Life By Lindsey Rae

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.

On Saturday we went to Providence to see our house. And to our surprise there was progress- substantial progress, to see. About a week before I was so discouraged because I had driven by seen that there was once again WAY more done on all the neighbors houses rather than ours. (Even though we were supposed to be one of the first 5 finished). I was doing the math in my head and with the amount of time left until December 19th, when they said was the latest date we would close and then calculating what was actually done and how long they said it would take to complete the next steps, it was not physically possibly that it would be done. In fact, I could not figure that it would be done anytime before mid to the end of January. So, I sent and email to the builder and asked about this.
He replied back and said that it had taken longer to get the building permit for our house because we are beside an empty wooded lot, but that he still thought it would be possible to close by the 19th of December. I don't know how...the math still doesn't add up. Maybe they plan to work faster then usual.
When we went by this Saturday, the house was standing! A week before it had been only a foundation. Now it is a completely framed and even had a roof. Next time we go by, there might even be siding.
I took some pictures, and here they are.

(We are a little dressed up because we were going to a wedding after. I try not to dress like this while walking around new construction. It is surprisingly hard to climb up to the house in shoes like I wear.)


Jerrod upstairs in the (his) bonus room. I say "his" because that's one of his rooms he gets to "decorate." Decorate will include putting the TV, speakers, cables and stereo stuff...basic boy things. I think the Meerkat painting will also go there too. :) He also gets his office and the garage and I think the kitchen. haha. But I think I will put some nice things in the kitchen (when he's not looking.)



Standing in the hallway. The kitchen and dining room are to the right and a closet and bedroom are to the left...you can pretty much see everything when you don't have walls.


Me in my room: My place where I will put all my scrapbooking, art and music stuff...and attempt to keep clean....more so than I do now...that's what I'm saying.


Looking out the back door. So I guess that's what the backyard will look like...sort of...except hopefully a little better with some grass and without construction materials in it.


Living room windows. It looks so nice out them with the trees for neighbors. Very excited about that as always.


More potential walls. I know, it's just a bunch of boards and only exciting to me and Jerrod, but I'm showing it anyway, because it is exciting for me after many months of wishing to see a bunch of boards.


Hard to believe that we will be able to live here in two months. I am happy. My neighbor upstairs is not nice and I want to move! It's not so great to be stuck waiting in your apartment and having to pay an outrageous amount of money for month to month rent, especially when you have walk on egg shells around your mean neighbors.

I saw this today, which lays out the whole left/right brain thing nicely. Although many days I feel like a "no brain" with my ADD and terrible memory problems, from this list, I see that, for the most part, I am definitely a right brain person. My husband is definitely a left brain. But that's good. This way we get a full brain between us. hehe.

The Right Brain vs Left Brain Test If you see dancer rotating clockwise, you are right-brained (creative), counter-clockwise, left-brained (logical).

This Saturday we had a pizza party with the kids from our church class that we teach. We had been telling them since the beginning of the year that we were going to do this; it was a motivation for them to do their scripture reading assignments. Every week I give out a reading assignment, which is really too easy...usually only a verse or two, and then the next week they are supposed to bring back their assignment and show that they did it. Well, let's just say the easy assignment has proven to be difficult for most, as we usually get less than 50% who do it. Each week they do it, they get a sticker on their chart and after 10 stickers they get a prize. And they are good prizes too. Then on top of the great prizes we said that once enough of them got 10 stickers we'd have a party.
Anyway, when we were asked to teach the class, our Bishop had encouraged us to maybe have some kind of activity with the kids outside of church. He actually suggested we have them over to our house for a party, but that wasn't going to happen...our place is definitely not childproof...and it most definitely would not be possible to have that many kids in here. Somebody would have got hurt...either from doing something like bumping their head on my stained glass table or by Jerrod wringing their necks.
So, we planned a pizza party at the church. We had 6 out of 8 kids who were able to come. All the parents told us that they were really excited beforehand.It went pretty well, all things considering. A little crazy, a lot of running around, but overall, not bad. Jerrod's work cell phone did get a glass of pop kicked on it, but fortunately he had it in a case and so it didn't get anything on it...although at first he thought it got wet and was a little upset. (That would have been the second work cell phone to be destroyed by pop that he's had.)
I also made up a treasure hunt and hid treat bags at the end. They liked that and we liked watching them have to walk from one far side of the building to the other far side many times. (I made sure to hide them as far apart as possible as to extend the length of the game, wear them out and it was entertaining for us to watch. haha.)
Then we also played Jenga, basketball and some of us (not me) ran around half the time.
So, that's one thing accomplished for this year. We have only a couple more months in the ward. Even though we are looking forward to moving, I want to stay in Primary though. I like it because primary is a good place to be if you have ADD. It really helps to stay focused because there is so much going on that you have to take care of all the time: I teach, go to singing time and spend the rest of the time telling kids to be quiet and stop poking each other. So I keep busy.
And also, I really like doing this with Jerrod. We get to stay together the entire 3 hours of church and that's really great. I'm so glad that they are doing the team-teacher thing in primary now. And, I also think that it's really fun that this is Jerrod's first time being in Primary EVER, since he didn't join the church until he was almost 19. It's kind of cool that he is going to primary now for the first time and we are going there together. :) Oh, and this picture of us is at our party...I can't believe I actually got a picture. As you can obviously tell Jerrod just loves to have his picture taken. Doesn't he look thrilled?

Two things actually.

First: The dollar! The Canadian dollar is actually worth something! Basically equal to the almighty American dollar. A few years back this would have been great news for me and SO helpful when I was getting my money for student loans and trying to convert my Canadian money to American. I could have actually not lost money on it. However, now that I am paying them back, with the American dollars that we make, it would benefit me a lot more if the US dollar were stronger, because I could get more out of every dollar I pay back.
Why does that happen like that? It's like totally opposite of what I needed. Funny how things can work out totally backward. And unfortunately, it's one of those things that nobody can do anything about.
But it's just crazy that a few years back we only got like $0.60 on the dollar and now they are practically equal!

Another thing that I finally did was paint! I have been thinking and scheming about these paintings I want to do for months now. I have changed my mind about 300 times about what I was going to do...what colors....what size...so much, that I was terrified to actually start something for fear that I would finish it and then think of something better after it was done. These are really important to me because I want these to be for a big wall in my living room and they are going to be a focal point of the room. So, I was so nervous about actually making a decision, since I had so many ideas; I couldn't figure out what it was that I really wanted.
But on Wednesday night Jerrod had to go to Florida for an overnight business trip, so I decided that this would be a good time to work on my paintings...in the house...in the living room. (What Jerrod doesn't see will not stress him out. haha) So, since I had the opportunity to make a mess, I was forced to finally made a decision. First,I got 3 canvases...on sale for $10 each, 30"x40". (When I am done my total size artwork size combined will be 90"x40" which will be really cool, 'cause that's huge.) I started, but then I got a better idea and changed my mind again! But I think I finally have it. And I am almost finished one of them! I think I could have got more done if I hadn't changed my mind about it in the middle. But, anyway, I was finally able to mix the one right color that I wanted and I am very excited about that. I tested it a bunch first and finally I got the perfect shades. Color mixing is very, very difficult. I got some good colors though and I am just so glad that I finally made up my mind about what I'm going to do so I can stop worrying about it. I really do drive myself crazy. I love being an artist, but sometimes I think it's a curse because it can make your head hurt. I really do understand why so many creative people had/have mental disorders.
I would post a picture of what I made, but I need to finish a little more first. I have to go buy a little more paint tomorrow, since I wasted more than expected while experimenting.

So, in our class in church this Sunday, we were talking about how Jesus loves everyone the same all over the world and how The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is exactly the same every place in the world. We were asking the kids if they had been to church in any other places and if they saw how it was the same as in Nashville. Of course, they all said yes and we went around the room with each telling us where they had been to church in other places: The answers were, "Utah...Arizona....Georgia..." etc. When it was Jerrod's turn he mentioned that he had been to church in Canada. "What?! Really?" they said.
Now, I'm not so sure why this was so shocking as I have said many times that I am from Canada and my mom just sent stuff for them from home a few weeks ago. But I reminded them, "Yes, I'm from Canada. And we got married in the Temple there, too."
And the next comment was...
"Really? Was it made of ice?"
I just have to shake my head. Only in America.

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!

Tonight after Jerrod got off work we went over our subdivision to take a look at an empty house, that is the same model as ours, that hasn't closed yet. It didn't have any upgrades that we wanted to look at, but it was the same floor plan and layout, so it's kind of nice to see the completed house without furniture.
Afterwards, we drove past our lot to see if any progress had been made...not much of anything, but they did have the building permits posted.So, I guess that is promising. We walked around to see what we could see...check out the neighbors foundations, look at the lumber...you know, fun stuff like that. I was able to catch Jerrod in a few pictures, which was exciting, because he will never let his picture be taken. (I've gotta sneak up on him when he's not expecting it.) Of course, most of them are from the back, but once and awhile I do get one where he shows his face, which is nice.





I also am more excited than ever about the wooded lot beside us. I went over there and looked down into it (it slopes down and is full of trees) and it just made me really happy to see it. I like having that little bit of nature there in the middle of all those houses and streets and that stuff. And actually, the house we walked through today was on a lot we had initially considered buying for a few days. Today we saw that their big living room windows open up to the side of the neighbors house and at the neighbor's bathroom window. Ours will open up to this:
Well worth the extra money for a premium lot! The other house definately does not have a good view! And this one is going to be so nice for us...and for the next person for resale. Maybe we could have got into the other house sooner, because it is in the previously opened section, but this location is much more appealing for me.

About 30 seconds down the road is the new retail area, so went over there to have some supper and then went to a movie. I haven't been to a movie in a long time. Jerrod goes more often, but I like to watch things at home, because I like to keep my hands busy while I'm watching things and I can get more done with my scrap booking stuff that way. And it's also always so cold in those theaters! I brought a sweater because I know that, but I was still freezing the whole time!!! I hate it! Not, that I'm not freezing at home too, with Jerrod blasting the air conditioning and all, but it's worse when I'm out and about. I really hate air conditioning.
Anyway, we saw 3:10 to Yuma. It was good. We liked it. We like westerns and it's not very often that you see them in theaters anymore. It will be nice to have so much of the retail, restaurants and this sort of thing so near to us when we move.

Well, it seems that our house will finally start to appear soon! We had our construction meeting with our builder this week so they can now get things going. We couldn't get started until we had the meeting and we couldn't have the meeting until a lot of other things were accomplished (things that were out of our hands, such as: getting streets and curbs in and approval by the city and then getting building permits from the city).
So, we had to basically make the final decisions on everything we want for the house and then also pay deposits on certain things. So, it was a little expensive meeting too.
They said that it will take about 10-14 days to finish the foundation, because it is a slab. They are supposed to be starting that this week. The one concern is that they said that they would only be working on 5 houses in the neighborhood at a time...and ours would be one of those 5...but, when we drove by our lot afterwards, we saw that at least 6 or 7 of the neighbors foundations had already been started. We were a little bit bothered by that because we are really hoping to get in ASAP. And we should be one of the first to get in, since we were one of the first to purchase our lot and sign our contract, back in April. So, I don't know why they have already started so many others if they are intending to only do 5 at a time. I am going to have to ask about that next time we talk to them. We are desperate to move as quick as we can, because our lease is up this month and so we are going to be paying month-to-month from here on out. Month-to-month means much more expensive....
Anyhow, I guess some other people must have been able to get their construction meetings first. How unlucky is that? We've been waiting for months and then as soon as we go out of town they get our building permits. That would be very disappointing and I would be mad if that were to put us behind.

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....