#216 Good Morning Sunday, May 24, 2016

Good Morning World,

Well after not posting for 6 days, I’m now posting 2 days in a row, but that’s because yesterday was a very exciting day in the life of Mary Brown!

First of all we had a “Workday” at church!  It reminded me of the “old days” at our other church on Mandarin Road.  We had to clean up some “drywall” that was ripped down to redesign our space at:

New Logo for FCC

The first thing I noticed was that the old “piano” sign had been removed from the front of our space.  So we’re making room for our new sign with the logo above put on the space.  It will look awesome up there!  Then when I got inside, the new chairs had arrived!  It was fantastic.  they are really nice – worth the wait!  So for our 3rd week of services in the new space, we’ll have comfortable chairs.

Here is the crew hard at work:

The Crew

Bart & me

Clean as a Whistle

Our space is really going to be amazing when we’re done.  We have an architect designing the space for us.  We’re really trying to get the space ready for Lynn and Jamie’s wedding on the 14th of June.  I just heard that Bruce is going to be a “guest” Pastor for that service.  I knew they were coming down to visit us in June, but hadn’t thought about that.  It will be good to see the Frogges again!  Let me see if I can find a picture of them:

Bruce, Donna, Zach and friend

They’ve moved to Texas.  He is in charge of a “Mega” church now.  That’s what he wanted but it didn’t work that way for him in Naples.  I do miss him and his messages.  But I can always go to his website and listen and watch him if I need a “dose of Bruce”.  But I am so grateful for Michael.  I love listening to him, even when it’s “over my head” sometimes.

Oh yea, we had the coolest things for collecting our “deconstruction” trash.  They are canvas bags, HUGE ones, that have straps on them.  They cost $30 at Home Depot.  You fill them up and then Waste Management comes and picks them up and takes them away.  What will they think of next?  I wish I had a picture of them but I can take a picture today at church and then add it to the blog.  It’s pretty amazing!

3 Dumpsters full of junk!

Next I went to:

Iglesia Pentecostes Peniel Church

We have an “outreach” program we do on Saturdays.  We collect food from Winn Dixie (fresh produce and bread and bagels) and other canned goods and hand them out on Saturday mornings to needy families.  This church is located in the middle of Naples Park on a residential road at 107th Avenue North.  I bet that place “rocks” on Sundays!  We have a partnership with Harry Chapin Food Bank also.  Anyway, my part of it is to take the left over produce and bread to St. Matt’s.

So since I was “in the area” I thought I would go to the Kia Dealership and “test drive” a Kia Soul.  So I called “Kelly” who had been calling me about coming in and she said she was the “appointment maker” not a sales person.  But she said she’d hook me up with a great guy!  So when I got there, who should walk out as the “next one up” but Blake.  Amy Blackmore had given me his name as a contact there.  He used to be Tessa’s boyfriend and Tatum is his child.  (These people are all colleagues at Moorings Park with me).  Anyway, Blake was really nice.  I had NO INTENTION of buying a car yesterday – just wanted to see how it drove.  I had thought about it for months – in fact, Amy gave Blake my name back in November.  So we sat down and he asked me what I had in mind.  I said a Kia Soul.  What color he asks.  I say RED – to match Red2.  I saw a Red one on the road the other day and liked it and it was the same red as Red2.  So then I’d have 2 Red vehicles in my garage.  He said red was “really hard to “get”.  So then I said black.  I want a car that can be seen on the road in a rain storm!  White, gray and silver disappear in a storm.  Well black is too hot in Florida he says.  Anyway he says, let’s just go out and look at what there is “on the lot”.  So we go out and I tell him I’d like “yellow” but I don’t like the “yellow” that the Soul comes in.  So then he points out a “titanium”  color.  Well, that was nice I say.  So then he says, let’s walk around the corner, he has another “used” 2015 Titanium car that was just turned in because the guy who bought it was “demented” and the family needed to take his keys away from him so they had to turn the car back in.  He had an “ON STAR” system added to the car.  Upgraded speaker system and door protectors added also.  So needless to say:

Blake & Me, Rose & New Kid

I was really pretty embarrassed about trading Rose in yesterday.  She was full of “junk” and I didn’t fix her sun roof and the glove box was a disaster and she was dirty and what else can I say, it was not planned.  But Blake kept telling me that there was a guy coming down today to buy this car, and there was some guy in the showroom yesterday while I was there – very interested in the car, yada, yada, yada!  So after an hour and a half, I drove out of there with a new car (yet to be named) and all of the maintenance packages available.  Plus it came with “ON STAR” and Sirius Radio (the radio is an amazing creation and I don’t know how to program it but Blake fixed that for me).  It has “hands free” calling and Blake programmed that for me to synch with my phone.  I know that works, because I called Blake right after I left the dealership because I had left my garage door opener in Rose.  So anyway, I got the car and all of the bells and whistles for under $20K which was what I had in mind.  So now I have a “car” payment for the first time in my life.  But we’ll work on that and I’ll decide what to do about that later.  My first payment is due in August I think.  I’m going to get a “coupon” book.

Red2 meeting new car

She fits in the garage perfectly with Red2.  Only difference between the fit of Rose vs “no name” is that I can’t lift the back door trunk with the garage door closed.  That was a convenience for me before.  But I drove her to the Naples Group yesterday and a HUGE storm and she did well and I’m sure everyone saw me, while the white, silver & gray cars disappeared!

A word about the dealership:

Airport Kia

I loved the feel of the place.  Not pretentious – just a huge warehouse with a bunch of cars in it.  Blake said it was great because when it rains in Naples (All Summer), he can still show cars inside to buyers.  I loved the woman who was the finance person.  She was efficient and really nice.  Just kept “cranking” out the paperwork.  There must have been 25 different pieces of paper.  It was overwhelming but she kept it rolling along.  It took me less time to buy my car than it did to buy my Scooter.  And now I’m done with all things mechanical for a while.  No more obsessing about whether to do this or not.  It’s over and I’m so happy about that!

So a day in the life is over.   It was a LOT!  Now I’ve got to get ready to go to The Current.  I’m setting up so I have to get bread & juice for Communion and lemonade and Ice.  Then I’m picking up Martha.  So have a beautiful day.  Thanks for visiting.