glasses. Glasses and cups of coffee.
I have lost my glasses again. A-gain!
I have a problem. I have a torque in my vision: my eyes switch problems at a certain distance, which means I can’t wear bifocals. A doctor who prescribed neomycin for a minor eye infection just before BucConneer nearly blinded me: my eyes got worse and worse, and by the time I lost patience with the pain and blurry vision and went to a major eye clinic, where they informed me it was, yes, allergy—I had some permanent scarring. Which didn’t help.
The upshot of the whole affair is that I can’t wear bifocals: I have to have a separate pair of glasses for every application, and I can’t keep track of them. Things are better since they let me wear contacts again…I am down to one pair, with a few storeboughts. But I have this habit of hanging them from my collar, and they may, for all I can tell, be in shrubbery, on the bottom of the fishpond, or just blending with the carpet in some dark corner.
We pulled an all-house search, upended my working chair and may (we’re having trouble id-ing them for sure) have found the pair of Jane’s glasses that have been missing since a few weeks after she bought them.
But mine are still missing. So I went to Costco to get others. They’d lost my prescription. They’re having to get it from Walmart, who have also lost it. The doctor there called and is going to give me a free brief exam so I can get my glasses…she’s a very good doctor, but the office is a little iffy about organization.
So Jane has her glasses, mine are still missing, and I had to take my contact out because I walked into Lowes after soaker hose and they have something in the air that just killed my eyes.
The coffee cups: I fill ’em, I set ’em down, I find them considerably later. I fill one and discover there’s already one in the microwave. I have, even, though not recently, found one in the ice box. Classic.
But hopefully we will get the glasses thing solved. And then my old ones will turn up, want to bet?
Love the story about the chairs, Philosopher 77.
I don’t lose my glasses because I never take them off; continuous correction so I don’t change among pairs except for prescription sunglasses. But this is a timely thread: I lost my cellphone yesterday (Monday). Missed it when I came home from work, looked “everywhere,” finnaly went back to work to look, not there. Remembered using it Sunday night. Came home, looked some more. Have a landline so I called the cell. Not a peep. Looked in the car. Not there. Started to come back inside, turned around for one last search; it had fallen down between the passenger seat and the center console. Just barely visible and I could barely touch it with my fingertips, but I slithered it out.
On the same topic, I lost a stamped envelope with a check and a bill once. I knew it was in the car, but lost it on the way to the post office, finally called and paid it online (it was the mortgage check). Never found it, even after crawling around looking in all the dark spots with a flashlight. Had the car detailed a year or so later and when I picked it up the envelope was lying on the passenger seat. I was too embarrassed to ask where it had been all that time.
Isn’t it nice to know that we are not the sole victims of the Missing Possessions Syndrome?
My watch is missing most of the time. I was even being careful to put it in the same place everytime I wore it. The problem is Pascal will get on the dresser and carry it off! He must like the hum of the battery.
The other thing I misplace is crochet hooks. As many as I own and I lose them! I try to leave the hook in the project I’m working on and either misplace the project or drop the hook. I can’t lose my glasses because I wear them all day. While cleaning on Sunday, I found the hook stuck in the yarn of an afghan. It’s a double strand ripple, that the weather got too warm to work on, and I couldn’t remember what size I was using so I couldn’t work on it. The hook was white, not one of my colorful plastic hooks.
Glasses! I wear them all the time, but if I take them off and put them down on the bed or some other highly inappropriate place I have to dig out my old glasses to find the good ones. Seems to happen once a day. Cups of tea…which I don’t really register as lost until I can’t find any cups. They are everywhere: in the microwave, by the computor, once in a desk drawer 1/4 full, out by the pool, in various planters. I think my record is six. I also lose chargers.
Then there are days when I seem to lose everything I touch. Other days when I am top of everything. Go figure!
2 thoughts: Wouldn’t be nice to have something like a remote, so that you could trigger your glasses to make a beeping noise when you’ve lost them? And, Medical Records (optical prescriptions included) are subject to mandatory HIPAA retention for a period of not less than 10 years; if they’ve lost the prescription, they are subject to a fine up to $250,000.
Well, you could infuse them with microchips. Wouldn’t that be cool to call up a plan of your house on the computer that shows the exact location of keys, glasses, and other vital items? We have the technology, it just needs a bit of programming and to go into mass production…
Carolyn: If you are searching for your bird socks, look no longer. They are in my Subaru. But, sorry — no glasses.
I forgot about the bird socks. 😉
Give them back!
Okay, time to put my two cents worth in. It’s my glasses and pens. I prefer to use those uniball fine point pens for general writing and note taking. Unfortunely they have a tendency to disapear on me , even when I am just sitting at the keyboard. They reappear later, but usually not until I have gotton another one out.
Sue is quite used to a certian look on my face when I’m walking around the house. Usually when she notices it she says “Can’t find your glasses, again?” The thing that bugs me the most is the glasses are readers (2.0 power) and can be fairly easily replaced. It’s the case I use that would be difficult to replace, it’s an old cigar case with no metal hinges in it.
Brad
When I was first married, I’d put a jacket on the edge of the couch and then come back for it only to find it gone. I’d look every where and, seriously, it would be gone. It turns out my wife had put it in the closet!
I had to ask her not to put my things away because it would drive me crazy to have my things missing from where I had left them.
Emilyrin, I had extended wear contacts for a while and it was wonderful! to wake up and be able to see. First time in my whole life. But be very careful to watch for any symptoms of infection. My optometrist didn’t mention this to me. But I have recently done some research, and the infection incidence for the 24/7 contacts is much higher than for the take-em-out-at-night variety, so be careful.
I am SO happy to find I’m not the only person to search the house for the coffee, only to find it in the microwave, cold, the next time. Now I have a microwave that beeps once a minute after it’s finished, until the door is opened. Annoying sometimes, but it does tell you where your coffee is (as long as you ever heated it in the first place.)
At risk of making it clear what a dork I am, I keep my sunglasses on a string around my neck. (They’re also those “go over your own glasses” sunglasses, so I suppose my dorkdom is a given. I started wearing them while commuting on a bike — the complete all-around coverage meant less dirt in my eyes, and the string meant that hitting a bump and having them fly off wouldn’t result in them falling into the street and getting run over. I admit they do give me a sort of “fresh from eye surgery” look though.) In the same vein, strings on glasses would prevent them falling into the bushes. As for putting them down and forgetting where they are, it’s too bad they don’t have tiny sonic jobbies small enough to fit on glasses, but if you could remember to attach something relatively flashy to them before putting them down, perhaps the large flashy thing would be easier to locate. (A long sparkly beaded string would probably do double duty in this way.) Of course, simply putting them in one place would be the easiest way to keep track of them, even if you had one specific place in each room. (No putting the glasses down anywhere except THIS shelf, sort of thing.) It would at least cut down on the number of places to look. I track my coffee cups by only putting them on coasters, and there’s a maximum of 2 coasters in a given room. I see online they do have sonic locators for things like luggage which are pretty small — those might be helpful for a lost car key issue. All of which ideas have no doubt already been considered and rejected by all and sundry, but I figured I’d throw them out there…
I tried to put a gallon of milk into the microwave once. The only reason it didn’t wind up in there was because it was too tall to fit…
In theory, I subscribe to the “a place for everything, and everything in its place” method. This provides, in equal measure, a reasonable chance of tracking down my stuff and an object lesson in the difference between the theoretical and the actual. Glasses and contacts? No problem: on my nightstand and in my eyes, respectively (extended wear ftw!). Keys and wallet? Er…ah, yes, there they are. Those might-be-needed-later objects that I put in a place “where I’m sure to remember them?” Not a chance in hell. Less likely ever to be seen again than DB Cooper.
Wallet in left trouser pocket, keys in right. Have done since I was about twelve. If, for some reason, I take either out, I feel that something is Very Wrong, and start looking for them. I’ve lost things a couple of times (mostly while cycling), but I don’t mislay them.
I usually do the “put it where it belongs” thing, but there was an interesting idea put forth in one of Dick Francis’ books (Hot Money, I think) where the character always put things in the first place it would occur to him to look for it. Some of those places were pretty quirky, which made things difficult for other characters, since you had to follow a certain logic trail to find stuff if you didn’t have the same immediate associations. I use this method sometimes for those not-often-needed items and it does seem to work. On the other hand, even though my mother loves this method, it hasn’t cut down on the number of Christmas presents she’s lost track of by the time December rolls around…
First place it would occur to me? Hmm, for some reason, I even look inside the oven. Hey, I might have dropped them.
Bird socks? They must have been a bear to knit, especially if you’re doing it for say, a small wren?
Spence, when you asked her not to do that anymore, did she shove you in the closet with your jacket? That way, you’d ALWAYS know where it was, even if you weren’t looking right at it. I know some women would do that, “You don’t like the way I keep house? Into the small, darkened dungeon with you!”
LOL! funny Joe. She did say that the Jacket BELONGED in the closet. I said that I had put it there because I was going to be using it again. I usually remember where things are, except the keys, that’s why I almost always put them in one place, on the hook under the clock. That way I know where they are. So I agree with mrgawe. If it’s put in its place, it can be found.
But then you have to remember the place. my memory is terrible. the spouse received a digital picture frame for his bday and i have been racking my brains for where I put the negatives of the children’s baby pictures so as to get them on to a cd from which I can put them on a disc to be displayed on the picture frame. Where ARE they! I can’t remember what i did with them. It’s driving me nuts. But then, I am a lot older than you, Spence-ji!
I sometimes lose my glasses and spend hours looking for them- when they’re on my face. It’s very tedious.
I’ve often thought that a little radio transmitter affixed to the earpiece would improve my quality of life considerably.
Better yet: a robot dedicated to keeping track of all the dratted little misplaceable things. Then one could shout and the robot would retrieve.
I’ve always thought a beeper would be useful – you press the button and the glasses starts to beep. The only problem is I’d probably displace the button thing too. But it works with my mobile phone – I just call it from the landline one.
My husband thinks things should be in their proper place, and that proper place is always stowed away in some cupboard. So it’s easier to make it beep than go through all the possible places…
A couple years ago I had to add the need for reading glasses to my nearsightedness. I tried 2 pairs and found that I had headaches – neither was right for the computer, I hand-quilt in front of the TV (can’t watch Law & Order with reading glasses when you are as seriously nearsighted as I am but can’t thread a needle if I don’t have the reading glasses on). I found I had to have progressives – I use the middle ground more than anything.
I only wear the one pair but am blind enough that if I set them down on anything short of a white countertop, I can’t find them without just feeling around in the area I believe I left them. I therefore have a specific place to put them when going to bed, when taking a bath, etc… If I deviated I have to ask my husband or daughter to find them and I am kidded about it until I have a definite lack of humor concerning the subject.
I suggest getting a really pretty cord or chain. Yes, it is old-ladyish unless you are dressed in surf gear and have them on your sunglasses. But I’ve gotten so I don’t care. I don’t need to put the chain on my regular glasses but I do it with my prescription sunglasses (again, progressives – my husband was astounded that I need to read outside – my best friend asked has he met you???).
I used to have a thing on my key chain that when one laughed at a certain pitch it would beep at one. This was helpful in the privacy of one’s own home, but the pitch at which one had to laugh was such that it was inadvisable to do it in public.
Someone here gave me an idea! I’ll take an old, useless CD, decorate it and attach my flash drive! I was thinking big fluffy keychain, but the cats would drag that off. (Insert standard comment about everything is a toy to a cat.)
I made a few beaded eyeglass chains years ago. They’re pretty simple to make, if you can find the loops that go over your earpiece. I can just imagine a banana stand with the glasses hanging from it on a beaded chain.
Keys – I have two sets of keys on long neck chains and I put them on first thing in the morning and don’t take them off until bed. Even so, I have still managed to lose them on occasion.
Mobile phone – I actually solved this to some degree with a phone holder that is held up by the charger plug. I keep it plugged into the kitchen outlet above the worktop. English outlets have safety switches so you can turn them on and off like a light switch so I don’t waste electricity. Does anyone know if electical sockets in the USA now come with switches?
Glasses – Oh I so sympathise. I am near sighted, but I am of an age at which my eyes refuse to focus on close objects at convenient reading distance while I am wearing glasses. I asked at the optometrist and I would have to pay nearly the equivalent of $500 for a pair of bifocals with lenses. I would much rather save the money and just take the glasses off, but I do tend to lose them frequently. Luckily I have several old pairs stashed on my bookcase upstairs (not good to wear too long as they give me a headache, but great for hunting my regular pair.
I’m in the same boat, so try what I did. I got prescription glasses for glasses the size of readers with no frame at the bottom of the lenses, then had them adjust them so they sit higher on my nose. I can see distance by looking up at the TV, but can see clear for reading, needlework, laptop etc. works great! The ones for day wear [i.e. driving anywhere] sit on the overstuffed kitchen counter and these live right next to the TV. God help me if I take off either anyplace else in the house!