Buying glasses online, just my experience

Rosie's misplaced glasses, last seen June-ish 2013;
photo taken on Memorial Day '13.

Back in January, Rosie had an eye exam that showed a need for vision correction. We purchased glasses for her the traditional way, through an optometrist's office and insurance and received her pair by February. However, by the beginning of last summer Rosie lost that pair of glasses. It wasn't a big deal during summer camps and outdoor activities, so I put off replacing them for a few months. Our insurance only allowed one covered purchase of glasses per year, so with September and the start of school looming, I was at a loss as to how we would get another pair for less than $350 (starting prices at brick-and-mortar shops around here).

Then, I remembered that Kelly had recommended shopping online with ZenniOptical.com. Rosie really wanted a pair that was exactly like the one she lost, and Zenni didn't appear to have it.

After searching a couple of other glasses sites, I found a pair that was close to identical to Rosie's old pair at GlassesShop.com. I dug up her Rx, but was a little stumped as to what "PD" meant. It wasn't on the doctor's Rx and the site didn't give any details, so I just went with their default number. I placed my order, and waited. And waited some more. And sent some frustrated emails. The estimate was nine days to deliver, but it ended up taking two months. I understand that they shipped from China, but they shouldn't say nine days if they can't back up their claim. To add to my frustration, the GlassesShop 800 number never seemed to get answered, so I was dealing with everything primarily through emails with a major time lag. I learned later that the GlassesShop glasses order got held up in medical customs in California and I was less than thrilled about the wait.

Rosie's absolutely favorite new glasses from Zenni Optical
(photo effects added by Rosie).

Since we were a month into the school year and Rosie needed to see the chalkboard, I ended up ordering a second pair from ZenniOptical.com. The Zenni website is more robust and the services (online chat!) are more helpful. Their pupillary distance (PD: finally found out what it meant) ruler was especially helpful (it's a PDF that you can print and take your own measurements).

Our order from Zenni arrived exactly on time at the beginning of October and Rosie loves the new glasses. Rather than returning them, we are using the second pair (which arrived in late October) as back up to the first, because they were both so cheap...compared to local prices anyway. That's the intel! I recommend giving this a try. 

This post brought to you by my left leg

Legs.
Originally uploaded by Gabba Gabba Hey!

At this moment, beneath both pantyhose and a single, full-leg compression stocking (wearing both for symmetry), is my left leg. Sounds too sexy, right? Rwwowr! While it's thoroughly bruised and has some abrasions, it's healing well, no worries. About a week and a half ago, I had ambulatory phlebectomy, or, removal of a superficial vericose vein.

So, some questions I've had have been, why on earth did you have this surgery in the middle of summer? 90-degree weather in DC humidity is bad enough, but with a thick stocking on? Or, why did I have the surgery at all? Is it just cosmetic, or do vericose veins cause problems beyond looking weird?

To answer the first, I've become thoroughly in love with my dance classes. Between September and June, the practice is solidly once a week, but from early July to late August? There's only four classes, which I didn't sign up for—I signed Dash up instead. I had surgery in July so I wouldn't miss too much dancing practice.

Second, I've had the ugly vein since my mid-twenties. The vericose malfunction is when the valves in a vein stop opening and closing properly, and instead of pumping blood back up toward your heart, the blood just lollygags around, filling up the vein and making it all puffy. While it's been a pest for me over the years (for example, I couldn't zip up those sexy leather knee-boots on the left leg), and got worse over my pregnancies (all the way up and down the leg, rather than localizing in one area), it didn't really start hurting me until this year. Over the past few months, I just wanted to be propping my foot up all the time, while at my desk, while driving, and couldn't sit still at work because every seated position became uncomfortable after a short while.

Every surgery has risks, and I'm no fan of getting cut up for frivolous reasons. I'm a wuss, too! I actually fainted while the doctor and nurses were just PREPPING me for the surgery! No cutting yet, just my imagination running away with my brain. Boom, lights out.

Things are feeling better today, and I'm looking forward to being more comfortable through my 8-5 grind. Maybe I'll even be able to wear those boots this coming winter! For now, I'm wearing the stockings for another week or two, and adding fishnets to make them more hawt while I'm out? Maybe!

I want my Friday evening date-night back.

So, last Friday. The kids had a great time! They spent the eventing at Auntie M's new house where she has set up an entire room for them. Their special room-at-auntie's is outfitted with sleeping bags, new toys, games, craft supplies, and books. I picked them up at around 11 p.m. Friday night and they were sweet and sleepy—Thank you Auntie M, for taking care of Rosie & Dash! I piled them in the car and headed home and all were abed before midnight.

Auntie M was babysitting so that Monkeyrotica and I could attend a party. Mr. Monkey's car battery was dead, so he spent his day thusly:
5:30 a.m. leave the house for dealership to beat Beltway traffic.
7:00 a.m. dealership opens, wait for hours on end, listening to gawdawful Xmas tunes
12:00 p.m. leave dealership and spend a few hrs grocery shopping among foul-smelling denizens of NoVA, head home to pack up car with kid-entertainment items
4:00 p.m. pick up son, pick up daughter, travel the Beltway for 90 minutes.
5:30 p.m. obtain food for offspring, drop them at Auntie M's, spend 45 mins in tollroad traffic
6:15 p.m. pickup wife, inform her that going to a party is the last thing he wants to do after driving around in traffic since 5:30 a.m.; wife ignores Mr. Monkey, she looks party-fabulous and ready for fun!

[UPDATE: I had to add here, that there are no photos of this event. It's my own fault, as I couldn't find our camera anywhere that morning. I texted Monkey before he left the house and asked him if he knew where the camera was. He replied yes, he did know. There you go.]

Here's where a series of weird, annoying things happen in which steam blows hard and heavy out of Mr. Monkey's ears. We get to the party at the appointed time, check in, but the bars don't open until 7. We check our coats. A fire alarm blares and we are directed to leave, so we uncheck our coats and go outside for 20 minutes. By the time we get back in and re-check the coats, the bar is not quite open and we really need drinks. waaaait...Bar Open! A friend orders a Southern Comfort from the hotel lobby bar. The bartender doesn't know what that is (or a few subsequent drink orders) so we all order vodka tonics, just because she knows that one (don't bartenders need to be licensed?). We sit for a while, because the ballroom doesn't open until 8, but boredom sinks in and we wander the lobby. Since Monkey and I arrived in separate cars, neither of us plan to drink heavily.

At 8 p.m. we are all allowed to enter the ballroom, a.k.a. the refrigerator. All the ladies promptly don their date's jackets. I find a seat, then reach for my condensation-beaded water glass which shoots out of my fingers and sprays water and ice all over the table. No servers in sight. There are a few speeches and lots of clapping. 9 p.m. comes and goes as some servers start mysteriously arranging and rearranging trays around the room. A D.J. starts spinning some holiday music. Monkey continues to clench until Dave Brubek's Take Five plays, which relaxes him a small bit.

At 9:30, a server comes to our table with a tureen of soup. Did I mention that our place settings have no bowls? No mind, she pours fishy-smelling soup into the charger plates. I ask, "Excuse me, what kind of soup is this? My husband has a shellfish allergy." The server answers, "Soup? Yes." Another server comes to take the soup-on-plates away, as others are bustling around with bowls. Monkey doesn't get to eat the lobster bisque. There's a mildly funny interlude in which Monkey gives her back his bowl several times and she keeps handing him fresh bowls of bisque. "I can't eat this!" and "Severe shellfish allergy!" are not in her vocabulary. There is no beverage service (if you need a drink of any kind, you must leave the ballroom and find the bar out in the lobby).

9:45, the salad course is served: mixed greens, with strawberries and candied walnuts (if you're lucky—one person at our table only got the greens). We wait, and wait, and make awkward conversation about how hungry everyone is and how nobody thought we had to wait until 10 p.m. to eat on a Friday. One tablemate threatens to leave and get food at McDonald's if the main course doesn't show up soon. At 10:10, covered platters are spotted, emerging from the catering area.

10:15 p.m. Our surf and turf plates arrive! The two jumbo prawns feature grandly atop every item underneath. Oh, wait. Monkey can't eat them either. Suxxorz!! Ignoring the flames pouring out of Monkey's ears, I sacrifice my mini-mignon filet, take his prawns and we scuttle out of the ballroom as soon as we are full.

Bust. At least we didn't pay for a sitter? Next time Monkeyrotica tells me that he really, really wants to go home and that going out will suck, I promise to be a better listener.

Crapola!! I totally posted remotely yesterday!!

I didn't check my blog yesterday but I did post from my phone, a camera picture of Dash and his new batman costume. No wonder that when I was talking about it to KellyGO this afternoon she was looking at me so blankly.

I swear my phone confirmed the post, but I didn't check the blog page––that has happened once before, so I should have. Whatever.

UPDATE: The post mysteriously showed up, after floating around the ether for over 24 hours. Bizarre.

Happy NaBloPoMo everyone.

Staring at clouds, a dying dream?

While we were driving to the beach in Delaware, there were the most gorgeous fluffy clouds in the blue, blue sky. I was doing my best to just drive and stay in my lane on Rt 50, but the clouds kept coming up in the chatter from the backseat. Rosie kept finding shapes in them, like a snail or a camel, and I was intrigued by the cottony tendrils that the wind made with their edges.

If we weren't on a schedule, I'd like to think we could have found a grassy meadow and a blanket, and stared up at them from our backs to find as many shapes as our hearts desired. But really, it's pretty darned unlikely that I would have considered that. There are always so many things to do and places to go and schedules to follow that imagining myself spending a few hours or an afternoon staring up at clouds just wouldn't ever get worked in.

Doesn't everyone have memories of doing this as a child? Wouldn't it be sad if today's kids are so overscheduled that they never spend an afternoon under the sky, picnicking in a field apart from retail and sprawl? It's a little depressing to me to think that our lives are so full of commitments that I couldn't even be spontaneous enough to pull over and stare up and enjoy the awesomeness and sublimity of nature, letting my mind relax and absorb for a while.

Nope, not this time. I snapped the pic on my phone while driving. Eyes back on the road.

ditched meme post

Memes don't usually need a point, except to be funny, fun, and revealing about some aspect of the author. The Priviledge meme that I recently participated in (and subsequently took down) did have a point, or was a means to a researcher's conclusion, and I intended to research it after participating and post about said point.

I didn't find much except criticism. Priviledge isn't based on whether you have a TV or a new car, necessarily; different classes have myriad cues that don't come close to the Indiana State U prof's questions. Ivy-Leaguer Megan McArdle of The Atlantic observed that having a television in your room was seen as vulgar by ultra-priviledged private school classmates; having a more austere lifestyle was seen as a sign of class.

All that to say, that list was making me uncomfortable in its pointlessness. So what if I stayed in a hotel or flew in a commercial airliner before I was 16. Not fun or funny.

At least Radical Mama's point was to show a change between her sitch and her daughter's, and I didn't manage that. Not for me.

If any of you can find a fun point to it all, I'm listening!

aren't all little girls supposed to be shaped like eggs?

I had a wee bit of a dilemma over the weekend. A body-image dilemma, concerning Rosie. There are sooooo many poor models out there for what a "normal" body shape is that I just won't bother to list them (cafgh-Barbie). I somehow didn't expect them to be reflected in a four-to-five year old's ballet class, though (@ 12, maybe).

Don't girls only start to have defined waists when puberty starts its work? Apparently ballet costume sizing charts have a blind spot to this.

At the end of Rosie's Saturday class, I received said form and dutifully, took her measurements at home. Here's how her sizing worked out: chest, small; hips, small; girth (shoulder to crotch): small; waist, LARGE? Whaaa?

I read through, and the proportions are the same for adults and kids, narrower in the center. Grrrr. Stupid!

Now I have questions. What size do I actually order, and should I start doing situps with Rosie or yell at her teacher for dealing with such unenlightened costume manufacturers?

I hate feeling sick. Sick-leave rant warning...

It's been a while since a bug has gotten me, but I'm feeling it today. Last night was the sore throat, compounded with some congestion this morning, and now I'm at work, with watery eyes, chills and fatigue. I should probably go home, but thanks to daycare sick policies and limited leave on my company's part, I have pretty much remained 20 hours in the hole for leave. Today I'm at exactly -18.42.

Do many companies do this? Allow you to go into the negative on your leave? They let you take a maximum of -40 hours here. Lately, every time I record leave on my timecard, I get a very official-looking pop-up that informs me that should I leave the company, I must commit to pay them back this borrowed time. It's still not a bad policy.

How did this happen to me? Well, mostly it's the kids. When they are sick or display a fever over 100 degrees at school, the policy is to keep them out until they are fever-free for 24 hours. That means, if AJS picks them up and stays out with them on say, a Tuesday, I must stay out with them through Wednesday. If they still have a fever on Wednesday, that's another day when AJS and I take 1/2-days each on Thursday. And, they also have periodic well-visits at the doctor's or the dentist's (so do AJS and I for that matter). On top of that, the daycare is closed on EVERY Federal Holiday PLUS five additional training days per year. My company only pays for 9 holidays per year, and up until a couple of days ago I was only accruing 17 days of leave per year (that's sick and vacation combined). In 2007, the kids and I only took one 4-day vacation.

I probably shouldn't be complaining, since I know there are many, many workers out there who don't get any sick or vacation leave. But, I just don't like feeling that I can't take a sick day or a vacation or go to a doctor's appointment because I'm too far in the hole. I think AJS has so many vacation days somehow that he's looking for ways to take them off. The joys of being a Federal employee.

Tell me which employers out there do it better, please? I need to circulate my resume more widely.

Oh bother.

Just a quick apology to all of you who view my blog via a Reader. My phone choked on my post last night and sent six of them in a row. How annoying!!! I fixed it here, but don't think I can help your Reader bots. Urk.

Yet another casualty of tax hikes: Franz Bader Books

AJS has been keeping me apprised of skyrocketing property assessments for businesses across DC, telling me about how the owners of The Black Cat are wondering how they are going to stay in business and is very concerned about how any small or start-up business is going to survive. One of our favorite long-time restaurants, AV Ristorante Italiano, closed its doors in July (but was bought out, a related exception). Will all the eclectic, fun, and colorful places we love around DC fold and be replaced by Globalized, soul-less chains?

This hit home for me today in a different way today. I was referring a co-worker with a high-school-aged son (who has an artistic bent, but needs some guidance) to Franz Bader Books, a wonderful, small, art-and-design bookstore (est. 1963) that's close to GWU's campus downtown. While searching for the street address, I found Jerry Lebo's blog and learned that it's CLOSING. This year. Within months.

If this is so widespread, what will DC look like in a few years? Will we even recognise it?

Here's a link from DCist.com that tells you how AJS really feels.

Open letter to a (particular) dog owner

There is a reason that the National Park Service has a posted rule:

ALL PETS MUST BE KEPT ON A LEASH

No matter how precious, friendly, darling, and good-with-kids your man's-best-friend is, keep him on a freaking leash when you're in a public area. You have no idea how your dog will react in every situation, or how long your "friendly" puppy that you let run ahead out of sight is going to keep another family with kids at bay growling, snapping-teeth, and lunging, while you are lollygagging behind, chatting with your girlfriend (long enough for a family to corral both kids on top of the stroller and make several attempts to scream "GO AWAY" to the idiot-freak dog who wouldn't leave).

The proper response when said family informs you of NPS policy, not to mention Fairfax County Law, is not,

"I'll raise my dog, you raise your kids!" and
"Mind your own damned business!"

People like you, with complete disregard for others' safety, shouldn't be allowed to raise dogs. Besides this, you were in a WATERFOWL PRESERVE! WTF were you thinking? With an unleashed dog! What if your dog killed an endangered waterfowl species? Moron!

LEASH YOUR DOG ALREADY!!! bitch. I'm bringing my mace next time.

"I'm on the train, where are you?"

Since I've obviously been boring everyone to death with stuff that's only interesting to me, here's something that pisses off just about everybody: rude, dangerous bastards on their cell phones.

Hey, he's driving 20MPH under the speed limit, what's his problem?

Oh, he's on his cell phone.

Yikes, she just swerved out into oncoming traffic while looking the wrong direction!!

Oh, she was texting on her blackberry.

What's the problem?: Check out CNN's article, Where are your high-tech manners? Sheesh, I don't know, I'm supposed to be polite AND answer my call? Whoa, I can't multi-task like that.

A lot of the rudeness is laughable. Remember the guy at the movie theater who answered his phone during the film, "Hey dude!...Nothin', just watching a movie." ?!? Was he aware of what an idiot he sounded like? Apparently not, according to Lew Friedland, a communications professor at University of Wisconsin-Madison. These actions are the new norm.

"People act as if they're walking through life in a cone of silence in which only they and the other person on the end of the line can hear them," he says. "They can talk quite loudly, and they can talk about things that people around them don't really want to hear about."

On lifehacker.com, Adam Pash posts a link to InfoWorld's Ten Commandments of cell phone etiquette written by Dan Briody in 2000 (that's 7 years ago, and it's still as apropo as ever). I am seriously thinking about printing this out and surreptitiously sliding it into the bag/briefcase of offenders on the Metro. Not really. But I do wish people would read it and try not to be jerks.

I am totally for the "quiet cars" on trains and banning cell phone usage while you're purchasing at a register. The message that you're giving everyone around you is that the not-present, cyber-person on your device, is much, much more important than the living, breathing, actually there, annoyed, irritated human beings that are right next to you.

Grrrrr.

I'm having one of those mornings when everything makes me angry. My coworkers must sense this, so they're steering clear of me. I am seething with anger that they haven't greeted me with a "hello" or have made attempts to chat with me.

But I'm the one with the headphones on, ignoring them.

My headphones are on because someone was using their speakerphone early this morning and this enraged me.

Nobody's winning here. Hopefully I'll break out of this after lunch or at least by tomorrow.

Helio "Customer Care" SUX!!

One of the most gawdawful experiences that I've ever had with "customer service" was over this past weekend, with Helio, a mobile phone company that I signed up with last month. For Mother's Day, AJS offered to buy me this new phone that Helio offers, the Ocean. It looked pretty damn cool, so I signed up on May 17. They claimed to have a 30-day total happiness guarantee, so I tried it out, figuring it would take a little while to get used to it. The bottom line is that I cancelled by phone within 30 days and during the cancellation call, I asked for information about sending my phone back; they said they'd mail it to me. When I didn't receive anything in the mail, I phoned them again and found that my cancellation hadn't been "recorded" and I was stuck with all my purchases, charges, early cancellation fees, totalling over $700. Part of this amount is due to monthly fees that are charged in advance, plus a pro-ration because the billing cycle starts on the 19th, and I initiated the account on the 17th.

Despite being a decidedly tech-friendly person, when I first received the Ocean, after several days and 2-3 hours on the phone with Helio's techies I still couldn't figure out how to do simple things like make a phone call (I couldn't make a call unless the number was loaded into the contacts) or send phone pics to my email. I ignored the defects for a while longer before AJS and I collectively decided that my phone was defective. Helio was notified, and I received my new phone on June 14, just a few days before the "happiness guarantee" was to run out.

The new Ocean's functions still weren't working properly and after a marathon 75-minute call on June 16 to technical support, that ended without resolving much, I phoned back the same day to let them know that I was still not "happy" and wanted to cancel the service. According to Helio managers, the 75-minute call was "recorded", but my later call to cancel was NOT. Therefore, I did not fulfill the requirements for the "happiness guarantee." I sound calm and collected now, but I'll have you know that I screamed and swore at the managers enought that they threatened to end my call twice until I calmed down. I FOLLOWED DIRECTIONS! THEY SCREWED UP BY NOT RECORDING MY CALL! WHAT ELSE WAS I SUPPOSED TO DO? "We're sorry, ma'am, that you were misinformed by our staff. Thank-you-very-much and we-hope-you-have-a-GREAT-weekend!"

It's several days later and I've filed a dispute with my credit card company. Caveat Emptor.

Pushing my buttons (a rant)

Why do bedtime and waking up have to be such a struggle? I am mostly talking about Rosie here. Dash has, so far, been a pretty easy guy to get down and wake. Rosie though, requires many pre-sleep steps before we are released from her domain.

First, there's the "just one TV show".

Second, AJS usually reads her books until I'm finished with Dash.

Third, when I get to her room, we read three books; last night she had the same books from the night before. I suggested we get fresh books, but no (weeping ensued); whatever. She was tired, so she wanted to flop on me and then demanded that I hold the books at strange angles where I couldn't even read the words, so I made her cry by holding them so I could actually read. Then she claimed I was reading them wrong and insisted that I re-read several pages. This went horribly awry with me running out of the room several times to get tissues for her tears and runny nose (note to self: bring tissue box in Rosie's room). Somehow, I read the books, managed to get her in bed and left, but it was well after 9:30. [As an aside, someone was outside playing basketball until 9 p.m., which in the state I was in with Rosie, was like someone slamming the ball into the side of my head everytime it hit the pavement.]

Last, when I leave, she asks for me to send AJS in one more time for a kiss. Then Igive her kisses, hugs, wish her peaceful sleep and tell her I love her. Despite all the struggles, she is a beautiful girl and can be very sweet.

And, ugh, it's not even worth it to really get into what I went through this morning. Suffice to say that setting up her clothes the night before and getting her buy-in is time very, very well spent. I will be doing my super-best to keep that ritual going. Whew.

I'll try to come back later and write about the nicer parts of the weekend. That's just not what I'm focusing on at the moment.

Back into mildly freaking out about bird flu

About a year and a half ago, I was totally obsessed with avian influenza. I checked the World Health Organization updates regularly, read online disaster scenarios (that predict an 8-week recovery period, best-case), and researched what I could do to be prepared. And more importantly, I wanted to know what my community, my County, and the state of Virginia was doing. I contacted regional health officials, got them on the calendar, and they gave a moving presentation at my neighborhood association's monthly meeting.

I purchased some books and some large water/food storage containers. I went to Costco and started buying some instutional-size quantities of odds and ends. I considered becoming trained by the Medical Reserve Corps and volunteer during an emergency (the incentive here is, as a volunteer, you and your family get first dips at vaccinations).

But, after a few months of this at some point, I just couldn't sustain the sense of urgency. The information about the outbreaks started fading from the headlines and buying the extra supplies was hurting my wallet. And, a major hurdle to creating a workable storage system was to actually be able to store supplies. We have a perfect place in our basement, but it's full of other stuff; finding time to clear it out (which would involve many trash bags, recycling, donations to charity, giving stuff to friends, eBay sales, and/or a yard sale) hasn't been a priority with the kiddies taking up all our time and energy during waking hours.

All this to say, my Mother's Day wish is to have the storage area ready. I have AJS on board to help clear the junk out this weekend. We will make those donations, give stuff away, and move the remaining items chosen for future disposal to the attic. The next step is to go to IKEA (or similar place) and buy some cheap-ish but usable shelving.

Then I can move onto the next stage: stocking the space with supplies.

AJS got a write up on "Five Bites"!

Five Bites on Friday
For this week's installment of Five Bites, the mind behind monkeyerotica.com offers the top five sandwiches in DC.

1. The Big G Man at Mangialardo and Son

2. The reuben at Deli City

3. The roast beef at Hodges Sandwich Shop

4. The Ahab burger (bacon, bleu cheese and mushrooms) at Sign of the Whale

5. The New York strip sandwich at Stoney's

Have a top five you swear by? Or just five great things you've eaten recently? Five Bites is your opportunity to tell Metrocurean readers which dishes you're enjoying around town. Send your list and whether you'd like your name and a picture included to metrocurean@gmail.com.
Posted by Amanda at 10:53 AM

BTW, that's monkeyrotica to you.

Quote of the day

I belong to a designers' listserve where there was a discussion today starting with a designer who wanted advice about what sort of digital camera she should buy for an important client shoot of a home's interior. She thought she wanted a fish-eye lens and maybe a wide angle lens, but she really didn't know much about cameras.

A witty designer posted this quote:

“Amateurs worry about gear.
Professionals worry about money.
Masters worry about light.”

Heh. But seriously, if it's that important, HIRE A PROFESSIONAL.

AJS got fan mail for this quip on DCist.com...

"Increasingly, high home prices, declining public services, and serious congestion issues are pushing individuals and families out of suburbs and back into cities."

Because in DC, home prices are going down, public services are improving dramatically, and congestion is no longer an issue, he said, while waiting in gridlock on M Street on his way back to his $800 mil Foggy Bottom efficiency condo having waited in line at DMV for 4 hours.

You dcists always get the primo reefer. Who's your supplier?

Show of hands: If the District were going to blow up the Reeves Center [pictured] to make way for a multileveled Costco with a parking garage, how many would show up to protest and how many would offer to donate dynamite?

[17] Posted by: monkeyrotica

March 5, 2007 1:44 PM

Who does more?

AJS and I are working parents and both feel like we are contributing equally to the household; wait, I think we actually both think we are doing MORE than the other. But, because it's been on my mind a lot lately, and I do think it's worth having on the record, here's my take.

AJS daily/weekly/periodic tasks:
packing breakfasts & lunches
driving our carpool weekdays
grocery shopping/meal planning
ALL THE COOKING ALL THE TIME (gold star!)
taking bagged trash & recycling out
shoveling snow
washing cars
mowing the lawn

Nylonthread's daily/weekly/periodic tasks:
dressing the kids
putting both kids to bed
diapering Dash (every diaper)
washing dishes
laundering clothes
feeding/entertaining/bathing the parrot
bathing both kids
picking up after kids
paying bills/budgeting
driving on weekends
bagging trash for garbage day
cleaning all of the house
arranging for babysitters
shopping for kids' clothing
filing mail & paperwork
cleaning birdcage
taking parrot to vet
handling investments
weeding & watering plants

Shared tasks:
entertaining the kids
taking kids to doctor's appointments
picking up prescriptions/administering meds
shopping for household items

Now I grant that while AJS's task list is shorter, many of AJS's tasks are daily and time-intensive, albiet my longer list has its share of daily items, more items are bi-weekly or periodic. Still, is it even? Hard to say. My guess is that we'll still both think that we are doing more than the other.