Karen’s Opinion

I often tease my husband because he has the ability to pick some horrible movies when choosing movies at the video store. It is like they call out to him, “pick me! pick me!” I have to say though, he redeemed himself by choosing two good movies this past Friday. Yes, two great movies! The best one was Three Days with Russell Crowe. I can’t begin to describe that movie without giving the plot away so I’ll just say, I recommend it. The other movie was The Tourist. Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie make a dynamic couple. You could feel the tension between them. I am not sure how to explain the movie but it had twists and turns that kept me trying to figure out what was happening. It was filmed in France and Italy so was especially fun to see the beautiful scenery.

During one of the scenes of The Tourist, Johnny Depp was smoking one of those electric cigarettes that are supposed to help you quit smoking. I don’t know about the success rate for them but I have read about a product that has been very successful for many people. CiGRX is a small mint-flavored lozenge that temporarily reduces the urge to light up a nasty cigarette. The great thing about cigrax is that the cigrx side effects are minimal. In fact, it contains natural dietary ingredients: yerba mate (mah-TAY) and anatabine (an-AT-a-been). Extracts of mate are found in Yerba mate’s chemical components and are similar to those found in green tea. Anatabine, an alkaloid found in tobacco is also used to make CigRX. The chemical make up of CigRX using anatabine and yerba mate make a less addictive solution to help one to stop smoking.

I do appreciate the position of movie makers who show that smoking is not a good idea instead of the producers who take money from cigarette manufacturers to fund their productions.

I have blogged before how pleased I have been with the prices at Zenni Optical. Well, I can tell you that the folks at Zenni have made their website even easier to pick out new glasses. Now you can use the new Try On feature–Zenni Frame Fit and pick out the type of frame that best fits your face. It used to be that when I picked out my frames, it was a hit or miss choice and I only hoped the style I chose would look good on me. With Zenni’s new try on feature I can upload a picture of myself and try onprescription eye glasses ! That is even better than going to a brick and mortar eye glass store. By using a picture, I can try on as many pair of eye glasses as I want. No more worrying about bothering the technician with my indecisiveness! I can take my time and even try on some styles I might normally pass over. Trying on glasses has never been this fun!

This pair is one of my favorite styles. At $12.95, I can afford more than one pair. I think it will be fun to have different colored frames. Maybe, a pair to match my favorite outfits! This new try on feature might become addictive.

I was thinking about how, since finding out about Zenni Optical, glasses are so much affordable. While some of my friends can get new glasses every year because their insurance pays for them, I do not have that luxury. I really cannot think of many people who do have eyeglass coverage through their insurance. Thank goodness for Zenni Optical.

When I was a child, my eyesight would change every single year! My parents had to put out a chunk of money to keep me in eyeglasses. If, by some miracle, my prescription would stay the same, it seemed I would inevitably break my frames and cause my folks to have to buy me new ones. I refused to be one of those kids who had tape holding their glasses together. When I was a child, it was not particularly fashionable to wear glasses. When I hear the young kids at our church talk about how they cannot wait to get glasses, I am shocked. They are lucky. I never liked being called four eyes. Kids today are very lucky. They have cool frames to choose from, they aren’t teased for wearing glasses and their parents can afford their eyeglasses because they can go to Zenni Optical.

This might sound like a crazy thing to be excited about but, I just found out that my husband and I have a preventative clause in our health insurance policy. That means that we can both have a colonoscopy! I don’t know if that is how to spell that procedure but I know that we have been concerned about having it done. We are at that age when we need to have things checked out and catch small things before they get big.

Another thing that makes me happy is the state of our IRA accounts. I have been afraid to even look at how they are doing since the stock market went into a tailspin a few years ago. Well, I was pleasantly surprised to see that they are doing better. We have been considering some mobile trading or online trading to offset some losses that have set us back quite a bit.

Getting older is for the birds! but life is as good as we make it.

I love the cooler fall weather we are having here in Indiana. It is time to bring out the sweatshirts and long pants. I have been making an effort to get some walking exercise. When it is hot, I talk myself out of going for walks. I also talk myself out of walking if it is too cool, I am too tired, the wind is blowing. Sigh…

I am going to have to do better about exercising though because with the fall season comes fall baking. My husband and I went to the orchard and bought apples to eat and another kind that are good to bake with. I made apple crisp last night and it is gone! I only made a half batch so that I wouldn’t sit around and eat it all day. I know how I am. LOL

Do the seasons change where you live?