Monday, August 3, 2009

The Luck of Job

It is such a fantastic compliment when people say "she has the patience of Job"....I however, do not have Job's patience. I have his luck.

I am not a lucky person. I don't win contests, I don't find pennies, I don't happen upon great deals or opportunities. I am the 33rd person in line for 32 free tickets. I am the runner up after the last person to get a ribbon. When it comes to luck I am always a near-miss....unless it's bad luck-in that case the target sometimes locks it seems.

Late last night my glasses broke-literally snapped in half at the nose-for no apparent reason. I just went to take them off my face and rather than come all the way off one side got tangled in my hair and they just cracked. I didn't even see it coming. And my back up pair? GONE. Vanished into thin air. So I had to wrap red duct tape (yes RED the only color we had) right in the middle across the nose section to just barely keep them together enough so that I can barely see. I say just barely because they are basically continually falling apart while on my face. They bend so completely they even look like a frowney face:This was very upsetting. We don't have vision insurance until December and there is no way I'm walking around with duct tape on my face for 4 months (no matter what Hubby says!). So this afternoon I called around and made an appointment with the cheapest optical center in town.

First thing they did was make me take the glaucoma test. I have been wearing glasses for 18 years, but I have never been successful at taking one of those tests-I have a weird phobia about things touching my eyeball-and yes, "things" includes air. All of the doctors I've ever seen just have me sign a waiver and then continue on with the eye exam, but not these doctors. They absolutely refused to perform an exam without first giving me the glaucoma test. Even though I don't have diabetes. And I'm only 23. Oh well, the joke is on them-it took nearly a half hour and in the end the actual optometrist himself had to come in and HOLD MY EYELIDS OPEN in order to complete the test.

Torture? Yes. Worth it? Sure-this is the cheapest place in town. They said they could get me two complete pair of glasses with a free eye exam for a total of $69.95!

Yeah, that's not happening either. You saw that coming didn't you? I should have, but I didn't. Turns out my perception has gone from "bad" to "might need a dog for occupational purposes" and my lenses are now so thick that they will not appropriately fit into regular sized frames unless they are compressed into spiffy high tech (read:TOTALLY EXPENSIVE) lenses. The price went up from 69.95 to $230! GRRRR! Still, the frames I picked were cute and I chose my second pair to be a pair of prescription sunglasses which is exciting because I've never had sunglasses before!

Then I left the doctor's. That was my next mistake. There I was minding my own business, driving along, wallet $230 lighter and stomach feeling a little queasy about it, when KABLOW-my front right tire blows out. I nearly have an accident and I pull over to look at it. It's not shredded but it is totally flat. I cried right there. I couldn't call anyone to come and get me because, as you may remember, Hubby and I are the last two living adults with no cell phones, so I limped my poor broken car to the nearest gas station with minimal help from my pathetically broken glasses. Then came problem number two:

I don't know a single thing about cars or flat tires. I don't know how to inflate a tire, let alone change one. So I cried at the gas station too. I tried to call Hubby so that he could explain how to do it over the phone, but he wasn't answering. So I cried some more. (That's my go-to solution now. Total lack of sleep+Stress=Tears.) Thankfully, some very nice gas attendants saw how hysterical I was and offered to help me. They got everything out of my trunk and did all of the work. I bought them 1L bottles of water and a pack of smokes. They didn't speak English very well, but they were super nice to me and eventually I was off-driving home on my little donut tire.

I'm kind of waiting for lightening to strike at this point. In less than 24 hours we have had emergencies that have/will cost us nearly $600. Have I mentioned that our rent is due on Friday? Yeah, add another $50 onto all that new debt for a late rent fee.

I know I should look on the bright side. I AM getting new glasses sometime this week (whenever they come in). I didn't' get into an accident, even though I very well could have, and I am safe and healthy. No one is sick at home. We do make enough money that we can pay rent late and bounce back from that....eventually. I should be looking up!

Instead I'm pouting.

So I'm going to do something to make myself feel better. I wasn't going to officially open it until later when it's all the way done (it's been put on hold so that I can focus on the blog makeover winners) but I want something to cheer me up so I'm going to go ahead announce the

Bloggy Friends Community Pages!

Basically, it's going to be a place where we can chat, share ideas, and get to know each other better. I have some stuff up already-including a chat module, a 'getting to know you' area, a section about parenting broken down into forums by age group, a 'house and home' section for recipe swaps, craft ideas, homeschooling/unschooling talk, and household tips and more. It's still not as pretty as I'd like it to be and not all of the categories are up yet, but dang it I want to do something fun!

So everybody~please go over and visit. Sign up, start posting around, and have fun! I will be on there often tooling around and when I am I will always be logged into the chat system....so if we're ever in the neighborhood at the same time we should have a nice chat~maybe we'll even have to schedule one sometime for us all to sit down and visit!

Just thinking about that is making me feel better already. Thanks guys!

8 comments:

Lesley said...

I'm sorry....I hate it when one thing after another happens...and those 69.95 people...I swear nobody gets their glasses for that....I told my hubby...they need to be sued for false advertising....

Kimi said...

Oh you and I have the same luck. In our family we call it "Johnson luck". If one thing can go wrong, twelve do.

Hopefully today will be better :)

Samantha said...

Sounds like you were having one of my days. Thankfully, I have contacts...but they are way expensive. I've been wearing my last pair for a couple of months now, and a new doctors visit + contacts = expensive. I'm a tight wad. I'll be completely blind before I decided to go to the eye doctor. Without contacts...I am completely blind :(

The other week when I was having my week from hell, my Mom kept reminding me to count my blessings. Bree is healthy, I have a healthy hubby, a roof over my head, food in my tummy...whenever I think I'm bad off, I know there is someone else out there who has a lot worse than I do. I know I shouldn't find comfort in that...but it makes me more thankful :)

Scrappy Girl said...

Bummer on the bad luck! Hope it gets better...I am having a giveaway to celebrate my 500th post...it could be the beginning of some great luck!

Carma Sez said...

GAH! I hate days like that. Hoping your luck (or lack of luck) takes a turn for the better :D

Helene said...

Oh man, what a day! I would've cried too!!! I hope your day today is much better!!

Kekibird said...

Hope things have improved. I know how that avalanche can just take ya down. Congrats on your new site! I just joined your forum!

Kathy said...

Im sorry and Im trying not to laugh. I so understand :)