Another Routine Disturbance. Sigh!

Will the people who changed the timing for the traffic light please fix it?

Like most people, we drive the same way to school every day.  There really aren’t a lot of choices for us. 

Last week the State Road people were installing a new traffic light along the route.  It replaced one that was already there, so there shouldn’t be any problem.  WRONG!!!!  When they installed it, they didn’t time it the same as it was before.  Traffic is backed up significantly at busy times of day. 

One of those times is when we are going to high school in the morning.  It disturbs Mr. Impatient.  He gets upset and fusses about it.  Then he “perseverates” about it all day.  Mr. Lasermed and I (and Tall Guy and Three Speed) have had to listen to this since last Friday.  That’s when they finished changing the light.

Last night, it went on for about 2 hours. 

Can the people responsible for fixing the timing on the traffic lights please do their jobs? 

Thank you.

Black Shoes

Autistic Children and Habit

Mr. Impatient went to the pulmonologist the other day.  He is doing well with his asthma.  When he took off his shoes to get weighed, he told me he needed new shoes.  They looked fine to me!

When we got home, I looked at his shoes.  Sure enough, there were holes in the sides of his shoes.  I really can’t remember when he got shoes.  I’m sure if I asked him, he could tell me. 

He fussed and fussed that evening and the next morning until I promised I would take him after school to get shoes.  We had a meeting to go to first.  He fussed throughout the meeting about his shoes. 

When we got to the shoe store, he headed right to the sneakers.  He wanted “black shoes”.   He won’t wear any other kind.  He has a specific brand that he likes.  I thought he wanted Velcro, because he doesn’t tie shoes.  Nope.  He wants tie shoes.  Mom gets to tie them.  Dad and other people do too, but it seems to me that it’s my job most of the time.

We picked out a shoe that looks almost the same as the ones with the holes, tried it on for fit, laced it up and tied it.  I made him walk up and down the aisle.  He was done.  No more fussing.  He was ready to pay and go home.  I asked if he wanted to try another color.  “NO, Mom!” 

Off we went.  

Of course, I don’t take him shoe shopping with me unless I want …… black shoes!

Nothing Went Right

It's been a bad week around here.  I already posted about Three Speed’s accident.  Yesterday was my weekly trip to the “big box store”.  No names, but I’m sure you have one like it near you.  Traffic was awful.  They still haven’t finished the construction on the interstate that has been going on since the spring thaw.  They are also still working on the major intersection by the store.  They changed the timing of the light, so you have to sit at the turn for about 4 cycles before you get through. 

When we pulled into our space, a nice fellow came over to tell us that our front tire was “a little low”.  When we went inside, they didn’t have any of those little scooters that some of us with health issues use to get around the “BIG” box store.  I decided not to wait, since I had Tall Guy with me, and he was being cranky.  This turned out to be a bad decision. 

I have been having cardiac arrhythmias for the last six months.  My heart started to act up somewhere around frozen foods.  This is all the way in the back of the store.  Then I accidently grabbed the wrong item because someone had placed a similar item in that spot.  After we checked out, Tall Guy noticed.  We had to go to Customer Relations to exchange the items.  The people check your items at the door, so the ticket has to be right.  It took forever to explain to the Customer Relations Person that we had already gone and gotten the item we wanted to exchange for.  You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to work there.

When Tall Guy started filling up the tire, it started bulging out.  We went back to the big box store, since they sell tires – I got the last batch there.  The nice man at the tire place told me it wasn’t safe to drive on that tire.  (This day is getting better by the minute!) It would be 4 (four) hours until he could get to my van.  It also cost over $300 that was not in my budget right now.  This was after having to pay for the medical care yesterday “out of pocket”.

Mind you, I have frozen food in the back of this van.  I looked at Tall Guy and said, “Shall we call Dad?”

Mr. Lasermed was not happy to have to come 30 minutes to rescue us.  He had to bring Mr. Impatient with him.  You can’t leave him alone.  That’s another story.  Anyone with an autistic child can fill you in.  Mr. Impatient was repeating the same questions over and over and over in Mr. Lasermed’s van all the way to get me.  He had to deal with all the above traffic issues AND Mr. Impatient. 

We also had to stop and pick up one of Mr. Lasermed’s prescriptions on the way home.  We didn’t get it on the way there because I had just called in the refill before we left to go.  When we got to the pharmacy, the amount they told us was different than what the pharmacist had told me before we left.  That’s because the young woman at the window tried to give us the prescription for someone with my husband’s last name but a different first name.  To make it more confusing, this fellow has the same first name as Mr. Impatient.  So we got to hear about that for about 10 miles down the road. 

I think I have recovered today enough to at least write about it.