Optical Insurance Stimulus- And Bugs Going To Town

Here it is, Hump Day. Want to see something amusing? Of course you do, silly me!

This is a photo I took last summer with my Olympus. It's just a plain old point and click, but it's a nice one. I love it! Anyway, doesn't that photo just kind of make an amusing "Hump Day" photo? This is the cropped in version. Go ahead, click on it, and be in awe of the crazy detail in it.

Monday, the kids and I went in for eye exams. Joy! Well, kinda. Obviously Rae and I would need glasses. I was also pretty certain Chris would need glasses, too. Gillian I wasn't so sure on. Sometimes I notice her squinting, but not often.

Being cheap frugal, I was dreading this. We have no optical insurance. None. Zip, Zilch, Nada. Before, I always just went to Walmart's vision center with Raegan. Say what you will, but it was cheap, and the exam & glasses were always accurate. But even there, it's almost $50 just for each exam. That's a quick minute for $200 with 4 people getting exams.

Then, bless my doctor, I found out that our medical insurance covers 1 eye exam per year. Oh, how the angels have rejoiced! That means we had just a $10 co-pay for each appointment. From $200 to $40 in another quick, phone call verifying minute!

I found a place that took our insurance, and in we went. I already knew I would be ordering the glasses online from Zennioptical.com, because of how inexpensive they are. This gets back to that whole "no optical insurance" thing.

Of course, Chris and Gillian went hog wild looking at glasses while they waited their turns. I forgot just how expensive "real" eye doctor's can be. Gillian found the cutest little pair of purple cat eye frames... for $250. Just for the frames. No fancy, digital radio installed, no headlights, or windshield wipers. Just plastic frames.

Ouch.

In the end, Gillian does not need glasses. Yet. The doctor did say that she's clearly favoring one eye, which is a sure sign that she's going to be blind, like me. Why, oh why, did none of the kids get my husbands nearly perfect vision?

Chris, Raegan, and I did need new glasses, though. I got copies of the prescription, and we went on our way, thoughts of $8 glasses dancing in my head. At least for the kids.

The upside to $8 glasses-

• Eight. Dollars.
• Lenses Included
• Variety of Frames

The downside to $8 glasses-

• Picky kids
• Only SOME lenses included, others cost extra
• Variety of Frames

Chris found a pair for $10 he loved, and his prescription is small enough that there were no extra costs for lenses. He could just use standard lenses, no fancy poly carbonate, or high index, and no "extra strength" costs. See, if you have ever actually looked at the numbers for a prescription, they run a 20/20 basis- positive and negative, so -20 on up through +20. The closer it is to 0, the better. The negative numbers represent people who are near sited- people who can see close up, but not far away. Positive numbers represent people who are far sited- people who see far away, but need glasses for close up.

Anything after +6 or -6 is considered extra strength on Zennioptical.com. Raegan skated in with a -6 and a -6.25, which meant she needed extra strength, which tacked another $16 just for the lenses. It could be worse, I kept telling myself.

Mine? Oh, yeah, mine was bad. -10.5 on one eye, and -11.5 on the other. I've got some pretty bad vision going on, but on the plus side, she said that the prescription barely changed from what I am wearing, but that my astygmatism shifted, which caused changes in HOW my glasses prescription should be made. Not sure how, but she said it would help with my vision.

Ok, so I am rambling. I had this post planned where I talked about glasses, life, and Dollar Tree. Instead, I've rambled on and on about eye doctors and bugs going to town. Need a reminder? How about from a different angle?

In the end, I manged to order 3 pairs of regular eyeglasses and a 4th pair of prescription sunglasses for me (I have a wicked bad time with light sensitivity, so driving in the summer, or after fresh snow fall on a sunny day, is horrifying, and headache inducing), and it only cost me $137, after shipping.

Considering the last trip to Walmart was over $100 just for Raegan (that was frames, lenses, and the eye appointment), I consider this a saving grace.

I read on a review somewhere that Zennioptical is like the optical insurance stimulus. It allows people who otherwise might not be able to afford it, new glasses. I am in love. And, if the kids break, lose, or somehow get their glasses run over by a lawn mower (it happens, ask Raegan about her first ever pair of glasses sometime- that she had only had for a week), I can quickly, easily, and cheaply replace them. Score.

Happiness is Monday?

It's been a long few days. Friday, I spent the day in Grand Rapids with a good friend. I got to do some craft shopping (2 different Hobby Lobby's, 1 Big Lots, 1 Dollar Tree, and 1 Michael's stop), we ate lunch, we talked, we witnessed an accident by a dumb driver. It was a good day!

Saturday, Nick and I treated the kids to a day out. They all got some money from us, and they all had Christmas (and in Chris & Gilly's case, birthday) money left to spend. We ate out at Fire Mountain, normally a family favorite.

Sunday, Nick and I did grocery shopping. Big time stocking up groceries. We went out and piled it all in the car. Then, the car would not start. I'm no mechanic, but I'm almost certain the starter went on it. We have electrical, but there isn't a sound when we try to turn the engine over. -sigh- Thankfully, we have an excellent, dependable, affordable mechanic who lives across the street from us. Lucky for us, he always cuts us a break. I reward him with baked goods anytime we make something, and every time we have car problems. This morning, I delivered half a dozen fresh baked Raspberry Vanilla cupcakes. He thanked me, then had them for breakfast, and told me they were excellent. ;)

I also cost us some money, though, because I am horrible at remembering to pay insurance on time. Every single time. I'm rotten at it. I don't know why. I wish I were better at it. Insurance is the one bill I can't pay online. I have to pay it in person. It gets brushed off, and it wound up accidentally getting canceled. -sigh- Not proud of it. I called for roadside assistance, and found we did not have any due to the cancellation. So, that cost us $50 in a tow truck. Then, it cost us more this morning when I reinstated it, due to fees. I cost myself the Cricut, cause I don't feel right spending the money on a "toy", when it was my fault that insurance lapsed.

Blah.

We got hit with a massive storm last night. We were supposed to get 3-5" over night, and another 3-4" today during the day. We wound up with closer to 9" over night, and it's still coming down heavy. School was canceled today, and I'm kind of glad, since my car is in the neighbor's garage right now. I've been driving Gilly to school the past two weeks because.. well, I hate, hate, hate standing outside in the snow cold. Cold wind at 8 am sucks.

Last year, the kids walked to school, because there is an elementary school 2 blocks down the road. They closed that building at the end of last school year, so now, Gilly goes to school in a building 2 miles away. I never minded walking, because I was constantly moving. Standing still in the wind, snow, and cold really sucks. Anyway, I was not looking forward to waiting outside today. The stop is almost 2 blocks away, so no way to wait inside and watch for the bus. I would never see it in time. And, since it tends to run late in the winter when the roads are bad, the worst days for waiting are the ones we wait the longest.

Plus, Gilly's the only girl, and then there are 2 boys who are there every day except sick days. Aside from that, there are 3 other boys who vary what days they are there, because the mom of one of the boys baby sits them some days. 1 of the "regular" boys, and 2 of the baby sitting boys are... rough. And they tease, and mock, and generally drive me and Gilly both nuts.

What else...

So I did a craft this morning, in bed with my heated blanket, after shoveling the sidewalk and steps. I left the driveway for now, even though it'll only get worse. It's too hard to shovel, and the neighbor told me that if he can find one of his friends who can plow him out today, he'll have them do our driveway as well, so I'm hoping that'll happen.

Otherwise, I will have to do it before Nick gets home. There is no way he'll be able to get into the driveway otherwise. The city plows covered the entrance with thick, heavy, deep snow from the street. His tiny car won't make it over that hump.

It took Nick over an hour to get to work. He tried seeing if he could work from home, but his boss is being stubborn. A lot of people in his department have been getting breaks on PTO, not having to report PTO used, leaving early, etc. Nick, however, gets zapped for even a half an hour if he's late to work. Even worse, he's never late. He is seriously the only person there most days at 8, and more often than not, he is there 15 minutes before work starts. So, he got nailed today for the time he was late. Figures.

Blah.

I did a craft from bed today, as I started to say up above, 3 paragraphs above. Then got sidetracked. I do that a lot. I think, rather than posting the craft in this already way-to-long post, I'll do a new post for that. It's a cute wreath, though, for St. Patty's day. Unfortunatly, it's an indoor wreath. It'd be so stinking cute on my front door, but it's too wet outside for it.