I have been dreading this month for a while, but now that I'm in the middle of it, the time seems to be flying by. Where should I start?

The trip incorporating Mark's family reunion in Pennsylvania, then my future sister-in-law's bridal shower in New York, was thoroughly exhausting. I haven't had time to recuperate yet. The reunion was nice, and didn't feel particularly rushed, but I fell victim to an awful hotel mattress (so old you could see the sagging in profile) and never got back on track. We got up super early to drive to New York for the shower--which was better than I expected, but still pretty materialistic (my brother's fiance grew up in a richer area than we did, and it shows in every bit of this wedding and the accompanying activities...I will spare you the drama). Then there was a very stressful, neverending trek with my mother (insanity!!) upstate to my grandparents' house, various family misunderstandings, allergic reactions to cats, etc. Mark and I were supposed to leave Monday morning and drive straight through, but we decided we were so tired and stressed out, we needed to leave that evening from a barbecue at my brother's new house (another crazy story, but that one's Mark's to tell). I did get some pretty cool news at the barbecue, though: my aunt (actually my mother's aunt, but they're only seven years apart) and her partner of 22 years got married about a month ago! They live in New York, which honors gay marriages from other states, so they just went into Connecticut and had a quiet ceremony. I am so excited for them! I immediately wanted to get them some sort of gift--so I decided to make them a Hemlock Ring Blanket. Because what do two successful sixty-year-old women need but something for their Hope chest? :) I finished the main patterned section in short order, but have a long way to go in the feather-and-fan section. I don't really have a deadline, but I do want to finish it soon.

Last week was a flurry of activity trying to get ready for a conference for work (which I'm currently staffing). I also got a last-minute request to sing for a program showcase for a charitable organization. In addition to that, we've still been looking at houses, and we saw one the night before our previous trip that seemed very promising. [Long story short: we did go for a third look at that house without a dining room, and we finally decided it really didn't have any eating space to speak of, and that we wanted to look again at the house with the high utilities (thinking that stuff would come up in inspection, and we could take it off the price if everything else was fine). When our realtor emailed that house's agent with more questions, she found out that the sellers had accepted an offer the day before--from buyers using the same agent representing the sellers. It was unethical for the realtor not to let our realtor know that they'd received an offer, since we'd seen the house TWICE, and our realtor was mad, but it was too late at that point so we moved on.] We decided to have my parents come up on Saturday for another look at the house (we were also going out with the realtor Friday, and would include something we saw then if it seemed nice)--and were prepared to make an offer if it met my father's approval. (My grandfather is a carpenter and cement mason, and my father has done his share of construction--my mother is also pretty observant, and would make a pretty good realtor herself.) So Saturday was lining up to include a performance at a middle-of-nowhere high school, a trip to look at houses, a possible offer, then a four-hour drive to the convention.

Then Friday happened! I went to Costco to pick up bagels for the trip (the hotel doesn't offer breakfast), and was pulling out of the parking lot when I was sideswiped by another car. There was an SUV making a left that was in my way, and I never saw the other car coming. The whole thing is still really unclear in my memory. Luckily nobody was hurt (the other driver was probably going under 20 mph, and I was barely moving), and I didn't get a ticket, but it was my fault, and my car suffered way more damage. The other driver was in a big old Chrysler, which only had a broken headlight and some very minor damage to the fender and hood, but I'm going to need a whole new driver's door (it opens and closes, but kind of gingerly and it doesn't seal) and probably a fender. There is some question as to whether my car is totalled--which seems absolutely insane, considering it runs fine despite the 210,000 miles, but the Blue Book value before the accident was only about $1600. Even if the insurance company doesn't total it, we have a $500 deductible, so it may be worth trying to sell the car for $1000. We were going to sell the car anyway, and buy my father's car (older, but with lower mileage) for the same price. I would've sold the car a month ago if we'd ever received the title (N.C. Motor Vehicle is notorious!), but I had to order it and only got it last week. Anyway, our insurance company is sending out an adjuster to take a look at the car while we're gone, just in case. Then we'll have to check with our agent to see how much this is going to affect our premium. Ugh.

The conference is over for the day--more tomorrow.