Yes, yes, yes! The days are getting longer! It really hit me in the eyes when I was driving into town at 5:45 pm and the sun was bouncing off my inside car mirror. It was the regular get together of the Thursday Night Half Price Burger Night group at 6 pm in downtown Hastings. That drive has seemed to be the middle of the night for a long time. Then I also remembered that Daylight Savings Time is being added to the mix. It would seem like spring will come again this year although those single digit mornings have made one think winter rather than spring.

News Bulletin: As I was writing this article, I got a notice that the mail came. That is in itself was kind of news as the mail delivery has become very off and on the last several weeks. Twice they put mail in the paper mailbox and that also was the first time for that. A number of days we had no mail and that also was very rare. Today was a double bonus in that I got mail from Publisher’s Clearing House with a $10.00 check and my Voogueme order with 4 pair of new glasses. Publisher’s Clearing House must have heard me complaining about not getting the BIG prize which was $5,000 per week for the rest of my life. I guess just as you can’t start out as president, you have to start in the lower ranks. $10.00 will buy a bit of wool or hopefully by the time you read this, a little more than two gallons of gas. I totally have no idea of what I did to get the $10.00 but I will be happy to cash it.

It’s a long story with the new glasses. It starts back almost a year ago when it was determined that I could have cataract surgery in both eyes and an additional surgery in one eye at the same time to correct a “wrinkle”. Unlike most people who know they are having problems and want the surgery done, I was pretty much clueless. I could have the left eye done in Hastings but I had to go to the Phillips Eye Center in Minneapolis to have the right eye worked on with 2 different doctors. (Husband Larry and I did a dry run to find the place and we did get an education as it is almost in the heart of the riots and burnings). Both cataract surgeries went well but the wrinkle repair was more serious and needed at least a 6 month recovery and a number of trips back to the specialist. They also could not give me a new permanent prescription so I got one pair of my old glasses refitted to see the best I could. A few weeks ago I got the go ahead that I could get new glasses but to be aware that the prescription still may change in a year. That was good enough for me to permit myself to go crazy with new glasses.

Okay, it turns out that I could not go crazy as all the beautiful, weird, off the wall ones that I wanted, including the round-square ones, were sold out! Major Disappointment! I even asked Voogueme if I could send the frames for the round-square back to them to get refitted but they said it would not be practical. However, they did offer to give me 50 percent off on both frames and lenses for as many pair as I wished to order. They already have amazing prices so half off was a big enough temptation to get four pair. (All past online orders have worked out very well for me). I probably could have gone a bit crazy with some of the extreme cat eyes or the major bling ones. I consider my new purchases kind of middle of the road for me. Another factor is that I probably will need a new prescription in a year and the price of all the new glasses would probably not cover the cost of just of a frame at a regular in person place.

I am also holding off taking some of my Spectacle Shoppe ones in for refitting as I know that also will be a pricey adventure. Maybe I can talk them into refitting my square-round ones because I have been a very good past customer for them and have even commissioned them to make special glasses for me. For me its glasses, rather than handbags, shoes or jewelry.