Anyway, I’ve been in a terrible mood and things haven’t been going great, so I’ve been keeping my complained grumbling to (mostly) myself (and Justin and my friends Becky and Julie) and not airing out here.

But!  I’m heading into a busy weekend, so I figured I’d do the typical quick dump of information so you can know what’s going on.

Recap first:
Thanksgiving was great!  6 people for dinner, 8 people around our table, card games, fire in the backyard, pie, chatting with friends, it was AWESOME.

It took us three days to clean up after that – Friday, I didn’t get out of pajamas.

Monday morning, I ran something over in the dark with my car (I’m blaming the guy in the truck with his headlights right in my back window) and got a flat tire.  A gentleman stopped to put on the spare for me, and Justin and I took the car to the shop, where we got 2 new tires, the alignment fixed, and the fuel system cleaned out.  And I stayed home the rest of the day, which was GOOD.  The car is running much better now and I needed the extra day off after all that mess.

Wednesday and Thursday this week I worked 11 hour days to get an extra hour of work done for the department trying to sweep me away from my current department.

Yesterday, the job descriptions for the jobs competing for my attention went up for applications, so over the weekend, I have to apply for one and write a resignation letter for the other – sort of assuming that I’m going to get the one that I apply for since they’re both, apparently, desperate for my attention.

Today I’m working to make up for the hours I missed on Monday and I have A LOT of work to get done.

New stuff!
Today after work, Justin and I are going to a Christmas party/game night at a friends house in Beaufort.  This time, I’m not going to leave our house keys in Beaufort.

Tomorrow, we’re going to get a Christmas tree from the same tree farm we’ve been going to for the last 4 years or so and we’re taking our friends Becky and Julie.  Our friend Elizabeth is meeting us at our house after she gets of work at 5:00 to help us decorate it.  Julie’s making cookies.  Justin and I are making dinner.

Sunday, we’ve got church, an online game with friends in the afternoon, and then we’re probably taking Elizabeth out to IHOP for one last hurrah before she moves away.  She’s been looking for a job closer to her family since we met her a year ago and she finally got it.

And then I’m back into my work week.

Right now, though, the thing stuck on my brain is the absolute stupidity of drivers on the road this morning.

It wasn’t that bad until I got within a handful of miles from work.  I drive though a marshy area and this morning there was a lot of fog.  I was still keeping up my normal pace, which means that I was at or slightly above the speed limit.  The minivan that pulled up behind me, I can only conclude, was going at least 10 MPH over the limit.  In dense fog.  And then it passed me — while going across a bridge.  While another car was just emerging from the fog coming the other direction.

Okay, fine.  So the minivan then pulled up really close to the truck I’d been following at a respectful distance and proceeded to get really well acquainted with that truck’s tail end while also popping out now and then to see if it was safe to pass.  Here’s a hint — it never was.  The truck pulled off after a while and the minivan zoomed ahead again, going at least 55 in a residential area.

I refrained from turning on my brights while it was stuck behind the truck.  I thought about it, though.

I caught up with the minivan at the stoplight of a T-intersection.  Traffic gets heavy at this part of my commute, with buses and semi trucks and lots of people trying to all go the same direction.  So we sat at the light for a while and then, at the green light, as many people as possible tried to fit into the tiny space left on the road running crosswise.  The minivan ahead of me ran the intersection just as the light went from yellow to red.

And then the car BEHIND ME also ran the red light.  I stopped at the red light.  The car behind me passed me while I was stopped, going around me so they could run the red light.

Really?  Is this rational thinking here?  Is there any thought involved in an action like that at all?

On the final stretch before getting to work, I cross three sets of railroad tracks.  One of those crossings was broken this morning, with the arm down blocking my side of the road.  I was following a semi truck at this point, and it pulled into the other lane to cross the tracks.  There was a car coming from the other direction that stopped to let the semi through.  Apparently the guy behind me didn’t see that, because when I stopped instead of following the semi, the he made a rude gesture at me.  But I prefer not to have head-on collisions on my way into work in the morning.  It’s just this weird quirk of mine, I guess.  I find it goes poorly with breakfast.

Sheesh.

Okay.  So it’s Friday and I’m still at work, but I’m on my lunch break so I can give a quick update.

You know how I started out the week with 7 different projects?  I should get an AWARD, people.

• Project 1:  Mostly finished up on Friday, fully completed on Monday.
• Project 2:  Partially completed on Friday, fully completed on Tuesday
• Project 3:  Started on Monday.  Completed on Wednesday
• Project 4:  Started by my co-worker on Monday or Tuesday.  Picked up by me on Wednesday.  Completed on Thursday
• Project 5:  Started on Thursday.  Will be completed, except probably for the final signature, before I leave today.
• Project 6:  I’m going to get started on this today, too.
• Project 7:  Handed off to my coworker.  Deadline shifted back a couple days.  Isn’t that just how it goes?

Now, most of them are going to come back up again when I revise them to the next revision level before we deliver the project.  But to have completed as much as I did?  I think that’s pretty darn amazing.

Justin has been absolutely wonderful this whole week.  I’ve been keeping random hours and being an emotional whirlwind and he’s been amazing!  I’m so lucky to be married to such a great guy!

Yesterday we actually took time to make a complicated dinner.  We grilled shrimp, potatoes, and corn, and it was delicious!  Justin marinated the shrimp for several hours in the afternoon and we grilled them on wooden skewers.  We grilled the potatoes with garlic and oil in an aluminum foil packet directly on the coals.  And Justin covered the grilled corn in a mixture of sour cream and feta cheese and it seems like it would be really weird combination, but it was fantastic.

Tomorrow, we’re going to help out at The Room at the Inn doing some renovation and clean up to one of the rooms.  They’re a home for young, homeless mothers and mothers-to-be where they can learn some basic skills and get some help.  It’s a great program.

And then we’re probably heading into Savannah for a while, but we’re still tossing around what our exact plans are for while we’re there.  We had plans, but they stacked on top of each other, so we’re re-evaluating.

And Justin’s step-dad is arriving in town some time in the next couple days.  He’s driving a car from California, where we went to be with family when his dad died.  He’s going to park the car somewhere in the area here, for his daughter to use once she finally gets her driver’s license.  And he’s going to fly back to Vermont on either Monday or Tuesday, but I can’t remember which.  I’m so well informed, can’t you tell?  I’ve been a little preoccupied.

And speaking of which, I should get back to work so I can get this document done, see if I can round  up the final signature (but I suspect he’s not here today), and get a look at the next one.  I have training all Monday morning (7:00 AM!), so I need to figure out whether I can do most of this one Monday afternoon or if I need to hit a chunk of this afternoon before going home.

Either way, time for me to get going.

Cheers!

Wednesday:

• Awake at 3:30 to drive to the airport in Charleston.  Drink 30 oz of coffee and get VERY WIRED.
• Fly from Charleston to Chicago.
• Fly from Chicago to Milwaukee.
• Sit in Milwaukee for a long time because our flight was delayed.
• Find a used bookstore in the airport.

Bookstore where?

Renaissance Books

• Fly to Minneapolis.
• Collect our rental car and call Nathan and Co.
• Meet Nathan & Co. and Erica & Ltd. at Erica’s house and have a fun-filled picnic dinner.
• Play with nieces and nephews and lots and lots of balls.  Play in the park.

Fun with plastic balls

• Eat s’mores with Erica.
• Go to bed after being awake for about 20 hours.

Thursday:

• Get up to go running with Erica and plod my way through 2.5 miles for the first time in many, many months.
• Ache for the next 2 days.
• Shower, dress, and drive away.
• Chat with Erica and pass things to Chloe until we get to Eau Claire.

Chloe, show me your teeth!

• Have a delightful lunch with Mom and Dad.
• Go to Goodwill to find shoes for Chloe and buy a hat and purse.
• Drive to Grandma’s house.

Grandma's house

• Have a delightful dinner with Grandma and Dee and stay up late chatting.

Friday:

• Get up and have a big breakfast with Grandma and Dee.
• Sit around chatting and working out genealogy and enjoying company.
• Shower.
• Take Chloe to the park and have fun running around.

Chloe on the playground

• Eat lunch.
• Go through my wedding book with Grandma, pointing out people she didn’t know.
• Say good-byes and drive away.

Group shot with Grandma and Dee

• Drive to Knoxville, IA.
• Get lost.
• Get un-lost.
• Hug Grandpa Doug and other people in the dark and not know who they are.
• Get settled into the camper trailer and meet Justin’s aunt, uncle, and cousin.
• Sleep on a mattress covered in plastic, with heads lower than our feet and get a sore throat.

Saturday:

• Get up and chat with people in the trailer while breakfasting and getting ready.
• Wander down to the pond and meet a couple more people.
• Wander down to the barn and say good morning to Grandpa Doug and Great-uncle Bob and a few other people.

Barnett's barn

• Wander down to the tent and meet Great-uncle Jerry and help him wipe down chairs for lunch.

Reunion tent

• Meet a couple more people.
• Run into town to grab some things from Walmart (a pillow, throat drops, hot dogs, a fan)
• Make it back to the farm in time to meet a whole bunch more people, grab a few sodas, and stand around chatting for a little bit before lunch.
• Have an unfortunate run-in with a gust of wind in a billowy top and face questions about whether I’m pregnant.  Quelch that rumor as quickly as possible.
• Eat lunch.
• Sit around chatting with people.
• Sneak off to take a nap.
• Wander around the property of a distant cousin who raises lilies and hostas.

Randy's hostas

Randy's flowers

Purple flowers

Stone stairs

Grass driveway

Lily

• Jump in the pond for a swim before dinner.
• Meet a couple more people while swimming.
• Go to dinner in a different outfit than at lunch.  No billowing.
• Meet even more people.
• Cheer for the talent show.

Grandpa Doug on harmonica

• Cook s’mores.
• Chat with people until dark.
• Watch the men clear up chairs and tables in preparation for inclement weather.
• Move trash bags to the side so they wouldn’t wash away.
• Walk back to the trailer in awe of all the lightning bugs.
• Die of heat while trying to sleep, even with the fan blowing, with a sore throat and feet higher than our heads and a loud plastic wrapper on the mattress.

Sunday:

• Wake up, breakfast, shower, dress.  Feel very groggy, head-stuffy, throat-achy.
• Go to the high school for lunch because of the expectation of rain.
• Cram 130+ people into the high school cafeteria.

Barnetts in the high school cafeteria

• Meet a few more people.
• Eat delicious lunch.
• Release a microphone to the masses.
• Hide in the bathroom for a little bit.
• Walk around the school with Justin a little bit.
• Leave messages on Gillian’s phone.
• Drive back to the farm.

Barnett rock

• Go sit at the barn out of the rain and talk with people.
• Walk back to the pond and watch Justin go swimming while I sit on the dock under an umbrella.
• Change into dry clothes.  Call Gillian.
• Chat with people for a little longer.
• Go see Gillian.
• Chat with Gillian and play with her children for a while.  Forget to take a picture.
• Leave so the kids can get to sleep.  Go out for dinner.
• Watch fireworks as we drive home.
• Go to sleep with sound of rain and cool air blowing.

Monday:

• Wake up, breakfast, shower, dress, pack.
• Throw everything into car.
• Wander up to the barn to chat with people.
• Wander around old homestead house and take pictures.

Git offa my lawn

Outside his childhood bedroom window

Outhouse

Wooden steps

Water wheel

The reason we made the trip

• Sit back down and chat some more.
• Finally say good-byes and drive off.
• Stop for lunch and move our luggage into the back seat.
• Repack everything so it fits into one suitcase while Justin drives.
• Meet Sara at Cheesecake Factory, but walk across the street to Barnes and Noble to work up an appetite.
• Catch up with Sara and wander around the store.
• Go back and have a delicious dinner.
• Wander around the mall a little bit before saying good-byes.

Tickle shot

• Drive to Erica’s house and keep her up late while we finish packing and getting ready.  She braids my hair.

Tuesday:

• Get up a little before 5:00 to pack up, put up the beds, and head to the airport.
• Arrive on time, return the car, check in, make it through security, and only sit a little while before boarding.
• Fly to Chicago.
• Get adopted by an 80-year old woman looking for help getting to her gate.
• Stay more calm about the shuttle bus to another concourse and the time crunch of our layover because of that angelic woman.
• Get to the gate just as they finish boarding and get right on the airplane.
• Fly to Charleston.
• Collect our luggage, find the car, and drive home.
• Pile everything inside the house.
• Shower and curl up to relax.
• Fall asleep and sleep for about 15 hours.

And as a bonus! Wednesday:

• Relax all morning.
• Go to our financial advisor appointment and start making good plans.
• Go to the grocery store.
• Get a flat tire leaving the grocery store.
• Watch Justin put on spare tire.
• Go home and unload the groceries and tidy the kitchen while Justin sorts the luggage into dirty laundry hampers.
• Eat a late lunch.
• Take the car to Tire Kingdom.
• Buy a new tire.
• Go home.
• Find out that Justin’s old boss and coworker had shown up AT THE HOUSE to ask why he hadn’t been answering his cell phone.
• Laugh delightedly that he no longer works there.
• Relax for the rest of the evening.

I’m back on the diet again after taking about a month off to handle with stress and not logging while we had company in town.  But I’ve been logging again for 15 days now and my scale at home (that’s not terribly accurate) gave me a whole long line of 0’s on Saturday that made me very excited.  It’s gone back up a couple pounds, but that’s what happens when I sit down with a bag of M&Ms on one day and a big plate of Kung Pao chicken the next.  But I thoroughly intend for it to be back down again by Saturday.  I might not make it down the full 50 pounds before my doctor appointment at the beginning of September, but I’m going to be pretty darn close!

I don’t know exactly how much weight I’m going to end up losing in the end, but my goal right now is to get my body fat percentage down around 25%.  Wherever I land poundage-wise is where I’ll end up, but I want to get that percentage down there.  I started at 42.2%.  Right now I’m at 38.2%.  Once I get under 32%, I’ll no longer be considered “obese” and THAT will be a very happy day. 

The car thing is an end as far as I know.  I finally called the claims department on Friday to ask what the progress was on the file and they told me that they had denied the claim.  Wohoo!!  I mean, the woman didn’t have a leg to stand on but it’s still nice to have things work out the way that they’re SUPPOSED to work.  I didn’t hit her, I shouldn’t have to pay for it.  And I’m not!

As far as I’m concerned, the matter is now closed.  She can try to appeal the decision or take me to small claims court, but the insurance is going to back me up if she does that.  I’m going to assume that she’s not going to be quite that desperate and just stop thinking about the whole thing.  And now I can finally try to get the paint off my car, since I’ve been waiting until everything was resolved to try to work on that.  Before I was just being lazy.  But now I have more motivation to get it off.

There are things happening in the job front that I’m not comfortable talking about right now.  You know that feeling like if you talk about it, you might jinx the whole thing?  THAT.  But hopefully I’ll have news for you there in a while.

I am still going to be briefly unemployed while the whole place shuts down for a couple weeks, but I’m looking forward to the time away from work.  It’ll be nice.  I’m hoping to get a bunch of projects done around the house.  Because, you know, there’s nothing like a vacation to get some work done around the house.  What?  Relax?  I don’t have time to relax!

In more trivial news, I’ve developed an allergy to my face lotion.  I’ve been using it for a while and I’m about halfway through this bottle, but the last few times I tried to use it, I broke out in hives.  It wasn’t pleasant.  My only hypothesis is that there’s almond oil in the lotion.  Of my nut allergies, almonds were pretty low on the list of reactions, so I picked up a box of cranberry-pomegranate granola bars (with almonds) and was eating one of those a day.  And then I broke out in hives from my lotion.  So I’m not eating the bars any more and I’m using aloe vera to moisturize my face, since we didn’t have anything else in the house that would work.  Avoidance is effective and I’m doing just fine.  But it’s kind of a bummer because I was fond of that lotion.

And to end on a more UP tone, I have a trip coming up to visit several people and I’m SO EXCITED about it!  I’ve mentioned it here before, but I’m still just beyond thrilled to get to take this trip.  I didn’t expect to be able to spend time with my siblings and it’s going to be so much fun!  Lots of people know about it, too, because I can’t stop talking about it.  I’ve already started my packing list—I’ve been trying to figure out how to pack everything in a carry-on so we don’t have to check our luggage.

But mostly, I just think, “I get to see the kidlets!”  “I get to see my siblings!”  “I get to see Grandma!”  “I get to see the Barnetts!”  And try to figure out how I could fit seeing more people into the tiny amount of time that we’ll be in each place.  Like Sara!  And Gillian!  And Mom and Dad!!

But before that, I’ve got 3 projects that need to be completely finished up before the end of this week and 3 other documents that need to be released and mailed off for approval before next Tuesday, at the absolute latest.  I have a lot of work to finish up.

Tuesday, didn’t hear one word.  No messages left on my work phone while I was in meetings, no messages left on my cell phone.  When I got off work, I called the manager’s phone number and left a message saying that I was still waiting to hear back on the message I’d left the previous day.

Wednesday, I got a call.  On my cell phone.  Which doesn’t get service when I’m in my office and I said so expressly in all my messages.  So I called back and said “please call my work phone number,” gave that number again, and went back to waiting.  By the time I left, I still hadn’t received a call back.  So I called again, left another message on the phone of the gentleman who had called me back.  And another one on the phone for the manager.

Thursday, I finally spoke with someone.  He left a message on both of my phones when I was away from my desk, and when I went out to call him back, and actually hung up before I though it had gone through because I hadn’t checked my messages yet, he called me right back.  He apologized for the delay because they’re unusually short-staffed at the moment, and then asked me a couple of questions and recorded my statement for their files.  His interview wasn’t nearly as thorough as the one from my insurance company, but it was still good to have my side of the story taken down.

At the end, he said that they’d be sending someone out to look at my car and do that whole thing.  I mentioned that I’d encountered a man on the 13th who’d taken pictures already, but apparently it wasn’t in the file, so they had to do it again.  He told me that the person would call me before they came, but when I got out to my car after work, there was a piece of paper under my wipers from the insurance company, details about the damage and how much it would cost to fix it.  I was a little irritated that they didn’t call me to let me know, but impressed at their speed for that one aspect.  I mean, it took me 3½ days to get a hold of someone to take my statement, but it took them less than 4 hours to get someone to look at my car.

Still, it took less than 6 hours for my insurance to get the claim and have someone take my statement.  I took less than 24 hours after that to get someone to take photos of my car.  Everything with my own insurance was taken care of within 2 days of them getting the claim.  It took me 3 days to even speak with someone from her insurance once I got the letter from them, which was 5 days after I was called out to the parking lot.

So, quick recap of the timeline.

She notices the dent on the 6th.

Six days later, on Wednesday the 12th, I get called out to the parking lot to tell everybody that I ran into my mailbox.  Twice.

The next day, the 13th, I talk with people from my insurance (local rep, claims office, and a message from an inspector (who Justin called because my phone was dead)), a random guy from her insurance, security, the police, and HR.

Friday the 14th, I meet with a woman from my insurance who takes pictures of my car and my mailbox.  Everything I can do for my company is complete.  (Total time since being called out to the parking lot:  less than 55 hours.)

On Monday, the 17th, I get a letter from her insurance and leave a message. 

Tuesday, I leave another message. 

Wednesday, I finally get a call, call him back, leave a message, and don’t hear another word.

Thursday the 20th, I finally speak with someone and then they send someone out to take pictures of my car.  And now I’m finally done with everything for her insurance company.  (Total time since being called out to the parking lot:  8 days.)

I have to say, I’m pleased with my insurance company at the moment.  And kind of disgusted with hers.  But I’m still waiting to hear about the final decision and I am way past ready for this whole thing to be finished.

Update to the update to the thing with my car
Friday morning, I came home from work early so I could meet an insurance assessor (or something like that) who wanted to look at my car and our mailbox.  She was a lovely woman, very pleasant to work with, and she took measurements and photographs of the damage on my car and the damage on my mailbox.  I pulled my car out of the driveway and lined it up with my mailbox and she took photographs of that, too, so it’s obvious that the marks on my car line up perfectly with the damage on my mailbox.

She wasn’t terribly forthcoming about her opinion on the matter, but I got the impression that she understood that the damage to my car was fairly obviously done by encounters with my mailbox.  I asked if she’d be the one to go look at the Tahoe, but she said that the insurance company would probably send someone from the Georgia side of things.

And now I’ve done everything possible for me to do.  I gave a copy of the Security officer’s report to the assessor when she was at the house and she was going to forward that to my claims officer.  I spoke with an agent from my local insurance office this morning and he’s checking around to make sure that there aren’t any loose threads out there.  But as far as I know, there’s nothing more for me to do other than wait for information while the insurance companies duke it out.

Trip to Toccoa
After dealing with the insurance and then running into town to get my oil changed and pick up some supplies from Target, I packed up for our trip to northeast Georgia to go see my family for a handful of hours.  We left later than anticipated (my fault because things took a lot longer than I anticipated that they would) and we arrived slightly after 9:00.  But we all sat and chatted for a little while before heading off to bed.

We got a nice and early start to the morning and helped finish up projects that Mom and Dad had been working on completing.  Holes in walls filled in or created.  Shelves built and moved.  A trip to the post office in town.  Tools sorted out and packed away.  I had a fun morning, mostly just following one or the other of my parents around and helping however I could.  I know there was a lack of structure that was frustrating to other people, but I was just so tickled to be around my family that nothing was going to bother me.  Not humid weather.  Not random project progress.  Not spiders.  Nothing.  I had a good morning.

Mom and Dad left slightly after noon to start their long drive back to Wisconsin and we waved them off.  Justin and I helped Luke and Krista build one more shelf before getting cleaned up and packed up ourselves and ready to head off.  We sat and chatted for a little while before letting them have the house to themselves again.  After a long, hectic week, I understand how wonderful it can be to have a quiet house again.

Trip to Atlanta
Justin and I had planned to hit a mall outside of Atlanta to buy me some new dress pants, since all the pairs in my closet right now either are too big or are from back when I was slender enough to wear them, meaning they’re threadbare and stretched out.  The mall didn’t turn out quite like expected, though, (I’ve never been in a mall that had so many different shoe stores!) and we decided we’d go see a movie.

We found a theatre that was showing Iron Man 2 in Imax and How to Train Your Dragon in 3D and we were going there, when we passed an Atlanta Bread Company directly across from a Barnes and Noble bookstore.  Well, they closed down our Atlanta Bread Company a handful of months ago and it’s one of our very favorite restaurants.  And we love Barnes and Noble.  So we scratched our movie plans and spent an hour wandering around in the bookstore before heading across for sandwiches.  And we enjoyed our time much more than we would have in a movie theatre.

After spending a relaxing evening and morning at a hotel and breakfast at Dunkin’ Donuts, we set off for the Georgia Renaissance Festival. We got there probably close to 10:30 and wandered our way all the way around the faire, looking at booths and admiring the crafts and the spectacle.  We watched the joust.  We saw the Flying Debris juggling show.  We saw the Washing Well Wenches.  We saw the Tortuga Twins.  We missed a few acts that aren’t at the fair this year, like Dexter Tripp’s high wire.  I got some flowers stained onto my leg with henna.  I got to eat a turkey leg. We picked up another item from Bronze Age Studios to match the fountain that we bought from them previously.

It was a whole lot of fun.  And I caked on the sunscreen and wore a light cotton shirt with sleeves and a hat and came home without any sunburn.  I’m a little sun-kissed, but not at all burned.  With my complexion, I call that a win.

Plus, it was just so much fun wandering around the faire, looking at all the different things to look at – people and artwork and everything else.  I laughed at the shows, held my breath at the joust, drooled over everything in the Casta Diva shop.  And we left close to 4:00 to start our trek home, arriving at our front door a little after 9:30, I think.  We unpacked, showered, and got ready for bed.

And now it’s Monday and I wish I had another day in my weekend to recover from my weekend.  But no such luck.  Back to work with me!

I’ll try to put up a few pictures from our weekend later tonight or tomorrow.

It’s been an interesting day, but in a wholly different way than yesterday.  I’m over being frustrated and scared about the whole car situation.  Now I’m upset, angry, and taking action.

There was a message on my work phone this morning when I came back from a meeting.  The Woman With The Tahoe (TWWTT) filed an insurance claim against my insurance company and they were calling to ask what was going on and get the information that they needed.  I called back, but the gentleman I was supposed to talk with wasn’t available, so I left a message and set out for lunch.

I had a lunch thing with my department today.  Normally for these things, I catch a ride with another couple women from my group.  But today, I drove myself.  As I was leaving the parking lot, I looked around for the Tahoe to see if maybe I could take down her plate numbers or something.  When I saw her car and started to drive up to it, I saw a gentleman with a clipboard taking notes.  I parked (a good ways away from her car) and asked if he was from my insurance company.  He said, no, he was from TWWTT’s company.  I introduced myself, said I was the one she was claiming had hit her, and that I hadn’t done it.  He asked if he could look at my car and take some photos and I said that would be fine.

He came over and took a look, took a handful of photographs, wrote some notes on his clipboard.  My agent called while the other gentleman was looking over my car, and he told me to expect a call from the claims department sometime later that day and that I should be sure to answer the phone when they called.  I said I would be sure to do so.

The agent from the other company was friendly and encouraging and said that, in his opinion, it really didn’t look like I had hit her.  He took my name and phone numbers in case he needed them, thanked me for letting him look at my car, and I went on my way to lunch.

When I arrived late to the restaurant, people asked what had made me so late.  So I told the situation to the group sitting around me.  A couple of them had already heard about it, but it was news to most of them.  And they were a wealth of information about what I should do.  And they were wonderfully encouraging.  It’s like having a bunch of helpful uncles.

When I got back to my desk, I called the local police to ask if I could get a copy of the report that had been written yesterday.  It turns out that there isn’t one.  I left a message for the officer who responded because he was out on the street at the time of my call and not available.  The woman who took the message suspected that because the claim was on private property and a week old, the officer probably gave TWWTT a form to fill out and file with her insurance.

After that, I contacted the security office at work and asked for a copy of the report that had been filed with that department.  That one I did get, complete with the name of the woman filing the complaint and photographs of the damage.  That’s right, I didn’t even know her name until I got the report from Security.  And can I say, there are some confusing discrepancies between reports – like when she says she saw me come into the parking lot and where she saw me park:  was it on the 6th or the 12th and was it beside her or just somewhere in the lot?  The whole thing is a mess.

I also went and spoke with the HR representative for my department.  She is a wonderfully pleasant woman and I told her everything that was happening.  She said that she would speak with Security, too, so she could get a good handle on what was happening and that I should be sure to keep her in the loop as things progress.  I mostly spoke with her to make sure that I’m not failing to do things like I should be with a situation this complicated and in a company this large.  And also so if things go badly and TWWTT gets nasty about it, I’ve already got someone who’s heard my side of the story.  I think that’s the first proactive thing I’ve done since this happened.  Everything else has been reactive, but this one, I’m stepping ahead of the game.

And since insurance is apparently one of the very few quickly moving things in the south, I got a call from the agent from the claims department from my insurance company.  He took a recorded statement about what had happened, with lots and lots of really wonderful questions.  Like, how big is the parking lot?  What color is your car?  How many blue cars are in the lot — more than one?  When were you informed of the incident?  What’s your understanding of the situation?  Were there any witnesses?

I feel good about my statement.  I answered all the questions clearly and honestly, trying to make it very clear where things were confusing to me and just didn’t make sense how she could be making this claim against me.  And at the very end, when he asked if there was anything else I’d like to add to the statement, I was able to explain where the paint on my car had come from.  He said, just from my statement, that they probably were going to deny her claim because it didn’t seem like she had any proof against me.  She can’t file a claim just based on her opinion.  It’s not the final call because someone still has to come out and look at my car and there are other things that have to happen, but he’s feeling good about it going in my favor.

Also, if TWWTT decides to argue against their findings and takes me to small claims court, my insurance will provide me with a lawyer, free of charge.

He did ask me to ask Security if there was security footage of the parking lot the day of the incident, so I contacted them again to ask if that was available.  Unfortunately, although there is a camera in that lot, it’s angled in such a way that it didn’t see either one of our cars that day.  When I called the claims group back to let them know that information, I missed the call from the woman from my insurance who wants to come out and look at my car and, amusingly, our mailbox.

Naturally, my cell phone had died by then and I don’t have the ability to call numbers that aren’t local from my work phone.  So, since Justin still has a cell phone with a Savannah area phone number, I called him and begged him to call her back.  He did and now I have an appointment with her tomorrow at 11:30.

It’s been a busy day.  But I’m feeling good about it.  I have a lot of support from the people in my department at work, all of them incredulous that TWWTT is trying to do this and several of them offering suggestions on what I should do next.  Justin, of course, is wonderfully supportive of me.  And all the insurance people I’ve spoken with today seem to agree that the claim just isn’t going to go through.  Why she didn’t just file a hit-and-run last week is absolutely beyond me.  But she can’t randomly accuse me of this and have the insurance just go along with it with no proof.

It was going okay.  I got up, got to work, started to settle into my morning.  And then a security officer called and asked if I could please go meet the officer standing by my car in the parking lot.  And when I got there, a woman was filing a complaint against me, accusing me of running into her Tahoe.

I didn’t do it, by the way.  Let’s get that one straight right there so at least you and I know the truth.  I never ran into her car.  I have not in my entire driving history done damage to another person’s vehicle.  My own car?   Yes, I’ve dented my own car a little bit.  And I’ve had someone back into me.  I did one time run into someone’s bumper, but it was made entirely of rubber so I bounced off with no damage done.  I have never damaged anyone else’s car.

So far as I know, the only evidence she has that connects me to the large dent on her bumper is that I have white paint on the passenger-side headlight of my car.  White paint that came from my mailbox when I ran into it back in October of 2008.

Yeah.  2008.  It was shortly after we’d moved into the townhouse and I was still learning how to park in our spot.  I’d had a rough day and was returning home in a bad mood and wasn’t paying much attention and slammed the front of my car into the mailbox pretty hard.  It scrapped across the headlight, leaving white paint, and I had to go put the mailbox back in place.

But the woman with the Tahoe made a statement to the security officer, and so I wrote down my statement, too.  At the time, I wasn’t even sure which paint spot she was talking about, so I wrote down on my statement that I ran into my mailbox twice, once in 2008 and again in 2010.  And then an officer from the county law enforcement showed up and took her statement again.  I was told to stay near my car, so I never spoke with the woman.  And the police officer came over and looked at my car briefly, but never really spoke with me before he left.

I stood by my car, waiting for someone to come back over and tell me what was going on, but everybody just took off and I stood there crying because I had no idea what was going on.  I didn’t run into her car!  I didn’t even know what damage had been done to her vehicle until after everybody had left and I very carefully, giving her car a wide berth, went around to look at what she was accusing me of having done.

I can see why she’s upset.  Someone left a basketball-sized dent in her back bumper.  But it wasn’t me.

I sat in my car and cried for a while before calling Justin back to let him know what had happened.  I’d called him while we were waiting for the police to show up and wanted to let him know what was going on.  He found the two dates here in my blog when I mentioned running into the mailbox, and told me to give that information to the officers.  So I made my way back into the building and snuck into a bathroom where I worked on trying to make my face less red and splotchy.  I am never going to be one of those girls who can cry and look fantastic doing it.  A lovely woman in the bathroom asked if I would be okay and I told her I was having a rough morning, but I’d be fine.

I got back to my desk and sent a message to security with the information from my website and asked if they could please add it to my statement about what happened to put white paint on my car.  And I asked them to please tell me more information about what it was that I’m being accused of having done to the woman’s Tahoe – what day and time she says it happened and what proof she’s offering that it was me other than the paint on my headlight.

So far, I haven’t heard anything back.

I have no idea what’s going on with the situation.  I assume it’s a good sign that I didn’t receive a ticket or anything from the officer.  But I’m not counting out the possibility that I’ll get a traffic court summons in the mail.  It’s extremely frustrating to me to not know what exactly to be expecting.  Did the police officer agree with the woman with the Tahoe about me hitting her car?  Would I know if he didn’t?

And do I have any pictures of my car that I can use to prove that the paint was pre-existing?  It’s been 19 months.  Do I have any pictures of the headlights of my car?

Is there any way at all that I can feel less powerless in this situation?

Around 1:30, I got a call back from the security officer who I emailed with my website evidence.  He was a little confused about my email and wanted to make sure that I understood that the security office wasn’t accusing me of anything.  The woman wanted to file a complaint, so they were letting her do that.  He wasn’t sure why she had involved the police—if she wanted to address insurance payments, then she could have worked with security to work out the situation.  And he was surprised that the police officer hadn’t spoken with me very much.  I assured him that the security officer who took my statement was pleasant and agreeable and that I just wanted to understand what was going on.  Was there more information I should know?  What was going to happen next?

To his knowledge, there is nothing else going to happen with this situation that would involve me.  Security isn’t interested in me because there’s no proof that I ran into the woman.  I said I didn’t do it.  That’s as far as they’re taking it.

The woman might file it with her insurance, but, again, since there’s no proof that I hit her vehicle, there’s no reason to expect that the situation will come back to me.

He also told me that the woman said that she was hit on the 6th.  That was last Thursday.  As in a week ago.  If she was going to involve the police, why did she wait until almost a week after the incident to call?  Does that confuse anyone other than me?

I was much less stressed out after talking with the gentleman from security.  At least I understood a little more about what was going on.

And then I was angry, something that I hadn’t been before, because I feel like the woman is looking for a scapegoat and grabbing the first one she can find.  She doesn’t care if she’s wrong about me or not, she’s just looking for someone to point to.  And it ticks me off that she can just point at me and accuse me of having done something and I had to get all worked up about how to defend myself and completely ruin my morning with worry and stress and frustration, instead of trying to think about how she was going to prove that I’d done what she was saying I had done.  She has nothing except paint and I bet it’s not even the same type of paint.  I bet the paint on my mailbox is a latex and car paint is definitely something else.

I’m not completely relaxed about it, though, because part of me still expects that I might get something in the mail, either regarding her insurance or going to traffic court or something.  Because that’s the way I am.  It’s not pessimism – it’s worst case scenario preparedness.  Right?  But I’m much less worried about this than I was yesterday.  And tomorrow I’ll probably be even less worried than I am today.  But yesterday, I was freaking out about it.

So, yeah.  That was my morning yesterday.  And most of my afternoon.  By the time I got off work, I’d had enough of dealing with people so I went home, put on work clothes, and completely took over the back yard.  I mowed the lawn.  I pulled out the weed whack and reclaimed the back tree-line.  I put down more mulch.  I moved everything that I could lift off the porch and swept it down.  I put everything away that was out of place and wiped down the table.  And when I was done, 2 hours later, the whole back yard looked amazing and I felt much better.  Justin came home halfway through and helped by working on tidying inside the house, so the inside looks great right now, too.  We had dinner on the back porch, enjoyed some time together, I watched an NCIS Los Angeles episode that made me cry, and I had some ice cream.

My evening turned out nice.  But my morning was awful.  And I’d really like to not have to do that again.

I went and sat on the porch of a nearby empty building and read my book.  It’s a great building, completely open inside without even a finished floor or electrical or finished interior walls.  It makes my head go all kinds of crazy about what I would do with such a building.  Answer:  I would turn it into four different businesses.  The first would be a studio for yoga and Zumba classes and whatever else I could get in there–massage, weights, whatever.  Because, Mom, you’ve inspired me, and when I get down to weight, I want to be certified to teach fitness classes, specifically yoga and Zumba.  So the front of the building, that looks over a small pond with a fountain and a great patio, would be a fitness studio.  Next would be a bookstore.  At the end would be a small cafe with smoothies and healthy sandwiches and stuff like that.  And the other one I can’t talk about, but it would hold a small set of offices, too.

In the lot across the street from this building, I’d set up a play set for kids to play on and map out how far around it is so parents could let their kids play on the jungle gym while they walk or run laps.

I had a lot of fun thinking about what I could do with this building.  Trust me, what I’ve mentioned is only the tip of the iceberg.  I have a lot of thoughts about this.

Anyway, after getting splashed with pond water from the fountain for a while, I went and sat in the lawn and read my book some more until finally going to find out what the story was with my car.  It turns out that they were able to simply patch the tire, meaning it was only a $23 fix instead of a $100 replacement.  For the record:  Nails are stupid things to leave lying on the road.

So it all turned out well.  I still have to figure out what to do about the paint on my car, but I’m hopeful.  I just have to do some research and legwork.

In other news, completely unrelated, I’ve started up my LiveJournal account again where I used to write about my diet progress, frustrations, and successes.  It’s over here if you’re interested in reading it.  Because this site here isn’t really the place to write about everything I want to write about when it comes to my diet.  Feel free to pop in over there if you’d like to know how that’s going.  You should be able to leave comments without having a LiveJournal account, but it’s going to give you one of those funky word things to verify that you’re not a computer.

And, of course, if you don’t care about my weight-loss, you can just stick around here and I’ll continue to babble about whatever it is I babble about over here.

But right now I think I should go to bed.