rain. it skews my thought processes...

so today . . . it rained. thank goodness.

when i left for school this morning, i knew rain was in the forecast. i had checked my weather app which shows the weather prediction hour by hour, and it said there was a 50 percent chance of rain during recess today. i thought those were pretty good odds, so i wore my lightweight raincoat because i knew i had to do a few errands after school and my raincoat would keep me dry. but it isn't very warm. which is usually fine, since our daytime temperatures rarely dip below 60 degrees, and i was already wearing a sweater and a scarf.

i left the house, got into my car in the garage, and went to school. i parked in my usual parking space, got out of the car, and was hit by a freezing cold wind. (this is the problem with keeping your car in the garage--you don't have to actually feel the weather until you get where you are going.) i immediately knew i was in trouble... there were hardly any clouds in the sky, probably because of the wind. rain did not look imminent. in fact, rain didn't even really look like a possibility. i was suddenly wishing i had worn my warm coat instead of my waterproof one.

i spent the morning praying for rain by recess...

fifteen minutes before recess i went to check the weather. it was raining! well, sort of... the ground was a little damp. there were clouds in the sky. if it wasn't exactly raining, it was sure looking like it was thinking about it... that was good enough for me. this is southern california after all.

we spent recess in our warm, dry classroom :) sometimes it is good to be the adult.

after school it was still threatening to rain. and it was still cold. at least i had on my warm boots, because i had to go pick up my new prescription. fortunately for me, my pharmacy is in the same building as my eye doctor. i have an eye appointment early thursday morning, but i will have to rush to work afterwards, which won't leave me much time to look at new glasses. so while waiting for my prescription to be ready, i ventured to the second floor and the optometrist's office.

there were a lot of frames from which to choose. a lot. and yet, i found that the frames i kept choosing looked a lot like the ones i already have, which i LOVE, which is maybe why i kept choosing similar frames! but i currently only have one pair of glasses, and i can't be without them for two weeks while kaiser sends them out to have new lenses put in. so i need a second pair.

i walked up and down the wall of frames more than once. i found a few frames i liked, but of course they were all over $300 just for the frames! and my lenses are not going to be inexpensive--that's what happens when your eyes get to be of a certain age. and then i heard the woman next to me mumbling. she was not happy. she was there to have her new glasses replaced, but she was there alone with no one to give an opinion. she was afraid she was going to end up with another pair of glasses that didn't work for her. pretty soon she turned to me and said, "what do you think of these?"

please don't ask me that! please, please, PLEASE don't ask me that! i mean, i have opinions about fashion and accessories, but my bubble tends to be a bit off level. i like things that are a little different, quirky, unexpected. my taste is not for everyone. but how do i explain this to a perfect stranger in the next 30 seconds. so i took the easy way out. "i think they look nice," i said.

let this be a lesson to you. don't ask a stranger what they think. they don't know you well enough to say, "that looks hideous! what were you thinking??" obviously she thought they looked pretty good or she would have already rejected them. should i be the one to tell her they weren't that great? i don't think so!

"ok," she said, "what about these?" and she put on another pair. "those are nice, too," i said. when she asked me about a third pair, i finally said, "look, i like glasses with a bold frame. i do not like half frames, skinny metal frames, or frameless frames. i want my glasses to say 'look, i have eyes!' so that affects my opinions. if you like something that blends in with your face, i am the wrong person to be asking!" and then she said, "i like your glasses!"

oh sheesh. now i had to help her. so we compared several frames, and i told her what i thought. and she chose the frames i liked the best. i hope she is happy with them...

and then i realized SHE CHOSE THE FRAMES I LIKED THE BEST!! now what was i going to choose?!?! because i'm pretty sure kaiser doesn't keep several pairs of that particular gucci frame in the back room! and my appointment is on thursday! what is wrong with me?? why did i have to go all gaga when she put that frame on?? why didn't i push her toward the guess frame so she would leave my gucci frame alone?!?!?! now what am i going to do????

maybe i am too nice...

let this be a lesson to me. don't talk to strangers. even ones who need help. i teach tiny children that lesson every year--you would think i would know it! now my only hope is that they will get some newer, even better frames in before i have to make a decision...

...yes, by thursday.