Macular Degeneration

Went on a field trip with my daughter's English class today. Her English teacher is blind, they are going to read The Miracle Worker soon and the field trip was to the schools for the blind and the deaf in Indianapolis. I learned a lot and I know the kids learned a lot from the experience too.

I enjoy learning about new things but I have a special interest in learning all I can about macular degeneration because my mom has it. It tends to run in the family and there's a chance I could develop it some day.

I learned today that there are many ways that low vision is experienced and that most people who are legally blind are not totally sightless. They may have only peripheral vision, they may have tunnel vision, or they may not have any clarity of vision, just to name a few.

I'm most interested in understanding how people with macular degeneration see the world. I searched the internet and found a free macular degeneration simulation program you can download to your computer. Install and run it. Click on a picture and then right click on the image with your mouse to change the options. You can see what the early, mid and late stages of it look like as well as wet vs dry macular degeneration. If you do a Google search for macular degeneration simulation you will find links to many site that have examples of how macular degeneration affects vision.

St. Joseph statue

It's said that burying a statue of St. Joseph in your yard will help sell your house. Out of desperation I ordered a "kit" that came with a little plastic St. Joseph statue. The instructions said it didn't really matter what you do with the statue...that it was all about faith, so I put him on my desk. Coincidence or not - it doesn't really matter - I found the nicest people to rent my house. So, I can't say the statue (and my faith in it) didn't work and I do believe it at least helped me keep a positive attitude and have hope and faith that this would all work out. As is considered tradition, I will display my St. Joseph statue in a special place in my new house.

My daughter just perplexed my gadget oriented mind by announcing that it looks like it would be fun to use a typewriter. A typewriter??? When I was her age I had a typewriter and thought typing my papers on a computer would be fun. Go figure...

Ran into my X today at Menard's. We had a pleasant conversation in the parking lot and I actually asked him if he'd help us move. I have no shame when it comes to recruiting moving help!

I have too many house plants. I'm going to have to move some of them into my office while we're in temp housing, especially since my mom is going to be staying with us while we're at Homewood Suites. I'm glad it's only for 4 nights!

My friend, JC, has graciously agreed to let me borrow her big van when I pick up my mom so I can bring back two chairs and a stand I can use for the aquarium. Thanks JC!

I'm feeling the need to redesign the look of my web page. I have an idea...

Ice makers and other random thoughts

As a favor to a good friend I took video and still pics at her niece's baby shower. SP plans the nicest parties and is so creative with her ideas and decorations. The party was a beautiful celebration. Now I get to have the real fun and take all that raw footage and putting it together into a video story the family can all enjoy. It's time consuming and tedious but I love it.

Finally got the chandelier I wanted for my new dining room! Meijer had the light on display but it was never in stock. After talking to the department manager last week he said he would bring one back from another Meijer store and call me Thursday afternoon. No phone call. I called every day to catch this guy and he was never in the store! Today I went there to get the numbers off the tag so I could find the chandelier at another Meijer store. I walked into the lighting aisle and what do I see on the shelf? Yep...the chandelier. I was irritated and happy at the same time.

I've decided to sell my 27" inch TV and ET center. E is getting rid of her desk for a more functional, practical desk for her needs. I have several issues with my TV and ET center...as in I bought them with my ex-friend, you-know-who. Nice as they are I just don't want them in my new home. Instead, I'm going to mount an LCD TV over the fireplace in my new living room. This will allow me to put the furniture in the optimal arrangement for the shape & size of the room and will elimiate the competition between the fireplace and TV as the focal point in the room. Uh...I think I've been watching WAY too many shows on HGTV!!!

Oddly, the one thing KC and I bought together that doesn't bother me is my queen size bed. I guess because I did all the work to pick it out, get the loan, etc. And I paid off the loan, so I guess it feels more like it's mine. Although I DID pay for the TV all myself. Ok, I admit it, I'm gadget gal and want the new fangled TV because it's cool, sleek and can be mounted over the fireplace. And it will also be Jordy compatible.

I need the oddest things for the house. I need a toaster because I'm sick of the toaster oven which outlived it's usefulness as soon as I had the oven fixed. I need curtain rods, furnace filters, light switch and electrical outlet covers that are NOT chrome, a different light fixture in my bathroom becuase the one there screams cheap hotel room lighting, perhaps a floor lamp for the living room, and maybe a plant or two (just kidding!!!).

A not so odd need is an ice-maker in the freezer. Why on earth would someone buy a fridge...a major appliance with an equally major price tag...and not spend the comparatively insignificant little extra it costs for an ice-maker???? Why would anyone want to wrestle ice out of plastic trays and into a container, tote the little nuisances to the sink, fill them with water, get them too full, dump out the excess (a waste of water, I might add), drip water across the kitchen floor, slosh them into the freezer, wait wait wait for ice, and then repeat the process several times a week, year after year??? I have better things to do with my time! Like...watch HGTV! Of course the ice-maker does take up prime freezer space. So I'll get a small freezer and park it in the garage. Duh. If I were picking out the fridge I'd get one with a freezer big enough to take an ice-maker AND still have space for more than a half gallon of ice cream, the friut cake from two Christmas' ago, a bag of unidentifiable brown stuff and some concoction brewed up by a group of teenage girls at 3 am that I'm afraid might be considered toxic waste.

It's 2:30 am. I have a love/hate relationship with prednisone. This is the hate part. Breathing clearly is the love part. I'm so wired and tired at the same time that I'm punchy. Going now...

I BOUGHT A HOUSE!!!!!!!!

Closed on the house yesterday! It was a lot of signing, but went smoothly. Met the seller and he was very nice. His wife wasn't able to be there. Actually got $ back at closing...about $600, due to the earnest money I put down as well as too much money having been put in escrow for the taxes and insurance. E and I went out to dinner at Red Lobster, her favorite place that she's been asking to go to for months. I celebrated by drinking about half of a strawberry daquari. It was way too sweet though. Then we went to some craft stores and got some basic acrylic painting supplies and a canvas for each of us. We've decided we want to use our own art to decorate the house so I thought we'd try out painting. Acrylics are nice to use because they clean up with water and don't have the fumes like oil paints. It's fun playing with colors, textures, shapes but my favorite way of expressing my creativity is through digital art...manipulating my own photo's in programs like Adobe Photoshop and exploring fractals.

When we got home I crashed and didn't want to do anything except lounge in bed and watch TV. It felt like the end of a long roller coaster ride and I just wanted to do nothing.

Big Blue House

Current house status: closing is Friday the 22nd at 3:00. Moving day (stuff into the garage for storage) is Saturday, May 7th since I have to be in Indy all day on the 6th. Hiring someone to clean the trailer after we've moved out on the 7th. Only 4 nights in the temp housing. May 11th - first night in the new house. Paint, paint, paint. May 14th, move the furniture in & unpack.

Big surprise to E when Culligan showed up this afternoon to remove the water softner. They were supposed to call me & schedule the removal...not just show up!

Met my mom's Jordy today. It's not a person...it's a really cool device to help her see things better. Click here for more information.

Keep on swimming...

Of all the utility companies I've had to contact in regards to moving (that would be about 10) Verizon DSL is the absolute WORST of them all, and their residential phone service is a close 2nd! *kicks Verizon in the shins*. I resorted to telling the Verizon DSL rep that I talked to after being transferred about 5 times that if I was transferred one more time I'd get my internet from my cable company instead of from Verizon. He was very helpful and even gave me a discount on my DSL service for one year.

New News as of today...renters arriving May 8th or 9th so we don't have to move into temp housing until May 6th, making things much easier for us. We are now moving out of the mobile home on May 6th.

Just heard from my mortgage broker and my loans have been approved (the previous approval was a pre-approval). And yes, I said loans as in plural. I'm getting an 80/20 loan. It has to do with avoiding mortgage insurance (not to be confused with hazzard [homeowners] insurance) and tax benefits.

New News as of yesterday...Received the signed lease from my renters...who seem to be VERY nice people. I can't wait to meet them in person! Things have worked out so we can store our stuff in the garage at the new house. This means no storage facility rental, only one move AND we can start living in the house on May 11th since all our stuff will be right there in the garage!

Closing has been moved to Friday afternoon on the 22nd.

Nutshell update

I have boxes everywhere. Closing is the 21st. Move into temp housing the 29th. Renters moving in May 1st. Move into new house May 14th. Busy busy me