My husband has aphasia or something

And so does my mother, but that is another story.

But my husband says one word when he means another. It was especially bad about three years ago, so if is getting bad again, can I infer...

Never mind.

Anyway, he is saying the wrong words. So yesterday we did some stuff. First, we went to the "business meeting" with his co-worker. He had to meet the guy somewhere, like a restaurant, so that they could talk about some stuff and play with the computer for a bit. So a couple of days ago they were on the phone trying to figure out where they should meet. And I suggested Arby's, cause it was going to be on a Wednesday, and on Wednesdays you can get something free at Arby's if you buy something else. But they didn't want to try to find an Arby's that was a good place for both of them. They wanted to meet someplace in Irving, and they decided to meet where they met last time, when I didn't go with them.

So my husband hung up the phone and said that we were going to meet the guy in Irving at one at a Burger King.

Since I had to go to Irving some time this week anyway, I said that I would go too and that we would eat the cheap lunch at Burger King (which would not be quite as cheap as eating at Arby's where we would have gotten a free sandwich for buying a soda, but close enough). If we both got a hamburger and a small soda off of the dollar menu, that would cost four dollars and some change. I am really against using a place of business if you aren't a customer, so we have to buy something, and four dollars and change isn't too bad. So I made sure to put aside four dollars and some change. We spent almost four dollars Tuesday, but I knew I still had four dollars and some change left.

So yesterday head off to meet this guy, and I forgot and left my cell phone on the charger. And of course, my husband still hasn't activated his. I'm not even sure where his is. Anyway, we're in Irving, and we drive past a Burger King, and I guess that wasn't it. But there are a lot of Burger Kings in Irving. And then we drove some more, and we drove past a Whataburger. And then my husband says that he thinks he has past the place, and we turn around and drive back to the Whataburger.

And I'm like, this is a Whataburger, not a Burger King.

And he is like, whatever.

Is this where you are supposed to meet, cause you said Burger King, not Whataburger.

I think this is it. This is where we met last time.

You told me Burger King, so I put away just enough to get us lunch at Burger King. I don't think that I have enough to eat here.

My husband drives around the parking lot and doesn't see the other guy's car, so he drives away.

I totally don't get what he's doing now.

He says he wants to go to Jack in the Box and I can buy us something off the dollar menu there.

No.

What do you mean?

I mean no. Where are only spending a little money on lunch because you have to meet with this other guy there. We aren't going anywhere else for lunch. If you think that we are supposed to meet the guy at Whataburger, then go back to Whataburger. We just might not have enough money to get what you want.

Then he asks for my cell phone, and I remember that I put it back on the charger in case we had to call anyone, and I forgot and left it on the charger.

So he stops at a gas station to use the phone. I think that is a waste of fifty cents, because we should probably just go back and wait at the Whataburger. We were a bit early. But the guy answers and says that he is at the Whataburger, we just missed seeing his car.

So we drive back to the Whataburger. My husband counts out some change that he had in the car, cause he wanted some fries with lunch and he didn't want what I was going to spend the four dollars and change on at the Burger King anyway.

So he and the other guy play with the computer while I count out all the change he gave me and all the change I have. So we have almost ten dollars in cash, and that is enough to buy two of the smallest combo meals. So we had fries with lunch, which cost eight dollars, and we had two dollars left over to get a couple things we needed from the 99 cent store.

I have a bit of money on the card too, but I first have to buy pills with that. I'm not touching the card until after I have my pills. If the change hadn't been enough, he would just have to do without something.

So we all ate lunch, and my husband and the other guy play with the computer. And then the other guy leaves with our new laptop so that he can practice stuff. And I'm really worried about it, enough that I felt physically sick for a bit. This guy is going to have our new six hundred and something dollar computer, and he might drop it or forget and leave it in a motel room or I don't know what. And then not only would we not have our new computer, but this whole business thing would be for nothing.

The business thing starts a week from Saturday, so the guy will have the laptop for at least a week and a half.

Okay, so then we drive some other places in Irving, and I pick up my pills, and we get shampoo and a bag of potatoes from the 99 cent store. And then we go to the mall to see about fixing my glasses.

About a week ago I lost a nose-piece. I've just been wearing the glasses with a missing nose-piece, cause I didn't know if I would have enough money left to get them fixed. So I go to the place in the mall and ask if they do repairs. And someone asks me if I bought the glasses there, and I say no. And I tell her that I really have no money, so I might have to come back later anyway, but could she please tell me how much it would cost to fix. And I show her the problem, and she goes to ask someone else if they are still allowed to replace nose-pieces on glasses that were purchased somewhere else. And they talk for a bit, and they decide that they can fix it if I will buy some kit for seven fifty. And I don't have much money left, but I think that I can handle seven dollars and fifty cents. So I get out my card, thinking that I'm buying some little repair kit that has nose pieces and screws and such.

I sit down, and the girl replaces both nose-pieces, which is good because they were starting to look a bit green anyway. I was really impressed that new nose-pieces made the glasses look that much better. So then I give her my debit card, and she sells me a lens cleaning kit, not a little repair kit like I imagined. And both girls remind me that I can get free refills on the lens cleaner any time I bring in the bottle.

So that was great. I guess the actual repair was free as long as I was a customer, and buying the lens cleaner made me a customer.

Okay, so now we have everything on my list, and we can go home. We've had lunch (and given our new six hundred and something dollar laptop to someone else for the next week and a half), I have my pills, we have shampoo and a bag of potatoes, I have my glasses repaired, and I still even have a bit of money left on my debit card.

As we are driving home, I ask him if he's working tomorrow, which he says he is.

And do you have stuff for lunch?

He says that he can just take a peanut butter sandwich.

And do you have bread and peanut butter?

Well, we both know that he has peanut butter, but he probably doesn't know if there is much of it left. And he didn't check the bread to know if that is still edible either.

He spends all of his time on the computer. The real world just doesn't exist for him most of the time. He would probably starve if not for me.

So we stop at Kroger's, where I buy the cheap store brand bread and peanut butter, and there is cheap salami on sale too. I don't eat salami, but he does, and when he hasn't had it in a while he will even eat the cheap stuff. So I spend about four dollars on that stuff and we go home.

The other time this week when he said the wrong thing is when he was telling me that next week's schedule was changed, and did I want to go out of town with him?

Sure, that might be fun.

He told me where he was going, which is a place north of here. According to Mapquest, it is six hours away, but I'm thinking it will take closer to eight hours.

And I have the big debate with myself on whether or not I should go on this little trip, especially when we are so short on money.

Reasons for going to this place would include getting to sit around a motel room all day watching cable (and maybe getting to go for a swim if there is a pool), getting to go to the zoo, getting to visit a certain park (can't remember if it is state or national), getting to look at a certain historic building, getting to look at a certain art exhibit, and getting to eat at a certain famous steak house. Of course, since we have so little money, we couldn't afford to go a day early to visit the zoo and the park (and we might not have enough money to buy the tickets anyway), and the famous steak house would cost somewhere in the forty to fifty dollar range, which we certainly do not have. If we don't have money, if we might even end up trying to survive on nothing but peanut butter sandwiches, the reasons for going to the place are down to getting to sit around a motel room all day watching cable (and maybe getting to swim for only the second time this year if there is a pool), getting to look at a certain historic building, and getting to look at a certain art exhibit.

So I was really having a hard time deciding whether or not I should go. I would really like to go, but I was having a bad feeling about it.

Anyway, I said something about going to the tourist info place to get a map and coupons and a brochure for the place, and he said that wasn't the place. He says he's going to a different place that is west of here (according to Mapquest, about three hours away, but I'm guessing that it might be closer to four hours).

I'm sure that he did not say this place west of here, and I'm sure that he said this place north of here. But he insists that isn't what he said. And I know that isn't what he said. We have this little joke about the place west of here, so if he had said that, I would have immediately made the joke. It is just an automatic response. There is no way that he said the place west of here and I misunderstood. He said the place north of here.

Okay, whatever. Now I have to decide if I want to go to the place west of here. I'm a little less stressed out about trying to decide about that trip. It isn't as far to drive and such. I can decide this one with a coin toss if I want.

So I go online and see what there is to do in the town west of here. Reasons for going there include getting to sit around in a motel room all day watching cable (and maybe getting to go for a swim if there is a pool, but that is less likely in this town), getting to go to the zoo, getting to go to various museums, getting to see a certain historic building, and getting to eat at a not so famous steak house.

Turns out that the not so famous steak house closed two years ago, so at least I will not be tempted to spend forty to fifty dollars on lunch.

The zoo is cheap, and there is a coupon, so we could both go for four dollars if I read this right. And there a museums, some of them cheap, and I think some of them are even free. So I am starting to get interested in going to the place.

And then we learn that we won't be getting that money from unemployment. I'm starting to think that there just won't be enough money to go on this trip at all. We will have to see how much money there is tomorrow and do some math, but it doesn't look good.