Life By Lindsey Rae

They finally got the roads on our future street recently. This is very exciting because that was the big thing that needed to be done before they can start building. They also put up a sign to show our lot is "under contract." However, ours got run over...hope that's not a bad sign of things to come! Anyway, I ran up there on that pile of dirt, in my high-heels, and nailed it back into the ground with a rock. But, a few days later, it is down again. Oh well. Since then they have also put in curbs and storm drains....now they just need to get building permits from the city. So, in July it should actually get started going up. We have to make decisions now on what kinds of things we want for options....in fact, we have our design studio meeting next week. It's stressful. I am always worried about making the right choice. My tastes are somewhat artistic and I would like to do some bold things, but then at the same time, we are trying to pick things that will appeal to future buyers since we are not looking at this as a long term home. So, that means we have to try to keep things somewhat neutral. Not as fun as some of the possibilities that are running through my brain, but I guess when we plan to keep our house for awhile I can do more artistic things.

Yesterday was our 2 year anniversary. I can't believe how fast time goes by. But, at the same time, it does seem like awhile since our wedding. As Jerrod said a couple of months ago, life is progressing. Got married...got a green card...getting a house. But anyway, back to the wedding: That was such a fun day. I wished it could have gone on longer after all the preparation I did for it! It was nice to be able to see so many people I wanted to visit with at once at the reception and then of course, going the temple with Jerrod was an amazing experience. It was definitely the best moment of my life. Best decision of my life to get married there. What a horrible thing it would be to not have the knowledge that our marriage would be forever. I can't imagine how scary that would be. It is really truly something that makes life worth living and I am very grateful that we both have the same goals so that we can keep doing the things we need to do to have an eternal marriage. And to finish those thoughts...a few pictures from that good day!





I wanted to add a few more....but Jerrod rebuilt my computer this week and my pictures folder is missing. So, I need to reclaim it first!

Last week I had to go see an oral surgeon because I am supposed to have some preventative dental work done sometime. So, I went for a consultation. Although I was told by my refering dentist it probably wouldn't cost anything as a consultation, I wanted to be sure before I went in, just in cause I they decided to charge me some outrageous amount as a surprise at the end. So, I asked the receptionist about 3 different times what or if there would be any charge for this appointment. She pretty much avoided giving me an answer for whatever reason, so I tried to make it clear that basically I didn't want to see any dentist if it was going to cost a bunch of money....I didn't really want to see a dentist anyway. Well, she told me that there was a couple ways they could bill my insurance so it shouldn't be a problem. So, I went in...saw the surgeon and all that and then he says that I should have the surgery and so he wants to take 3 pictures of my teeth as kind of the before pictures for his little "before and after" book and also, so they can send it to the insurance for their billing stuff. Well, at the end of all this I meet with insurance lady so they can tell me how much it is going to be for my surgery. Ok fine. At the end of all that, then she says that my insurance will pay for my visit today but that I have to pay a fee for the pictures they took. So she has to check on the price of these. Now, I get a feeling that they are going to give me a cost that is going to be high and that annoys me, but I guess it is what it is. Now, keep in mind the dentist just snapped 3 poloroid pictures of my teeth. So, this lady comes back and tells me that the pictures are going to be $27. I am pretty irritated because I know that obviously It does not cost $27 for the dentist to take 3 poloroid pictures. So, then, she says, "How would you like to pay?" and as I give her my check card, she says, "ok, that will be $81."
"What? You just said $27."
"Well, that is for one picture. So it's $27 times three."
So, I threw my card at her and she takes it to be processed and I instantly got so mad. When she came back, I asked her, "How can you possibly just take my card and charge me that? That is less than $2 worth of film. Don't you feel kind of bad about doing that? I mean, you may as well just have stolen the card from my wallet, because you really are stealing money from me!"
So, that initial receptionist comes in. I said to her, "I asked you several at the beginning to tell me what you would be charging me for this visit and you didn't make me aware of this." She stumbled through excuses, but she really didn't make any sense. They wouldn't listen to me. And I was so mad. I was already extra irritable and not feeling well from the migrane medicine my neurologist had given me a few days before. So, I left because I didn't know what I could do. I called Jerrod and told him and he explained that they could only charge what the reasonable and allowable for the insurance was and that I should go find out what the code from the insurance was so I could call the insurance and find out if they had followed that guideline. (Americans and their insurance...I don't know anything about it.) But I really didn't want to go back there. So, I talked Jerrod into taking care of it. He called them and right away they promised to refund my money. Then, they called me to appoligize! He can always make people do what he wants and nobody listens to me!
Anyway, I got my $81 back, which was very good. But, is that not the most terrible thing that the surgeon would charge that? It's dishonest in my opinion. Well, I don't trust him to cut my mouth open now and don't want to give him my business. If he charges $81 for everyone who gets snapshots at their consultations, he probably doesn't need my business. Anyway, he doesn't accept any medical insurance, only dental and using my dental it will still cost me around $2000 to get the surgury with my co-pay. But, I did find out after all that, that my medical insurance will most likely cover it through a different provider and I have 100% coverage with that...so that's an no-brainer.

Since I am allergic to cats and dogs, I have decided that this is the animal I should get instead. They are found in England, I think. They were having a problem with them eating crops or something. I think I need one of these guys. Good idea for a pet, eh? I would teach it to walk on a leash and take it down the street. It would entertain the neighbors, I think.

Yesterday I got an anniversary present, even though our anniversary date is not until the 25th. UPS brought it and Jerrod asked me if I wanted to open it...he always does that to me! And it drives me crazy because of course I want my present now, but I also want to save it so I have something special on the the day. So, I decided to wait to open it. But, then he convinced me because he said he wanted to see if it was OK and check it out in case he needed to return it, since he had bought it online...and didn't want to wait until the 25th, 'cause it might be too long. What a dilemma.
So, I opened it. I guess that's a good enough excuse right? I got a waterfall fountain for the new house. That's something I always wanted in my house...its a big one...like 5 feet tall. I always wanted something like that in an an entry way, but thinking of the space in my head, I don't think I would want to put it there in the new house. However I have other ideas...my brain is way too full of too many ideas all the time, but anyhow, I think I have some places I will want to put it. It also has an Asian look to it, which of course is great. So, I'm pretty happy about it.

I always have a hard time buying something for Jerrod...just because it's so much harder buying for boys! But I had the perfect idea....I thought. Jerrod loves Meerkats...we always watch Meerkat Manor...it's the best show...really funny and very interesting and I highly recommend it. I mean look at these little guys; how can you not love them? And they are so smart with the things they do...it's hard to explain...you just have to watch it.
A few years ago I saw these paintings that were done by elephants at the Nashville Zoo. They sell them to raise money to keep them. (I learned it costs them $900 a day to feed one elephant! That's what the told me when I told them it's too expensive to go to the Nashville Zoo. haha.) The paintings were really neat and I wanted to get one in the future. An elephant can paint better than you might think. Well, the other day I was watching the news and they were showing some local happenings, one being scenes from the zoo and I saw that they had the Nashville Meerkats doing some paintings too! They like, dip their little feet in paint and then let them run around on paper or something. I thought it was the coolest thing ever! This would be the perfect idea for Jerrod because it was so original. So, I contacted the zoo and found out that they were letting the Meerkats paint to sell at an auction fundraiser, which is not until July and that's the only way to get one! It's one of those dinner auction things. So, I had to tell Jerrod about it. It was too neat not to tell him; I couldn't keep it in...I wish he could have seen them on the news. But, I had to tell him that my great idea was turning out to be not so great because I couldn't get it by our anniversary. But, he said yesterday he still wants it. So, we are gonna go to the dinner and try to get one. It's a charity thing, so it's good. Gotta keep the elephants eating. And I want a Meerkat painting!!! For Jerrod, of course. :)

When I got married, instead of dropping my maiden name, I moved it in place of my middle name. My middle name used to be Rae but when I moved Osmond up to the middle name place, I moved Rae up with my first name, so now my legal first name is Lindsey Rae. That's where the whole "Lindsey Rae" thing at the top of this page comes from. And also that's what I'm using as a stage name for music stuff rather than my now very long name.

AND SPEAKING OF MUSIC:
A lot of people ask me about it: What I am doing and when my CD will be finished. The basic story is that I am working on it. I have a way to go still...it is a long process, because the whole recording process is done in steps where we write the songs/arrangements, then get musicians in to do basic tracks, then do scratch vocals, then keeper vocals and then go back in and add more musicians and then editing and mastering the tracks and basically getting the finished product from all that. I'm doing my best to get there. Also, for myself, because I am doing some songs in Japanese for this project, I wanted to rehearse them enough to feel comfortable that everything would sound as close to a native speaker as possible and go over them with my translator and that sort of thing. Besides that, because I work with other people doing all this, I have to work around other people and that is difficult sometimes...ok, it's difficult a lot of times and so it is frusturating for me because other people have held things up a lot. So, yes, it is slow, but it is what it is and when it is done, I expect to have a good recording and hopefully I will be happy with this CD!

Monday I got up early because I had a very early appointment for June 5th to get re-tested for allergies. Well, it turned out Monday wasn't June 5th...that was Tuesday...so after I went down to the Doctor only to find that out,(haha) I went back early on Tuesday morning.
I was quite excited to get my tests done. I had my first allergy tests back in Janurary of 2006 and at that time I was surprised to find that I had developed allergies to quite a few things that had never bothered me as a kid. I have been getting allergy shots for a few months now, but I haven't responded at all. It does take awhile, but my Doctor said that I should have some improvement. I am still getting all the really bad symptoms, the worst being chronic daily headaches. It is all quite debilitating. I hate to complain...but it's hard not to.
Anyway, I had to wait over a month to get in! And I'm not even a new patient! (Once again this Canadian will maintain asking the question, "Now what is the benefit of privitized health care that truly makes it better?")

Initially when they test you they test for things that most people in the area are bothered by, but this time they were testing me for more specific things that they might need to add to my allergy shot. I got tested for about 80 things this time! It was crazy! Anyone who has ever been tested knows it's not so fun...long and very uncomfortable. They do a topical test where they put the liquid drops directly onto your skin and so you have to just sit there and can't move your arms at all for 20 minutes straight so the drops will stay in place. Well, for a person with ADD, this is pure torture. Really, the first thought is, "Uh, how about you just shoot me instead? Might be less painful."
Then, (this is the crazy part) I got under the skin tests, and I got 37 shots in one arm at one time! I couldn't believe it. Actually, the girl who gave them to me is pretty good at giving shots, which I was glad to have her, because one of the girls there is new and she hurts me a lot. But anyway, the girl I got is from the Bahamas so she talked to me about being both being immigrants and green cards the whole time she was sticking all those needles in my arm and so it distracted me. But when she was finshed poking me I looked down and realized what she had done to me and I was shocked! Now I look like I have chicken pox because I have red spots all over my arms.
Well, after all that I got tested for all those things, only a few came back positive enough to be something to be treated for. Last time I tested positive for both types of dust mites, cats, dogs, cockroaches, Pigweed, Bermuda grass, a bunch of trees and a bunch of kinds of molds. This time came back showing more specific molds. So, maybe that's why Tennessee has been harder on me because of the humidity and the extra moisture that we never had in Canada, causes more mold. But the worst of it is that I'm really allergic to food molds! Like bread, cheese, sour cream, ketchup, relish, mayo, vinegar...that sort of thing. I'm so sad about it! I'm so picky and don't hardly like to eat anything as it is! And bread is my favorite food, but now I'm not supposed to eat it! I can still eat the foods sometimes, just not supposed to eat them as often and not combinations of them. But like with bread, I liked to eat it with every meal. Now, I should probably not even eat it everyday.
Oh well, I guess I can just hope that maybe once they get my new allergy shot mix done and I get that in my system it will help some of these terrible symptoms I've had for so long. I am sick and tired of being sick and tired all the time!

I wanted to post some pictures of our newest excitement, which is our house. This seems to be the easiest way show them to multiple people at once.
We made the decision to buy and build it about a month ago. It's in the Providence area in Mount Juliet, TN, which is about 20-25 minutes east of downtown Nashville. It's pretty close to where we live now...just 2 exit's down and about 10 minutes from Jerrod's office.
One of the good things about this area is that it is growing and there is a lot of development going into the area. (I think Mt. Juliet is supposed to be the fastest growing city in Tennessee). So, within 30 seconds we have a lot shopping, restaurants, a movie theater...pretty much anything we will need. So, it's very convenient. If I have to live in the city, I prefer it would be a convenient area. Our subdivision also has a good park, four life-guarded swimming pools, walking trails and is near good schools; which isn't such a big deal to us, but I think it's good for families, so when re go to re-sell in the future, it will be a good thing. So, hopefully building in this area will be an investment.

One thing we were really excited about was getting a premium lot. We were able to be one of the first buyers when they opened up the new section, so we got to pick where we wanted to build. We decided to invest a little extra into the corner lot we got and really like it because we are going to have a wooded tree area on one side of us. And, it's the side that most of our big windows will open up to, so it will be great to not have anyone on that side.

Jerrod on our future street, beside our lot. Below is the wooded area we are so excited to get.
The exterior.

Floor plan. 3 bedroom and bonus room, 2 bathroom, 2 car garage. 1562 square feet. Initially I wanted more room...probably always will always think I more room no matter how much I have, but the layout of the space is good and for us right now it will work good. Maybe in the future we will need more space, but we think for the 2 of us it is going to work out well for our needs.
The next pictures are of a model house from the builder's website, which obviously isn't ours, but same floor plan. So it's the basic idea, until ours actually is standing. In a few months I can put the actual house pictures up!





This floor plan is nice because it's got the vaulted ceilings and is so open. We like that, and I think it's a good selling point of the house.

So far, they have just started to work on the roads, but they aren't in yet. But, hopefully that will be done by the end of this month and then after the roads are finished then the house can be built starting in July. I'm really hoping it gets started as soon as possible. Of course, I have no patience, but not only that, our lease on our apartment is up at the end of September and so we will have to pay month to month, which means rent is incredibly high anything over the lease date. So, the sooner the better. I am just feeling so happy and blessed that we were able to make a decision and find something. We were scared to make a commitment because there is a lot to be concerned about when you buy your first house, but the morning we bought it, I had prayed to know if something was right or not. We didn't know what we wanted...we knew what we didn't want, but it's so hard to know what the best decision is and when. But after we finally made the choice, I felt OK about it and Jerrod did too. Like, even if it wasn't the most perfect thing (who ever knows what that is or if there is such a thing?) it could be OK.

The funniest thing happened to me at church last Sunday.
First of all, I was extra tired because even though we go to church at 1:00 pm, that morning I first went up to Gallatin, near where I used to go to school, and sang a solo at a Presbyterian church. (I did Bach's "My Heart Ever Faithful" and also sang as a guest with their choir).
Anyway, we went back to Nashville and went to our church after that and after sacrament meeting I was rushing, as usual, to get stuff together for the class of 8-year-old's we teach. Well, when I was doing that, this little 5-year-old kid, who I had never seen or talked to before, stopped me and said, "I saw you singing up there today," (we had a choir number in sacrament meeting). I was surprised because I had no clue who this kid was and thought it was strange that he picked me out of the entire choir to notice. "Really?" I said. "Yep, and I think you are a good singer," he says. Well, ok, then. So, he starts saying, "are you going to stay here with me?" I said, "No, I have to teach the older kids and you are in junior primary." And for whatever reason, he was disappointed about this.
So, later on, it just happened that we had to join the younger kids for a practice for some songs they are singing for father's day. Well, when that boy saw me he was just so excited, "YOU CAME BACK!" he said! And grabbed my hand and said I HAD to come sit by him. He talked my ear off the whole time we were practicing and then I found out his name was the same as my husband's, which made him run out in the hall because he HAD to meet Jerrod then too! As we are sitting there he says, "I just want to be with you every day!" It was so funny. I said, "why do you like me so much?" He says, "I don't know, I just love you, I just want to see you every day!" I couldn't stop laughing. I can't believe how brave some kids are. I would have never have gone up to some random person at church and done that sort of thing. Anyway, as he's leaving primary later, he says, "bye! See you tomorrow!" Well, tomorrow is Monday, so most likely not, but I didn't say that. Really quite funny and kept me entertained through a lot of church, which was good so at least could stay awake, since I didn't get to sleep in!