This morning I got a phone call reporting that my car was ready to be picked up from the body shop. Wow! Only yesterday a different guy told me it might be later Thursday or even Friday before it was ready, so I extended the rental on my car. I think that lady at Budget got quite tired hearing my voice on the other end before this was all over!
Therefore, since my car was ready, I had to make arrangements to somehow return the rental car and get mine picked up, before close of business for each enterprise. Hmmm....If I'd used Enterprise, it would not be such a huge problem with getting the cars swapped out, but alas, I used a one-person shop at Budget. Enterprise offers the pick-up service so they could have driven me to the car repair place.
After Bible study at Victory, another enriching class, I figured I could stop at the repair shop and settle up with them, with plans to go back later to get the car when Justin was done working. I had to pay the deductible for the repair, minus the amount of the tire depreciation the fellow got for me. Nice!
That taken care of, I went home with hopes of getting some pool time. Not to be, as the sun was hiding behind the clouds most of the day. Rats! Perhaps by the weekend the water will finally be warmed enough to enjoy even if the sun is not around, though I usually don't enjoy one without the other.
The church newsletter is written as far as it can be as I wait, almost patiently, for the requested input to come in. I know the preschool info will be submitted, as Miss Lisa is so good about that, but the rest will be like pulling teeth. A reminder can be sent to the fellows to please get me information. It's all about the communication and information sharing!
I got an e-mail from church, the entire congregation did, requesting our presence for painting the fellowship hall on Saturday. Sort of short a notice and I do hope that some folks show up for this. The hall must be fairly close to ready when it comes time for Vacation Bible School though the flooring might not be put down yet. Things always take so long, it seems.
This Sunday I was planning to go to Palm Coast to see my niece, as she asked me to come down for a visit. Tina asked me to come instead the following week which will work. We have a special guest coming to church again (he was there a couple weeks ago) to present a session about planned giving. I won't sit through that again as I have done so in the past. Judy and Michael got a sneak preview on Tuesday night as he presented to them at their house. She was impressed with what he had to say and might take some of his advice.
When poolside on Wednesday (too cold for me to go in!) we had a birthday party for Randy, who is now 77 years old. We are called his harem, as he is the sole man in the water aerobics class. About ten of us ordered our meals and dined al fresco, at times dodging rain drops, and then basking in the sun. Strange day! Marlena picked up a cute little book which we all signed for him, called "Looking for Mr. Right" as his last name is Wright. Cute!
After the lunch, I went over to Winn Dixie to get some soda and other things. I shopped like a rock star, taking advantage of their deal where if I bought two Tombstone pizzas, I would get free jalepeno poppers, garlic bread, Italian Ice, and a bottle of soda. Sweet! Justin will eat the poppers while the garlic bread will be good with our dinners next week. The flavor of Italian ice I chose was blue raspberry and I am sure they will be wonderfully refreshing. All of this for $14.98!
At lunch, Mary Lew was back from her travels, and asked me about my summer plans. She knows I usually have some company and I told her that there are four kids coming from Rocky Mountain Lutheran High School to stay for 10 days. I went on to report to the table how Justin and I are going to have to struggle getting room for three girls in my spare room because his stuff has taken over. One lady suggested I get a small storage unit, and another one asked if we don't have storage space here at The Palace. Hmmm....
Maggie O. piped up with a brilliant idea---since our mutual friend, Ellen, is rarely at home here, staying at the beach condo instead, she suggested I ask Ellen if we could store some of Justin's stuff in her front bedroom for a couple weeks. YES! Brilliant! I asked Ellen and, of course, she said that would be fine with her. As Maggie said, Ellen LOVES to help people. Justin is not all that wild about having to relocate his stuff but three girls in one room are going to need every available inch of space!
We have three girls coming, plus one boy, so the boy will stay in Justin's room and Justin will bunk in my room. The young people will be gone most of the time so Justin will still have access to his room until it becomes bedtime.
Okay, back to my car craziness---I had to gas up the rental to take it back full, so did that. Then, when Justin got home from work, shortly before 5:00 pm, he showered quickly and off we went to get my car. I had to return the rental car before 6:00 so we drove up Blanding Blvd. north of I-295 to grab my car. He drove my freshly repaired car back up (or down, as the case might be) Blanding toward the plaza, formerly known as Michael's Plaza, to return the rental car. Whew! Traffic at this time of the day is horrendous and being in a time crunch was, well, horrendous!
I got the car back with 15 minutes to spare and got settled up there. The lady who was taking care of things, single-handedly, was glad to see me bring the keys back, especially after I explained I had two keys. "Yes," she said, "we always give you two keys." It was odd because one was for my rental car, and the other for a Jeep Patriot!! Oops! She was relieved to see the 'lost' key, expressing how glad she was that they had at least one key to use. Yikes! That cannot be good!!!
Justin and I went back home again, so he could unwind after his busy and tiring day of yard work. For dinner, he ate my leftovers from Carrabba's where he and I joined Judy C. for dinner Wednesday night. She still had a gift card to use from last year's party! I did not have to be back at church again until 7:30 pm for BIC and was glad to sit back and relax, having this car craziness behind me. My car has the smell of fresh paint now and I love that! I am so appreciate having my own car back in my possession again, crazy as it is!
