Closing January

I can't believe January is almost over!! This past month has flown by and was full of new and exciting life changes. I am so thankful for all the changes, and the love and support from everyone who was there for us throughout all of this!

Buck took a flight from Nashville this morning at 7 am along with his new guitar player Mr. Jeffery Lyle. I dropped them off at the airport at 5 am. Buck and Jeff had luggage that was too heavy, so as they were trying to negotiate the price of the over-weighted luggage Buck ended up being upgraded to first-class! So he had a nice flight. He is so lucky to be home with everyone.

I had the day off today, and I crossed everything off of my to-do list. Filled the Jeep with gas (only $3.05 because I'm a Kroger Grocery rewards member), filled out a Bureau of Indian Affairs form, applied for a job online, received/scanned/sent my W-2 forms, paid our Comcast bill, verified my CSU degree was correct and posted, and mailed out my change of address to decline the jury duty noticed I received from Butte County!! I also found a way to transfer my music files from my laptop to my new iMac. But it's only transferring one file at a time via the Internet so I have to click on every song to make it transfer. Maybe not the most efficient way, but it works and it will save me some money from having to pay for someone to transfer it all for me.

The weather here has been kind of crappy! When I leave work (usually from 11pm-1am) my jeep is covered in ice. The last two days has been in a full cloud cover with some rain and drizzle. There is a wind too. Mom saw a tornado warning for West Tennessee, so now I'm a little more aware of the weather and have the TV on just in case there is a warning signal. I don't think anything will happen, as I'm more in the center of Tennessee, but still... a tornado? I don't know the first thing to do in the case of a tornado!!! I actually wish we had a basement now lol.

Work has been busy. We had a Sherman-William convention at the Opry Mills hotel next door so we have been having lots of big parties come in. Im bringing home alright amount of tips! but the. I remember my base pay of $2.13 and i loose my excitement. Lol I'm pretty tired of working 10 and 12 hour days though so I'm keeping an eye out for a better job opportunity.

I joined a gym this week! I toured a few gyms in the are, but was having a hard time deciding on one because my last gym, the Wrec at Chico State, was the BEST gym. I was so spoiled with the school gym that I have a high expectation for gyms now. But I finally found the Nashville Athletic Club that has full cardio equipment, weights, but most importantly spinning and spin classes. They have other classes too like boot camp and total body workouts. A plus is hat there is tanning! So whenever I feel like getting a "summer glow" I won't have to pay anyone extra. :)

We have been eating pretty good over here. All home cooked meals thanks to Buck's friend Andy. We are still eating ham for breakfast. Buck made T-bone steaks with a salad and baked potato for his last night here. And today I cooked the hamburger Andy gave us to add to the spaghetti sauce and noodles. There is NO way I will eat all the meat we have from And's house, so hopefully it will last 2 months in the freezer until Buck comes back!

I want to send a huge THANK YOU to Kaila Hansen! Buck and I received a very sweet scrapbook full of photos with friends and family. So sweet Kaila, thank you so much!! We have it sitting in our living room for all the see :)

Buck has a full two months booked back in California so if your in the area, go see his show! He will be in Oroville and Chico within the next two months. :-)

Xoxo-
Sarah Beth

Tips & Workouts: January 24

Today was a very long day at work. 12 hours! But I was lucky... I started out at the dining room. There was me and two waiters. One waiter left because we had no tables. Eventually, someone was bowling and they asked to order food. So as I was in the bowling alley tables, two more groups of people came in to bowl! And after that I always had two or more lanes, ordering food and raking up on cocktail drinks. I was nice and steady for a few hours and I'm pretty sure I was the only one who made money today. :) Hopefully ill make good tips tomorrow and Saturday night too!

Buck stayed home today, working on music business and planning gigs back home for his trip back to California. I can't believe he is leaving me on Tuesday! :-( Im going to be so sad and a little lonely. I am planning on joining the farm bureau though, and I've been suggested to join Young Farmers & Ranchers. Hopefully I can attend a meeting this next month. But there is not a YF&R group in Davidson county so I am in the process of contacting a local couple, names Kyle and Kim, and will travel with them to surrounding counties to attend YF&R meetings.

I have also been touring local gyms, checking prices and comparing amenities trying to find the best one. I'll join one here soon and I'll fill my time at the gym when Buck is gone. Buck has been working out here at home, running our block and doing indoor exercises. He said it's hard to run outside though because its so darn cold outside!!! It's very bright, very sunny, but the weather is a sharp piercing cold.

Right now Buck is in his recliner, I'm laying on the couch, and Bluebell is wrapped up on her bed and we are all watching Buck's favorite show "Man vs Wild." I just have to say Bear Grylls is a crazy, nutty, adrenaline junky. I could never live with a man that nuts! BUT.... he knows his stuff lol.

We want to send a shout out to Mom & Dad and Mom & Dad Ford. We miss you guys. We miss home cooked food, Tri-tip, and just the comfort of home. We love our little place, but there is nothing like home!!! And we are sure missing our friends. We want to call all our friends up and have them come over and hang out. But..... we are keeping you all in our thoughts and prayers and are missing you. Buck will be home soon and gets to see you all! (sad face on my part)

Love you guys !!!

Xoxo-
Sarah Beth

Work & 8 Seconds

I made money at work tonight!!! I was worried I wasn't going to see any money there for a while lol. I had a party of 25 people, and I split the table with another waitress. Thankfully I had that party.... or I would have made nothing. We were very slow! But I've been told that January is the slowest month.

I spent the last hour of work rolling silver ware. That the side job for the waitresses. Can you sense my enthusiasm?

Buck is working on his music. Writing, singing, and playing. He is getting ready to take off back to California! Lucky duck. :-/ I wish I was heading home for awhile too.

Not too much else has been happening around here. We are just learning the ropes and roads of Nashville! I can finally make it to and from work on my own without my GPS. I feel so accomplished! Currently we are sitting in the living room watching 8 seconds. So I'm calling it a close for the night now because I work 10 am to 10 pm tomorrow. It's gonna be a rEaLlY long day!!

Xoxo-
Sarah Beth

Love the Mail Man: January 21st

Our morning went as usual; got up, made breakfast, and started our day. We didn't have too much planned but then the doorbell rang. :-) It was the UPS man! He delivered a huge box... but it felt empty. When I opened it was just almost as it felt- it was a big box with a very tiny box in the inside. Inside the small box was our wireless Internet gateway box!! So I set that up right away. Not even 45 minutes later I heard a huge truck drive by and then stop three doors down. I looked out the window and I watched as the FedEx truck slowly reversed, stopped to look at each house, and then finally park in front of our house. He took much longer to get the box and walk up to the house because.... the box was HUGE! I knew exactly what it was... and it was my new iMac computer that my parents to me for Graduation/Christmas!!! It is bEaUtIfUl. :-) It's a 27" screen, long lean keypad, and cordless mouse. It's pretty much amazing. :-)

So Buck and I went to town and got a sturdy but cheap computer desk. When we got home I didn't stop until it was all set up and where it all belonged. :-) I played with that computer until I was tired of sitting in the computer chair!

For dinner tonight I baked potatoes and buck pan fried ribeyes. The ribeye meat came from Buck's friend Andy from Kentucky. It was delicious. :-)

We had plans to go downtown tonight to see Don Kelly and Kevin Denney play... but we were happy and comfortable at home so we stayed in. So here we are, relaxing in front of the tV watching Netflix, because we have Internet now. Yee! :-)

We are really bummed we missed out on the big family dinner at the Ford's house today. I hope everyone had fun and the crab was delicious. We both can't wait to come home and visit!! Love you guys.

And I hope Mom and Dad are enjoying the new truck. :-) Love you and miss you guys!!!

Xoxo- Sarah Beth
                                 

Applications & Chipotle: January 20th

We. Slept. In. :-) Buck got home late last night from Kentucky and I was tired from work. The only reason I got up was because of Bluebell. Buck slept in till almost noon! But we are sure energized today!!! As an update for yesterday, Buck did not get a deer because they didn't see one. He said that they sat in their blinds for 3 hours and were freezing cold. He wished that he had brought his gun however because he said there were mallards everywhere from a nearby flooded cornfield. It was killing him that he didn't have a gun.

Weather here has been sunny, but cold. Once the sun starts to go down the air gets really chilly and sharp. When I leave work my Jeep is usually on the verge of freezing. But when the sun is out and in full swing during the day it's nice outside.

I gave bluebell a bath first thing today. She just smelled funny. I'm not sure what she has been into, but she needed one. Buck brought home canned green beans, canned tomatoes, canned pickles, and canned squash from Kentucky. His friend Andy has acres of farmed veggies and his wife cans them so they sent Buck home with veggies. Andy's father is a pig farmer, butcher, and sausage processor so he sent Buck home with pounds of sliced ham, ribeyes, pork chops, pork sausage, hamburger, and tenderloins. Soooooo Buck made breakfast this morning! Egg omelets with green beans, yellow squash, ham, and potatoes. I didn't know that Buck had never actually cooked an egg before... But he did a great job. :-)

By the time we finished breakfast and were showered and dressed it was almost 3 pm lol. Not a very productive day I guess. But I was determined to make it to Starbucks to get an Internet connection. I wanted to do some job searching. There wasn't too much in the area, but I'm going to keep looking.

Right next door to Starbucks is a Chipotle. I LOVE, love, love Chipotle but Buck has never been to one. So I took Buck there for dinner. As he grew up with real Mexican food made by his mom and family, he wasn't too impressed. But at least he tried it!

We are now back at home watching the football game. We didn't see the niners game, but since everybody and their sister posted it on Facebook, I know that they are on the way to Super Bowl. I know my dad is bummed, but my mom and grandpa are happy!!

We are praying for our families safety and health. We miss you guys!! Hope you all have a wonderful Monday and hopefully it is a day-off for you as it is Martin Luther King Jr day!

Xoxo-
Sarah Beth & Buck

Amish Visit & Service Support: January 19th

Buck stayed overnight in Kentucky so he could go bow hunting early with Andy. I still have no word to if he got a white tail or not. But I do know that Andy took Buck to a neighboring Amish family and they introduced to their livelihood to him. Buck was amazed to see that people live without electricity and cars. ;-) Then Buck stayed and watched his friend Ben, a fiddle player, perform at a local place in Kentucky. I'm not sure what town he is in, but I do know that most of Kentucky, other than Bowling Green and Louisville, are dry cities! You can't buy any alcohol or beer in KY. After the show Buck should be on his way home.

I went into work at 11 am and did not leave until 9 pm. If I thought I was tired yesterday, then I'm close to dead today. My feet are actually in pain and I'm just tired. I haven't been this physically worked in a long time! It's a different tired than from working out at a gym or running, it's a constant, irritating, pain that I was not able to get off of my feet, or stop moving my feet, for 10 hours straight. I am so excited to have tomorrow off! But today I was "service support" all day which is where I took food from the kitchen and delivered it all over the restaurant to help me learn the role of service support and to help learn all the tables and table numbers. We have 4 dining rooms and 4 showrooms/part rooms where food is delivered. That's A LOT of table numbers to know. But the next shift I work I should be waitressing. ;-)

Buck wasn't home all day and I worked for 10 hours, poor Bluebell was stuck alone in the house the whole time. :-( I felt terrible and I was thinking about her the whole time. She has a history of doing bad things when she gets stressed out, and since we haven't lived here too long I was concerned. And sure enough, she dug into the couch, where there was a previous hole from her, and dug out some stuffing. There was very little though, compared to her past damage to the couch. I spanked her, but I couldn't blame her that much because I knew that she would be stressed and lonely for that long. I gave her toys and treats (thanks mom!!) to keep her busy, but I need to purchase peanut butter to fill her kong toy for the next time that might happen.

Also I wanna send a CONGRATS shout out to my parents, who traded in the Escape and purchased a new truck today!! I wish I was here to take a ride in it!! Can't wait to see pictures. ;-)

I have a long to-do list for tomorrow so I am heading to bed. I hope you all have a wonderful evening and a beautiful Sunday tomorrow!

Xoxo-
Sarah Beth & Buck

Delivery- A Damaged Car & Goodies: January 18th

I got a wake up call this morning from Mom saying that my Jeep was going to be delivered in about an hour! So I took my time getting up but I hadn't changed out of my Pj's yet. Maybe 30 minutes later, Mom called me back and told me that they were right down the street!! The large auto trailer wasn't going to be able to make the turn onto our main street, so we walked down two houses to the cross street. A bald Romanian man, and his rotund wife, were unloading the Jeep when Buck and I walked up to them in our pajamas. The Romanian woman had short curly brown hair and she smelled strongly of perfume. She was the boss you could tell. She was loud, demanding, but nice. They told me a price higher than I had agreed on, so I made them call back to their scheduling company and made sure that it was confirmed on the price we had agreed at. As I was paying, Buck took a quick look around the Jeep and it seemed to look ok. So after we signed and paid, we drive the Jeep back to the house. Mom had left a box in the back seat of the Jeep so I stood on my side step to reach in when I noticed a large piece of black duct tape on my roof. I almost missed it, but then I next saw a huge hole in my roof!!! The hole is large I can fit three fingers right through. I couldn't believe it. So Buck and I drove right back down to the couple as they were loading the trailer back up. Buck went to them and told them the problem, and the man confessed to putting the black tape on my roof to cover a hole. So he tried to hide one hole. But when we showed him the second, larger hole, he denied it.... but I told him what was what. I told him that this was a brand new top and I delivered it whole with no large holes for leaks. But when he realized the Jeep top was one piece, and that he was going to be paying for the taped hole anyway, it didn't matter. So I called into the main office in Florida, and told the man on the other line what had happened. Instead of turning it into insurance, he is now going to buy me a new top and send it to the house. I left my VIN number and address with the Romanian couple and should be expecting a delivery. So we will see how this goes!

When we got back to the house, I was able to look through the boxes that were in my Jeep and I found gOoDiEs!! Mom and Dad had packed Buck and I a care package!! There was Cheez It's, popcorn, pop tarts, cereal, skittles, mento's, blueberry muffin mix, Oreo cake mix, fruit cups, soups, ravioli's, pasta, spaghetti sauce, gravy mix, toothbrushes, laundry soap, dish soap, kitchen towels, wash cloths, toilet cleaner, and toilet paper. Bluebell got treats and toys too. There was also a magnified bathroom mirror just for me!!!!! Thank you Mom and Dad for spoiling me and for all the goodies! We love it all ;-) MUAH!!!!

Buck left around 2 pm to head on up to Kentucky. He went to spend Friday and Saturday with his friend Andy. Andy is an early thirties high school agriculture teacher in Kentucky who lives on 800 acres of inherited family land. So Buck and Andy are bow hunting for white tails. Andy also song writes, so that is how Buck and Andy met. So I won't hear from Buck till tomorrow sometime. :)

Today I had the longest day at work. I clocked in at 4 pm and clocked out at 1:20 am. To say the least I'm exhausted. BUT today was fun and I actually learned something. :-) I was given tables and waitresses everything without someone on my back the whole time. I did great, it was easy, but I didn't get to keep a single tip I made. :-/ Boo. That's because I'm still a "trainee" and I was taking over Ashley's shift, so that's her money really. Oh well. While I'm training in getting paid minimum wage, instead of the ridiculous $2.13 waitresses normally do.

I'm keeping my eyes open for a better job still.

When I got home I had the most lOvElY letter in the mail from Miss Marissa Pickering. I love getting mail!!! Thank you for the updates my dear, and be expecting to hear from me soon!! I loved your letter. It had me smiling. :-) xoxo

Off to bed! Very late and I'm pooped. Back at it again tomorrow. Love you all!!

Xoxo-
Sarah Beth & Buck