The dog had an ulcerated cornea, and a business owner from another state was interested in selling what Brian does, except in a higher volume than Brian and there was much paperwork and webwork to be done. I finally finished last year's taxes (due to the bad weather last year, our county was on the list of counties that were given an extension (October 16, happy birthday to me!). The holiday cards that I started in July 2022 are completed! And I finally decided to get serious about LASIK surgery.
First, Jingles.
Back in September, I noticed that LBD's right eye was really weepy, and upon closer inspection, it was also swollen shut. Lots of swollen conjunctiva. I started putting Teramycin in that eye on a Monday. By Friday, the swelling had gone down a little, but not enough to make me feel better about his eye. I made an appointment for him for the following week
Turned out he had a badly ulcerated cornea. The vet trimmed back the fur around his eye, cleaned it up, and then put a contact lens in. Yeah, a contact lens. This was to help the new prescription drops stay where they were needed. A couple of weeks later, we took him in for a recheck and although the eye was better, it wasn't good. So, they took blood, spun it, which separated the blood parts, pulled off the blood serum, and put it in a bottle for us to put in his eye. He also got a new antibiotic script. Ten days later, the eye is much better and no drops are needed. We were just reminded to keep the hair around his eyes trimmed back. And he just loves having his face trimmed (he really does not). All in all, it was about a month of meds and vet visits for him.
Now the company stuff.
For the business, I was mostly scanning worksheets for what Brian fabricates and dealing with putting them online. Scanning had the potential to be pretty time-consuming, so I looked online for something that would be quicker and found this. Game changer. It took almost no time at all. It fed the sheets through and copied both sides at the same time. Awesome little gadget. All I had to do was name them and upload them to the internet. This guy wants to actually buy our company once Brian retires. We'll see how that plays out.
And the IRS.
I've been very good about keeping on top of paperwork and this actually went smoothly. It took a couple of days to get it done. I used Turbo Tax, which I've used for a while now. We don't pay estimated taxes, figure we'd rather have the money here than gone, the penalties and interest aren't really that much in the scheme of things. The bulk of what we have to pay in is the social security for Brian as a sole proprietorship. This year, I even filed the state taxes online and paid a whopping fifteen bucks to do so. (There was a ten dollar discount from Intuit.)
A couple of weeks later, we got a letter that we'd be getting a refund. Say what? A refund? Why?
Remember I said we got an extension? Well, the software computed the penalties and interest up until the file date, when actually, they should have stopped earlier due to an official extension. So, a refund of a couple of hundred dollars, which I spent in no time. Yay me!
Holiday cards anyone?
After the taxes were done, I sat myself down with the pile of cards. The front (which was the most complicated) was done, I just needed the backing and inside sentiment. I found the perfect sentiment online. Now to decide how to get it in the card. I printed out the sentiment, measured it, then started looking for a die and found one that worked nicely. I was pretty stoked at how that turned out. I would like to actually start posting here about what I'm making, the products I used, how I did what I did, so I won't get into that now, but in a separate post, after the cards have been sent out.
All I have left to do is the envelopes. I have the envelopes, I want to foil the names on the envelopes instead of using the Minc. There are two types of foiling sheets. Toner reactive and heat reactive. The toner reactive IS heat reactive. What is being foiled is printed out with a laser printer and the foil is laid over the toner and run through a laminator (the Minc is what I use). With just plain heat reactive foil, you can use a heat pen to get the foil onto the paper. It sounds more complicated than it is, like so many things in life.
Anyway, for reasons I'll explain in the post about the making of the cards, I've decided to go with the heat reactive, not toner reactive. I've mentioned my Cameos and Curio in the past, well, SilhouetteAmerica came out with a new bunch of machines. One being a Curio 2. I got one. And I will use that for the names on the envelopes. All I have to do is figure out how to do it. Oddly, they dropped this product before having the accessories available and I didn't want to get started until they had. And the heat pens and debris tray became available at the beginning of the month. I'm ready. Time to learn.
Now, LASIK.
I've been complaining about how bad my eyes are for a couple of years now. I've been curious about LASIK for a while, but it's an elective surgery and insurance won't pay for it. A couple of years ago, Brian said I could get it done, then we found out how much it was going to cost. (How about twice as much as we thought?) Yeah, not in the cards. I really don't like wearing glasses because my head gets hot and they fog up. Dishes? Fog. Dusting? Fog. Vacuuming? Fog. And then there's the problem of disintegrating eyesight and needing new glasses. I'm just over it.
He said "well, use your IRA money" since it had reached the stage where I had to take out a couple of hundred dollars a year or get penalized for having it (which makes zero sense to me). I pulled all of it out and put over half of it into different bank accounts to get rewards points from MyPoints.com. But I was reluctant to actually pay for the LASIK. Well, one night in front of the television, I was on the tablet and did a quick LASIK research and found a local place that charged $990 per eye! Yes!
I called the next day, I had my first appointment on the third. Brian pulled out his card and paid for the entire surgery. There was another way of the surgery that cost a little more and we went with that. And because we're such a neat couple, we got a $200 discount. Nice. They asked when I'd like to get this done and Brian said "today!" Yeah, no.
So, the surgery was done on Friday. Two days ago. And I gotta tell ya, I'm gobsmacked. It takes about three months to fully heal and that's when my eyesight will be the best. I was warned that I'd most likely need readers since I went for the option that both eyes would be for the same thing, not one eye for reading, one eye for distance. I had those kinds of contacts and wasn't thrilled at all. I'll use reading glasses if need be, I have no problem with that.
I had the first follow-up appointment yesterday and things were looking good. I have OTC eyedrops (Refresh Plus) that I have to put in every hour while I'm awake to keep the eyes hydrated and steroid/antibiotic drops four times a day. No eye rubbing. If they itch, use the OTC drops.
Well, yesterday I was able to see distance better. I collected all of the reading glasses we have and went through them one by one, looking for the ones with the clearest vision. None of them were right on, but the lowest power was the best of the lot. I ordered some 1.00 powered readers, which should be here today.
Imagine my surprise to realize this morning, I don't need the readers for the computer. I'm pretty happy.
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