Her Most Expensive Meal (SO FAR) (KNOCK ON WOOD)
You missed out on an opportunity to make a LOT of money off of me. All you would have had to do is ask me to make a bet about how long it would take for Alexis' glasses to get destroyed. I would have bet over a month because the kid is generally pretty good about taking care of her stuff.
Obviously, I was wrong.
Three days, people. Three days. It was a whopping three days after Alexis got glasses that she managed to leave them sitting on the couch. Unattended. Inside the Penny the Puppy Zone of Destruction.
I don't know how long Penny enjoyed gnawing on those glasses (I wasn't home), but it was apparently long enough. The husband was able to mostly recover them, but if you really look at them, you can tell somebody tried to turn them into lunch.
And with that flurry of destruction, my Evil Genius Plot was obliterated.
Here's the thing: Alexis isn't on our vision insurance. It was an oversight that happened when we suddenly had to change everything around (THANKS A LOT, FORMER EMPLOYER). I didn't think it was going to matter, but then it did. But! I had a plan!
I don't know if everybody knows this, but I've known for a while that glasses can be purchased online for approximately 90% less than you'll find them at Lenscrafters and America's Best and the like. I fully intended to NOT buy Alexis glasses the day she had her exam, but then the doctor ended up running over an hour behind schedule.
You know what there is to do with a kid for an hour in a eyeglass store? Nothing. NOTHING. NOOOOTHING. After all attempts at keeping her occupied and entertained were exhausted, the money-grubbing receptionist suggested that maybe Alexis would like to see if there were any glasses she liked. OH, BOY! WOULD SHE EVER!
Once Alexis had spent half an hour trying on every frame in the place, there was no way she was going to let me walk out of there without buying something. It was like what would happen if you took me to a camera store and handed me a 70-300mm lens. You put it in my hands, YOU'RE BUYING IT THE END.
So I bought the glasses. I didn't get scratch protection or glare reduction coating or any other invisible thing they charge an extra $50 for because I fully intended to return those glasses. Yup, I admit it. I handed over my credit card with full intention of getting that money back just as soon as I managed to buy a better, less expensive pair online.
I would feel guilty about that plot, but the replacement glasses I bought online cost a whopping $12. That's including every possible child-destruction-prevention coating there is (I posted on the review page about where I got them and how to order glasses online). That's ... oh ... $138 less than the ones I bought locally cost.
Grrrrr ... I hate that health care providers completely rip people off and get away with it because of insurance and the like.
And I sure do hope Penny enjoyed her $150 snack.
Thursday, May 3, 2012
Reader Comments (11)
love these! she looks absolutely adorable.
last year my #3 darling daughter lost her glasses 2 days after we got them. It really is unfortunate that CPS frowns upon what I wanted to do to her.
definitely will go the online route for the kids' since hubs' union has decided that a vision plan is frivolous. as for me, I'll stick with one optician whom I have trusted for over ten years with my "special eyes" and my complicated prescription.
Those glasses are absolutely darling!
(And if any of the kids at school calls them "tragic," they'll have me to answer to. I'm still smarting from last week when they used that word.)
They don't have a warranty? When I was a kid with glasses, it was standard for them to come with a 1yr warranty, especially on kids glasses! (And I only ever had vision insurance for about 3 years when I was an adult).
Optometry places are a complete ripoff. I remember the first time I actually had to pay for myself (flung from the nest and vision insurance). That was a sad, sad waste of my entire college student paycheck. I've been ordering contacts online for years, but will definitely look into glasses next.
And yeah. Puppies. We had a corgi puppy that ATE A COUCH. Seriously. Feasted on the entire lower half of it. Number one reason that I refuse to get a dog. Kids ruin enough stuff ;-)
Yes. The reason I even found out about online glasses, Zennioptical.com, is because a friend of mine had to get glasses for her then three-year-old. I swore at that point if I had to get glasses for the boys, it would be through an online source. I'm not messing with needlessly expensive in-store glasses. I broke my first two pair -- in 4th grade -- in a month? Oof.
Also, Melting Pot meals can be more than that. Beer Flight ftw. ;)
Irecently had that experieince with a pair of shoes and a foster puppy. They were Naturalizers and I know that they were around $80 new. I had had them for about a year. I was more angry with myself than anything else because I am the one that left them out.
@Amber--They did come with a warranty, but destruction by way of fuzzy creatures is explicitly excluded. :-(
My daughter got glasses in second grade and lost them about 5 months later. We also have no vision insurance. Of course we replaced them immediately, i mean, the kid has to see, right? Years later, we were cleaning the basement, going through tote boxes of toys. And there in the bottom of the Barbie box, amongst various body parts, were the missing glasses. The look on my now 16-year-old's face was priceless. "it was an accident mom! I don't remember putting them there, somebody else must have done it, really, it wasn't me, oh my god, please believe me, i would never have done that on purpose,it wasn't me!" Someone else put her glasses in the Barbie cadaver box? Did I mention she's an only child?
Love them! She looks darling. And after seeing this, now Sabrina wants glasses (which are in her future).
did you kill alexis? penny? mr. husband?
We have yet to experience glasses in our family, but I am sure our time will come sooner than we think. We are getting old. Thanks for posting how to score deals on glasses, I will save it for when the time comes. Your daughter looks so cute with glasses, I hope the kids at school have gotten over the fact that she has them and they have stopped being meanies.