Living Room Re-Do

We bought our home in 2005, after renting for 18 months, and when we moved in, we painted every single room. Most rooms were a light blue that skewed "baby blue," although it didn't look that way when we picked out the paint. My husband's home office (his Man Cave, if you choose to call it that) is a gorgeous Crown Royal Purple. My home office is a warm beige. The living room was a bold blue, like the blue on an American flag. The hallway was just a neutral warm off-white/ivory. 

Fast forward twenty years (to 2021), and all of the rooms are still the same color! You just get used to what you have, and making changes becomes harder and harder as you live in, and fill up, your spaces. But at some point last year, I decided that I wanted to paint the living room and buy a new couch, an honest-to-God Living Room Set so that the loveseat matched the couch and it looked like a magazine. A little Donna Reed? Maybe... but we got more than 15 years out of our slouchy Big Lots couch and I wanted a new one! 

So I started looking, narrowed it down to a few choices, then dragged Hubby to both Badcock and Ashley to sit on the finalists. As we sat on our choice, we began to talk logistics... when did we want to get them? How much would they cost? Should we paint first? And then... He suggested that since we were moving furniture anyway, we should get new carpet. 

And damn, he was right, but what a can of worms this became! See, a few years ago, we had to get a new AC system and new ducts, which meant that we had to drop the entire ceiling of the house in the hallway. We never really finished repairing it, just putting up the drywall and mudding the seams. A new AC vent had to be cut into the living room ceiling, and the old vent (in the living room wall) had to be closed up. We got as far as closing the old one, but the new one is still just a hole in the ceiling. 

So as I realized that, if we were going to paint, if we were going to get carpet, I needed to fix all the other little things in the main house! Just off the top of my head, we had to:

• Get rid of the old stinky loveseat (Clover had some recent incontinence issues) 
• Texturize and paint the hallway ceiling
• Patch over the old AC vent
• Remove crown molding in the living room
• Paint the hallway and trim
• Paint the living room and trim
• Paint the dining room and trim
• Paint the ceilings in living room, dining room, and hallway
• Mount the TV and install cable management
• New carpet in living room, dining room, and hallway
• New furniture (couch, loveseat, and ottoman)
• New window dressings
• New entertainment center / storage / tv area

Now, to do this, I needed the use of my daughter's old bedroom. The plan was to move a lot of the old accent furniture (like side tables and such) into her room, to reuse it as a Guest Bedroom. However, Hubby decided that he also wanted to re-do his home office (I did mine a few years ago), so he started moving stuff out of his room and into the guest bedroom - his idea was to move everything out, re-do his office, sort everything in the guest room and bring it back in. My idea (and how I did my re-do) was to sort as I moved so that when I was ready to put my office back together, everything I didn't want was already gone, either in the trash or donated. Basically, he created extra work for himself and completely blocked me from doing what I needed to do. After nagging him about it for months, he realized that my way was better, BUT DIDN'T MOVE HIS STUFF, le sigh. So now, I have a guest room that is full of my daughter's old furniture, and Hubby's office stuff, with no room for me to do what I need to do! I gave up on the original plan by June and just barreled ahead with getting done whatever I could get done. 

We took the stinky loveseat out to the curb, and repurposed the loveseat that was currently in my home office, moving it to the living room for extra seating.  I spent a day finishing and texturing the ceiling of the hallway. I spray painted the old, weirdly-sized AC return vent a nice bright white so that it looked clean and new. I used some spackling compound to texturize the classic 70s wood paneling on the AC closet (you can see where I over-texturized the grooves in the paneling, but it still looks better than before). 

AC Closet Wall and Repurposed Shelf

I spent way too much time trying to decide what wall color I wanted... It had to be the same color in all three rooms, to tie the areas together. I wanted it to be bright to make the interior look bigger. It had to match the gorgeous Pecky Cypress walls in the living and dining rooms. Eventually I settled on a color called "Online," by Valspar. I thought it was an apropos name, seeing as though both of us are computer nerds! 

Old Hallway w/Old Carpet, testing Paint Colors (we chose the 2nd one)
(Hubby's Office to the Left, Guest Room Center)

Once I got the paint, I spent the next day or so absolutely transforming this hallway. It was a small area, so it was easy to do, and the payoff was inspiring. I was able to camouflage a lot of dings and dents in the walls, and I used a tiny brush to paint straight lines where there was no crown molding, giving me a crisp delineation between ceiling and wall. I repainted an old shelf that I had in my bedroom with leftover tester paint (the top color in the photo, above), put on some Contact Paper to hide some damage, and it fit perfectly in the little nook by the AC closet. then I hung up a new coat rack, and two picture ledges from IKEA and filled it with photos. These shelves also do a good job of hiding the old doorbell chime box, which doesn't work any more. 

It already looks so much better, even with this nasty carpet!

The AC closet has a louvered bi-fold door, and I still need to paint that, as well as the two bedroom doors and the bathroom door; I plan to do the same color as the walls, with white trim, similar to the door you see a few photos above. 

That skinny bit of wall is just begging for some photos!

The hallway stayed as the only thing done, as summer turned into fall, and I was just running out of energy. I wanted it done, but life (and his stuff) was getting in the way. 

Around my birthday, I had some time - and some energy - so it was time to work on the Living Room. I decided to just completely remove the crown molding from the wall that used to have the AC vent in it. It was the only wall that had molding anyway, and when they installed the vent (back in the 19-whatevers), they cut into the molding, and there was no way I could fix it. So, I pulled it out and patched up the damage. I pulled down the 20-year old mini-blinds. And then I worked my magic with this gorgeous blue-grey paint. It just felt so refreshing and transformative! I spilled a bunch on the carpet, but fortunately, we would have new carpet soon, so who cared! Again, I went around the edges of the wall with a small brush to really cut in and create that clean separation between the wall and ceiling. (Update: Over the past few months I'm realizing that I never did a second coat of paint, lol! Some of the dark blue is starting to show through, and I'll probably have to run a roller over the walls again in a year or so... Lesson learned, don't be lazy!)

The following weekend, I did the dining room wall (only one wall is paint; the other three are wood panels) and all the baseboards and trim work in the whole space. That is what made me feel old... I'm not flexible enough to sit on the floor for hours painting baseboards, you guys! The weekend after that, I painted the ceilings, and WOW!! Either they previous owners never painted the ceilings, or it wasn't white to begin with, but the contrast between the old ceiling and the new ceiling was drastic! Between the new walls and new ceiling, I was beginning to get my "Magazine Cover" feeling. 

The difference in ceiling color is amazing (left is old, right is new)

At this point, I realized that if we wanted to have everything done by Christmas (which was the original plan), we had to get moving. I went out in the beginning of November to shop and settled on a local company. They guaranteed me that they'd be able to have it installed before Thanksgiving. That didn't quite happen, but we had finished just a few days after. So, I had to pack up everything in the Living and Dining rooms, including taking everything off shelves - and as many of you know, my dining room is basically an extension of my kitchen; it's a huge pantry, and place where we drop our stuff. So for a week, we just had boxes of dry food in our bedroom, lol! The installers were absolute beasts. They moved everything out of the living room first and put it in the dining room so that they could install the living room and hallway. Then they moved everything from the dining room back into the living room, putting it right where I told them to put it (I didn't have to move it again). When they finished the dining room, they put everything back where it belonged. I'd estimate they were there for about 6 hours. And you guys... the difference was ah-mah-zing. Going from 20+ year old Berber carpet to this thick and luscious carpet just made my whole body sigh. Why didn't we do this sooner? I just wanted to lay down and make snow angels. When hubby got home and felt it, we knew immediately that we need to save up to do the rest of the house! So that's a big project for 2023 or 2024... Maybe after he finishes his own DIY project! (Future Lazy Lady here, in June 2024, to report that nothing has changed, with regards to his project...)

For the three spaces (carpet & padding), including removal of old carpet, moving furniture, and installation of new carpet, we paid $3500. Good deal? I don't know. Am I happy with my carpet? Absolutely!

So, finally, FINALLY, after a year, I could finally order my new living room set! I got a couch, a loveseat, and an ottoman. I paid for the expensive delivery service, but it turns out that that didn't mean that the guys would take our old stuff! We still had to take out our old stuff. Pissed me off, because that was the whole damn reason we paid extra! I'm too old to be moving furniture, lol. But we got it out with no strained muscles or stubbed toes. Delivery and 'installation' of the new furniture was very easy, and we were chillin' on our new couches within an hour. They're less "schlumpy" than our older couches, but that's what I wanted. Nothing a throw pillow can't fix! I wanted a cleaner, modern line, and I think these fit the bill nicely. And they're a dark grey slate color, so if we spill food on them (and we will), it won't show. And when Clover scratches the hell out of (which she will), we also got the Protection Plan so we can get it fixed. 

But we're not done yet! Now it's time to address the windows. I ordered some custom-sized black-out roller blind shades, and picked up some sheers and valance curtains from Amazon. I originally bought some "mod" looking curtain rods, too, but I couldn't install them all the way to the ceiling like I wanted (not enough room to slide onto the mount), so I spent way too much at Home Depot for some curtain rods (in the end, though, these feel much sturdier, and they're much prettier). We did the blinds first, which was both easier and harder than expected. We kept getting the measurements wrong, and having to take the brackets down and fix the spacing. Then we realized we put one of them on upside down, so we had to take it down, flip it around, and put it back up. Doing this screwed something up and it didn't roll anymore! (We reached out to Blindster after Christmas and got a replacement). After that, we hung up the curtain rods, and put on the curtains, and damn if our living room didn't look GOOD! We plopped onto the new couch, put our feet on the new ottoman, and called it a night!

Even Clover agrees that everything looks good!

My big hope was to show off all my hard work to both the Kiddo and to my mom when they visited for Christmas. We ordered our new living room set and it was delivered just a few days before the holiday. Unfortunately, mom never came over (there was some DRAH-MA attached to that...), but the Kiddo loved all the changes! 

After the new year (now in 2023), we got the new blind from Blindster delivered and installed, and I picked up a few Kallax shelves from IKEA. I wanted to do a 1x4, a2x4, and a 1x4, but when I bought them I ended up with three 2x4s. 

Original plan - room for TV to wall-mount in the middle

I think it worked out, though, because it makes the TV area a little less symmetrical and interesting. The additional 2x4 (since it wouldn't fit on the LR wall, which was the whole reason I was using 1x4s to begin with!) now lives in our bedroom, holding random stuff. Back in the living room, I got some drawers for the Kallax, as well as some big bins, and (when they're back in stock), I'll pick up some shelf inserts. I have tons of storage that I honestly don't know what to do with! Two bins hold throw blankets, one bin holds DVDs, one for cat toys, one for a little carpet cleaner (a must!) Probably half of the drawers are still empty, which is great. 

There's a planter next to the hallway now, as well as some fake flowers on the shelf

I found a great round tray at Pop Shelf to hold some fake flowers, and to soften all of the angles of the living room, and I've discovered that I can keep plants alive! I have a handful right now that I'm keeping alive, despite being nibbled on repeatedly by Clover. 

At this point, it's just a matter of "floofing" the place... We need to hang up pictures and art, and put up a few more lights. I bought a big pendant lamp from IKEA but I need to call an electrician to fix the outlet that doesn't seem to work (it's always something around here...) Maybe a few more picture ledges from Ikea?

Until then, here's some Before and After photos! 

BEFORE: Dark, heavy, cave-like
AFTER: Bright, airy, calming (even with fewer lamps)

BEFORE: Bright blue, beat up, sad
AFTER: Serene blue, fresh, cheerful

The Results were Minteresting!!

I feel like I've been neglecting you, my tiny little blog! Hubs and I have started making YouTube videos, where we try new foods or drinks, and we've been having lots of fun. 

A few weeks ago, I'd picked up a few different containers of ice cream, to munch on while I recovered from Lasik. Then I got a wild hair that we should make a video where we compare tons of different mint (or mint-adjacent) ice cream flavors, so I picked up the following flavors to try, amassing 13 total flavors to try:

• Tillamook Mint Chocolate Chip
• Prestige It's Mint to Be Creme de Menthe Ice Cream (Winn-Dixie store brand)
• Blue Bell Peppermint Bark
• Talenti Mediterranean Mint Gelato
• Great Value Mint Chip Ice Cream
• Van Leeuwen Artisan French Peppermint Stick Ice Cream
• Scoops Ahoy Mint Flare Ice Cream
• Breyer's Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream
• Mayfield Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream
• Häagen Dazs Mint Chip
• Häagen Dazs Peppermint Bark
• Publix Premium Peppermint Stick Ice Cream
• Publix Premium Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream

So with a ton of ice cream, we sat down and stuffed ourselves silly with ice cream (and gelato). I had a few preconceived ideas going in to this tasting, some of which got blasted out of the water! Before trying anything, I stated that my favorite mint chocolate chip is Breyer's, and my favorite peppermint is Publix Premium Peppermint Stick Ice Cream. 

So what were our findings? On first taste of each, we said: 

Breyer's Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream

No green food coloring, it's the best, it's so freakin' good

Scoops Ahoy Mint Flare Ice Cream

Tastes like a Baskin Robins flavor, fake but not bad, no chemical aftertaste, overall meh 

Van Leeuwen Artisan French Peppermint Stick Ice Cream

Real pink, not fake pink, unpleasant artificial aftertaste, I'd eat it if someone gave it to me

Mayfield Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream

Bright fake green, tastes weird, tasted like "freezer," both of us made faces when we tasted it, had a fluffy texture with little shards of chocolate (instead of chunks)

 

Publix Premium Peppermint Stick Ice Cream

It's mellow and minty with little red and green mint candies, no weird aftertaste; fluffier than Breyer's, but not better than Breyer's 

Prestige It's Mint to Be Creme de Menthe Ice Cream

Tasty, not a lot of mint, but good texture with little mint chocolate cup pieces

Talenti Mediterranean Mint Gelato

Green, but not a fake green; bad aftertaste, didn't taste minty - did being gelato skew the flavor? I remember this being much tastier in the past, or does it taste bad now, in comparison to the other flavors? 

 

Häagen Dazs Mint Chip

Very tasty, with flat chunks of dark chocolate, good texture, very highly rated

Publix Premium Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream

Green, looks similar to Mayfield with shards of chocolate; not much flavor (like "Hint o' Mint"); you only know it's mint because it's green

Great Value Mint Chip Ice Cream

It's a pretty light green, not very minty, much lighter in weight when compared to Häagen Dazs Mint Chip, tastes like "buck & a half" ice cream

 

Tillamook Mint Chocolate Chip

Big pieces of chocolate that feels soft, naturally minty (still faint), chocolate has weird aftertaste 

Häagen Dazs Peppermint Bark 

Good, but different from all the others; Hubby liked this over the Peppermint Bark (I liked this more)

Blue Bell Peppermint Bark

There's no peppermint bark or chocolate at the top of the container, which made tasting the entire ice cream difficult, though when you do get a piece of bark, it's a nice substantial size; on second taste, we both liked Häagen Dazs Peppermint Bark much better

And our final ratings, from worst to first:

• 

  Talenti Mediterranean Mint Gelato
  
• Great Value Mint Chip Ice Cream
• Scoops Ahoy Mint Flare Ice Cream
  
• Van Leeuwen Artisan French Peppermint Stick Ice Cream
• Mayfield Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream
• Publix Premium Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream
• Tillamook Mint Chocolate Chip
• Blue Bell Peppermint Bark
• Publix Premium Peppermint Stick Ice Cream
  
• Häagen Dazs Peppermint Bark 
• Prestige It's Mint to Be Creme de Menthe Ice Cream
• Häagen Dazs Mint Chip

Which means that Breyer's Mint Chocolate Chip is the winner and still the #1 Mint Chocolate Chip ice cream in my world! 

 

Am I surprised by this ranking? A little, actually... Going into this, I thought that Talenti and Van Leeuwen would be much higher, and I expected the Prestige to be pretty bad. I was surprised that the Mayfield was as bad is it was, when I truly love their Vanilla recipe. But with Breyer's and Publix, I'm not shocked to see them rise so high to the top. 

(Hi there, Lazy Lady from June 2024... I still have so much ice cream in my freezer! Breyer's, both Publix, and HD Mint are all still there, staring at me. We've eaten everything else, even the Talenti and Van Leeuwen and Great Value. They were definitely bottom of the barrel, but I hate letting food go to waste!)

 

The Wetter, the Better - LASIK and the Following Days

I think something went wrong during my laser eye surgery… 

I can see just fine but I can’t figure out how to shoot the lasers

I kid, of course. Let's back up. 

On Tuesday, I scheduled a Lyft to take us to Eye Associates, as well as scheduling a pizza delivery for Wednesday night (I didn't know how I'd feel afterward and I certainly wasn't gonna cook!) I set my watch alarm for 5:30am, but didn't sleep well; I was too wound up. Both of us were fully awake and ready to go by 6:30am. I ate a little bit of breakfast, as instructed (so the Xanax didn't irritate my stomach), and dressed in a comfy outfit (leggings, oversized hoodie, and sneakers). Our Lyft driver showed up early and we arrived at Eye Associates before they were even officially open!

...but so ready!

What other socks would be as appropriate?

Once inside, I officially paid for my procedure, with a single credit-card swipe for $3,360 (oof, that hurt) then tried to sit calmly in the lobby. As painful as it was to make that payment, I had to remind myself that it covered the pre-op, procedure, and four follow-up visits, as well as amazing customer service by everyone involved). Oh, and because I used a credit card with rewards, I earned $33 in rewards (and I'll use my FSA to pay back the credit card). 

$2,880 paid via FSA (installments via paycheck)      $480 "Out of Pocket" Paid

I got called back around 7:15am, where a very calm and reassuring nurse covered my hair with a cap and put some paper booties on my feet. She washed my orbital/eye area (eyebrows to upper cheeks) and gave me to "magic pills" (which I assume was the Xanax, but I don't know the dose). I was left on a slightly uncomfortable stretcher for about a half-hour while I chilled out to let the Xanax kick in. 

No stray hairs allowed!

Booties over Keds - all the kids are wearing it this way

The nurses came back to check on me a few times. At one point, Dr. W came by and put some Naphcon-A drops in my eyes; it's not something that everyone needs, but he was worried about bleeding during the procedure, so better safe than sorry!). They also gave me the numbing drops at this point. He asked if I was nervous, and I said yeah, but I'm not trying to think about it, so they gave me another pill (uh... okay!) Weirdly, I never felt my eyes go numb. I guess because you don't feel your eyes to begin with, you wouldn't feel them go numb, either...

Maybe five minutes after this, they walked me into the Lasik room. I remember that it was big, but all I could focus on was the actual bed/machine. The room was large (seemed too large, really) and there were different pieces of furniture or tables in the room (like surgical stuff), but all I could focus on was this smaller than I was expecting but still huge bed. Flat as hell, with a C-shaped apparatus at the head of the table. I was instructed to lay on the bed with my head under the C-arm. I was given a bolster to put under my knees to help with back strain, and then they began to move the bed to get me centered under the lasers and lights. I kept wanting to tip my head back and raise my chin, but Dr. W kept telling me to tuck my chin down (yeah, double-chin!). Eventually with the help of an additional little pillow, they got me where I needed to be. 

There was one nurse to the right of me who was narrating the entire thing for me, telling me what to do, which was great - it eliminated any surprises that might startle me. As we began, all I had to do was just look at the green dot in the C-arm. They taped my left eye closed and then put a patch over it to keep it moist, and ensure that I wouldn't see anything or have the urge to blink. On my right eye, Dr. W had me look up toward my forehead so that he could use a super-secure sticker-type thing to hold my eyelid open. Then I looked down toward my chin so he could pull my bottom lid down. Once the two lids were open wide, he inserted a spreader that rested on the stickers and tightened it to keep my eye open wide (imagine A Clockwork Orange, but with less violence). As I sat there with my eyeball out to the world, they used ample amounts of irrigation solution (sterile water) to keep my eyeball moist. 

If you get squeamish about eyeball stuff, you might want to just scroll on down until you get to the funny Cat video down there... I'm going to be as detailed as possible! Ready? Ready. Let's keep going. 

Click for More Info

The C-arm above my head had eight bright white lights, two red dots (which I assumed were the actual lasers), and a green light. My entire job for the next 15 minutes was to stare at this green light, unless Dr. W told me to do otherwise. It was cool as hell, too... I was seeing lots of weird shapes and bad-ass fucking fractals (though to be fair... I may have been tripping out because of the Xanax). As I stared at the green light, I was told that I was going to feel some pressure. This was the part I was most worried about, because I didn't know how much pressure I'd feel, and I was worried that it would cause a migraine once this was all over (it didn't). And honestly, it wasn't much more pressure than what you'd feel when you rub your eyes after a long day. The pressure came from an instrument that I envisioned to look like a cup on a stick, with the cup... well, cupping my eye. This instrument is what was cutting a flap on the surface of my eyeball. As they put it on, they said that my vision would begin to disappear and yeah, it totally did! My field of vision started to shrink, from the outside in, like an old-school TV that was turning off, until there was just a super-tiny pinpoint left. I could see vague shadows for a minute, but eventually that disappeared too. It was weird as hell to see vague shadows in your vision when you know your eye is wide open, and kind of trippy, too. 

Once the flap was created, there was some quiet buzzing, which was the laser, then a burning smell! They may have told me, or I might have assumed, but I'm pretty sure the smell was the laser actually reshaping my cornea (I just googled it, and apparently it wasn't burning anything; the smell was the chemical reaction from the reshaping). With the cornea reshaped, my flap was put back, and I could begin to see the lights again, and went right back to staring at the green light. Dr. W shone a light sideways across the surface of my eye to ensure that the flap had seated correctly. When he was satisfied with the flap location, he started brushing my eye with something white. My brain imagined a tiny silicone spatula frosting a cake. The nurse didn't narrate this part, but I'm assuming that they're kind of smoothing the flap back down so it can begin to reattach and heal. The whole time that he was stroking my eyeball, he was squirting more drops into my eye and then timing it (I remember him asking a nurse for the time at one point). Then he'd repeat the process - wipe, drops, wipe, drops, wipe, drops. Once he finished the wiping and dropping, that eye was done! They proceeded to repeat the process on the left eye (spread it, cut the flap, laser the eye, wipe/drop/wipe, done). Seriously, that was soooo much easier than I was expecting! (I found out later, that in between eyes, someone was nice enough to go out to the lobby to let Hubby know that they'd finished one eye already and were moving on to the next). 

When both eyes were done, and released from the Clockwork Orange spreaders, they sat me up and walked me over to the Split Lamp machine (where you put your chin in it) so he could get a good close-up look at his handiwork. He said that everything looked great, then took me next door to a recovery room while a nurse when to get Hubby. Dr. W said that there were no issues, everything went well, and left us with the nurse, who gave us my post-op instructions. I was instructed to go home and sleep (yes, please) and wear a pair of goggles at all times for the next 24 hours, even when sleeping and around the house. Also, don't rub my eyes (hard to do in goggles), use the prescription drops every two hours, and just rest my eyes as much as possible. I was scheduled to come back the following morning for the first of four follow-up visits. 

I have never felt sexier than this moment

The entire event, from getting there that morning, to getting in the Lyft to go home, was under three hours. The surgery itself was probably ten minutes per eye. Maybe fifteen. 

Welcome back! Let's continue. 

When we got home, I crawled back into bed, as instructed, and at first, I didn't think I was going to be able to sleep; 1) because the goggles suck, and 2) my brain was going a mile a minute. But next thing I knew, it was noon, Hubby was waking me up to check on me, and encourage me to do my eye drops. I went back to sleep for another hour or so, but finally had to drag my ass out of bed at 2pm. Seriously... the BEST sleep I've had in YEARS... I totally understand why people like Xanax now! 

Anyway, out of bed, I just futzed around the rest of the day (still in my super-sexy goggles, of course!). I sat on my ass and watched stupid stuff on YouTube and surfed the internet. I ate pizza for dinner and cake for dessert, watched silly TV, and passed out HARD by 9:30. 

So, this cake is masterful...
Not only does it have the Googly Eyes and funny eye puns, but also...
the writing is pink, like Pink Eye!

The following morning, I was able to drive us over to the office. I was still seeing some stars and haloes around headlights, but was later assured that these should go away in a month or so. They tested my vision again and said it was 20/20-2 (this means that I missed 2 out of 5 letters on the 20/20 vision line). Dr. W checked my eyes again with the Slit Lamp machine and said that everything was looking exactly like it should. I will need to continue my eyedrops for the next week, wear the googles while I sleep for the next week, and refrain from anything that would strain my yes (like pooping too hard or weightlifting, but I was given the okay to participate in the Carry Forward 5k this weekend). I was given a paper to carry in my car, in case I have an encounter with law enforcement who inquires about the "corrective lenses" endorsement on my driver's license. Eventually, I'll need to change that with the DHSMV, but I'll do that when my license is due for renewal in a few years. On the way home, I picked up a bagel from a local bakery and a big ass soda from Circle K. I spent the rest of the day dropping my eyes, trying not to touch my eyes, and zoning out to YouTube (I'm so bored!) I got some laundry done too, taking advantage of the time away from work. On Saturday, I did the Carry Forward 5k in Jax, and besides one bout of dry eyes, I had no issues. 

During the week after the procedure, I've been putting drops in my eyes four times a day, plus using a preservative-free type of eye drop called iVizia to combat dryness, which is a major issue after Lasik. I've definitely noticed an increase in dryness as I get further away from the surgery. 

But... let's talk about these goggles. They suck. They SUCK. I know they're needed, and I understand why they're needed. But they put pressure on my face in a way that instantly triggers headaches for me. And in an attempt to avoid that pressure, I am apparently sleeping in weird positions that put strain on my neck, which - you guessed it - triggers headaches. I've been dealing with constant headaches for the last three days thanks to these things. Also, because my eyes are trying to get used to their new normal, they feel very tired. Imagine a camera that has auto-focus, how it goes in and out of focus constantly trying to get a clear picture... that's what I feel my eyes are doing, and it's tiring. And headache-inducing, lol. 

At my one-week follow up yesterday, we did all the testing again, and I was told that I was looking excellent. I stated that I felt like my vision got a little worse, and Dr. W stated that it might be because of dryness... If eyes feel dry, they've been dry. So I should increase my use of eye drops - the wetter, the better, he said! I don't have to use the prescription drops anymore, nor the goggles (thank God), and I can start wearing eye makeup again, like mascara. It's also safe to allow water near my eyes, such as washing my face or showering. No swimming for quite a while! 

I'll go back after Thanksgiving for my one-month follow up, and then in early March for my three-month (and final) follow up. I've been advised that whatever vision I have in March will be what I have forever. The stars and haloes should clear up, but may not go away completely. I'll still need readers, but I've been rocking those for years already anyway. 

So, the verdict? Am I happy that I did this? ABSOLUTELY. It's only been a few weeks and I have the same vision I had with my contacts, but none of the bullshit problems I had with those. Every day I feel like my vision is getting incrementally better. I'll see something and think, could I see that the day before? or was that sign always there? I'm hopeful that my night vision improves, but I've had stars and haloes for so long, I don't think I'd know what to do without them, lol!

And lastly, I'm wildly happy that I chose to stay local and go with Eye Associates of Gainesville! Everyone at EAoG knows my name and took care of both me AND Hubby while we were there. There were no coupons or sales, but for the price I paid, the service and quality cannot be beat. I'd recommend EAoG to anyone in the blink of an eye. #NotSponsored, I promise. They're just that good! 

I'll leave you with a few more jokes, including the one I told everyone at the doctor's office while I was loopy on Xanax!

 

Where do rabbits get their eyes checked?
--At the HOPtometrist! 

What do you call a clumsy ophthalmologist?
--An Eye Dropper!

Wounded Warrior Project Carry Forward 5k Race Report

This'll be a super tiny race report, mostly because I forgot all about it! I've been focusing so much on my Lasik surgery, I didn't even realize I'd registered for this until it popped up on my calendar a few weeks ago! Whoops! 

We Still Miss Each and Every One of You

Anyway, I got the okay from Dr. Sweeney that I could do it, so I headed to Jax and walked a 5k with almost two thousand other folks. Everything was fine except for one issue of severe dry eye... I'm still so new to this "good eyeball" thing that I didn't even think to tuck some eye drops into my pocket. Ever try to walk down the road with your eyes closed? I don't recommend it. 

Here's just some random photos from my morning. Finished in about 58 minutes. 

Masses of bodies all over

Ready to walk on this chilly November morning

So many people!

He pulled a TIRE and still beat me!

We all earned the same medal, though

Afterward, I had a thoroughly pathetic breakfast at Whataburger (the biscuit was good, the chicken was not), then I spent way too much time and money at Hobby Lobby and Dollar Tree (it's Christmas DIY time!)

Honey Butter Chicken Biscuit & Hash Brown Sticks

Now, it's time for me to give my eyeballs some more time to get better!

Taking My Contacts Out... For the Final Time!

Back in the day, School Nurses actually did a lot of real work. One thing they did was annual Vision and Hearing checks. When I got my vision checked, she told me that I needed glasses. I never knew my vision was bad! On the way to get glasses, my dad pointed out a far away road sign and told me to say when I could see it clearly. We got closer, closer, closer, until it was almost parallel to the car before I could crisply and cleanly see the speed limit sign. I said so, and he whistled under his breath. Yeah, I needed glasses. So, I spent the last 2 years of high school in some dorky wire-rimmed glasses. 

I miss that gloriously thick hair (The guy? Not so much)

I also had them in my first year of college, and I can confirm that guys DO make passes at girls who wear glasses, because I got married to a hot guy that year. 

Today I Learned that this phrase is actually a poem by Dorothy Parker!

I used some of my student loan money in my second year of college to finally get contacts, and man, I never went back to glasses! So easy to wear, I was never 'blind' again! I wore them all the time, longer than I was supposed to, even sleeping in them every night. The only downside was that they were expensive back then! And we were pretty poor when we first got married. So I started hoarding them; instead of throwing them away at the end of the week, I'd clean them and put them into rotation. I'd wear two pair, rotating them every week, until they irritated my eyes so much I had to rip them out and throw them away. I did this for years, even after the need to hoard and save money had gone away. It was just habit at this point. 

Over the past few years, though, I don't know what changed, but I would start to get irritated eyes much easier than I used to. It felt like at least once every few months, I had to take a contact out and suffer through a day or two of an eye infection. Like, the logical part of me knew that it was all my fault that I was suffering, because I didn't change my contacts, but it was just such an ingrained habit that I never changed what I did. 

Around 2020, I started thinking seriously about Lasik. A lady I know at work had it done, and she told me about it - and how much it cost - and I realized that it was something I could probably do! I'd always thought that Lasik would require multiple days of me being laid up, not being able to see, not being able to function as a human, and not being able to be the boss of the family (you know, the cooking, the cleaning, the Mom's Taxi?) But I was wrong! 

And, then, of course... Covid happened. Shit got weird and I put thoughts of Lasik on the back burner until 2022. At that point, I made a plan to get it done in 2023. I set up a larger limit on my FSA (Flexible Spending Account) to cover the cost. I picked out some dates on my calendar to aim for. 

And then, 2023 happened. I got as far as going to the initial consultation to see if I even qualified to get Lasik, but after that, all hell broke loose, and there was no way I could take the time to deal with my eyes. Plus, because of some of my own health issues, I had to use up a lot of my FSA funds on other things. So I readjusted my plans, refilled my FSA and set a concrete plan for Lasik in the fall. 

And here we are! I've worn glasses or contacts for the past 30 years. And now... I've taken my contacts out for the very last time. It was a little sad, honestly? Like, it's it's been a part of my life for all of adulthood. And now? I can just throw it away with a little flick of my finger. It doesn't seem real yet, honestly. 

For the next week, just like for the pre-op time, my eyes will relax and go back to 'normal' before I go in for my Laser Eyes, and I join the ranks of People Who Don't Need Glasses. 

And I'll leave you with these parting words:

Your eyes aren't even real... they're just in your head!

Lasik Pre-Op

After finally thinking about it for more than two years, I am FINALLY getting Lasik this year! I had my consultation back in March, and because 2023 has been an absolute bitch, it got postponed until fall, mostly because I had to move it to the new fiscal year, to be able to use my FSA money. 

The consult back in March was a very basic exam, but the pre-op, which I had done yesterday, was a much more in-depth kind of exam. I had to remove my contacts a week ago, so that my eyes could go back into a natural resting state. I've had to wear some old glasses, which has been frustrating, especially while driving. Reading has been great though... don't need readers! 

Hubby came to the pre-op with me, so that he'd hear all the instructions. I did all the tests again, like looking at the red balloon, reading the letters on the wall, getting stared at with that "chin in a strap" machine (that's called a Slit Lamp, apparently... I looked it up later). Doc said that I have a lot of Keratitis Scarring from my years of irresponsible contact lens wearing. Oh, but then....

He asked me how old I was. I said I was 46. He made a little hmmph noise, then asked me if I knew I had a cataract. 

I'm sorry, what now? I have a WHAT? You must be mistaken... old people have cataracts. I'm not old. I'm... I'm... middle age!!!

But apparently I'm middle age with a cataract in my left eye. He did a few more tests while I filled out some forms to see if we could get Blue Cross Blue Shield to pay for the surgery (instead of out of my pocket), but after the additional tests, he thought it best that we wait; cataract surgery on someone under 50 could result in retinal detachment. Currently, my cataract is very small, so he suggested we take a wait and see approach - if it gets worse, we fix it. If it doesn't, yay for me. At the end of the exam, he deemed me good to go for Lasik. Awww, yeah, let's go! 

So, for now, I can put my contacts back in until the week before my procedure. At that point, I'll need to take them out (forevah!) and use two different types of eye drops to get my eyeballs nice and healthy and juicy and ready to go. 

I'm so stoked, I can't wait!!!!! 

But until then, I'll leave you with a joke: 

After my eye exam, my doctor had a concerned look in his face. 

I asked him, "What's wrong?"

He said, "Your test results don't look all that good."

"Oh no," I exclaimed, " Can I see them?"

He replies, "Probably not." 

 

Look at Me, So Important at a Work Conference!

I've worked for my current employer for 13 years, and I never get to go to any out-of-town conferences or trainings or anything like that. Frankly, it made me feel a little undervalued. Other staff were able to go to conferences at least 2-3 times per year, with no one batting an eye, but for me...? It was always like pulling teeth to get permission, or to get money from the budget, so I just stopped even requesting to go anywhere at all. 

However, because my boss retired last year, and I assumed some of his duties, that meant that there was one symposium that I had to go to, no matter what! I was stoked. I felt like a grown-ass adult, with a grown-ass job, with grown-ass responsibilities. 

And it was at Disney World! Okay, okay, so it was more like Disney-adjacent, but still! It was held at Signia by Hilton Orlando Bonnet Creek (ooooh, so fancy!) I brought hubby with me, too, although he didn't have to come to any of the meetings or trainings, of course. 

So, we drove down Monday night before it started and got our room (upgraded to a King room, too) and spent the majority of the afternoon chillin' out, unpacking, and trying to decide on dinner. 

Going through Google, we discovered a place called Twin Peaks. It looked like a lumberjack-themed Hooters, but it was so kitschy, and this dessert was so amazingly on-point, we just had to go! (Part of the decision also came from the fact that we'd had the giggles for 20 minutes, and weren't making any adult decisions at the moment). 

I mean... come on, right? 

Needless to say, it was as bad as you'd think it was. I talked myself into an 'appetizer' called "Billionaire's Bacon", which was thick-cut bacon coated in brown sugar, smoked paprika, and chili flakes (it was good, but seriously... $8 for three strips of bacon?), then we split a plate of Mozzarella Cheese Bites (cubes of mozzarella coated in Panko bread crumbs... huh?) and a plate of Chicken Fingers with Fries. 

Is it called Billionaire's Bacon because they get rich off of unsuspecting diners?

Were these even fried, or were they baked? 

Standard frozen fingers and plain ol' fries

All the food was perfectly fine, nothing stood out, but obviously... the appeal is titties and sports. And frankly, my titties were more spectacular than our servers, poor girl, she tried! (She seemed confused that there was a wife in the building, honestly. I guess that doesn't happen very often.) We were too full for the double-breasted brownie sundae, but ended up stopping at Freddy's... the pull of frozen custard was just too strong to ignore. 

Tuesday was a very long day for me, with a huge welcome conference in the morning before breaking for lunch. The plan was to leave the hotel for lunch, but when we got to the parking garage, my tire was flat! 

This tire was only about 4 months old, y'all... 2023 strikes again

There was some construction in the parking garage, and I (of course!) had the luck of running over a freakin' nail. With no time to deal with it now, we trudged back to the hotel and headed over to the pool bar for lunch instead. We both ended up ordering from the Kid's Menu (because we weren't all that hungry, we are that cheap, and the waiter didn't give a shit). He had sliders and I had chicken fingers; both meals were delicious and the perfect size. 

The rest of the afternoon included more trainings and break-out sessions. I was also developing a pretty gnarly migraine at this point, probably from my lack of caffeine. At the end of the evening, back in our room, we acted like mature adults... and ordered more Kid's Meals via Room Service! I was impressed though, it was still really nicely presented! Our plates were cloched, with real silverware and linen napkins, two goblets of ice water, and condiments came in tiny little bottles or cups. I felt very fancy eating my sub-par hot dog (should've gone with the sliders). 

Yes, we are adults who order Hot Dogs from Room Service

It was hot and fresh, I'll give 'em that!

So cute and tiny

The ranch is spectacular

On Wednesday, I was free for the majority of the day, so we slept in, then I called AAA to come fix the tire. Because it is unsafe to drive highway speeds on the spare (donut) tire, we drove over to University Nissan to buy a new tire. They took forever! I think we were there over two hours, for a simple tire install. We'd skipped lunch (stupidly) because we thought it'd be a quick thing. By the time we left, around 5pm, I was ready to eat my own foot! So... bless his heart... Hubby suggested that we go over to Universal City Walk and have an early dinner at Toothsome Chocolate Emporium for dinner. I was up for it, because I was under the assumption that, after 6pm, parking was free at City Walk. And yeah, sometimes it is... But not when it's a Halloween Horror Night night. But since we were already there, we paid the insane $30 parking cost and parked. I can report, ladies and gentlemen, that "Halloween" for young women now means wearing fishnets, slutty outfits, and vintage tee shirts, while sporting brightly colored hair and too much makeup. Eh, I guess that's really what it's always been, I suppose. They all just looked so desperate and uncreative, like this huge crowd of LOOK AT ME girls who would punch anyone who actually, you know, looked at them. 

The restaurant was busy, since HHN hadn't started yet. Lots of people who were either waiting to enter HHN, or parkgoers who had been herded out because they didn't have HHN tickets. We got a table on the 2nd floor after about a 10 minute wait. Hubs ordered the Cheddar Bacon burger, and I got the Southern Fried Chicken BLT (without the L or T). Both were delicious, but I think that mine was better. 

Cheddar Bacon Burger & Fries

Southern Fried Chicken B(-LT) Sandwich & Fries

For dessert, as if we weren't full enough to begin with, we split a "That's 'Mint'" milkshake featuring Andes mints, shaved chocolate, whipped cream, a chocolate-dipped rim, and a full-size mint chip ice cream sandwich! It was overkill, for sure, but damn, was it delicious! 

Plastic spoons and paper straws... $17

We fought over the ice-cream sandwich, which looked like a giant Oreo (it is!) Two big cons to this dessert though (not even counting the $17 price tag); first is that they served it to us with plain, white, plastic spoons, and two, we could keep the souvenir jar, but they had no way to clean it, except to take it to the bathroom and wash it myself. I can only imagine what their pipes must look like after people dump their milkshakes down the drain! I was in there for about 10 minutes, melting the chocolate around the rim until I could rinse it away! Do better, Universal. Back at the hotel, we put on our suits and spent some time in the pool and hot tub, which was heavenly. 

Thursday was my last day of the conference, and it was over by lunch time. We checked out of the hotel and went to Jason's Deli for lunch, then drove to our other hotel that we booked separately, so that we could extend this business trip into a long vacation weekend. 

Ham & Cheese on White

Massive Lunch-Size Chicken Alfredo Pasta

After a disappointing trip to Aquatica this past spring, we needed to redeem ourselves, so Hubs talked me into going to Typhoon Lagoon tomorrow, to float away the stress of this conference. We popped over to Disney Springs after lunch to pick up a Disney Visa Rewards card, and then swap that for two tickets to the water park at Guest Services (yes, credit card rewards for the win! We got in for 'free.') 

Now, we've been to Typhoon Lagoon a few times, and at some point during this visit, I decided that I wanted to do every single {adult} ride they had. I didn't share this with Hubby until I was about halfway through the list, really. We started with a few laps around Castaway Creek, and then some of the rides we knew we loved, like Misadventure Falls and Gangplank Falls (our absolute fave). We did Keelhaul Falls and Mayday Falls, both of which suck, since we have to carry our own tubes up the stairs, but are still fun. We took a break with a few more laps on the lazy river where we just enjoyed each other's company, and I told him that I thought I was pretty close to doing all the rides. We pulled over at Crush'n Gusher so I could ride that (he didn't want to ride), then made our way across the park to the Storm Slides. And then, finally, I spent a few minutes just staring at Humunga Kowabunga. It was all that was standing between me and saying I did all the rides. HK is an "enclosed body slide" that drops at a 60º angle, 214 feet to the bottom. I grit my teeth and started the big climb (sadly, having to stop every little bit because the cardio was killing my lungs!) to the top. I put on my big girl panties, took a shaky breath, and I did it!! I did it!!!

Oooh, and I hated it! 

As soon as I started, I got water in my face and I couldn't keep my eyes open, and so I couldn't tell when the end was coming, when to 'brace for impact,' so to speak. It was like hitting a wall, and this huge jet of water shot between my legs, and into the nether regions. I'm so very, very thankful for the little skirt on my bathing suit because I'm pretty sure I had a 180º wedgie from butt to belly! Ironically (or sadly?) just a day prior, there was a story in the New York Post about a woman suing Disney for her "Painful Wedgie" in 2019; she contends that near the end of the ride, she became airborne and as she was slammed downward against the slide, her legs became uncrossed, causing her swimsuit to be painfully forced between her legs and for water to be violently forced inside her." She also claimed to have suffered "severe lacerations, damage to her internal organs, and a hernia." The suit accuses Disney of negligence for not warning riders about the risks, nor did they provide her with "proper protective swimwear." I don't see any follow up to this lawsuit, so my guess is that it was dropped or settled to shut her up. But, man, I can see where she's coming from... that was a painful wedgie! 

Feeling accomplished, we took a few victory laps in the lazy river then decided to head out around 4pm to get ahead of the crowds (park closed at 5). We filled our bellies with delicious burgers from Sickies Garage on US-192 then made the long drive home. 

I think this was a BBQ Bacon Cheeseburger... can't remember!

I'm not sure where the work conference will be next year - they always try to spread it out across the state, so it's fair to everyone - so I hope it's somewhere that I haven't been!