Frustration & K. of Q. Laughs

Today was our laziest day yet here in Nashville. We slept in, ate cereal, and goofed off around the house. One productive thing we did though was sign up for an Internet service! Who knows how long it will take to get here, but it's comin' to the house eventually. Thank goodness! And supposedly Thursday is trash day. We didn't see all the trash cans out on the road until about 1 pm, so we noticed too late. Lesson learned!

But for the time being, we drove down to Starbucks to use the Internet. It was packed with college students, as we were across the street from Vanderbilt University. Buck felt very out of place, being in a Starbucks, but we had no other choice because he needed to do band stuff and download music. Though the whole trip to Starbucks was a bust because my computer is so behind on updates and buck doesn't have his own working computer. Sooooo.... we were a little frustrated when we finally left the coffee shop.

So then we went home, made dinner, and spent some time with Buck's new guitar player Jeff. Then we settled down and needed up on the couch, like two old folks, watching King of Queens. Nothing like Kevin James makin you laugh to brighten your mood :)

Charlie's Cheeseburger & The Dump: January 9th

This morning I woke up to get ready for my first day of work! After I was finished, all showered and dressed, I got a phone call and was told that corporate had made a mistake in my paper work, so I couldn't start till Sunday. Boo.

So instead Buck and I waited around until the gas man arrived. Turns out, the gas man is an old drummer, who used to play for Marty Stewart and Travis Tritt. CRAZY RIGHT?! Such a small world. So he told Buck all about his playing days and how Marty Stewart was the nicest man to work for, and that Travis Tritt was a jerk. Lol. He also mentioned that Martina McBride isn't the friendliest person either. :-( Anyhow, we finally have heat in the house. Though its funny we get the gas turned on today, because it's raining today and it's really warmed up now. And like I said yesterday, Buck and I are really used to not having a heater 24/7.

I need a black button up shirt for work, so we drove all around town trying to find one! But for some reason, Nashville doesn't have a JcPenny, Sears, or any other department store that would have what I need! So I used my new resources. I texted Jen, the girl from Sacramento who works at Dave & Busters and she informed me on where to get a work shirt. I still can't believe it was so hard to find a shirt though in this huge city!

I also opened a new bank account here, since my current bank is only for Northern California residents.

For lunch Buck and I decided to try an east coast chain, called Charlie's Cheeseburger. Turns out its like a smaller version of Fuddrucker's where you order a plain burger and dress it yourself. The fries were really good!

Then we drove down to the dump, to properly dispose of our "city" leaves and to get rid of all our moving boxes.

Since then we have been home just hanging out together. Buck has been busy doing music business stuff and I have been doing some unpacking an looking for near by businesses. And currently we are watching Tombstone and trying to keep Bluebell entertained as she is bored since its raining outside.

A cool fact we learned us that the country artist Marty Robbins once rented the very house we are living in!!! So hopefully this house is good luck ;-)

Sandwiches, Interviews, & TV time: January 8th

My mom randomly asked me yesterday if we had smoke detectors in the house. At the time she asked me, I didn't know. But last night, when we got back home from watching the Time Jumpers perform, Buck decided he was hungry. So he commenced to cooking frozen burritos in oil on the stove. Well, while he was waiting for the oil to heat up, an electrical circuit went out and our appliances all turned off. So he went and fixed the circuit, but left the oil on the hot stove. So when he came back and placed the burritos in the hot, hot oil, they burned so fast he could hardly get them out! I was in the bathroom washing my face when I could smell smoke. I had to laugh cause I knew he had to have burned them. So we learned that the house does NOT have fire detectors because if it did, they would have defiantly gone off last night.

We haven't officially been grocery shopping yet. We just picked up some food when we went to Walmart last. So we have been eating turkey sandwiches everyday, sometimes twice a day. We have the burritos, but they just sound gross to me lol. Other than that we have cereal :)

Today was pretty relaxed for us. Buck worked on a set list to give to a new guitar player. It turned into quite the chore because we don't have Internet. Buck also realized he doesn't have a printer or copier. So he tried to use mine, but his computer wasn't compatible with my printer, so he had to re-type everything on my Mac to get it all to work.

Bluebell got a bath and it was the easiest bath I have ever given her because of our handy dandy removable shower head. It's the best thing in the bathroom!

And we STILL DO NOT HAVE HEAT! The propane guy came to the house at the crack of dawn when we were still sleeping and had no idea he was there. So the gas man is supposed to come back tomorrow. So hopefully we will have heat tomorrow. Though honestly we are so used to the cold, we have our system down. We move the portable heater (still the one we are borrowing from our neighbor Jerry) around the house to whichever room we are working in. We wear layers of clothes and then we make sure to turn on the heating blanket before bed! :-)

For good news....as of today, I'M EMPLOYED! It's just a waitressing job but I am thankful to have a job to go to and to know ill have a paycheck coming in. So I'll be waitressing at Dave & Busters, right next door to the Grand Ole Opry! I've been in there three times now, and it's aLwAyS packed. So hopefully I'll be making some good tips! I walked in for an interview today an he offered me the position right there. And I start tomorrow for training! Crazy huh :) hopefully it's a fun and busy job.

We stopped downtown Nashville at Tequila Cowboy to check out a guitar player that Buck is considering. We thought we found a parking spot (which are HARD to find in downtown Nashville) and after we pulled in, when we realized we were parked in front of a fire hydrant. The curb was not painted red, so we walked into the western we had parked in front of, to ask if we were in a real parking spot or not. The gentleman working at the western store offered to keep an eye on our van and to make an excuse if anyone tried to write us a ticket!! I can't believe how nice some of the people are over here!!! :)

Tonight we made salad, hotdogs, and good ole Mac n Cheese. Nothing burnt thankfully :) But Buck did have to go to the store down the street to get butter.

And tonight we are staying in and watching a movie on the TV in the living room, rather than the iPad. :) We are having a good time over here, but we do miss everyone and our families. We love you guys and we are keeping you all in our prayers.

Xoxo -
Sarah Beth

Guitars & Accents: January 7th- Monday

Last night, until about midnight, Buck and I hung stuff up on the walls. We haven't touched the bedroom walls though yet. Those will be last I guess!

This morning we had company! Buck scheduled a writing session to be at our house at 10:30. Ben and Stan came over to write. So when we woke up we immediately commenced to cleaning, because unpacking had left the floors filthy. I stayed out of the boys way, and did some clothes unpacking and rearranging in the rooms. As I was in the room unpacking, I couldn't help but notice and to just listen to these boys accents. Stan's accent is quite thick. It's so funny to listen to! But I like it. I'll have to get used to it cause some people, like Stan, are hard for me to understand. It makes eavesdropping difficult! Haha :)

The boys session went all day. So I tried to keep busy in our cold bedroom! Got all my clothes unpacked. And then I drove down to Starbucks to get an Internet connection.

Now we are at 3rd & Lindsey to listen to the Time Jumpers with Ben and Stan. We have had some where to go and people to meet every night since we have been here! :) It's pretty cool.

Day 4: Sunday

Today we got to SLEEP IN. It felt amazing. And a note to Christy; we love the comforter. It is soooo soft and warm. Thank you! We didn't get to fix the bed frame today, we ran out of time. And we were very grateful for the spellcheck heater our neighbor let us borrow and the heated blanket I brought.

Today I deep cleaned the fridge. It was pretty bad. :-/ But now it's white, not the yellowing brown/ purple that it was when we arrived. I also cleaned the entire bathroom with the help of some scrubbing bubbles :)

Buck spent most of the day outside raking the miles of leaves and sticks in our front yard. When he had finished raking, he came in the house and said, "Hey hun, I've never lived in the city before... I don't know what to do with all these leaves?" Our friendly neighbor Jerry informed us that we have to bag em up and take them to a dump place downtown. :-/ So that's our first chore for the yard!

Bluebell played outside all day and made a new friend named Charlie. Charlie lives next door and is a dark gray Scottish looking pup. She also chased squirrels all over the yard and up trees.

There are only a few boxes left to unpack... But I'm sure it won't be finished by tomorrow. We have so much to hang up on the walls and it will be a whole day's project to get our clothes all situated in our tiny closets and the dresser. Lol :)

For dinner, we went to Dave & Busters because they are hiring waitresses and I wanted to check the place out first. So we took at a two seater table in the bar area. We waited for a few minutes, and then the waitress walked up and took our drink order. When she came back, she looked at Buck and asked, "Are you Buck Ford?" I about fell off my chair. Buck smiled and said yes. I immedidalty asked, "How did you know?" Well is turns out that our waitress, Jen Caldwell us from Folsom and she used to work at Toby Keith's Bar. She moved to Nashville three months ago to take her shot at music. She had seen Buck and me at both Toby Keith's and Stoney's at Buck's shows. What a small world huh?! So we all chatted, swapped phone numbers, and she said she would give me a good word to the manager for a job. SO crazy how God works, and how people cross paths. Too funny :)

Arrival

We're here!! We're here!! Finally! It feels so good :) Out of the car with nowhere else to go. Yay!! Got to Nashville at 2:30 p.m. And pulled up to the house at 2:45.

We give thanks to God for keeping us safe and keeping our belongings safe. And thank you everyone for your prayers!

We are located in south east Nashville off of Loney Dr. We have a little 2 bed room, 1 den, 1 bathroom house with a fenced back yard. We don't have a washer & dryer so we will have to work around that for a while. :-/

We still have no idea what's near us as in grocery stores, restaurants, or convenience stores. So we will need to do some exploring soon!

Right off the bat we park the van, step out, and we can hear someone yelling "You must be the new neighbors!!" The minute we stepped out of the van our neighbor Jerry was welcoming us. :) Jerry is a very friendly older man with an impressive pot belly and scratchy beard. He told us not to hesitate if we needed anything.

Well as we first started to explore the house, we learn there is no water. And our landlord said there was supposed to be water. Then we find the house freezing and that we can't get the heater to turn on. So our very first impressions were scaring us. But then our friendly neighbor Jerry showed us how to turn on the water. Bad news though still is that we will not have any propane to heat the house until Monday. :( So we have been freezing our buns off all day. Jerry did come over though with a space heater, and kindly showed us how to use it and said to keep it for as long as we needed. Very nice old man! Though his butt crack hangs out from his sweat pants. :)

We started to unload and Bluebell was going crazy running around and playing in the backyard. She had so much to discover! Then we were greeted by the neighbors across the street. Tiane, her husband (who's name we can't recall), and their son Case greeted us and told us all about the neighborhood and how they are related to everyone on the street. :) Nice people with very very thick accents!

So the house is nice. There is mostly hardwood floors and carpet in the bedrooms and den. Unpacking the trailer and van went very quick. We just parked the trailer and van under the overhang and started unloading. We put everything into the den and then started unpacking from inside the house. Buck and I have been having a blast unpacking, putting things away, and making decisions! It's honestly been fun for us! We kicked butt and put together the living room, kitchen, most of the bathroom, and the basics of the kitchen.

The only downside, besides the no heat part, and the closets that are smaller than a pantry, is that the entire house is filthy. Whoever loved there last hardly cleaned it. The fridge is covered in something brown, all the cabinets are sticky, the toilet and shower are scary, and there are hairs on the sink, from man's shave. Uhhhh! I am having a really hard time with the filth, but I am getting it cleaned slowly but surely. I attacked the kitchen first. I still need to get to the fridge though. (Sure wish you were here Mom!!) But overall, the house is a great place to start. As we put things away, it is becoming much more comfortable and homey. We like it :)

A trip to good ole Walmart was a must. We bought some food, 3 stand up lights (cause two rooms have no lights!!), a rug for the living room, paper towels, and a microwave!! So thank you Marcella, Brad, and Nolen for the gift cards! ;-)

We also discovered our new hobby; we busted out the record player I got Buck for Christmas and we played my Grandpa Angle's old records!! These records were awesome and it is way more fun playing records than just plugging in the iPad. Buck has had a smile on his face ever since we opened it.

And now, though I'm beyond exhausted, we are listening to Brent Mason at the Music City Bar and Grill. :) Buck heard he was in town and had to come!! So the life here in Nashville begins!

Sorry this post was so late... I had a hard time keeping up with it until we got to sit down at this bar. But I'll keep you guys up-to-date tomorrow too with our unpacking. We miss you all, and wish we could have you all over for dinner!! Love you.

Xoxo-
Sarah Beth