Through the Back Loop

Adventures in knitting, fiber arts, and family.

Wednesday, December 29, 2004

Another shopping day

So, today we are off to my MILs for her birthday. First we stop at the clinic for my husband's blood draw and then we feed him (he hasn't been able to eat since yesterday). He has an annual physical in a week. Three years ago just before Christmas he had a heart attack. It was terrible. I was an awful wife. I didn't believe that it was happening and I should have known better. My father had had more than 13 heart attacks and was even put into a medical records book because of this (it was unusual for someone in the 1970's to survive so many). Often, as a 5 or 6 year old, I would be home alone with him while he had them and would have to call 911. Our city was the first in the nation to have 911. I have always prided myself on knowing what a heart attack looks like. One day, many years ago, we went to visit my MIL and FIL, my MIL looked grey and was clutching her chest. I said she was having a heart attack. She said she wasn't. I ran right for the phone and called 911. Turned out she was. The entire family was grateful because if we hadn't shown up when we did, they would never have called for help and who knows what would have happened. I know what heart attacks look like, but my DH didn't look like he was having one. So I refused to wake up the girls at 11:00pm to take him to the ER after I had offered to take him to the ER earlier that night when they were awake. It was a school night. He refused to go by ambulance. The next morning I finally took him in, thinking he was having another allergic reaction to the new medicine he was on (he had had several a week earlier, and they had the same symptoms). I actually dropped him off at the corner near the hospital so that I could go to work. I had missed so much school with all of us fighting illnesses more days than not that December. At school, my friends told me to get out of there and finally I realized that I should be at the ER with him. I wanted to die when I found out he had had a heart attack the night before. I'm so lucky he still speaks to me after this. I am thankful every day. My dad had his first heart attack at age 31 and died at age 48 from a heart attack. DH had his first (and hopefully only) heart attack at age 38. History will not repeat itself. Sorry about this brief diversion.... heart problems will always scare me and cause me to blabber on and on.

After our visit with my MIL and FIL, we will go off to the yarn shop and get the last skein for the clogs, and I need to find better yarn for the mittens. I bought a 4-ply and it is WAY to thick for the needles. I'm tempted to try it with larger needles first to see if I can get the gauge (I know I won't be able to) because I really don't want to buy more yarn. Can you believe I said that? It's the cheapskate in me.

Here are my "things" for the day:

41. I love to read.
42. I read at least 10 children’s books each school year to keep up with what is popular for my students.
43. I only read adult novels during the summer (unless Nicholas Sparks or Maeve Binchy publish a new one during the school year, then I make an exception)
44. When I was a kid, I hated reading.
45. My children both love to read and they don’t know that I didn’t like it as a child.
46. I would rather paint a wall than wash it.
47. I’m terrified of the dark. My husband didn't believe me about this when we first met UNTIL he took me up to his family's cottage on the lake in winter when no one was there and turned off the lights. It was black. I screamed like no one had ever heard, sobbed, and begged him to turn on the lights. I screamed at him to turn them on. The lights were only out for 10 seconds, and I had a major meltdown. He believes me now.
48. I don’t like spiders.
49. Daddy long leg spiders are cool.
50. My favorite color used to be white.
51. Because white is not a color, I had to pick a different favorite color.
52. I don’t have a favorite color now. Well, I do like purples and denims.
53. I have owned only stick-shift cars and I will never buy anything but a stick-shift. It gives my brain something else to think about while I drive and they handle better in winter.
54. I taught my husband how to drive a stick-shift.
55. I play the violin very well and the piano not so well.
56. I played the violin for 15 years until my oldest daughter was born. In fact, I played while I was pregnant with her, and to this day she loves classical music.
57. Because I played in symphonies, I got to travel a lot.
58. I have traveled to many other countries. Once to El Salvador in 1979 as a family vacation (during their civil war - we never let our mother forget that one. What was she thinking?), New Zealand twice (see #59 below), Germany three times (once with the symphony and twice with my family), Austria and Switzerland (traveled through with brief one or two day stops), Ireland (a layover, but it still counts in my book!), England, Canada, and Mexico.
59. I lived in New Zealand for a year as an exchange student in high school. It was the absolute best experience of my childhood, and I would do it again in a heartbeat.
60. One thing I will spend money on without wincing is travel. But I will make the trip as inexpensive as possible while still doing everything and seeing everything we want.

Till tomorrow!

Oh, by the way... BLOGROLL ME!

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