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Old 07-16-2014, 10:36 AM   #14621
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Went to see the ophthalmologist yesterday morning, again this morning. Cataract surgery isn't far off now.

Used to be eye dilation made me sensitive for a couple of hours but I'd be back to work after lunch. Now I've become hypersensitive so I'll be cooped up inside all day, and can't do anything that requires glasses. At least the iPad makes this easier. The iPhone does too but I find it's keyboard just too small.

The slow deterioration our bodies suffer from aging is a real PITA, but I'll take it any day over the much faster deterioration of the recently deceased. It's good to be alive.
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Old 07-16-2014, 11:03 AM   #14622
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It's good to be alive.
Cueing Imelda May....
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Old 07-16-2014, 12:01 PM   #14623
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Went to see the ophthalmologist yesterday morning, again this morning. Cataract surgery isn't far off now.
Kind of a shock to hear that, isn't it? I was told I would need cataract surgery sometime soon (in the next year or two, I suppose) the last time I went to get my eyes checked.

At first I didn't like the idea, but after talking to some people who have had it done, I am almost looking forward to it. Apparently this surgery can improve the vision tremendously. I am all for that! And then the idea of essentially having built in contacts would be fabulous.
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Old 07-16-2014, 03:52 PM   #14624
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Two framing jobs today, I'm finally figuring this out. The one of the water drop went (where else?) over the bathtub in the master bath. The other beach scene, well, I'm not too keen on the print but it hung in DW's parent's house for decades so there's huge sentimental value to it for her. That hangs in the living room now. DW hated the frame it was in so I said I'd redo it. Good thing too, because the original framing job had plain cardboard for a backing!

Anyone who has read one book on framing knows that all materials must be acid-free or the acid will attack whatever else is in the frame with it. High acid content is why newspaper turns yellow in a month. Fortunately only the first 1/4 inch around the print was damaged so it was easy to cover that with mat.

Many hugs and kisses from DW so I must have done something right.
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File Type: jpg Framing_job-1.jpg (83.3 KB, 28 views)
File Type: jpg Framing_job-2.jpg (70.6 KB, 29 views)
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Old 07-16-2014, 03:58 PM   #14625
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Paid $100k on the principal of our house today.

Goal is to have it paid off before retirement. Only $124k to go now.

And I don't want to debate on why I should have put the money to work for me, I'd rather have a paid off house as piece of mind :-)
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Old 07-16-2014, 04:07 PM   #14626
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Woo-hoo! Congratulations, Lisa. That's a huge step towards your goal.
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Old 07-16-2014, 04:42 PM   #14627
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Paid $100k on the principal of our house today.

Goal is to have it paid off before retirement. Only $124k to go now.

And I don't want to debate on why I should have put the money to work for me, I'd rather have a paid off house as piece of mind :-)
Congrats! - and you did put your money to work for you, and better yet a step toward piece of mind.
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Old 07-16-2014, 04:45 PM   #14628
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The slow deterioration our bodies suffer from aging is a real PITA, but I'll take it any day over the much faster deterioration of the recently deceased. It's good to be alive.
At a meeting this afternoon, one of the other volunteers (who's probably 10-15 years older) was telling us about her 7th surgery in 2 years. She was back with her dr. for a follow-up visit and asked him about her swollen and painful finger. He said "Gosh". She looked puzzled and he replied "Getting' older, s*** happens".
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Old 07-17-2014, 07:43 AM   #14629
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Paid $100k on the principal of our house today.

Goal is to have it paid off before retirement. Only $124k to go now.

And I don't want to debate on why I should have put the money to work for me, I'd rather have a paid off house as piece of mind :-)
If I had a spare $84k, I could pay off my house.

I don't...
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Old 07-17-2014, 08:35 AM   #14630
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Kind of a shock to hear that, isn't it? I was told I would need cataract surgery sometime soon (in the next year or two, I suppose) the last time I went to get my eyes checked.

At first I didn't like the idea, but after talking to some people who have had it done, I am almost looking forward to it. Apparently this surgery can improve the vision tremendously. I am all for that! And then the idea of essentially having built in contacts would be fabulous.
DW had cataract surgery two months or so ago on one eye. Now one to go! She definately can see much better and hasn't hit anything with the car since then! She said she didn't realize how poorly she was seeing until after the surgery.

I am older than her and went to have my eyes examined in February and the doc says not trace of cataracts and at least 10 years away if they start to appear. I was surprised, based on my (older) age.
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Old 07-17-2014, 09:02 AM   #14631
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Originally Posted by Lisa99 View Post
Paid $100k on the principal of our house today.

Goal is to have it paid off before retirement. Only $124k to go now.

And I don't want to debate on why I should have put the money to work for me, I'd rather have a paid off house as piece of mind :-)
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If I had a spare $84k, I could pay off my house.

I don't...
And occasionally, I wished I could put my homes on mortgage to free up more cash to invest.

But people here on the forum have said no bank is willing to loan people money without a job, even if their investible assets are worth several times the home. Then, I remember that I still have 25% cash that I was too chicken to throw into the market, so what would I dare do with even more cash?

Well, I guess now is a good time as any to take some profits off the market.
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Old 07-17-2014, 09:07 AM   #14632
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DW had cataract surgery two months or so ago
had both eyes done this year.. love it, except the multi lens was not as advertised. I still need readers which is very disappointing after the additional 4k expense not covered by insurance.

Last night I used my CPAP machine for first time for apnea.. got a great nights sleep.. best in a long time. Wish I had done the sleep study long ago. Cheers.
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Old 07-17-2014, 09:16 AM   #14633
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Kind of a shock to hear that, isn't it? I was told I would need cataract surgery sometime soon (in the next year or two, I suppose) the last time I went to get my eyes checked.
Yes and no. It's my 6th visit to an ophthalmologist in the last year (sigh). I have macular degeneration as well, some retina damage already, and this complicates the cataract removal. Next visit is Monday with the cataract guy, so I need to decide before then.

There have been a couple of eye related threads over the past year or two, I'm going to reread them.
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Old 07-17-2014, 09:19 AM   #14634
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And occasionally, I wished I could put my homes on mortgage to free up more cash to invest.
I could pay a significant amount right now, but not enough to pay it down to zero, so would just be out my emergency/next car fund, and still be making payments. So I did the next best thing: I refied at 3.75%, no cash out, thus my PITI is $700/mo, about what I could rent a crappy 1BR apartment for.
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Old 07-17-2014, 05:05 PM   #14635
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had both eyes done this year.. love it, except the multi lens was not as advertised. I still need readers which is very disappointing after the additional 4k expense not covered by insurance.

Last night I used my CPAP machine for first time for apnea.. got a great nights sleep.. best in a long time. Wish I had done the sleep study long ago. Cheers.
We didn't go for the multi lens for DW when the doctor said it was not guaranteed to work, so we got here the single correction one. All is good, but she still needs readers. Good to hear about he CPAP result. I'm still a ways from both needs. Guess I am just lucky or have good genes.
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Old 07-17-2014, 05:59 PM   #14636
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had both eyes done this year.. love it, except the multi lens was not as advertised. I still need readers which is very disappointing after the additional 4k expense not covered by insurance.
I had Inter Ocular Lens implanted two years ago (removing cataracts). I'm now 20/20 in one eye and almost 20/10 in the other.

My eye doc warned me off multi lens (so I still have to wear "readers"). But, compared to the almost-legally-blind condition my eyes were in since 3rd grade, this is wonderful!
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Old 07-17-2014, 10:54 PM   #14637
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I had a nice morning which included a swim in our outdoor pool.

It has been an interesting afternoon and evening. At about 1:20 pm, a small forest fire started in the hills 5 km above my home. The forest is tinder dry and this is the third small fire in the area this week. The others were quickly extinguished, but this time the wind picked up and the fire is now an uncontrolled wildfire covering 175 hectares at the last update. At the moment the wind is blowing in the opposite direction but 2500 people in the fire's path have been evacuated and a local state of emergency has been declared. A barrage of water bombers and firefighting planes has been attacking the fire all evening but as it is now dark and visibility is very poor, they have been called off for the night. I have packed my most valuable possessions and can leave to stay with a friend at a few minutes' notice if an evacuation alert or order is issued, or if the power goes out (there are power and communication lines in the path of the fire).

Kelowna was the site of a devastating forest fire in 2003 and fire is treated with a healthy dose of fear.

Gallery: The Smith Creek Wildfire
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Old 07-17-2014, 11:04 PM   #14638
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Picked 1/2 gallon of blueberries and a like amount of green beans from my yard


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Old 07-18-2014, 02:05 PM   #14639
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Last week I posted about the demo of our driveway. This week we put in the new one. And when I say "we", I mean DH, DS#1 and DS#2, and ME. We saved between 7k and 11k (depending on the bid) by doing it ourselves. Thank goodness for vitamin I... everything hurt badly at the end of each day. Today, DH is going to run the plate compactor to vibrate in the joint sand - and I can park my car in the garage tonight. Whoo hoo.

Monday:


Wed evening:


Last Night - all done except a few cut pieces and the sand. DH just left to rent the plate compactor.



I wish W2R had been here - we moved and placed so many tons of pavers it's not funny. 13 yo son was a great worker. 11 year old quickly started whining. (We were paying them both $15/hour.) 11 year old was shocked we (DH and I weren't getting paid.) Um... hello? Who would pay us. 13 year old made enough money to buy the parts for his super-gaming PC. 11 year has enough to buy an xbox 360 and 2 games. We saved serious dollars by doing it ourselves, even with paying the kids well above minimum wage.
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Old 07-18-2014, 02:10 PM   #14640
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Instead of the gym went to the doc. I've noticed over the past couple of weeks at the gym on the treadmill and a couple of other machines that make me breathe hard that my lungs hurt. At least that's what it feels like, to the point that I had to dial it back some a couple of times. I just chalked it up to the "ebbs and flows" of exercising - some days are easy, other days the same exercise is grueling, most days somewhere in between.

Yesterday afternoon when I mowed the "back 40" (actually it takes about 30 minutes) I was breathing hard which is not unusual because it is a steep hill, but I had to stop a couple of times. That was a first.

The light bulb went on. Uh oh, this is not good.

Called the doc's office and they had a AM appointment for me. That's good, but it concerned me too because usually it takes at least a few days to get in there.

Long interview, lots of questions from him. EKG was fine, he's going to schedule a stress test next week with some injectable dye so they can watch what's going on. He said keep going to the gym but don't push hard.

Well, at least they didn't call an ambulance on the spot so that's good.

Oh well, we'll see how this turns out.
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