Tuesday, January 31st, Claude conducted the awards portion of the Bluegrass Tomorrow Annual Awards Breakfast. He bought a table of tickets to support this organization. This is a good thing. Then he invited people to sit at the table. I agreed to attend and sit there if he needed another body. And...he did, so I did. People love to hear Claude behind the microphone. He has a quick mind and a quick wit and everyone enjoys the laughter at events that would normally lean on the stuffy side. I did manage to get a couple of pictures of him and some of the recipients. I usually am all over the picture taking thing. This time I was just waiting to hear him speak and hoping he would filter before he spoke. At one point he tried to signal me to take pictures. I wasn't getting what he was signaling about and it was a comedy in itself watching us trying to subtly try to communicate and it becoming obvious to everyone we were trying but it wasn't working. Claude finally announced over the microphone that I should take a picture for the grandmonsters to see on Facebook. Ah....okay, I got it! Here are a few pictures. The people in the second picture are Rob Rumpke, the CEO of Bluegrass Tomorrow, two people from Perryville Battlefield and Claude.
Now we zip forward to Friday, February 3rd. This would be a super busy day. Claude has wanted to take a smoked brisket to KLC for fun for some time. We are always talking about how great his smoked brisket is and they want to try it. Friday the 3rd, Claude would take in a brisket, potato salad and rolls to the KLC office. KLC was also holding a baby shower for one of the ladies that works there. I gave Claude a baby blanket I sewed and he took that as the gift. I rode with him to Lexington to deliver these items. Time was not such that we could stay but Claude just felt really good doing these nice things for people at KLC. They are very good to him and he enjoyed returning the kindness.
Then Claude took me to Chipotle's for lunch. I love Chipotle's veggie burrito bowl. I ask for white rice, pinto beans, mild salsa, sour cream, cheese and lettuce. I truly believe I love it because the base of it is pinto beans and rice. We ate that a lot when I was a child. Inexpensive and very nutritious. I loved it then and I love it now all dolled up by Chipotle. Yum!!
After lunch we drove back to Georgetown to do some banking and then to go to Frank Shoop to pick up my new car!! That's right. We bought me a brand, spanking new Buick Envision. Here is that story...
Saturday, January 28th, Claude and I took time to 'build a Buick' on the computer. We picked out which items we wanted in a new car and while Claude added them to the imaginary car in his laptop, I recorded them on paper. This left us with a feel for whate we wanted and what that would cost.
Monday, February 30th, Claude and I went to Frank Shoop to look at and drive the car I decided I would purchase when we decided to do that. We could both go that day and I would go and then do my regular Monday 'take care of Papa' things right after. We went with the intent of getting information but prepared to make a deal if we felt like we should. We drove the Buick Envision they had for display and then talked numbers. It ended up they could find one in Midnight Amethyst in Indiana with all that we wanted on it. It takes a lot of time to get that all worked out but before we left that Monday, we had signed papers and made a deposit on a new car for me. The arrangement was made for Frank Shoop's dealership make a swap with the dealer in Indiana. It was anticipated they would have the new car it in Georgetown by Wednesday or Thursday. By the time we finished all I could do was get groceries for Papa and sit and visit for a bit.
Tuesday morning, I got a call from Chris Barber, our sales person, stating the dealership in Indiana sold the Buick they promised to him to someone else Monday evening. Chris said he had looked around and found another Envision just like the Indiana one but with a few more bells and whistles in West Virginia. Arrangements were made. The manager in West Virginia had the keys in his pocket so no one could sell it. Exchange of cars was being worked out. Chris needed Claude and me to come back in and sign new papers since the West Virginia car would have a different VIN number. While visiting with Chris, I told him I wanted to take Papa for a car ride Thursday or Friday and would do that on the day the car wasn't being delivered. Chris said he would set up everything for a pick-up on Friday so I could take Papa for a drive on Thursday.
Which brings us back to Friday, February 3rd. We went back to Frank Shoop and picked up the Buick. I wanted the Midnight Amethyst because in all the pictures on the Internet it looked a lovely shade of purple. I LOVE purple. When we got our first look at the car, it was a very cloudy day. The car only faintly looked a nice shade of purple. It really looked more a chocolate brown. But it was beautiful, simply beautiful.
Chris had me get in the driver's seat for him to give us some instructions. There is so much electronic stuff on this car that it was mind blowing to try and take even a fraction of it in. There are things that just come standard on it that is standard on all cars now. My Lucerne was 10 years old. Lots of changes in that amount of time. One of the cutest things to happen was the seat warmers. It was a cold day, I had on my red coat that is extremely warm. Chris turned on the seat warmer and had me turn on the steering wheel warmer and I had on my coat and then I had a major hot flash. Goodness. I was quickly learning to turn that warming stuff off!! Those are items I would not have paid for as an add on but they come standard in the version of Envision we purchased.
We left Frank Shoop and headed to Papa's. He came out and got a quick peek at the car. I left my Lucerne in his driveway. Our plan was to go to LaGrange and take the Mini's to dinner in the new car. We got up on I-64 and passed a Highway Patrol car pulled to the side of the road. We thought he was ticketing someone until we came up beside him. Turns out another Highway Patrol car ran out of gas and he was bringing a can of gas to get him going again. For some reason that struck Claude and me as amusing. While we chuckle, the Envision told us there was a wreck ahead. We assumed that was the Highway Patrol on the side of the road. Not so, not so. It seems before we got on I-64 there was a bank robbery in Richmond or Berea just south of Lexington. One of the robbers got away and there was a high speed chase going north on I-75 and then west on I-64 ending in a crash in Frankfort at the intersection of I-64 and Hwy. 60. The back up lasted two hours. We were between exits with no way to get off I-64. We pulled out the handbook for the Envision and started to check out how some of the things worked while we waited out the traffic.
When we finally made it to the Marx home. Andie asked if we would like to pick up Hayden from his Track practice. Of course. Turns out Hayden didn't know we got a new car. He was so full of enthusiasm when he saw it and us that he was fairly bursting. He hopped right in the back seat and started checking things out. It was fun to have someone so very excited about this car.
Bailey got home from her play practice and we let her open her birthday presents. She is opening a stuffed Nubian goat, a box full of craft supplies, and a story book that Claude colored for Bailey.
Claude drove us back to Papa's where I picked up my Lucerne and we headed to Sadieville. At this point, all I had driven my new car was to pull it forward a few feet in the dealership parking lot so someone could get their car out. But I was happy and Claude was enjoying the new ride.
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