American Idol Atlanta Revisited.... Missing Sarah...

I Guess you all remember that my daughter Sarah auditioned for American Idol in Atlanta last summer. Well the Atlanta auditions aired last night. I watched it alone and it just brought sadness... even tears... I'm not sure I'll ever watch the show with the same enthusiasm or through the same eyes again. I watched for a small glimpse of a purple haired girl as the opening segment scanned the crowds.... she was not there even for a second... at least not that I could see as they scanned through so quickly.... and as each person auditioned I wondered if she had come into contact with that particular individual. I think though that the saddest part was... not having her here with me to watch together... or maybe she just doesn't want to watch it anymore... the whole thing really left a scar on her... it took a chunk of her self confidence. We usually watch the show together and critique the singers and of course laugh at the really outrageous ones... but last night she wasn't here to curl up on the couch with me and it was just not the same... I found myself missing her terribly (she doesn't live at home anymore... and while I do enjoy the quiet that she left behind... sometimes I do miss her).... not finding any of the auditions to be funny... and really feeling bad for those who left in tears... because now we've experienced the American Idol auditions and I've seen first hand how painful it can be... even to a talented, confident and strong-willed singer. I had hoped she could go there and come out of course as a contestant... but at least to be able to look back on the experience as an adventure.... a fun memory to look back on and fun story to tell for years to come... instead she just says (like many others) "F*** American Idol". Maybe later on down the road her attitude will change.

The tears were pouring as I texted her at 2:30 am to see if she was still awake. I told her that I watched the show.... that I love her and miss her. I wonder if others have felt this as they watch the show after being rejected... or can they still bring themselves to watch. I really didn't expect to feel so sad... I expected to just watch it as I always do... I guess you just never know what your going to feel until it hits you out of nowhere.... maybe just a glimpse of my purple haired girl in the crowd would have brought a smile... maybe having her there with me laughing and telling me about her experience would have made the difference... who knows... I just know that now I just feel sadness when I see those people sent away and crushed... even the ones who really cannot sing... rejection hurts.

And even sadder is... that there are a lot of people who are very talented singers who never make it past the first auditions... just like Sarah... and it really hurts them... and leaves scars on their self confidence.... just like Sarah. Sending her to audition for American Idol is one promise that I wish I had not kept... at least the delusion of it all would still be in place... for the both of us...

Sarah... I love you... I miss you... and I hope that some day you will be able to look back on your experience as a great adventure instead of a terrible experience. You have great talent.... please don't waste it....

You can read my original posts about her trip audition for American Idol here:
http://alilenchanted.blogspot.com/2009/06/im-sooo-nervous.html
http://alilenchanted.blogspot.com/2009/06/sarah-american-idol-update.html
http://alilenchanted.blogspot.com/2009/06/sarahs-american-idol-adventure.html

A Lil Enchanted,
~LaShan~

Sarah's American Idol Adventure

Well... Sarah didn't make it to the next round of auditions. I just talked to her very briefly and she's on her way home. But at least she had the experience and hopefully she had fun. She did get to do a good interview on camera this morning so maybe that will get aired.

American Idol or not... we know that Sarah has a special talent all her own and we love her!

~A Lil Enchanted~

Sarah.... American Idol Update

Thank you all soooo much for your well wishes! It really means a lot!

Sarah made it to Atlanta at around 4:00 a.m. She is registered and has her bracelet and seat assignment for auditions tomorrow and has checked into her hotel. She has to be there at 5:00 a.m. tomorrow but she plans to be there by 3:00 a.m.

After doing much research on this process for her we've learned that this first audition is more like auditioning for a reality show rather than a talent show. So you have to be different and stand out... but not too different and appear wacky. Sarah has a very outgoing personality... she's loud and she has a rather different... shall we say... sense of humor... and as of yesterday she has PURPLE HAIR!

That's right... we dyed her hair purple before she left. We dyed it purple several months ago and it looked really good on her so we decided to do it again for this. Not many people can pull off purple hair... but it really does look good on Sarah... and it will certainly be different and draw attention.

So when American Idol airs next year.... look for the girl with purple hair!

These pics are from last time we dyed it purple... I'll add some of this dye job when she gets back.


~A Lil Enchanted~

Positive Changes In The Air...

I have to apologize for not posting more often and for slacking in dropping my Entrecards. I've been really busy lately and haven't had much time to spend on my computer. But it's all good.... we're going through a lot of positive changes and I just haven't had the time to post about everything because it's all happening so fast and keeping me busy.

One positive change is Adrian's new job. He's going into his 3rd week of Management training with his new company and will be getting his first paycheck with his salary increase next week. @@@@WhooooHoooo!!!@@@@ This past year has been a year from hell.... this time last year he had lost his job and was just starting with a new company taking a huge pay cut.... but hey... any job is better than no job... right???

We were literally days before having our home foreclosed on and we were selling everything we had that anyone wanted to buy trying to just keep our home and not become homeless. We managed to save our home.... but this whole year has been a struggle... we had to cut off our cell phones... and were without any phone for a couple of months. We cut anything and everything not essential to survival except our cable... it was our only remaining luxury.... but we did cut our service in about half to reduce the bill. We had to go from 2 cars to one... which has left me pretty much stuck at home while he's at work. It's been hard to keep gas in the car and food on the table... we've had to deem certain food items as luxuries... and I'm not talking about steak... that was a luxury before... I'm talking about chips and other snacks... fruits unless they were on sale really cheap.... things most people take for granted. I've even skipped meals to save food for the rest of the family.

So I'm happy to say that even though we won't be living in the lap of luxury... or probably what others even consider expected comfort... we will be living in more comfort than we have in the past year. And we finally did get our income tax refund! First though... we had to pay taxes with it... our property tax that was due in December and we didn't have the money to pay (who the heck thought it was a good idea to make property taxes due on Dec 20th?????.... obviously someone who has never had to worry about money!.... Thank you State of Georgia! Merry Christmas to you too...)and then our GA Income Tax that we owed because they didn't take enough out of the paycheck... again... Thank you state of Georgia! (Oh here in Georgia we also get to buy our car tags for our birthday! Happy Birthday to us!)But at least we were finally able to pay Georgia all the tax money we owed them.

Then we bought Adrian a car to drive to work. We paid $700 for a Ford Escort that is a POS but it has a good motor and transmission and will be cheap on gas. And I get my Van back!!! @@@@Whooo Hooo!!!!@@@@@ It needs about $150 of work done on it but it's drivable until we can do that in the next couple of weeks. We also had to get my brakes done and oil changed on the van.... we've had to put this off for a year... it was car maintenance or food... so we had to go with food. So I'm really glad to have my van back... it needs a good cleaning which it will also get in the next couple of weeks.

We plan to keep our monthly expenses down and not add new bills... our cable service will remain at the level it is now... we don't miss what we cut from it and really like not paying $180 a month for cable. I'll keep shopping at yard sales and thrift stores... and clearance racks.... which I've always done... it's a hobby... and I just love finding bargains. We'll keep shopping for groceries at Aldi and Dollar General and the sales flyers from other stores (we've always done that as well) and we'll keep our grocery spending down but I'm sure we'll enjoy a few more of the items we had to deem as luxuries. So I'm really happy to be living a bit more comfortably and with more freedom to come and go.

We're getting Sarah ready for her American Idol audition trip. And my son Jordan is probably moving back in ... he's been living with his twin brother Justin and his wife since he got divorced from his own wife back in the fall. He wants to move back in for a few months to save money for his own apartment. So I spent the day yesterday cleaning my stuff out of his old room... it was going to be my craft room... I have tons of craft supplies and Holiday decorations.

I'll post about our other changes and exciting things coming up later : )

~A Lil Enchanted~

American Idol Look Out!... Here Comes Sarah Rhiannon!!!

My daughter is going to audition for American Idol next week in Atlanta! I'm so excited for her... we've been wanting her to do this for several years but there has always been one thing or another preventing it. But this year she is going to do it. She really *needs* to do this. The girl can sing! And she is definitely unique. I posted about her before... about how she is like Janis Joplin... Ozzy Osbourne... Gilda Radner and Robin Williams all rolled into one. So maybe this will be her chance to get on the road to entertainment.... exactly where she needs to be!

Unfortunately I can't go with her on this first round of auditions. But when she gets called back in the fall to audition for the judges I will be sure to be there. So everyone cross your fingers and toes.... and let's hope she gets through!




~A Lil Enchanted~

Catching Up....

Well It's been a busy few days here in Boringville.... Adrian was off work on Friday so we got our grocery shopping done and our bills paid. We only go grocery shopping every 2 weeks because he gets paid every 2 weeks.... so I take out the bill money and the gas money and what we have left is what we buy groceries and other needs with for the next 2 weeks. This way we know when the spending has to stop. We have reverted back to a pretty much cash system... so when the money is gone... it's gone. This particular pay period we were a bit behind due to some unexpected expenses having to come out of bill money that I had put up.... so we had $100 to buy groceries and other necessities to get us through the next 2 weeks. It was a tight squeeze but we were able to pull it off and even took Steffie to Buddy Bear's Playhouse afterwards.

She loves it there... they have the inflatable play equipment and she loves to go there... and it's cheap! On weekends it's $4 for her to get in... parents are free!... and through the week it's only $2. So this is a great place for us to take her to have a good time. We did learn not to eat there though... that's where the money starts to add up.

Things will get better soon around here though... Adrian got that new job and a nice raise to go with it! So we're looking forward to a lil bit more comfort in our finances. He starts June 1st!

I managed to get all my laundry done and some of the housework caught up on Sunday and Monday and spent some time playing with Steffie and reading to her. She loves to read and will stack 3 or 4 books in the chair and then ask me to read them to her. Right now she's loving the Fancy Nancy books by Jane O'Conner.

Our local library only has a few of the books but I signed her up to win all eight at the Fancy Nancy web site! She would absolutely be tickled pink if she won all of those books! I didn't even know there was a web site until today... so I'll have to show it to her later. She will love to play the Fancy Nancy games. Like her Mom she loves to play computer games... and at 3 years old she's become quite accomplished with the mouse.


My son Jordan was accepted into Full Sail University in Orlando FL! It's one of the premier media arts schools in the world and is very difficult to get into... so I'm really proud of him. He has a lil girl and works hard to support her. He recently got his GED and now he wants to go to college. He's been rapping for several years and writing his own material so he sent them his MySpace link and they contacted him. He'll be learning the business side of the music industry and the recording side as well. So if you like rap check out his my space! He's only 19 and he's really good... even if I am his Mom. You can listen to his songs and see his pics there.

On a more sour note.... my older daughter lost her job. She was working at the local amusement park and was fired for "interfering with park policy" after trying to help a disgruntled customer.
So now she's looking for a new job. She really liked her job but apparently someone there really disliked her and was looking for just any excuse to get rid of her. This is not surprising... Sarah is a very unique individual and you either love her or hate her... she's loud and brash and she can be hilariously funny... and sometimes majorly annoying... she has an amazing voice... and a talent for thinking fast and improvising to come up with the most off the wall funny things(think Robin Williams). She reminds me of a combination of Janis Joplin and Gilda Radner. I have told her many times that she is wasting her talent.... she needs to pursue a career in music and acting.... she would be amazing on Saturday Night Live.... but they don't do auditions.... they send out talent scouts to find their new cast members. I hope to take her to audition for American Idol this year.... but I don't know if she will do well on there... not because of her singing ability... she certainly has that... but because she may be too loud and brash for it. I really don't think Sarah will be successful in any other field... she just can't conform to the everyday common working world. She has had so many disappointments in her life... I hope she will someday be able to show everyone that hurt her and rejected her that she can be successful.

So that is how my last few days have been.... some ups... some downs. A lot more cleaning to get done... I just can't seem to keep caught up... never mind getting ahead. There is just never enough time to get done what I need to do and what I want to do. Gotta go get busy!

~A Lil Enchanted~