Life By Lindsey Rae

For Thanksgiving, Jerrod got me Cracker Barrel, which was pretty nice, because it's my favorite! hehe. Really. We brought it home, which was even better, because we didn't have to deal with all the people and could just hang out together and wear pajamas for dinner...or at least I could, since I didn't even have to go pick it up!

The weekend is over and I made out like a bandit with the sales. Nothing big and great; I mostly went to the drugstores and grocery stores and got a lot of free items with the sales. Actually, I profited on a lot of the things I bought, after I used coupons....In total, probably around $50-60. I mostly got a lot of hair and cosmetic products, soap, lotion, razors, chocolate bars, toothpaste, nail polish, cake mixes...those sorts of random things. I think in total, I got over $300.00 worth of free items and then got back nearly $130.00 in store reward dollars that are kind of like store coupons that can be used to buy any merchandise within the store....but expire...the unfortunate part. (The goal is to then take the store dollars and roll them into something else...by purchasing another item that will give you more rewards dollars. Only certain items do this that are special sales for the week or month. So, if they expire within 2 weeks to a month, and there is nothing that come up in that time, you end up not being able to roll them very well and not profit as much.) Anyway, anything I had to pay out of pocket (to cover tax on the free items or on the remaining balance on the nearly free items) I was able to pay with my gift cards that I had from store rewards for filling prescriptions at the pharmacy or by using previous rewards dollars that I'd saved up to use during the Thanksgiving/Black Friday sales.

I'm getting so sick of shopping! The problem is that I was sick of it before I started. But, what can I do? On top of the fact that there are things to get for Christmas, I also can't resist the fact that I now am aware of too many good deals and there is just too much things I know I can acquire for free or nearly free! I'd like to take advantage of that...it's nice to know you have extras of things you use so you don't have to buy it when you run out (and it's not on sale) and also, because I am hoping to donate some things to the food bank.
I read recently that the food bank is 80,000 lbs short on what they usually have or need to have or something like this. I don't know what it was exactly, but anyway, they need some donations.

But, I don't like going out in the traffic...and it's getting busy near my house, since we have the big retail area. And, I really don't like the customer service, or lack of it, that seems to be what you get at most places. I can only think of about 3 places that I actually feel they consistently have good service at. I feel like most places have more mean and grumpy people working there than usual right now! It's so frustrating to have to deal with that all the time. This makes a good argument for why a person should do their shopping online whenever possible.

Exciting news! We finally have internet access again! I have felt completely disconnected from the world in the last while, so this is very good for me right now. It has been so difficult to get so much done that I've needed to.

We had to wait until January 2nd get an appointment to get service, but on top of that, there was problems. As it turns out, it seems that apparently the wiring needed for this street is either all, or at least partially, under our driveway. We think that what happened was that the builder asked the service provider to come out several times to move it, but they never did. So, since there was such a time crunch getting our house done, finally, they just poured concrete over top of it and figured that they would just have to come back and fix it later. Now there is a big hole beside our driveway with some newly laid sod all dug up. It's lovely.

We knew there would be some difficulty because of our past discussions with people not knowing what was going on,and of course, if you call and try to find out what's happening, you end up talking to someone in a call center in California, who has no idea.
Needless to say, they did not show up when they were supposed to on the 2nd and after being without the internet for 2 weeks I was already in no mood for delay. So, yesterday morning(and yes, I was desperate enough to actually wake up and get out of bed for this), on the 3rd, I got on the phone with some lady in customer service after being on hold for about 40 minutes, who told me that she would just go and reschedule my appointment for January 9th.
I promptly had to get into my fighting stance by this point and told her that January 9th would not work for me, because I needed internet, like, yesterday, and not a week from now. (Actually, I would have preferred to have it about 2 weeks ago...but, at least by yesterday). She gave me to her supervisor who got on to tell me that the lady was just saying what she was supposed to say, but now the supervisor would handle it and call me back later and let me know what was going on. The supervisor never did call back, but a few hours later 2 vans with internet service installers showed up and connected me back to the world.

Now I have to go research prices and sales again. I am so cheap...(did I mention that I used a 10% off coupon to save $0.04 cents at Jo-Ann a few weeks ago? I know...that's a little extreme, but at first I didn't know they were only going to take 10% off that one thing...the cashier told me I should save it and use it for something more expensive, but I always have a lot of coupons so I used it anyway.I'd only have to do that 25 times and I'd save a dollar. haha. Just kidding. I thought it was funny to save $0.04 cents afterwards!)Anyway, I like to research stuff before I buy it to see where the best sales and prices are, but I couldn't without being online! And when you get a new house and move there are inevitably so many things you have to end up buying....you have to know where the sales are....

Why does Sunday always come so quickly? It seems like as soon as we get home from church one week, it is almost time to go back again the next day; like the week always disappears somewhere in between.
We went over to Providence for a few hours this weekend and had a little lunch. (Cracker Barrel!! My favorite!) And then we also spend a few minutes window shopping. I went to TJMaxx/homegoods store and Jerrod ran over to Best Buy. While I was there I saw a Japanese family and heard them speaking Japanese. I decided to get brave and asked them if they spoke English, "eigo hanashimasuka?" And the Mother replied, "yes." So we ended up talking for awhile about then and me. I told her that I am a singer and she suggested she might like me help her daughter with some singing lessons. I told her that I'd also like to help her with English if she'd just speak Japanese with me. I need native speaker friends to practice with.
So, I gave her my card and will hope that she calls. It would be fun to meet to new Japanese people around here again!

Here's the all wonderful house pictures....kitchen is getting to look quite a bit like a kitchen. I really love the counter tops. They are almost my favorite thing! Kinda dirty right now, not too much to see, but anyway...

Overall, it was a pretty uneventful holiday. We didn't really do any big dinner thing. We hadn't really planned anything and didn't get any invitations to anyone's house this year, which has been the case for me in all the years I have previously lived here. Although, we did go over to Reco's in the evening so Jerrod could help him set up some stereo stuff that he is selling to him and ate some of their leftovers.
Speaking of Thanksgiving, I did not realize that Americans took the holiday so seriously until I moved here. Of course we have Thanksgiving too, but in some ways I think that they made a bigger deal out of it than they do Christmas. At school, people would ask me if I was going home for Thanksgiving and when I would say no, that I was not planning on going all the way to Canada for a one day holiday, (which by the way happed more than a month ago in my country) they would be absolutely shocked.
Earlier in the day we went over to Providence and saw our house. Amazingly enough, it has been painted! Well, partially. The first layer. The trim has been put up and painted also. I think that next week the cabinets are supposed to be put in. Jerrod talked to the builder last week and he said they are still attempting to close in December.
It's so crazy to me, because every time I think about moving, I can't even imagine it. I feel like I have lived at this place forever and the idea of moving in less than a month is just really unfathomable. There is (almost literally) a million things to do before then. All the packing and organizing. I am hoping to downsize my stuff and go through and get rid of what I am not using, which will definitely be a project. Then there are all the art things and the daily music stuff, recording, etc., to keep up with. It's overwhelming to think of it. A person needs to pick and choose their battles, but it's hard to choose when they all seem necessary.


On Friday, I did get up and go do the Black Friday shopping thing. I didn't buy much of anything, but I got to the mall early enough to get a free $10 mall gift card. Actually, the stores were pretty dead, all things considering. Looked like a kind of normal day at first. However, I think the real evil is when you go to places like Best Buy and people are trying to snatch all those limited quantity big-ticket electronic items. Some of the other stores really don't do any better on their "biggest" sale than any other sale, in my opinion. I really wish everyone would just rebel against this whole early morning thing too. I mean, why can't they have a sale that starts at 10 am rather than 4 am? Wouldn't it just be better for us all?

Today we went on a drive down to Birmingham to pick up an eBay auction that Jerrod won last week. It's some high-end audio that was being sold on behalf of someone by SnappyAuctions and they had somewhat mislabeled it and were charging a huge shipping fee for it, so Jerrod ended up finding it and winning it for really cheap. He has some of the stuff already and is going to re-sell it. Since they wanted so much to ship it, we went to pick it up. It's about a 3 hour drive. We pretty much went there and then turned around and came home. We did stop in Franklin and did a little shopping and looking around in Cool Springs on the way home. Not that we can't do that anytime; it's only 30-40 minutes away, but we don't go over there a whole lot because it's normally out of the way for us. But, it wasn't coming back from Alabama.

I went on a mission today, hoping to find some cheap beads for some wedding pages I am scrapbooking. After a trip yesterday to one of my favorite stores, I discovered that I was not able to use my 50% off coupon there like I had hoped. (Long story, but basically I'm mad at them for sending of 50% coupons but then discounting everything in the store 30 or 40% and then not letting me use the higher discount...It's a trick to get you into the store and so I decided not to buy my beads there if I could get them cheaper elsewhere).
Anyway, I tried looking at the flea market, because they always have lots of jewelry there and I thought maybe I could find some premade things and then take them apart for the beads and that would be cheaper. I am always looking for the best deal, no matter how or where it comes...even if I do have to drive accross town to go to the flea market to find it. Well, I didn't end up finding anything worth purchasing there, but one fun thing did happen.
I overheard this girl talking to an antique dealer about how she was an actress and did some TV work and such.I don't know why I started listening at first, but I was interested. And she also looked somewhat familiar to me; I thought she looked like a girl I knew from church. Well, I kind of continued to ease drop and then the antique dealer asked her what she had done in the television realm and she said, "Have you heard of Grey's Anatomy? I am on that show sometimes." Right away my ears perked up because that is one of my favorite shows (that I never miss!) and looked at her knew why I recognized her then and said, "Hey! Yeah, you are!" And she said, "Yep, there you go."
Anyway, she is the girl who plays Dr. Sydney Heron, that really perky, happy and annoying Doctor. She doesn't have a main role, but she is on there. I've added a picture: Do you know who I'm talking about?
I wished I had brought my camera so I could have taken a picture with her to show Jerrod, 'cause we just watched her on the show the night before. Jerrod just said, "What was she doing at the flea market?" He always makes fun of me when I go there because he said it's redneck. So, I don't know why she was at the Nashville Flea Market, but she is apparently from Memphis, so maybe this is sort of her neck of the woods. And why the flea market, I don't know. But, even actors from the most popular show on TV still might like good deals.

I am going to have a photo shoot this weekend to get some pictures done for my website, so I have been making many, many shopping trips to look for clothes for this. This is taking up SO much time. It's so hard for me. I have a lot of anxiety and worry with this because I have to factor in being a person who is very tall, needs to be modest and who is extremely cheap! Plus, whatever I choose has to look good and be good in pictures. There are a lot of things to worry about. Believe it or not, I, (who usually buys everything on clearance and can often find full outfit that could have cost less than $15 from head to toe), has actually even bought somethings regular price recently! I have tried so many options! And I really only need 3 or 4 different outfits, but I am such a perfectionist when it comes to things like this that I feel are going to me/my music, that I am driving myself crazy. Really, the pictures on my website will probably be a first impression of me/my music for a lot of people. So, that's stressful to think of it that way. So, when this week is over, I will be glad. Hopefully I won't have to worry about finding these "perfect" things anymore...or at least for awhile.

I am SO behind on SO much stuff. It seems like I have been behind since March and I don't know if I will ever get caught up. But. maybe when I don't have to go shopping so much I will!
I've been looking for clothes so much recently I can't even remember when I last went shopping for scrapbook supplies...now that is a worry!

I am home after 10 days away. I wasn't able to access the internet as easily as usual....or could, sometimes only from my PDA, which has a slightly small screen and is slightly inconvenient to type on. Although, I will say it's still better than no internet. Anyhow, I didn't update this much.

We spent the 10 days in both Denver, Colorado and Cheyenne, Wyoming. This was Jerrod's trip because it is where he grew up and where some of his family and friends are. So, we spent most of the time visiting people, going to eat at the places he likes and doing a little shopping at some of the stores we don't have in our area. (High-end audio store for Jerrod and scrapbook store for me.)

We got in this afternoon and I am very happy to be home. I like my home because it is a peaceful place and I miss it when I am gone for so long. And, I also like having all my stuff around me.....By that I mean that I like having all my art supplies and scrapbook stuff around so I can do my creative projects whenever I want to.

Good news came a couple of days ago that we will be having our construction meeting for the house on Monday. This is very exciting because that means that something can actually be constructed! We have been expecting it to happen "any day" (to quote the builder's people) for about 3 months now. I guess they just got the building permits from the city. This meeting will finalize the plans so they can go ahead with it. We need to move since our lease is ending, so, let's hope that this thing gets going soon and quickly. I told Jerrod that after this trip I was staying home for a week, but I may make a sacrifice to go to go to the construction meeting. It will probably be worth going out to finally get the house started! Actually, I am going to be very busy getting caught up on things that I haven't been able to do while I'm away, so staying home might not happen anyhow.

I think one of the worst things about being gone is when you come home, you have no food. Because, of course, we try not to leave to much in the fridge if we know we are going to be gone for awhile and it will spoil. But, now, it means that I am going to be drug to Wal-Mart and pushed around the store for an extra long grocery shopping trip....and I really hate grocery shopping. It's so exhausting (and boring) for me. I think I am allergic to Wal-Mart. I'm not kidding. There is something in there that makes my allergies bad. It's always a terrible experience. When I complain, Jerrod always says, "Well, do you want to eat or not?" But really, I'm not sure if it means I have to go grocery shopping....

I'm realizing that most of the stuff I have been writing about lately has to do with my primary class...I guess that shows where the majority of my social interaction has been coming from.

This week's lesson was on faith. So we talked the scripture in Alma 32 and about faith being like a seed and like a seed if we plant it and nourish it, it will grow. So, I got this wonderful idea to do the thing where the kids get to plant a seed and all that. I remembered that I had these tiny little terracotta pots that I had got somewhere at one time and I could paint those up all nice and then give them seeds to plant in there and they could take it home.
Only problem was the seeds...at least, I thought that was the only problem. I didn't expect there be a big selection of seeds this time of the year, but I thought I might find some left overs of something. I didn't really care what...just wanted to find some seeds. I looked at 3 stores and called around, but had no luck. Even Wal-Mart and Home Depot didn't have any. Finally, I found a few packs of vegetable seeds at a discount store. I ended up getting lettuce seeds because that was all they had that would work.

When I went home, I washed all the pots out and then prepared them by filling in the cracks in the surface, sanding them, and then started to paint. Well, after days of dry, 100+ degree heat, at the moment I started to spray them...and I am not even kidding about this...it started to rain. Not a lot, but enough big drops to mess up that nice wet paint. It was too hot and humid out and I couldn't even get them to dry. So, I had to bring them in and ended up hand painting all them. Everything was working against me. Plus, I have a cold and I felt horrible yesterday, so the last thing I wanted to do was to be running around looking for seeds and trying to fix a messed up paint job.
After those were dry, I painted a quote from a primary song around the rim of the pots: "Faith is like a little seed. If planted, it will grow." Then I used scrapbooking rub-on embellishments to put their names on each one and add little flower decorations on the outside.
This morning I got up and filled them with dirt and boxed them up to take to church.

After we taught them the lesson, Jerrod and I helped everyone plant their seeds in the pots. They all wanted to know what kind of seeds they were. I didn't want to tell them I could only find lettuce seeds, so I kept saying, "Faith seeds." "Yeah, but what kind of seeds are they?" "They're faith seeds!"

One of the girls really liked her little pot a lot and was very excited about the color she got; she was excited to put it in her window. I was happy about that. She is one of the only ones who ever says that she appreciates the stuff I do. I appreciate that. However, I don't know if any of them ever said thank you after all I went through to get those little things done for them! I want them to appreciate it, because I think it's important they should learn to show gratitude. Maybe the next class they are in won't be so fun and then they will start to realize that our class was better than they thought! I try to do fun stuff, because I know that it's hard to sit through church sometimes and I want them to enjoy being there and look forward to being there.

The primary presentation is coming up. They are having quite a few kids do little solos on the songs, which I thought was different. I offered to give a free voice lesson to any kid who is going to do some singing in the presentation. Not that I will be able to do much with a 4 or 6-year-old in one lesson or even two, but I figure it's good for them to get practice and build up their confidence. And, it's something I can help out with that I don't mind doing.