First pair of glasses, part 2
29 Jan 2012 Leave a Comment
in family, health, tweens Tags: eye exams, first pair of glasses for kids, myopia, nearsighted, school eye screenings
In the previous post, I described how I found out that I needed glasses when I was twelve-year-old. Fast forward to 2012, when my daughter is twelve, and just got her first pair of glasses.
We found out she needed glasses because she had routine eye screenings at school, as well as periodic full eye exams from an eye doctor. We knew a year ago that she would probably need them within a year or so…so we kept a close eye (ahem!) on her vision in the interim.
We took her to the eye doctor, Dr. Poulin in Sanford, who did an eye exam and rendered the glasses verdict almost matter of factly. My daughter’s response? “Yay!”. Thank you, Dr. Poulin. 
She had many frames from which to choose, many of which looked so cute on her that it was hard to choose just one!
I’m thankful that my daughter didn’ t have to lose half of one of her front teeth to find out that her vision wasn’t optimal.
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First pair of glasses, part 1
26 Jan 2012 3 Comments
in family, health, no fear, tweens Tags: daughters, family, first pair of glasses for kids, glasses, mothers, rites of passage, tweens
My first pair of glasses
I got my first pair of (many, many) glasses when I was twelve years old. I was playing tag in my grandmother’s yard (with a friend-who-was-a-boy) and so of course not only was I running around like a nut, I was also distracted. So first I was chasing Scotty, trying to tag him, and the next thing I knew I was on my butt in the grass, holding my mouth, bleeding.
I said, “Oh, crap!”
Scotty said, “Oh, bye!”
He left quickly.
What the hell happened? I had somehow managed to smash my mouth into the front of my father’s car, which was parked on the grass where we were playing. To my horror, as I went into the house to tell my mother what happened, I realized that I had shards of…what, tooth? Tooth! Shards of tooth were in my mouth! Not only had I gotten a fat lip from my “car crash”, but I’d also broken my front tooth.
My parents were more annoyed than sympathetic (this was gonna cost them). We didn’t have dental insurance so the fix was minimal (“I’ll just file it down so the sharp point from the tooth doesn’t puncture her tongue,” the dentist offered cheerfully). Worse than this was that the cause of the crash. I hadn’t crashed into the car because I was clumsy (well, not just because of that), as was first thought, but because I couldn’t see how close I was to it.
I was nearsighted.
The state provided my glasses. I had no choice about which frame I got since there was only one option: the lovely cat’s eyes that you see pictured above. Although my dad tried to be upbeat about it, there was really not one bit of excitement involved.
So, I’d lost half a tooth, but hey, I gained a pair of glasses soon thereafter.
Yay.
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Expensive (disposable?) electronics
24 Jan 2012 2 Comments
in quest for the best, Work from Home, writing Tags: bloggers, compaq presario desktop, computers, desktops, electronics, laptops, writing
The two most recent offenders
I had a Compaq Presario Desktop computer for more than 15 years, and it never stopped working. Well, except for that one time, when it caught a virus, but it recovered and never failed me again. Its only shortcoming? It was (a phenomenon with which so many of us who are aging are intimately familiar) getting slow, or slower, to be more precise (you know, in comparison to the younger–I mean newer–models).
In our household we’ve had 4 laptops (all different brands) live and die in under 4 years. What’s up with that?? Two of them have been repaired (for a few hundred dollars total) but the trust is now gone, you know what I mean? Like when your car doesn’t start for the first time…it’s hard to rely on it fully after that. You’re always on edge, waiting for it to let you down again.
Do any of you writers and bloggers out there have a computer (either a desktop or a laptop) that:
- has everything you need on it to do everything you want to do
- didn’t cost you your first-born child
- is reliable and
- that you love? or at least like most of the time?
If yes, then please, for the love of God, tell me the name of it!
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Pajama Day!
22 Jan 2012 2 Comments
in books, health, Midlife Crisis, movies, my one word, no fear Tags: "me" time, day off, mental health day, My One Word 2012, pajama day, rest, Valerie Bertinelli
I recently read a magazine article about Valerie Bertinelli ( Woman’s Day, I think; she was on the cover, if that helps) in which she describes a day that she spent in bed. Her husband was away travelling (I think), and of course she’s had an empty nest now for years, so there weren’t too many arrangements for her to make in advance. She gets a stack of magazines, books she has been wanting to read, movies she’s been wanting to see…then takes to her bed, staying in her jammies (duh) and even brings any meals right there to the bed for consumption.
I immediately started wondering how the heck to arrange a Pajama Day for me.
I found a day in March that looks promising.
“Now, if there were only closer opportunity for a mental health–I mean, pajama–day!” Then a funny thing happened…I got sick.
My stack of magazines is already assembled. My stack of books is already next to the bed (and the couch, and my desk) and currently I have not one, but two books that I am actively reading and loving. My movie list is already compiled on Netflix (not to mention my DVR queue that at this point is looking longer than my life). In fact, a movie that I have been dying to see for weeks had just (finally! finally!) arrived from Netflix and was there waiting for me.
I never get sick. Here was my perfect opportunity to take a pajama day, handed to me on a silver platter, and what did I do?
I went to work.
Stupid.
It’s hard to not be afraid to just focus on oneself.
Oh, I did use the fact that I was sick as a ‘get out of (going to the) gym free’ card. Just sayin’…
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Cardinal rule
19 Jan 2012 Leave a Comment
in books, no fear, writing Tags: editing my book, writing
I have a cardinal rule with books that stretches all the way back to my college years and here it is:
I never write in a book.
It feels like defacement to me to write in or on a book. I went through four years of college and two years of nursing school (not to mention countless hours of continuing education courses over the years) and never once highlighted so much as a word, penciled in so much as a line, in a textbook (or any other book, for that matter),
Perhaps you can imagine the emotional distress I’m feeling every day as I write in my book, my own book. The book that I wrote.
I’ve concluded that the best way to proceed (if I’m ever going to finish it) is to make the corrections directly on the pages of the proof copy.
It is the most reckless act in which I have engaged in years.
Okay, so that’s not really true, but you get the idea. ..I’m living on the edge here, people!
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Wicked good? Not!
17 Jan 2012 2 Comments
in (it's all about the) food, family, health, local fun, no fear, restaurants, Someone's gotta say it, tweens Tags: daughters, food, health, mothers, restaurants, tweens
Ew. Just...ew.
I recently visited a popular restaurant in Wells, one that I go to frequently. Usually I go with my husband but this time I was with my daughter. We went there on Saturday. My twelve-year-old picked the restaurant and was excited to be going out for lunch with her mom.
My preference is always to sit in a booth, but they were all filled, so we agreed to take one of three small, two-seater tables in the center aisle. Before we ordered a booth opened up to our right, and we asked our server if we could move there. “Sure, if it’s not spoken for already,” she said. “I’ll go check.” We watched her talk to a woman in a Wicked Good! sweatshirt who was making the judgment calls at the door in terms of who sat where.
After a few moments, our waitress returned, apologetic. “A larger party is waiting to sit there,” she said. Really? There was no one at the door. This is an establishment that does not take reservations. I say again, “Really?”
Okay, so we stay put. We order. The table sits vacant. Two more parties of two (women) come in, ask for the booth, and are given the same story by the girl at the door in the Wicked Good! sweatshirt. They take small tables like my daughter and I did.
But then….a party of two (wait for it….) men come in. At first, the Wicked Good! girl gives them the same story that the rest of us (women) got…but then she says, “Well, all right,” to them, and proceeds to sit this party of two (men) in the booth that my daughter and I couldn’t have (not to mention the other 4 women that asked for it).
Did I mention that it was two men who got the booth? I guess the Wicked Good! girl can’t do math. Hello? A party of two is not larger than a party of two.
To add insult to injury, when my fried seafood came, it was on a dirty plate.
Resolved!
15 Jan 2012 2 Comments
in (it's all about the) food Tags: coupons, eating out, ood shopping, resolutions
For 2012, I decided that I wanted to use more coupons when shopping, especially for food.
Okay, so I haven’t been using ANY coupons lately when food shopping.
It’s not my fault!!! I have the best of intentions!!!
I remove the circulars from the Sunday and sometimes Friday newspapers. I diligently cut out the ones for items I use and the ones that are for such good deals that whatever it is, it’s worth a try. I file them in the coupon organizer…or I would file them, if I could remember where I put it…so okay, I’ll just tuck them into an envelope for now, so I’ll have them when I go shopping. The envelope I shall tuck into my pocketbook, so I’ll have them when I shop. Or maybe I dropped the coupon envelope into the bag o’shopping bags that I keep in the care for food shopping(and other) purposes? Nope. Maybe it’s on my sun visor in the car? Hmmmm….where DID I put it?
Now, the restaurant ones, those I keep very good track of. They are all in my wallet. I think.
Well, for once I had (some of the) coupons I needed WHEN I needed them, and I saved $12.00 on stuff…wait for it…that I would have bought anyway!
Isn’t that really the key to successful couponing??
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Another book to read
11 Jan 2012 Leave a Comment
in books, Date night, Marriage, relationships, writing Tags: books, husbands and wives, Iris Krasnow, marriage, relationships, writing
The Secret Lives of Wives: Women Share What It Really Takes to Stay Married by Iris Krasnow
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I thought this book rocked. I was especially happy to find it when I did: at the end of my writing “How to Stay Married in Midlife” and launched the “Sharpen Your Knives” blog (http://sharpenyourknives.wordpress.com/), and not before or during that process. The book includes stories from women who have been married for a long time, and includes their strategies for having been able to stay married. Hint: some are sort of kinky. Iris sprinkles in anecdotes from her own marriage, about which I am not sure how I feel. It might have been okay if she had confined her marriage story to one chapter. Instead, she randomly sort of randomly puts in her two cents where maybe it isn’t needed. In some of the stories, the women retain their anonymity, in some they just let it all hang out. You get to hear from women who are in their 70′s and (yep) are still married. It’s really a quite hopeful, “You can do it!!” sort of a book. Definitely worth reading.
A very interesting book
09 Jan 2012 Leave a Comment
in (it's all about the) food, baking, books, family, friends Tags: books
Breaking Bread: Recipes and Stories from Immigrant Kitchens by Lynne Christy Anderson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I was mostly interested in the story told by the immigrant from Italy, and I was not disappointed. The woman’s words were very compelling to me. She talked about the difference between growing up in Italian culture, as she did, and growing up in American culture. She talks about American society as linear, and Italian society as more disorganized, messy. She concludes that this affects our neurological development. The example is shopping in supermarkets here that are laid out neatly in lines, and shopping for food in the Italian outdoor markets that are like noisy mazes. She feels that she, who grew up in Italy, has had a great benefit to her cognition that her son, who is growing up here, has not. She longs to take him to Italy. It made me long to go there too. This chapter alone made the book completely wonderful and worth reading for me. It essentially gave me a perspective on growth and development that I had never thought of before. Check this book out. Find YOUR chapter.
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Mary Ann Esposito’s new book
08 Jan 2012 Leave a Comment
in (it's all about the) food Tags: books, cookbooks, cooking, Italian, Mary Ann Esposito
Ciao Italia Family Classics: More than 200 Treasured Recipes from 3 Generations of Italian Cooks by Mary Ann Esposito
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
It’s by Mary Ann Esposito…what else do you really need to know? Well, here’s one thing: follow her on Facebook: she is quite generous with her tips and recipes!
