. Have an excellent Wednesday and I'll be back tomorrow - a swimming day. Huzzah! LOL Slava Ukraini. 

Flip Flopping, Positive Vibes and Driving Around

Today I start my day out by driving to the eye doctor for my final checkup and, hopefully, a new prescription for eyeglasses. The appointment is for 7:30, and I want to check in no later than 7:15 am. Since that would crunch my swim/gym time, I decided to flip days so I'll swim on Friday and take today as my "off" day. It's not a problem, just a shift. 

Switching my schedule today just seemed much 
easier than being super rushed. So I'll swim 
tomorrow instead of today and breathe a little 
easier. 

My Doctor came through with a prescription for an antibiotic - 2 pills a day, 12 hours apart with food. That's another detail that is pushing me to do my swim tomorrow. Adding in breakfast after my swim and before heading out to the far Southeastern suburb of my eye clinic simply wouldn't work. So, I'll have a lovely toasted no-grain bagel after I get this posted, and keep on my 6:30 am/6:30 pm schedule for the pills. I already feel much better after only one day's worth, so I'm sure this will kick that UTI out of the park and out of my life. 

I'm really good about taking my daily vitamins, but having 
to take a med two times a day, 12 hours apart is a bit more 
challenging. It's easiest to take with my breakfast around 
6:45 am, and with dinner 12 hours later, so I just need to 
keep to that schedule for a few days. 

I've been doing some work for DH on old invoices that he's using with his AFS inventory reduction plan. I spent a bit more than an hour with Photoshop, getting miscellaneous things off the form, and now I'll go through again and pull away specific prices that he wants out of there. It took a while to figure out what would work the best/easiest, but I was successful. Unfortunately, I can't do this on my laptop - the "light" version of Photoshop that I have on the laptop doesn't allow me to do what needs to be done. So, that limits me to working on these at home only. Oh well. 

I use Photoshop every morning for the pictures that I 
post here in my blog. I have Photoshop Elements on my 
laptop, and I find it more challenging and less 
satisfying. I suppose I'll have to save my $ because I'll want 
the full Photoshop when I upgrade my desktop computer. 

I'm sending lots of positive thoughts out to Aearwen today as she looks at two possible places for her and her son to move to. Due to many extenuating circumstances, she has to sell her home which has been in her family for almost 60 years, and move to a smaller place. In the long run, it's going to be fabulous for them - but getting everything done and taken care of efficiently ... that'll be a much harder chore. So, positive thoughts, everyone. 

It never hurts to have positive vibes sent 
to friends who are a bit overwhelmed, so I'm 
asking for all of you to send positives 
to Aearwen as she sorts out this move. It's 
a major thing to move out of the family 
home after all these years. 

So, on that note, I'm plugging in photos and getting my day underway. I hope your Thursday is awesome and spectacular, it's the only Thursday, June 8, 2023 you're ever going to get, so make the best of it. I'll be back tomorrow with a short post before I head off to the pool. Slava Ukraini. 

Recipes, Thoughts and Miscellaneous - My Life in a Nutshell - LOL

As I mentioned in my short post yesterday, I survived the surgery and all is good. In fact, all is great. There are minor issues that I'll deal with as I heal, and I'll have to see what happens in future, but basically, this is wonderful. Colors are brighter, images have greater clarity, and except for a minor bout of astigmatism (which may or may not go away, but can easily be corrected when I get new glasses), I'm totally set for summer. 

I'm getting some double-imagery that my check-up doctor 
yesterday said might be astigmatism. Basically, that's when 
the lens isn't quite round - more football shaped instead. 
It can cause double-vision and blurriness. Some of this 
will disappear as I heal, but some may be permanent. 
Fortunately, it's easily correctable with glasses. 

I'll have my next check-in on the 8th, this time to get a baseline on my vision and arrange for a new prescription. Since I've worn glasses since I was 10, I fully expect to be wearing them again. I've got good distance vision now, the vast blur now has definition, but close-in work - reading or craft work - needs a bit more clarity. I've always been near-sighted, so this is a bit of a variation for me. Right now I'm using a single panel of a tri-focus lens in a set of eyeglasses I used more than a decade ago. That's allowing me to use my phone and read easily. 

This is NOT my feeder, but I am getting hummingbirds 
at my feeder quite regularly now, so I'm quite pleased. 
I saw several yesterday afternoon when I allowed myself 
to relax in the yard for an hour in mid-afternoon. 

I'm back at the shop today and tomorrow, then I'll have two days off for the holiday weekend and Memorial Day. I won't be posting on Monday, except maybe a quick "Honor" post for our veterans and those who sacrificed everything for the sake of our contentious freedom. 

Freedoms seem to be shrinking lately, and it's very 
concerning to me. I don't conform well - never have. I've 
always been the non-conformist, that voice speaking out 
for personal freedom of choice. I'm becoming quite 
uncomfortable in the world we seem to be moving toward. 

Of course those freedoms. so hard won, seem to be shrinking lately. Issues I thought were long handled are popping up again, and personal freedoms are being curtailed. I'm quite glad, in this instance, that I'm old - I'm looking at no more than three decades of idiocy. I am finding it hard to believe that we, the generation of Peace, Love and Rock-and-Roll have turned out backs on our ideals and embraced the confines of our parent's society. We rebelled against everything they believed in, and here we are, slipping into the ruts in the road that they left for us. 

I think my baked mango turned out quite good. Not 
as good as their photo, but still not bad. If you're 
interested in the recipe, you can find it here: 
https://www.kitchenathoskins.com/baked-mangoes/

I spent a pleasant hour in the kitchen yesterday, making some Mango Crumble. It's basically cut mango baked with a covering of crushed nuts, shredded coconut, oats, and honey. I had two mangoes that I wanted to use up, so I played with a new recipe and it was quite lovely. I made several larger slices and with the smaller pieces, used ramekins to put in the mango, covered with the toppings. All of them turned out to be really tasty. I'm bringing one ramekin to the shop for Chickie's lunchtime treat today. The next thing I want to try is a flourless almond cake using almond flour. Maybe next week. 

I want to try this almond cake recipe next. 
It looks amazing, and I think it will fit in 
well with my WildFit life. If you're 
interested in this recipe, here's a link 
for you: 
https://www.dishbydish.net/flourless-almond-cake/

So, I'm wrapping this up. The outdoor pool opens tomorrow, but I can't swim until late next week. Still, I know it's there and I'm already looking forward to it (even though the outdoor pool is more crowded than our indoor one - everyone comes from throughout the Cities to swim in our pool in the summer). I'll have my opportunity, and I'll do my best to take full advantage of it until Labor Day. Have an excellent Friday and I'll be back tomorrow. Slava Ukraini. 

Eyes and Flowers and Color - Oh My!

My eye doctor was very pleased with how my eye is healing, and I have my appointment time for my next surgery - next week Wednesday at 6:30 am. I got very lucky and got the first surgical slot once again because the first person the scheduler called didn't answer the phone, so I was second on the list and got my choice. First thing works well for me, especially on a Wednesday. Yippee! Putting the trash buckets back into the garage will be a challenge, but I'll manage that small bit of driving (I'll have to back my car out of the garage and then re park it). 

Our ornamental crabapple tree in our upper 
back yard was in full bloom last Sunday. It 
started as a tree given to us by my Father-in-Law 
many years ago, and has flourished. So beautiful! 

I'm giving you shots of the garden after DH finished with the initial planting, and some of the plants that we purchased on Mother's Day at Gerten's. Such lovely plants. Things are settling in nicely now, and the plants are quite joyous. He's got one section where we have a nice large Bleeding Heart between two rust-colored Coral Bells and it's stunning. I'll take more photos after the plants grow a bit more, but they're settling in nicely. 

Here's a close-up of those crabapple 
blossoms. They;re starting to fall now, and 
the ground is covered with pale pink blossoms. 

The eye doctor said a couple of things I found interesting. The first is that the cataract lenses that he's implanting are for far-sighted vision. I assume that's because as the eyes age, they move more and more into near sighted vision. I've always been hear sighted, so this ability to see clearly at a distance is quite new to me. I don't know when things will calm down enough for a new prescription, but I'm sure it will happen. 

The little side section of the castle walls, where we had 
our Datura last year, will be colorful this year with 
moss roses, goldenrods, celosia, lantana and I forget what the 
fifth type of flower is. This bed took a lot of work - 
it was quite sandy and DH had to put in a LOT of soil 
and peat moss to make the soil better for the flowers. 

Regarding my missing friend - someone asked about her user name. As I mentioned, she was relatively new to me, someone I met through LJ Idol. The name "Desdemona" came to mind, but I'm not 100% sure if that's correct, if it's a varient, or if I'm remembering the incorrect user name. Still, something based on Desdemona seems right to me somehow. If fellow LJ Idol people reading this can help me track her down, I'd appreciate it. I'm a bit worried, it's rather like she fell off a cliff after posting regularly for months. 

We bought a lovely red columbine this year, and it's 
front and center of the main section of castle walls. 

We also bought these pink flowering plants - I don't 
recall what they are named. The taller white/purple 
plants are now between my Lantana in the side garden. 

So, I'll leave you with garden photos, and head out to the swimming pool for my final swim of the week. Then I'll get Tuesday's swim (and I might go Monday, just to get two days in next week), and then time for cataract surgery number two. Have a great Thursday and I'll be back tomorrow! Slava Ukraini. 

It's Going To Be a Day - Looking At Dust Storms

Today is a massively rushed day, It's a standard "day off" =- swimming, laundry, housecleaning, cooking, and shopping. But in addition, I have a 7:30 am appointment with my eye doctor for my two-week checkup. I was doing great until Sunday afternoon, when I think my eye got scratched by dirt or dust while DH was planting things in the garden. There were a few things he needed my help with, and  somehow my eye got scratched. I've been going heavy on the generic eyedrops, and making sure I'm not missing scheduled doses of the antibiotic eyedrop ever since. 

Dust in the wind isn't all bad. Check out this piece 
by artist Linda Nedilski called "Dust in the Wind". I 
really like the shapes and colors she used here. 

Monday's work day was miserable because of my eye, but Tuesday was better. I see the eye doctor early today for my two-week checkup and I'll get a chance to see what he says. All I can think of is that some dust or dirt from the garden got into my eye somehow. But it's been a miserable few days. 

Check out this dust storm from Israel. Now, I'm NOT 
fond of dust storms. They frighten me - almost more than 
tornadoes or deep winter blizzards. There's something 
about being unable to breathe easily that just quirks me out. 

My next surgery takes place in a week, so I'd better have clear, non-painful vision in my "fixed" eye prior to then. When I'm seeing comfortably, however, it's rather amazing. I'm seeing colors and clarity as I haven't for years. It's worth the aggravation. 

I don't have a location on this dust storm, but it's 
another big one. When I went to school in New Mexico, 
we would get dust storms in the spring. The dust would 
get EVERYWHERE - even through the double-pane 
windows. It was a red dust, and it colored everything. 

But, I need to get the garbage cans to the curb and run to the pool for my swim, then drop off my wet stuff and leave immediately for the eye doctor. It's going to be a day! :LOL I hope yours is wonderful and I'll be back tomorrow. 

Cataracts - Surgery is Now On my Agenda, If Not My Calendar

My eye doctor appointment went well. After having my eyes checked out by several different machines, the doctor came in and did some other checks, and then confirmed that my cataracts need surgery. What I had suspected. My vision is crap, and I need it functional, so I'm waiting for their surgical scheduler to get in touch with me so that I can grab one of the first open slots for the 6:00 am or 6:30 am slots. DH will have to drive me back and forth, and then go on to the shop after dropping me at home, so scheduling is important. 

With laser surgery, things are so different and 
improved from the time when my Dad had 
his surgery many years ago. There's only two 
weeks between my two eye surgeries, and 
I'll be able to be relatively active (some small 
restrictions exist) almost immediately. I expect 
I'll be laid low for the single day, but maybe 
not for all of it. Hard to say. 

I'll have one eye done, and then two weeks later, the other one. I'm not allowed to be in the swimming pool for a week after each surgery, so I'll have to work out on the elliptical instead. I''ll miss the pool, but at least I'll have all of this over before the outdoor pool opens up (ideally). Of course I'll also need a new prescription for my eyeglasses after the surgeries have been completed, so as much as I would like new glasses, that won't happen immediately. Still, it's great to have a course of action nailed down. 

DH said he would set his alarm, but he doesn't have a 
lot of faith in it, so he wants me to phone him just 
before I enter the gym today. I have my alarm set for 
4:55 am to do that. 

Today I'm supposed to phone DH at home shortly before the gym doors are unlocked to wake him up for an appointment that he has. It's never just one thing with us, we tend to go in clumps - LOL. So, I have an alarm set on my phone to remind me, else I'll forget while catching up with Rosemary and Meg at the front doors. 

Oh my ... calling DH at 4:55 am might just 
be TOO much excitement for me today! LOL

I think that's all of the excitement I can handle today - LOL. I have peppers in the refrigerator and tomatoes on my countertop waiting until tomorrow when I'll make my Roasted Peppers and Tomato soup. Yum! I'm already looking forward to it. Have an excellent Thursday and I'll be back tomorrow for the final day of March! Spring is coming (although it's certainly NOT here yet - snow today *sigh*). Slava Ukraini. 

It's a "Day Off" - Errands, Errands and More Errands

Today is starting out hard and fast. I have my morning swim, of course, but then, instead of heading back home at 6:15 am or so, I'm hopping into the car and driving to one of our southeastern suburbs for an eye doctor appointment which I have scheduled for 7:30 am. I'm really hoping something can be done about my vision issues. I can't see adequately for my job any more, and my vision is always switching back and forth from near to far. My focus is poor, basically, my eyes are in bad shape. That's not something I can work with for much longer. 

My vision is too blurry to effectively read my 
price tags any more. I'm mixing up 9, 6 and 8 on 
them, and that's leading to errors - sometimes really 
bad ones. DH and Chickie might be worried about 
my mind, but I'm worried about my vision. I have 
a feeling a lot of mind things will be cleared up 
if I can just see clearly once again. 

I would also like to get my driving license renewed today, but I might not get to that until Friday. In many ways, Friday would be a better choice. I could be at the licensing office when they open in the morning and have less of a line to wait in. I'll probably do that. 

My city's Licence Center is quite convenient to get to 
for me, but it's always good to be there first thing 
in the morning to avoid long waits. I'll try to be there 
at 7:30 am on Friday to get my Driver's License 
renewed. 

I got my next audio book loaded onto my waterproof headphones last night, so I'm totally set for today's swim. The books are in sets of three per story line, and I'm starting book 3 now. I'm looking forward to seeing how this particular plot gets resolved. 

I'm ready to start book three of my current group of 
audio books. I loaded this one up on my underwater 
player last night, and I'm ready to go. I've worked with 
music and with books, and books suit me better. The 
best thing about the Drizzt series books is there's a LOT of 
them, so I still have books to get through the rest of 
the year, most likely. 

As usual, however, I have a bunch of stuff on my list for my "day off". So I'm going to cut this short and start working on a couple before I leave for the swimming pool. I hope you have a truly wonderful Wednesday and Slava Ukraini. I'll be back tomorrow. 

I Can't Seem to Access the Web Right Now - No Photos Today

I'm screwed in so many ways. I went to my eye doctor appointment. I left REALLY early, and it was a good thing that I did because I got totally lost on the West side of the Cities and it took an hour+ to manage to find the building. However, as the saying goes, "She Persevered". I got there, was seen quite quickly, and spoke carefully to the doctor about everything. 

Bad news, though. My eyes are getting worse and will need surgery, but I also have a genetic condition (thanks a LOT, Mom - whoever you are) called Fuchs Corneal Dystrophy which makes a standard eye surgery a bit more dicey and complex. So instead of simple cataract surgery, I'm going to need quite a bit more, probably including a corneal transplant. Oy! 

In the meanwhile, my prescription is accurate, my glasses were made properly for that prescription, and I'm just not seeing well. Joy, joy! I've got an appointment near the end of March to see my regular eye doctor (who is a cataract expert) and get a "cataract evaluation". Hopefully surgery can be scheduled and my vision will improve, but that's two months away! 

I'm also having difficulty getting onto the website to fill in and file my W-2 and W-3 forms. The government has instituted a new policy that requires a secondary code to be entered, a code that they supply to you. Unfortunately, it appears they only supply the code via US Mail, and I have five days in which to submit the form. They say it can take up to a month to get the code. ARGH. I'll be contacting my accountant today, I'll also speak to the SSA, and I'll probably have to purchase paper forms and hand-type them at the shop. I'll have to bring an extra light from home before I type them, because I can't see well enough at the typewriter to do it without more light. 

So, that's my tale of woe for the day. On that note, I'm going to plug in some photos and get going to the pool. I certainly have frustration to work out in the water today. Have an excellent Thursday and Slava Ukraini. 

It's a Busy Wednesday, Usual Stuff Plus an Eye Appointment

Just a quick post today because it's going to be a VERY busy day and I'm starting already, even though it's only 3:50 am. I phoned my eye doctor's clinic yesterday needing a quick appointment as soon as I could get one. I'm simply not seeing well enough right now, and need to get an updated prescription made ASAP. Although they couldn't get me in to see my own doctor, they did have a slot open this afternoon at the clinic in the far western suburb of Minnetonka. So, I'm driving out to Minnetonka, in the snow today, to get my eyes looked at. 

There are any number of ways for me to get from 
my location over to the far West into Minnetonka, 
I'll possibly take this route to avoid the major 
construction zone and restriction area through the 
tunnel in Minneapolis. But, going straight West 
instead of South and then West does cut down 
the time and the miles. It's a toss-up. 

My job entails finding and reading small numbers on tubes and packages of beads, as well as working with small things, when I have any time at all for "recreation" (which hasn't happened for several years now). But, I'm not seeing things well and pulling product for customers is taking longer than it should because I can't focus easily. So, I want my eyes checked out and an updated set of eyeglasses. Therefore, even though it will be snowing this afternoon which will make the drive less than enjoyable, I'm heading West for a 2:30 pm appointment today. 

It's hard to decide what set of eyeglasses to 
purchase. Now that we're all ordering our 
glasses made on-line, we aren't facing a wall of 
empty frames like we used to. That's both good 
and bad. Good because we get a larger selection, 
but bad because we can't actually try them on 
as easily, even though the programs will often 
allow for a "virtual" try-on experience. 

I think part of the problem is my newer set of eyeglasses. I had them made to prescription, but these are only bifocals, and I should have trifocals. So that's one thing to get done correctly. If I can get the correct prescription, I'll order one new set of eyeglasses, but I'll get my favorite set(s) sent off to get re-lensed properly so that I can wear them again. Eyeglasses these days are inexpensive but not always super well made. I rely on my eyes heavily, so anything that will help me see better is a total win. 

I'm actually quite pleased that the clinic could get me 
in for an appointment so quickly. It's not with my 
usual doctor, but it's just for an eye exam, and that's 
something that can be accomplished quite easily by 
any competent eye doctor. 

So, I'm cutting this off. It's a swimming day and I might have a small amount of snow to shovel from the driveway before backing the car out and putting the trash bin to the curb. It's 4:00 am and I'm already deep into my day. I hope you have an excellent day and I'll be back tomorrow. Slava Ukraini.