Each Day Already is a Challenge

Blogging Makes You Healthy?

Actually, according to RealAge.com, any writing about your emotions or your deep thoughts can make you more positive about them. And that can help lower stress, help depression, even boost your immunity. Since blogs may show more of our emotions than other writings and are often spur of the moment rants, they're really healthy. So, blog on!

Every once in a while, I have to check the list of blogs, just out of curiosity. Just this morning, my blog showed as 196 in terms of the number of views. I suppose that's not so bad considering that I've only been blogging for five months and some started two years ago.

The personal stats are interesting. About one third of my views have been from non-members. Sometimes you can tell by the links at the bottom of the stat page how folks came to your blog. For my blog, they have arrived after doing a search for "fibro and aunts" and once for a word I (and they - two of them!) misspelled. But I wonder about the others - over 400 non-members have arrived here and many of them in the past few weeks. I wonder how and why they wandered in...

Last week, David McClain gave me quite a compliment on my blog. That made my day!

A few others have commented as well. I guess there are lots of blogs out there where the writers don't use punctuation and capital letters. And the fact that I try to use proper grammar is pleasing to some who come here.

Indeed, some write their blogs just for themselves, or so they say. But personally, even when I write journal entries in notebooks that no one will see until I've been called Home, I still try to use correct grammar and spelling and such. I'm sure there are some errors, but if there were lots and lots it would irritate me.

Unless you have set your blog to "private", then it really isn't just for you only...is it???

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I'm hoping I don't have to go out today. Well...at least not until tonight when I have to take Derek to work. The news folks said that the temperature was zero this morning with a windchill factor of minus 8. That's cold! At least the sun is shining...and from the inside of the window the sun sparkling on the snow and ice is rather pretty.

I never did get a picture of the tree just outside the window beside my computer. When I went to try using my digital camera, the battery was dead. These cheap digital cameras that Derek, hubby and I got are great. But for some reason the batteries seem to die quickly. I'm thinking that may be why they were marked down. Hmmm. Perhaps afer using them we need to remove the batteries. I seem to remember that when I was a kid, my brothers toys were that way...

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Hubby and I were trying to get the house refinanced, 'cause the current mortgages was one of those that had a decent interest rate and payment amount for a specified time, then it changed. The house payment has gone up by over $200 a month. Ouch. Unfortunately, the appraiser decided that the house is now worth $24,000 less than what is owed on it. Looks like refinancing is out.

The only good thing about that appraisal is that it should mean we also pay less in real estate taxes.

Meanwhile...maybe I can find a way to write enough to make up that $200 a month increase in the mortgage.

I wish I could just work...

Or...I could get off here and list that hubby's antique player piano in the paper. If we could get that $14,000 it would certainly help the finances.

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Okay, I'm going to do that right now. After I put my contact lenses in. I've been resting my eyes this morning.

Don't think I ever said anything about that - the contact lenses.

I started wearing glasses - bifocals!!!! - at the age of 10. They were horrible, ugly things, those glasses. The lenses had to be big, because back then they didn't make bifocals like they do now. And the side pieces had to wrap around my ears because I didn't have much of a bridge to my nose. I hated wearing the glasses, but I was thrilled that I could see again. There were actually leaves on trees! Wow.

I'm not sure if my eye condition had a name, but my prescription changed at least every six months. Kept getting worse and worse. Finally, my eye doc told my folks that if I got contact lenses the progression would probably stop.

So...at the age of 12, I got my first contact lenses. Back then, they only had the hard lenses. And with me having blue eyes (the most sensitive eyes - did you know that?), it always felt like I had sand in my eyes.

I still climbed trees at 12, roller skated, rode my bike everywhere. And...I lost lots of contacts. Fortunately, my folks had contact lens insurance (weird, huh?) and replacements were only about $5.

I hated the contacts even more than glasses, but I understood why I was wearing them. I surely didn't want to end up wearing glasses with three inch thick lenses, nor did I want to be blind. The doc was right about the contacts. Wearing them did stop my eyes from getting worse.

But I could not wear them more than about 6 hours at a time without my eyes screaming at me. That meant that I had to take them out at school. Back then, kids didn't carry back packs or purses to school. I had to, though, so I had my contact lens case and solution, and glasses and their case with me. What a pain.

Still...if I didn't take them out after 6 hours, I paid. I would end up with burning eyes - my folks said they could even feel the heat from them - laying on the sofa with a cold cloth on my eyes. And I would miss school the next day, since the irritation usually didn't go away for about 24-36 hours. I learned not keep the lenses in too long!

At 16, I got my first colored lenses. Blue, of course, so my eyes were reeeeeeeeaaaaaaaallllllllyyyyy blue. Purrrrty.

At the age of about 24, I got my first pair of soft lenses and I thought I was in heaven. What a difference it made in my eye comfort. They also didn't just fly out of my eyes like the hard lenses sometimes did. (Once, while I was driving on the freeway!!!)

Those funky first soft lenses came with an electrical contraption that I had to use to sanitize the lenses each night. But it was worth the trouble to be able to wear them all day long! They were pricey, though. Those first soft lenses cost almost $300!

When I hit 35 - overnight, really - I could no longer see to read. This is true. I read something just before I went to bed and the next morning I could not read with my contacts in. (I could with them out, but then I could not see anything at a distance.) My eye doc was in walking distance to the house, and I insisted he see me that day. He was over 65 and ready to retire. And he laughed and laughed at me. Said I was getting old...and just needed reading glasses on top of the contacts. So, for about 10 years, I wore reading glasses in addition to the contacts.

Then I asked my eye doc about bifocal contacts. (Another eye doc in another state.) Instead, he suggested monovision lenses for me. And that's how I've been scurrying about ever since. I have one eye corrected for distance and one for close-up. The doc said that some folks can never get used to this, but my eyes adjusted immediately.

It's fun being 54 and not having to wear reading glasses. Especially since my younger siblings do!

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Okay. Now I'm really off to call the newspaper. Meanwhile...if any of you know someone with huge house and a few (well, more than a few) extra bucks who would like to have a baby grand antique player piano - in wonderful playing condition and beautiful as well - then do let me know.