I like to say I am not cheap, I am frugal. I like quality and I would rather pay a little more for something that would last, but I also love to save money. Buying eyeglasses online was a bit of risky territory, but I did my research and put in my first order from EyeBuyDirect in February of 2011. I ordered a pair of glasses for $36.12 (including shipping!). I added a “Tint Key” of “Grey 60%” so I could use these glasses for driving. Essentially I created a pair of prescription sunglasses for only $36.12. Can you say sweet!
The first time I purchased glasses online, I was very uneasy because it was new territory. If you are ordering glasses online for the first time, or just want some tips to help make a repeat attempt go more smoothly, read the following tips:
Get an updated eye exam. It is no good buying new glasses if your prescription information is different from your last visit.
Have your doctor measure your Pupillary Distance (PD). This measurement from one pupil to the next is generally recorded in millimeters (mm). Eye doctors will take this measurement but they will not share it unless you ask. Ask for your PD measurement! Write it down.
If you do not already own a pair of glasses, try on glasses at the doctor’s office. Write down the name and style of the glasses you like so you can look up the measurement specification of those glasses online later. The alternative to this is to measure (in millimeters) the overall distance of the frame, the bridge width, and the width of each lens using a ruler. Write these numbers down. If you already have glasses, you can measure the glasses you already own or look up those measurements online. For example, I found the specs to my previous pair of “Thalia Amada” glasses here. To acquaint yourself with common eyeglass measurements, visit sites like this.
Have your eye doctor print off your prescription information so you can put in your order right away.
Set aside a couple of hours. No joke! Adam and I perused through all the eyeglass selections for much longer than we anticipated. We ended up using EyeBuyDirect. There are also similar sites like Zenni Optical or $39 Dollar Glasses. We went with EyeBuyDirect because their final costs were the cheapest with the glasses options we wanted. Read about our experience with EyeBuyDirect here.
Find glasses that match your measurement specs. This is where I went awry with my first order. I figured the 126mm total lens width of the glasses I wanted to order was close enough to the 120mm of my current glasses. Wrong! My driving glasses fall down to the tip of my nose if my head moves too quickly forward. Pay attention to the sizes no matter how much you like the frame (or the price)! The glasses you order will not look good if they do not fit your face.
Put in your order using your prescription information. Triple check the numbers you type in. Adam and I checked each other’s information twice just to be safe. Yay for a quadruple check.
Look for coupon codes. After you place an order, EyeBuyDirect gives their customers a coupon code to share with friends and family that saves you $10 whenever someone uses the code. Our referral code (for $10 off at EyeBuyDirect is: IFYIQIZN8A.
Place your order and expect to wait. Even ordering glasses through a doctor’s office can take several weeks.
I hope your experience ordering glasses online goes well! Read about my experience here.
I’ve recently gotten into astronomy and astrophotography since I got an 8″ telescope for my birthday in 2010. Since then I have found that my Android phone is a must have tool! This is a list my favorite and most useful Android apps for astronomy. All of the ones mentioned here are free or have a free version. I suggest donating or upgrading on all of them if you like them to help compensate the programmers for their hard work.
UPDATED with new app (see end of post for the new addition).
Many people think the fronts of cars look life faces. There is even an entire Flickr set devoted to car faces! Well, ever since I saw my house for this first time, I thought my house look like a face. The windows are perfect eyes and the garage looks like a mouth.
I needed to put my anthropomorphic house theory to the test. (Yes, I had to look up how to spell anthropomorphic.) For Halloween, I decided to use my house face palette to create a scary face. Adam and I had different visions for our beauty, so we sketched out our ideas using paint to end our squabble. Yes we are that anal retentive. Our ideas were:
Idea 1: White Pointy Teeth with Black Background
Idea 2: White Square Teeth with Black Background
Idea 3: Black Square Teeth
Idea 4: Black Pointy Teeth
Although we thought Idea 1 would likely look the best, we decided to go with Idea 4. We figured cutting out black teeth would be easier than trying to create a black background. This is how we did it.
Materials:
Big Black Garbage Bags
Permanent Double Sided Tape
Tools:
Good Quality Scissors
We cut the edges off each garbage bag to create black squares of material. From there, we cut out isosceles triangle shapes to use as the teeth. We didn’t measure any sizes, but we did use the square pattern in our garage door to measure sizes.
In the two top windows, we added a pupil to add to the eye effect. Using the double sided tape, we put up each tooth one at a time.
Because we didn’t officially measure the teeth sizes, the last two teeth had to be cut smaller to make them fit. We did this to the last two teeth so there wouldn’t be one tooth that was noticeably smaller than the rest. This way the overall visual sizes of the teeth look balanced.
More double sided tape was used on the bottom teeth than the top because we were concerned water or wind might more easily remove these teeth. The bags had a bit of static cling which also helped them stick to the garage door nicely.
We lost daylight pretty quickly, but I couldn’t help but snap a nighttime shot. Of course that adds to the drama of our scary faced house!
Here is a daytime shot from the next day.
Overall this was an easy and fun project. It only took Adam and I less than an hour to complete the entire project, including creating idea sketches in paint. Can you turn your house into a face? Send us your results!
I have deliberated about paint colors for so many hours that I may just be in the days (quite possibly weeks) range now. I would like to add that this process would have taken less time if Adam liked all the color choices I picked out. Of course, that would have ruined some of the fun. I enjoy discussing color choices AND everyone needs a good healthy debate when it comes to decorating. Plus, in the end I am hopeful it will turn out for the better.
Honestly it wasn’t that bad because we were in agreement about having blues and greens in our home to begin with; it is the hue we argued debated over. I wanted more earthy tones. If Adam were writing this post, he would describe my color choices as dreary. He wanted brighter colors. And seemingly contradictorily he wanted gray. We both worried about cohesion between rooms and if the colors would match our current and future styles.
Who knows if we accomplished that goal… at least not yet. I am optimistic; we are new at this. Apparently (based on my internet research) I should go for posh paints like Sherwin Williams or Benjamin Moore. Based on family aand friend’s recommendations, I am going for Valspar. It is a simple as for its value (and my wallet), Valspar seems like the right choice. I also have a sneaking suspicion that I will be painting again someday anyway.
This is the final output of our color ideas merged into one. I conceded and gave the okay to the grays. Adam conceded and gave the okay to not so bright colors (being a nice wife, I chose brighter colors than my original picks to meet him halfway).
Here is the downstairs.
And here is the upstairs.
I used Color Swatches and good ole’ fashioned eyeballing it to get the colors as close to my color samples as I could.
6006-3B Lunar Tide in the kitchen, laundry room, and upstairs bathroom.
6006-3C Bayou Shade in the half bath, upstairs office bathroom, and as an accent wall in the office.
5008-1A Montpelier Madison White in living room, hallway, office closet, and possibly one day the garage (it currently does not have all walls, hence the “possibly”).
4006-5B Adrift in the creativity room and in the SheekGeek inventory room.
6004-2B Mountain Smoke in our bedroom and as an accent wall in the living room.
Seeing in all laid out makes me excited to see it in person. I can’t wait to paint!
I like to say I am not cheap, I am frugal. I like quality and I would rather pay a little more for something that would last, but I also love to save money. Buying eyeglasses online was a bit of risky territory, but I did my research and put in my first order from EyeBuyDirect in February of 2011. I ordered a pair of glasses for $36.12 (including shipping!). I added a “Tint Key” of “Grey 60%” so I could use these glasses for driving. Essentially I created a pair of prescription sunglasses for only $36.12. Can you say sweet!
