Walt and I rarely have arguments, either because we agree on everything, or because we are both dedicated passivists. I'm not sure what his upbringing was, but mine was "don't rock the boat" (or, more specifically, "don't upset your father"). To speak out was often to anger my father and so speaking out (face to face) has always been the hardest thing in the world for me to do. I can do it a bit better in print, but face to face is the worst.
However, our "moments," if you want to call them that, invariably came around the charges at Longs Drugs. I will admit that I occasionally got carried away when shopping at Longs, but the bulk of my purchases at Longs were for such frivolous things as dog food, people food, snacks, cleaning supplies, toiletries (bearing in mind that I don't do face creams, make-up, or anything else of the expensive girly toiletries type) and office supplies. Yeah, there were frivolous things, but it got to the point that when the credit card bill came at the end of the month, we would have "words" about my extravagances and I always felt that the bulk of our money went for "miscellaneous sundries at longs," as Walt always referred to them.
This was a very long time ago, and the problem took care of itself when I finally got a full-time job and my own credit card. I just started buying all the "miscellaneous sundries" on my credit card and paying for them myself and all "words" stopped.
Over the years, the charges at Longs came fewer and farther between, as I seemed to reach saturation as far as "stuff" that I wanted to buy and I rarely go into Longs any more.
So today, when Walt got home from the office (yes, he went to work today), I said "I bought something I haven't bought in a very long time." He asked what I had purchased and I said "Miscellaneous sundries at Longs."
I went to the writers group this morning, without Joan, who had a mild heart attack over the weekend and is now (thankfully) recovering at home.
Women take note. This is Joan's description of her symptoms: I'm witness to the fact (and I want to warn you) that women, at least this woman) have different heart attack symptoms. I would not have identified my early symptoms...a fist-like grabbing excruciating pain of my right jaw, which with my usual self-diagnosing problem, immediately thought I must have had an abscessed tooth that I hadn't recognized as needing help because I have no feeling in that side of my face." However, I then got the worst hot flash imaginable - wanted the air conditioner on even more -- and got so weak and nauseated I wanted in my bed, immediately. By the time I got up and went to my bed, a had a sharp pain under my left arm...that I then felt between my shoulders in the back...and then a bit into my left breast. By this time, Ed was calling 9-1-1...Two firetrucks were at the door in 3-5 minutes...
Anyway, when I left the meeting, I decided to stop at Long's to see about getting a camera case for my new camera! (Yes, I finally got the replacement for my stolen camera!). Of course I couldn't just walk in and buy a camera case. I also had to pick up a few "miscellaneous sundries." For old time's sake.
What I ended up buying was:
- the camera case (on sale for $7)
- a carrying case for my new cell phone (not on sale)
- aspirin
- medicinal ointment
- dog food
- sandwich bags
- some packaged food for dinner
- nacho cheese sauce
- bread
- a flashlight for my office, to replace mine which is always "somewhere else"
- lights for the dark wine closet (the closet is dark, not the wine, which is only sometimes dark!)
- batteries for the lights for the dark wine closet, and...
- a Secure Digital card for the new camera (my one wild and frivolous moment, but it was on sale, half off).
I hope that I didn't go too overboard with the miscellaneous sundries. So far, there hasn't been any unpleasantness about my brief return to my former bad shopping habits.
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