What I did today....

I took off from work at 11:00am today.
Let me tell you, that felt soooo nice!!!

It would have felt even better if I was going home,
but alas, I was not.

First I stopped at Target to get hay for the bunny.
[Poor little bun-bun had been out of it for a couple days!]
Then came the real "fun"....

I wear glasses, and have been wearing them since I was 14-15.
I would be pretty lost without them, because my vision is quite poor.
In the past, I usually ended up getting a new pair of glasses
because the pair that I wore broke somehow.
[Usually the frame cracked, or something like that.]

Anyway, the last time I got glasses was....5 years ago!!
My glasses weren't broken, however, they were pretty scratched up
and one of the 'arms' was making a major dent

on the right side of my head,

which was annoying me in more ways than one.

So, I decided I would use the money that I had just put into

my newly opened savings account to get some new glasses.

I had seen ads for specials for a couple of places,

that sounded promising, so I decided to check them out.

My first stop was at J.C. Penney.
They were advertising 2 pairs of glasses for only $129.00!
Unfortunately, due to my strong prescription,

I would have to pay extra,
making them about twice that amount!
They also charged $80 for an eye exam,
and the glasses wouldn't be ready for 2-3 weeks!
So, I moved on....

Next was Lenscrafters.
They had a $99 glasses special.
Again, because of my prescription, it would cost more for me...
about twice as much!
However, they wanted 'only' $60 for an eye exam
and the glasses would be ready in an hour,
but I still decided to move on....

Stop number three was to Sears.
They wanted around $199 for a pair of glasses
and $70 for an exam,
and the glasses would take 2 weeks to arrive.
So, I went to check out my last option...
[Which is where I've gone in the past for glasses.]

Site for Sore Eyes -
They had the cheapest eye exam, $54.00.
So, I figured that I would at least get that done there.
I mentioned that I had been shopping around
and that I could get 2 pairs for $250 elsewhere.
They made me a deal for $319.00 for everything.
[Or at least what I thought was everything.]
I must have spent over an hour looking at frames,
trying to decide which ones I liked.
I even used my camera phone to take pics to send

to my little sister, so she could help with the decision.
It was just very stressful and it reminded me
why I hadn't done this for about 5 years!
I'm spending all this money on something that affects

the way I see myself, so if I screw it up,

I have to live with it and hope in time, I come to like it.
No pressure, right???
AAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So, after all that time, I finally narrowed it down to 4 choices
and from there I chose my 'final two.'
I then had to wait half an hour until I could get my eye exam.
It was 3:00pm by this time and I hadn't eaten anything since before 7:00am,
so I went and got a quick bite to eat.

When I came back, I had my exam. It was the best eye exam I've had!
The doctor was very nice about explaining what she was doing and why.
In the end, my right eye remains the same and my left eye,

unfortunately is 1 unit worse.
But, even though my vision is poor, my eyes are healthy,

so that was good to hear!
The one thing I didn't like about the exam

were these drops she put in my eyes.
[It stung!]
It was to dilate my eyes, so I had to wear

protective eye shields for half an hour.

After getting all that done they start work on my glasses,
and that's when I got charged $319.00.
I thought that quote included the eye exam, but it didn't.
So, it would have been $70.00 less for me to get the exam
done there and the glasses at Penney's.
Although I would have had to wait 2-3 weeks for the glasses,
$70.00 is a lot of money these days!!!
[I really had to try hard not to think about that,

because I'm a very frugal person.]

Since I was getting 2 pairs of glasses,

I was told they would be ready by 6:00pm.
Wasn't too thrilled about that,

but it was better than the option of getting them tomorrow.
Thankfully, they finished them by 5:00pm!
[Which meant I got home an hour later than I usually do from work, instead of two!]

I'm still getting used to the new look and feel of them.
I'm wondering how long it will take before I feel "normal"....