Richard leaves in exactly one week, so today we got all the registering out of the way for the wedding. We'd headed out to look at curtains and shades earlier this week and tried to register then, but were thwarted at every turn - one store requires appointments, one store's registry machine was broken, and the last wasn't the right 'home' version for us to do it at anyway. So on the way home, Richard called up the appointment-requiring one, and we made our plans for today.

We started with the local hardware store. It's not a place I'd ever have considered, except that years ago when my older sister got married, her now-in-laws suggested it, and by golly, they've not only got a registry, but they've also got some pretty neat stuff to register for. Besides, where else could we write down different varieties of trees on the list?

The hardware store gives you a little booklet to fill out with numbers, by hand. Target gives you an electronic gun (after you spend ten minutes typing into their little screen) and sends you off to merrily scan UPC codes on anything and everything. They don't follow you around - you're all on your own.

Not so the other places. Both Penny's and Macy's not only made us fill out lengthy paperwork (by hand), but they took us around and did the scanning for us. The poor woman at Penny's was having a hard time of it. She kept tripping over things (and boy can I sympathize. Half my life is like that). The woman at Macy's came from Dublin, Ireland, so she had fun giving Richard tips for his trip while we were going through the setup process.

We peered at more china patterns today than I think I ever want to see again. There are some truly hideous silver patterns out there (a lot of them, actually). We traipsed through displays of crystal expensive enough to make me cringe as I walked past (if anyone would trip and fall and break this stuff, it'd be me, see). And we plowed through linens, towels, appliances, and all manner of other items (heck, even furniture). In the end, though, exhausted and not wanting to see another electronic scanning gun for a very long time, we were finished.

One more hurdle down. Less than three months to go.