The Eyes (Don't) Have It

I have terrible vision. Considering that both my Mom and my Dad also have terrible vision there weren't too many options there. I started wearing glasses at age 7 when my vision tested at 20/200 and 20/300 and by the time I was 11 I was wearing contact lenses all the time. Since them I've continued wearing contacts pretty much full time without any issues. This includes college where I wasn't exactly sleeping a lot, and moving out here to the desert. They've become part of my daily routine. Putting my contacts in is the first thing I do when I get up in the morning, and the last thing I do before going to bed. I generally wear them 12-18 hours a day. I don't sleep in them unless I happen to lay down for a nap in the middle of the day (rare). I own glasses but seldom wear them and never outside of the house. My depth perception is fairly bad as it is and worse with glasses.When we moved out here I switched from gas permeable to soft contact lenses, and went like that for close to 5 years without any problems. I would put them in in the morning, take them out at night, and throw them away when they started to feel icky. Other than that few minutes in the morning and evening I hardly even thought about my contacts. Unfortunately, after about 17 years of wearing contact lenses full time with nothing more than an occasional minor issue, it seems that I'm due.
I've known for a while that my contact lens prescription needed to be updated. I called my previous eye doctor (the one who had switched me to soft contacts), and made TWO different appointments that the office canceled, in one case on the same day the appointment was scheduled. After that I decided it was time to find a different eye doctor with better customer service, so I opted for one that was recommended by a friend. They've been wonderful and very understanding, but I feel as though I'm back to square one when it comes to my contact lenses.
See, one of the first things that this new eye doctor told me was that I now have an astigmatism that needs to be corrected. Unfortunately this means that I can no longer wear the same kind of contacts that have served me so well for the past 5 years. I now need a torric contact lens instead. Not only are they more expensive, but so far they've been much less comfortable. In the past month I've tried every brand of torric lenses that is made, including a few that the optometrist special ordered in my prescription. I've had vision that suddenly went blurry (not good while driving), eyes that were dry as dust by 2pm even when using eye drops regularly, eyes that were STILL dry and tired after waking up from a good night's sleep, and headaches that start to pound in mid-afternoon while I'm still on the road and continue until I finally give up and take my contacts out in the evening.
I had three eye appointments in as many weeks, and the only reason I didn't have another one today is because they really thought these new lenses and a new cleaning regimen would be better and for some odd reason I believed them. I'm going to have to call the office Monday and make another appointment. Sometimes these trial pairs feel tolerable for the first few days, then by Thursday or Friday I'm back to having headaches and dry eyes again. They're supposed to last at least 2 weeks. I'm seeing better, but the comfort levels are not good at all. I'm tired of trying to decide if the frequent headaches are from the contact lenses or the heat/dehydration from being in the car all day. According to the optometrist they've tried every brand of torrics available, and non-torrics aren't an option (we tried that too). So far I haven't tried any contacts where I'm willing to commit to ordering an entire year's supply, or even a few months worth. Glasses aren't an option since I see even worse with them even when they are matched to my actual prescription. Switching back to gas permeable lenses isn't an option since the whole reason I stopped wearing those was because of all of the dust and dry air here. Honestly, I have no idea what the other options are at this point since laser surgery is out of our price range :p If forced I could probably pick the least uncomfortable lenses and just get into the habit of wearing glasses once I'm home for the night. That's not my idea of an optimal situation though I'm afraid that may be what it comes down to.

Baby Toys

I've been making these for a few out of town friends who have recently had babies. Its hard to see, but this one is black and white with pink rings. I made another one that was blue with yellow rings. I found the pattern on Ravelry, and used a bunch of cotton yarn that I had. The idea of putting a bell in it was great but the sound is a bit muffled due to all of the stuffing. The spaces between the yarn are a bit larger than I like but I used the smallest crochet hook that I have. I'm thinking that if it gets washed the yarn should shrink enough to close up the gaps where you can see the stuffing. Until I got used to doing it, it was hard to keep the number of stitches the same all the way around. Some of the rings are bigger in some spots than in others! Overall these were a fun quick project to make. I keep debating selling them, but I think I'd have to have people up front who wanted to buy one.

Skirt Fix

I've had this skirt for years. Probably since college, possibly since sometime in high school. I don't think I've worn it more than once, maybe twice, in all of that time. Why? Well, combination of not good design and not a good fit for me. See, the skirt is denim and was just as wide around the bottom as it was around the top. The fact that it hit a bit below mid-calf made it nearly impossible to walk in- I couldn't take anything resembling decent-sized steps without nearly tripping over the skirt. At various times I had considered hemming it to be shorter, or getting rid of it altogether, but I never could bring myself to do it, so it sat in my closet. Until Monday, that is. I took another look at the skirt and realized that there was a seam all the way up the back center. I undid the hem, opened up that seam, and sewed the edges back in. I also sewed across the top where I opened the seam in order to stop it from going up any higher. Voila! A skirt with a small slit in the back that I can actually walk in! I wore it to work on Monday, and it did pretty well, although after trying to sit on the floor in it I decided I actually could have made the slit a bit higher and it would have been even better. Overall, though, not bad for a half hour of work (and one broken sewing machine needle). Here are a few pictures of the results.