Friday.  A crazy-busy day topped off with crazy-expensive activities and a major grocery stock-up-the-fridge event.

Eye Doctor — $99.00
Today it was The Daughter’s turn for an eye exam.  She, too, will best be served with bifocals.  That’s three pair of bifocals to order and three eye exams to pay for.  We have vision insurance but it’s barely better than nothing at all.  I got itemized receipts from the doctor’s office and will submit them to the insurance company on Monday.

Of the three pair of needed glasses, The Son’s are the only ones paid for and ordered.  We should have them in a week or so.

My glasses order is on hold because I have yet to decide on a pair of frames and because I’d like to string the order out onto a different credit card billing cycle — besides, now that I know what prescription I need for reading, I think I’ll try to limp along with a cheap pair from the drugstore; it won’t help with the computer work but it might be better than nothing and a whole lot cheaper than bifocals.

The Daughter’s glasses order is on hold, too, because she couldn’t decide on a pair of frames.  The glasses woman (what a stupid term but I don’t know what else to call her) is ordering in a pair of frames, no obligation on our part, for The Daughter to try.  They’re the same as a pair that looked quite good on her but in a different, possibly better, color.  She and I decided that it might be best to wait until her grandmother, my mom, comes into town and can be consulted.  I don’t carry much credibility as a fashion consultant.

Personal Training sessions — $150.00
The Daughter and I had our second of three private “personal training with a friend” session today.  I debated for some time signing us up for this and incurring this type of expense.

The thing is, since my TIAs (mini-strokes) and my Fibromyalgia and hypothyroidism diagnoses three years ago, my activity has slowed down to about that of a three-toed sloth.  I won’t say that I’ve packed on the weight because I haven’t, but I have put on a few pounds.  A few pounds that I’d really rather not carry much further into middle-agedness with me.  I’ve made a few attempts at getting back into an exercise routine but invariably I experience a Fibro flare-up and I go back to being a couch potato.

In The Daughter’s case, she gave up year-round competitive swimming two years ago in favor of having a life.  Since then she’s played on her high school’s volleyball and basketball teams but the activity and exercise level of those sports cannot even begin to compare with the workouts she got while swimming.  She misses swimming terribly and is seriously considering joining a high school team for her Junior and Senior years (since she has hopes of swimming in college too).  She and I have taken trips to the gym before where we’ve done cardio work (ie, treadmill, ellipticals, stair climbers, etc) but she’s felt intimidated by the weights and other machines.

When the idea of a personal trainer first came up, The Daughter was very reluctant to sign up for sessions with me.  By doing the “training with a friend” deal, we saved a considerable amount of money over what we each would have paid for private sessions.  Plus we have the added advantage of her remembering what my exercises are and how to do them.  When she realized it was either get sessions together or no sessions at all, she made the right call and said okay.  No one’s ever accused her of being dumb 

So tonight we both survived our second session.  We’ll wait a couple of weeks now before setting an appointment for our final session.  I hope that The Daughter will keep on track with an weekly exercise routine and not be pissy about finding days and times when we can go together.  The good thing is that we’ve learned several core exercises that we can do at home with our own exercise balls and hand weights so we can still get in a partial workout even if we can’t get to the gym for our cardio workouts.

The $150 charge covers two people — three sessions each (or $75/person for three sessions).  Not pocket change but doable.  And hopefully worth it.

Kroger — $81.59
Our cupboards were literally bare.  Neither The Daughter nor I felt like shopping after our workout (me because I had on workout pants and I felt very self-conscious and her because she was tired and wanted a shower — she gets worked out much harder than I do).  But our desire for food won out.

• pears — $3.32
• apples — $1.60
• oranges — $2.10
• bananas — $0.83
• red cabbage — $1.90
• loose carrots — $0.61
• mini carrots — $1.99
• green onions — $0.89
• broccoli — $1.83
• red bell pepper — $1.00 (saved $0.99)
• yellow bell pepper — $1.00 (saved $0.99)
• green bell pepper — $1.00 (saved $0.99)
• 2 Digiorno pizzas — $4.99/ea (saved $2.00/ea)
• Celestial Seasoning tea (fruit tea sampler) – $2.79
• Orville Reddenbacher popping corn — $5.89
• whole grain waffles — $3.39
• 2 Amy’s cheese pizza snacks — $3.29/ea.
• Health Valley cereal — $4.29
• Nabisco wheat thins — $2.99
• 2 cartons Horizon chocolate milk — $3.19/ea (saved $0.50/ea.)
• Kroger medium cheddar cheese — $2.50 (saved $0.19)
• GE 3-way light bulb — $3.00 (saved $0.79)
• 1# Coleman ground beef — $5.81
• ??? — $3.99
• 4 bag credits — ($0.20)

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