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The Weekend That Is Not What We Planned
Nov. 11th, 2005 10:40 amDay 1, or Day .5, however you want to look at it, started yesterday with a a firm disinterest in what we had planned to do with the weekend. We both got off work early, and at four, we headed out the door to Louisville. We're basically halfway between Lexington and Louisville.. a touch closer to Lexington. We almost always go to Lexington when we shop, though, because we're much more familiar with it. Anyway, we headed off there last night searching rumors of a discount book store. This was brave, actually, because the only direction we had was "in Louisville" and "maybe exit 15". We were also planning to eat and go to Hobby Lobby, and then come home.
This would all have been possible if it hadn't taken nearly three hours to make a trip that should take less than an hour. Did you know that pigs get testy if they are in a tractor trailer that overturns? It was some of the worst traffic ever. The stupid thing was that there didn't seem to be a single reason to close one of the lanes. The whole event was contained in the median. It did, however, make the situation easier to complain about--I sometimes feel guilty about being unhappy about sitting in traffic because of an accident because others kind of have it worse. Anyway, after we made it past the pigs, it was good and dark, so finding the bookstore just got harder, but we actually managed it.
It was a large used bookstore, as it turns out, and M, in particular, had quite the fun time. I also enjoyed it but was less interested in picking out a bunch of books because I already have a stack a mile high.. and we can always go back. He found two or three out-of-print Mick Farren novels, for one thing. I made the most unusual finds, though, in two different places. First, I was looking at foreign language reference books, and on the same shelf as the Swedish books, I happened to notice... Vår Kokbok, which is in the kitchen of every Swede whose house I've been to, ours included. Our copy is falling apart, though, and quite old, and this book was $6.95 with glossy pages and an unblemished cover, and a sticker on the front that said "310 kr". Later, I was browsing through the cookbooks, and on a complete accident, saw three books about Swedish/Scandinavian cooking. They were four and five dollars, and were more or less new, so we bought them without even looking through them. (This is something we do sometimes, and maybe shouldn't.. but there are some books that are worth buying for your bookshelf, if for no other reason.)
There were several restaurants in that area, and by then it was too late to even think about crafty shopping, so I let M choose a restaurant, and we ended up at Buca di Beppo or something like that. It's a chain, although neither of us had ever seen it before, with Italian food. M is a sucker for Italian and neon signs, and this place had both. It was.. odd. Any time you walk through the kitchen to get to your table, I'm gonna think it's odd, alright? But a pleasant type of place. There was a sign above the door when you walk in about not entering if you fear to stink of garlic, though. We should have paid more attention to this.
We had only been sitting there a few minutes when my phone rang. (I, btw, have the loudest ringtone in the entire world.) It was my mom, calling to tell me that they were sending my cousin Rae to the hospital in Lexington and we would probably have a baby by morning.. she's.. 34/35 weeks, I think. Pre-eclampsia was mentioned.. has been mentioned for the last couple of weeks, but it was uncertain whether or not she actually had this or something else. So, after we finished eating, we drove home, stopping at the house for a minute to deposit our things and change clothes (for M) and get our books, and then off we went to the hospital. This is something that our family does in a big style.. we hover in waiting rooms (where MUCH was mentioned about how we both stink of garlic.. including by one cousin who had a stuffy nose and said smugly that she couldn't smell anything, thankfully, until M sat down next to her and she said, "OH MY GOD.") when there is a baby on the way. The hospital in Morehead was, from what I understand, terrified of her and her blood pressure, and had already told her weeks ago that she'd be having a c-section. (Said hospital is kind of a hospital-lite, and they at least are usually aware of their lack of quality, and being an hour away from a hospital that has been rated like, third in the nation, they will at least often send people they can't handle on to someone who can.. although sometimes they wait too damned long but I'm not bitter...) We got there just as the family got run out of the room for blood work and similar, and spent a couple of hours in the waiting room--it was 10:45 by the time we got to the hospital, btw--waiting for news. Finally, they said that her blood pressure was way down, it didn't seem to be pre-eclampsia but hypertension, and that they were just going to let her rest overnight without doing anything. It was unclear whether or not they would induce her today or at a later date--but they didn't even agree with the forced c-section. Soo.. finally we left, and have been sleeping pretty much since. And now, of course, all of our weekend plans are going to depend upon what happens with Rae and the baby.
Also, I still can't get the taste of garlic out of my mouth. Still.
This would all have been possible if it hadn't taken nearly three hours to make a trip that should take less than an hour. Did you know that pigs get testy if they are in a tractor trailer that overturns? It was some of the worst traffic ever. The stupid thing was that there didn't seem to be a single reason to close one of the lanes. The whole event was contained in the median. It did, however, make the situation easier to complain about--I sometimes feel guilty about being unhappy about sitting in traffic because of an accident because others kind of have it worse. Anyway, after we made it past the pigs, it was good and dark, so finding the bookstore just got harder, but we actually managed it.
It was a large used bookstore, as it turns out, and M, in particular, had quite the fun time. I also enjoyed it but was less interested in picking out a bunch of books because I already have a stack a mile high.. and we can always go back. He found two or three out-of-print Mick Farren novels, for one thing. I made the most unusual finds, though, in two different places. First, I was looking at foreign language reference books, and on the same shelf as the Swedish books, I happened to notice... Vår Kokbok, which is in the kitchen of every Swede whose house I've been to, ours included. Our copy is falling apart, though, and quite old, and this book was $6.95 with glossy pages and an unblemished cover, and a sticker on the front that said "310 kr". Later, I was browsing through the cookbooks, and on a complete accident, saw three books about Swedish/Scandinavian cooking. They were four and five dollars, and were more or less new, so we bought them without even looking through them. (This is something we do sometimes, and maybe shouldn't.. but there are some books that are worth buying for your bookshelf, if for no other reason.)
There were several restaurants in that area, and by then it was too late to even think about crafty shopping, so I let M choose a restaurant, and we ended up at Buca di Beppo or something like that. It's a chain, although neither of us had ever seen it before, with Italian food. M is a sucker for Italian and neon signs, and this place had both. It was.. odd. Any time you walk through the kitchen to get to your table, I'm gonna think it's odd, alright? But a pleasant type of place. There was a sign above the door when you walk in about not entering if you fear to stink of garlic, though. We should have paid more attention to this.
We had only been sitting there a few minutes when my phone rang. (I, btw, have the loudest ringtone in the entire world.) It was my mom, calling to tell me that they were sending my cousin Rae to the hospital in Lexington and we would probably have a baby by morning.. she's.. 34/35 weeks, I think. Pre-eclampsia was mentioned.. has been mentioned for the last couple of weeks, but it was uncertain whether or not she actually had this or something else. So, after we finished eating, we drove home, stopping at the house for a minute to deposit our things and change clothes (for M) and get our books, and then off we went to the hospital. This is something that our family does in a big style.. we hover in waiting rooms (where MUCH was mentioned about how we both stink of garlic.. including by one cousin who had a stuffy nose and said smugly that she couldn't smell anything, thankfully, until M sat down next to her and she said, "OH MY GOD.") when there is a baby on the way. The hospital in Morehead was, from what I understand, terrified of her and her blood pressure, and had already told her weeks ago that she'd be having a c-section. (Said hospital is kind of a hospital-lite, and they at least are usually aware of their lack of quality, and being an hour away from a hospital that has been rated like, third in the nation, they will at least often send people they can't handle on to someone who can.. although sometimes they wait too damned long but I'm not bitter...) We got there just as the family got run out of the room for blood work and similar, and spent a couple of hours in the waiting room--it was 10:45 by the time we got to the hospital, btw--waiting for news. Finally, they said that her blood pressure was way down, it didn't seem to be pre-eclampsia but hypertension, and that they were just going to let her rest overnight without doing anything. It was unclear whether or not they would induce her today or at a later date--but they didn't even agree with the forced c-section. Soo.. finally we left, and have been sleeping pretty much since. And now, of course, all of our weekend plans are going to depend upon what happens with Rae and the baby.
Also, I still can't get the taste of garlic out of my mouth. Still.
