A Little Thing

I'm wearing my contact lenses for the first time since I got that series of colds that lasted, I kid you not, 70 days.  Actually, I put the lenses in once when I thought I was getting better but I had to take them out after a couple of hours when the eye boogies took over.  What a relief to take off those glasses!  Soft contact lenses are definitely one of the blessings of our modern age. 

The concept of the contact lens was first proposed by none other than Leonardo da Vinci.  (What a great mind!)  Hard glass lenses were in use in the late 19th century, but I'm not sure by whom - it must have been torture to wear them.  It was in the 1940's that all-plastic lenses were invented, but they were still very uncomfortable.  The men we have to thank for today's modern lenses are Czechoslovakian chemist Otto Wichterle and his assistant, Dr. Drahoslav Lim.  They invented the lenses in the late fifties and some countries were using the product in the sixties, but of course, the FDA did not approve the hydrogel or "Softlens" material for use in the U.S. until 1971, when Bausch & Lomb introduced the first commercially available soft contact lens here.  Dr. Lim actually invented the soft, water absorbing plastic they used, hydroxyethyl methacrylate (HEMA).  Another great leap forward thanks to materials innovation! (Summarized from this, this and this.)

I'm sure many of you are thinking that the contact lens is old news and I should be writing about vision correction surgery.  But I write about the Little Things that are important to me, and I'm not a good candidate for LASIK or other corrective surgery since I only have one working eye and so no room for error.  Besides, I thought it was an interesting history.

Montessori Observations

I've now observed 4 Montessori schools.  The plan is for Samantha to start school next fall, which means I have to decide on a school and register her sometime between January and March.  Unfortunately, I've been at least a little bit disappointed with all the schools I've seen so far.  I've ruled out 2 schools, one of which ended up being too far away and one which was Montessori-lite and charged about 30% more than average to boot. 

Both of the others are acceptable.  They use Montessori materials and set up the classrooms attractively and properly.  The students at both schools acted independently, choosing their own work, focusing, and respecting the other children.  However, neither school has a true 3 hour work cycle.  Between the "occasional" Spanish class, art time, birthday parties, holiday celebrations, circle time, lunch time, and outside time, the time spent on the "work" of the Montessori method is fragmented.  At one school I also felt the classroom was too cramped and cluttered, and at the other, that the teachers were a bit too involved in the childrens' work.  Of course, both schools propagandize the kids with religion and environmentalism, but not to an extent that I would reject them. 

Today I found a school that I'm really excited about.  I'm going to observe the classroom on Monday.  This school actually explains and defends the 3 hour work cycle on its web site.  Pictures of the classrooms bode well.  It has reasonable tuition and no other glaring problems.  I've got a feeling about this one and I can't wait to see it.  It's so exciting to be working on this aspect of Samantha's future!

Mysteries

Here's another one:  Why do people use placemats?  Is it supposed to be easier to clean the placemat than the table?  I can understand a tablecloth, but only if you have an ugly table.  If it's a nice table, don't you want to see it?  This all seems to be one step away from covering your furniture in plastic.

A Little Thing

Now that we have 2 sinks in our master bathroom again, it's not ridiculous for me and my husband to each use our own favorite brand of toothpaste.

Mysteries

Does anybody iron their clothes anymore?  I've never ironed and yes, my clothes are wrinkled some of the time (but not often, thanks to this).  But, seriously, after sorting, washing, and drying clothes, does anyone really get out an ironing board and an iron, put water in it, wait for it to heat up, and spend multiple minutes per item making them just perfect, then folding or hanging?  And I've heard a rumor that some people actually iron their sheets!  What planet do they live on?

When Supergluing Your Fingers Together is Not a Mistake

Ever since my first real winter in Chicago 1999-2000 (I grew up in Los Angeles), I've had terrible problems with dry skin.  In Chicago, my heels cracked so badly they bled, which was painful enough, but last winter my fingers started splitting.  Right where the edge of the nail meets the finger I got these deep cuts.  Two of my favorite activities, writing (typing) and cooking, became torture.  It started up again about a week ago and was so bad I decided to try my father's trick - Superglue.  Yes, I glued my fingers back together.  It works!

Home Improvements

We've lived in our new home for one week now and we've been busy.  Well, our handyman has been busy and I'm exhausted from monitoring him.  So far we've:

• replaced the carpet


• painted Samantha's room


• replaced the kitchen faucet


• replaced the garbage disposal


• installed a light switch in the basement storage room


• replaced all the rotten wood trim on the front windows and fixed the leak that caused it


• caulked a cracked front step


• reset some of the tile in the basement shower


• fixed a broken kitchen cabinet


• cleaned the chimney


• cleaned the dryer vent (which was so full of lint that the dryer did not work)

There are only a few more urgent things on the list, plus unpacking and cleaning.  We're feeling secure enough that we decided to go to Florida for Christmas with Adam's folks.  Now, if only I could find the towels so that I can change out this one I've been using for over 2 weeks...