I woke up at 4 yesterday, jeez! I was trying to get everything done at work because I will be on vacation next week. I did payroll, even though it usually is done on Monday. I just realized this morning that we will get paid on Tuesday instead of Wednesday. I guess no one will complain about that! I called the woman at Lowe's, who agreed to donate some brackets and a pole for the curtains in room 2. But, I had to bring a letter that day. So I headed out there, got those things and a bunch of cleaning products (laundry detergent, dishwashing liquid, etc.). Then I went to RiteAid to buy a box of size 4 diapers. And I went through Wendy's drive-through window.

At 1, we had a staff meeting to talk about our message and how we can best present it, looking at examples of awesome campaigns. I would have been ready to leave after that, except for the insurance war. We had gotten much cheaper (and better) insurance through the non-profit alliance, due to take effect that day. Our old agent had talked to Meredith and said she had a cheaper company that we should look at. She sent the quote that afternoon. Meredith was trying to leave town (as was I) and the situation had to be resolved. The new quote was even lower! I was trying to compare the coverages, but it was really difficult to tell if we were looking at the same thing. What was covered, what were the deductibles, etc. I called Tim (the "new" agent) and he had me send him the proposal. There were several things we were getting from his company that were not in the other quote (from the "old" agent). I also felt that she had years to come up with a cheaper alternative and it seemed very shady that it only happened the day we were set to go with a different company. So, Meredith and I decided to go with the new company, although it is never a good idea to make people mad that have money. I am afraid there will be consequences. Who knew insurance was so competitive? I guess it is a lot of commission money that she is losing.

That was very stressful and we had a lot to do, but I really felt like I needed a dip in the pool. At $4 a pop, a somewhat expensive choice, but one of the best investments I ever made! Meanwhile, I had heard from the people who are keeping Cameron for us (the ones we got him from) that they were going out between 5:30 and 6, so we needed to get there. And we needed to take the crate, which was pretty dirty. So, we rushed home, Ray washed the crate and drove Cameron to Bishop while I packed and dealt with democratic committee stuff, and cut up some cukes and tomatoes to take to Janna's. And had a mojito that my mother made. In our house, my mother is the bartender, and sometimes it is very nice to have. When Ray got back, we jumped in the car with veggies (plus a cantaloupe). We had a lovely dinner with Janna and Ron, Becky and Kent: pasta with veggies, our little salad, and blueberry pound cake that Becky made. Then we showed slides. I went first--I had picked the best ones from our trip and Janna seemed to really like the idea of a trip on the canal boat (if someone else did the driving). Then she showed her slides--on the TV! She had a cable from the camera. She had a lot of wonderful slides, but went through some of them really quickly because there were too many. The fjords! I started falling asleep before 9:30, and never got to see Becky's slides at all! I suspect Ron was too.