Second sight

where some of the plants are wintering. Some of the succulents I am fostering for my leukemia friend.
 One of my orchids is starting to bloom again. Yay.

Naomi playing around with special effects

Out my window today, all is sparkly but so cold

Tiffany-like lamp-like pretty purchased last week

Recently I was researching the differences between white and black cataracts (I assume I have the more treatable and common white variety that are not advanced enough for insurance to pay for their removal) and came across the term second sight. As it turns out, this is another symptom of cataracts.

 

Before I entered ever so gradually The Land of Geezerdom, seeing was impossible without my glasses. I would need them to read too. At some point in my forties, the glasses did not help at all with reading either but it was impossible to focus close-up without them. Enter the Land of Progressive Lenses. Although I could now read, doing things like threading a needle became impossible as I could not focus on the head with or without glasses. Meanwhile my eyes were constantly changing: less near-sightedness but more farsighted.

 

Somehow, while I was being occupied with more pressing medical issues, I gained second sight. Without my glasses, I  now can read very well, thread needles, look easily at small detail well beyond what Steve can see even with his old age glasses. I push my glasses up as a hairband when I want to look closely at something. I just assumed this was some sort of gift, along with the nearsightedness going away (if it is a linear relationship, I should have 20-20 vision when I am 100). Alas, this is allegedly temporary and only a first sign of cataracts.   And when will the cataracts need surgery? The expert couldn't say. Maybe 2 years, maybe 20...

 

Winter came back with yet another snow storm but if I just hold out for another 4 days, spring should be here for good.

 

What's up in my little world?

 

Battling the assessors. Property tax can only be raised 2% a year regardless of the increase in value of a house in Michigan. However once a house is sold, the taxable value can be reset at its new value. What is the value of a house? Very hard to say but a good starting point is what its market price is. And what its market price should be is what it sold for especially as it didn't sell at a much higher price for 6 months? Anyway, we just got notice that our new taxable value is $100K over our purchase price.#$%$#!!! No the value didn't go up that much. And at any rate, the new value should have been reset at the purchase price (minus extras such as the expensive riding mower thrown in and window treatments) and then they could add their 2%. We have an appointment for our battle in 2 weeks. There is one house just like ours in our neighborhood whose owner is thrilled that we got our house at such a bargain as she  potentially will use it as ammunition for her own battles.

 

Scan anxiety: I had to postpone my mammogram as they moved up my surgery date but I was not allowed to move up my mammogram even 2 days. And then my new girls needed 3 months of toughening up to withstand being squished (oh I just can't wait). Meanwhile  TNBC is super fast growing and likely to appear between scans. I was lucky to catch it when I did. Delaying my mammogram has made me nervous. True they biopsied the tissue they removed and there seems to be no breast tissue left to grow cancer in in the most likely quadrant of the mangled breast. But I think the scans are going to look so much different now that I will be recalled to sort the new appearance out. My scan is tomorrow but since I didn't give them enough warning, I got the type that they will contact me by mail to say whether it was clear or more scans are needed.

 

My teeth hurt and need to be fixed now:  Still waiting on my useless insurance to give me permission. They said 7 -10 days  and it's 7 days. This is the same insurance that sent me with my lip hanging down to a drugstore miniclinic when even an ER doctor said she couldn't handle the repair.

 

Fit to Fat to Fit: Part of my junk TV viewing. Not just my life story which would be Fat to Fit to Fat while being sort of Fit. I watched this as one of Josh's best buddies little sister was featured on the latest episode, a former neighbor. She is now a fitness instructor in Manhattan and lost a few syllables of her last name. The premise of the show is how is a fat person ever going to relate to a skinny personal trainer so to increase the bond, the trainer has to get fat too so they can work together. And the fat person can't quit because look at the sacrifice the trainer made for him. Crazy right? So my skinny ex-neighbor is seen stuffing her face to gain 40 pounds, which she couldn't do as she kept throwing up all the food filmed for our pleasure, but she did pack on 30 pounds so the guy, a good 160 pounds over his healthy weight could relate. Even when she had only gained 5 pounds, her friends would tell her how big her butt was. But her client lost 60 pounds, a small drop in the fat bucket, but this was deemed a success.

 

Senior Day at the thrifts.  Need to wait for the roads to be treated. Don't  I have enough junk?

 

How I hate squirrels: they are eating everything. I can't run out the patio door as Steve has it all weatherstripped but after this weekend, the stripping comes down so I can maybe scare these pests off for good. Still haven't seen any new birds. The same old crowd of downies, titmice, juncos, cardinals, chickadees, nut hatches and the pesky ugly sparrows.