I don´t know yet I haven´t been to one either...I am suspicious Julez has been to many

Well maybe if she makes it to yours then she can lead the way - of course it might involve a pre-baby shower baby shower just for practice Although due to evil finances (or lack of!) it might involve dollar store presents... but they have cool stuff if you look anyway - I mean, who wouldn't want a glass ear of corn?!

everyone loves ears and corn

*Has image in her head of Marta with corn for ears *

I just got my social security card in the mail!!! Wooohooo!!!

That´s great Now it´s time for you to finally get married

Hahah - yeah not long now til the "big" day Of course, it will just be me, Jeremy, a couple of witnesses and the minister who couldn't make it in February so a low-key affair - after all, this is our "fake" wedding

Then I get to go change my name on the SSC, bank accounts etc

I know Are you gonna have pics from the "fake" one too?

I kinda found out that when I sit, I can see into my belly button now since it´s position changed some That´s funny

Hahaha I can kinda see into mine as well but only cause I have settled... "comfortably" into married life I think that when we get back from Arizona we need to go on a bit of a detox/health kick!!

We'll prolly take a few piccies but nothing special - just with our own cameras I am sure my mum will want to see even though it is all a load of BS to fulfill the visa conditions

Are you trying to say you won´t be celebrating two wedding anniversaries in the future?

Well hopefully there won´t be anymore troubles with your gas after you come back so then you can cook healthy meals and go for a swim whenever you feel like it It wouldn´t be as easy to detox if you still had to eat out a lot

Yeah I know - and there are sooo many delicious-looking restaurants about as well!!! I am sure there are healthy options but it's just not the same going out for a meal and having to pick a salad when there are so many other lovely things to choose from

The idea is that if (when) Jeremy forgets our anniversary in February, he can make it up by remembering the one in August And I am sure he will get extra brownie points for getting me pressies on both

That´s pretty tricky

Hey were we left here all alone? Everyone else travelling the world or at least USA Muffin shouldn´t be travelling I think?

I dunno - I think leaving us on our own together could be dangerous

Trying to find cheap rooms in Sedona for 8th August... Sent an e-mail to one place so keeping fingers crossed that they get back to me and tell me it is available as they have an internet discount of 10% available as well as 10% AAA discount - would knock $16 or so off of the room price

the 9th it is! i am open for anything, you guys let us know and we'll be there! SOOOO excited!


we'll be flying out to oklahoma to be at erics grandparents 80th birthday next weekend. man..... i really don't like his family a whole lot.....

Paaarty, party Poor Agnes But maybe you will have a nice adventure

wow, I'm away for a day or two and I miss so much!!

happy holidays, Julez... SO envious; I think you SHOULD kiss the ground for me
but you can choose a clean patch

great news on Adriano's job, Susie! that will make a whole lot of things better, I'm sure

and Marta, having a little boy!! oh, I'm so excited for you
will you guys speak to him in Czech and English? I always think it's such an advantage for a kid if they grow up bilingual

hello and hugs to everyone else too, who I didn't mention by name... missed you guys


my news -
we went to Austin for the weekend, and had a fab time; we ended up calling it our fake honeymoon, as we didn't have one at the time; it really was loads of fun
even though we only went for the stupidest of reasons - Dave needed a print-out of his driving record from the Austin DMV, to contest a speeding fine, and had left it too late for it to be sent through the mail

other, less fun, news -
Chase bank refuses to add me to Dave's account
first it was because they wouldn't believe I was a permanent resident, as I have no green card (yes, that old chestnut), and then once I'd convinced her otherwise it was because I didn't have proper official papers showing my residential address
mind you, I had the state-issued (and officially stamped) wedding certificate (which didn't count), and my social security card (which didn't count); they wanted a utility bill (which I'm not on as I don't have any money or bank account with which to organise payment) or a letter from a school or college where I was enrolled as a student... I brightened up at that, and said that I'll be starting my volunteer tutoring soon, so could the school write me a letter? she went off and asked, but came back saying that if I had been going there as a student, it would be fine, but as I'll be a tutor, they can't accept it

I admit my tolerance for this sort of thing is low, as it's pretty recently that I was persona non grata in the UK as well, with no credit rating, and no way to set up things like bank accounts and so on, but sitting there on Monday I was ready to lose it... I stayed very polite, but stalked out of the place and had to be very bright and chatty with Dave to stop myself crying; this sort of thing is so farking galling, to be treated like an idiot child wherever you go...

anyway
no bank account, but I AM going to start my tutoring on the 5th of August; I've observed a lesson, and attended my training day, and am raring to go
so some things work out... things I do for myself, evidently

Hi,
Just checking in to see what everyone is upto and how u guys are doing. My husband's greencard finally got approved a few weeks ago but then we had to move to the middle of nowhere . Hopefully will be back home soon!

Hehe Poor little boy will catch bad English from me and bad Czech from Scott

STP that´s pretty weird what your wrote about the bank account. They are racist and discriminational I think you should forget all about some Chase bank since that´s a pretty weird name anyway and go set up your stuff with Dave at a different bank. I haven´t had such problems anywhere. All they wanted was two forms of an ID

oh, Dave likes Chase... he's got his salary going through them, and has loads of points on his credit card... plus he likes that there are ATMs everywhere
we'll work something out... like put my name on the gas bill for a month or something

so stupid... when I was in London this is how new-comers often got round the strict bank rules; get a friend to put the gas bill in their name for a month, and then take the bill off to open the account, and the friends would then change it back... so what does it protect, if it's that easy to mess with? absolutely nothing... you'd think a state-issued marriage certificate would be far better, and harder to forge, but no


and you speak the Czech, and Scott speaks the English, silly one
bilingual kids usually take a month or two longer to start speaking, but when they do, they usually have both languages perfectly separate
so fabulous... I know twins who are bilingual in English and German, so I can understand them both ways, but they looked at me all goggle-eyed when I said something to them in German once; they thought everyone else only spoke one language, and they knew I spoke English

Haha you tricked them So do you think in marriages where both people speak English but are from different countries (like USA and UK) do the kids get to speak two different accents?

generally not; if they're living in an English-speaking country they'll end up with the accent of the country, regardless of what their parents sound like

That´s a pity cuz I think British accent is cute

well, things with adriano's job didn't turn out exactly as we had hoped, so we are back to square one...

we showed up on tuesday at the house where the boss was going to explain to me the tasks to be completed, so that i could then relay the message to adriano...turns out the boss is a little bit off his rocker, because once we got there he started telling me that he didnt know what work he had for him that day, and he doesnt know how he is going to expain instructions to adriano since his english isnt so great...i tried my best not to get extremely angry since we had previously gone over both of these points and reached an agreement...also turns out that one of the workers on the site speaks fluent italian and was very nice (we struck up a convo with him while waiting for the boss to arrive)...i mentioned this to the boss and he basically told me that the other dude wasnt hired as a translator, and had his own problems to address....basically every word out of this guy's mouth made me more and more angry...not to mention that we didnt like him from the start, as he was a bit of a jerk at the interview, but we let it slide and decided to see what happens...so basically he told me that he would call us back later that day, because he had to look at the list of projects he currently has, to find something for adriano, which he could begin working on the following day...basically he wasted our time and doesn't know how to run a business, PLUS he is a jerk...so we decided to keep looking...wish us luck!!

and yes, StP and Marta, bilingual babies rock...there are studies that show that children who grow up bilingual tend to be more open-minded, since there are concepts in one language that can be captured with a single word, while in other languages, there may be no way to explain the same concept at all. it helps them be able to see things from multiple perspectives.

Awww sorry to hear that about the job But since that guy is a jerk anyway Andriano wouldn´t probly like working for him for too long. Unless he doesn´t care about jerks since he can´t understand them I am sure you´ll find something better for him Does that mean he now refuses to go to the English class since he didn´t get the job?

Awesome!!! Apparently there is a place called Big Nose Kate's in Tombstone that my mum went to in February - she said they do really nice wine and asked us to pick some up for her!!! I'll look into it a little more and see what I can figure out for a meeting place then let you know - woohoo!! We'll be "legally" married then too!! Heheh

As for family... I can kind of understand you... Jeremy's family are very sweet though but a lot of hard work. Spending time with his aunt is like looking after a five year old (no joke - Jeremy has got the uncommittal noises and phrases down to a tee: "uh-huh," "cool," "that's nice," etc etc - you get the picture...), his brother is very sweet but has special needs and as well as this insists on saying he is going to do something then doesn't (he's 23). I think his whole family frustrates me because they had a difficult life and upbringing and don't seem to want to help themselves and aspire to greater things - I just don't understand people with no ambition... Jeremy has proved it is possible but... it just frustrates me...

End rant!!


Hrmmm I must say I was expecting there to be a massive problem with getting a bank account set up as well - as it happens, after BofA screwed us over and stole Jeremy's money, he closed his account so we both needed a new account. We went to WaMu, explained what was going on and got a checking account each and a joint savings account. I only had to show my passport and visa and they created me a non-resident account. Then when I got my SSC I went back with it and they activated my debit card and changed my account to a resident one - I had to sign as a US person which I thought was funny

But yeah - all in all, much less painful than I was expecting!


Hey! Good to see you back!! Great news on the GC!! I can't believe some of us are getting them already - I haven't even filed AOS yet!! Hehe


Marta you crack me up - your kids are going to be wonderful I can tell Lovely bump piccie as well by the way Hehehehe

Haha I´m not sure I would like the kids to have my sense of humor since sometimes it´s not so easy for other people to get me I think But on the other hand they could keep amusing themselves with it forever

I think you have a great sense of humour Marta - besides, you'd understand them and it would be the happiest family alive!!!

I second that; I LOVE your sense of humour, Marta, and think it would be one of the best things you could pass down to a child

STP do you have that hurricane there where you are?

nope, not even a bit of a breeze

we've had rain and clouds all day... which is quite nice, to be honest, and saves putting the sprinkler out... but otherwise things are normal

thank you for asking



(I am making proper pizza dough for the very first time, and it's working beautifully! it's in the bowl rising by the minute
and if anyone likes eating Indian breads, I have perfected paratha for two, and will share with anyone who asks nicely )

OOh - I was meaning to ask about Dolly as well but apparently it has been downgraded to a tropical storm now?

Just sun sun sun here... been a bit breezy but still over 100f so I'm just inside trying to put together the desk we bought from Big Lots yesterday - it was $60 and is perfect for the living room Of course, I can't screw in the screws all the way so now I am stuck and decided to see what this peanut butter and jam thing was all about.. I had it on toast though... It was ok but can't see what the big deal is

StP - I am so envious of your culinary masterpieces! You must just bake all day!! So do you look up recipes then just buy the ingredients and try them out? Or do you look and see what you have in your cupboards and go from there? We should have the gas connected today so it would be great if I could figure out how to use the oven at last... sad I know but gas ovens scare me

Well the class doesn't start until the end of August, so I am hoping he will have a job by then...please god!! lol and yea, adriano didn't like the boss from the start, and he is not really the type to negotiate with these sort of things...he figures that if the guy is a jerk at the interview, that he will always be a jerk, and is not worth his time...i was the one who talked him into giving it another go, and we see how that turned out!

Yeah - money is handy and all that, but happiness is more important

On that note, did I mention how Jeremy put the wrong account number down for our first money transfer? We have $8000 floating around somewhere right now!! I woke this morning at 8am to find him gone and figured he had left for work and just hadn't woken me up to say goodbye... Nope - he had been trying to sort it all out and called into work to say he would be late...

I think I am due at least a bunch of flowers now

haha thats hillarious because the same thing happened to me last week!! i was scheduled to get my first direct deposit on tuesday and it didnt show up as expected...i continued to freak out because we REALLY needed the money...i called the school and found out that somewhere along the line someone put in the wrong acct number...NOT FUN

and yes, flowers are definitely in order

I don't quite bake ALL day... I try to get a half hour or so in the afternoon to do some cleaning

as for your questions - I've been wanting to get better at baking for a while, so I bought different flours and yeast and things like that a few weeks back (as well as loads of different herbs and spices, including some fresh herbs growing outside the back door)... and with most cooking I know the general idea, and am pretty confident about what will go together, and what will work, etc... so I just look up some recipes online, read three or four through, read a few reviews (if supplied) and then go and do my own thing, based on bits and pieces of what I've read
I love experimenting... we haven't had a dud yet, though of course some dishes have been better than others

I got a wonderful Moroccan cookbook the other day; can't wait to try some things from it

Mmmm sounds great!! We still don't even have things to bake *in* let alone ingredients Sounds so nice to just bake cookies or bread or cakes and all those other things... I think we have one loaf tin that must have been left over from the previous owners That and a foil roasting tin that we recycled from our take-out pasta

We brought a cook book back from Hawaii which we are going to use for our housewarming luau Since I got here though we have bought a huge weightwatchers binder ($20) with loads of recipes for when we finally get bored of indulging... or at least to lose a bit of weight before we go into the next season of indulgence

Have you tried allrecipes.com? There are rated recipes there and you can search by type or ingredients... I love it - it's like my definitive guide to cooking - here are some we have tried and loved so far

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Orange-Beef-S...Fry/Detail.aspx
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Aimees-Quick-...ken/Detail.aspx
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Spinach-Stuff...sts/Detail.aspx
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Banana-Nut-Br...Jar/Detail.aspx

The spinach stuffed chicken was gorgeous - we have made it for guests a few times and it is always a hit The banana nut bread hasn't been tried yet but I really want to give it a go because it looks lovely!!!

yeah, I use allrecipes a LOT; they're my default starting point (though I do look elsewhere too )

and I didn't have that much to bake with, but I went to the 99c store a few times and now I have some fings

oh, and I've made their Banana Sour Cream bread - http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Banana-Sour-C...ead/Detail.aspx - twice now; it was good both time, but I added some sultanas the last time and it was even better

Fings

So look at all you girls cooking and baking all day We just make quick meals these days cuz we started reorganizing the entire place so everything is laying sort of everywhere right now. But I like cooking and baking too

I don´t know if I already told you or not, but I can repeat it if I did Here they have 3lbs of Harribo Gummy Bears for $5.99

Gillian What´s new?

Not much.

My Green Card arrived on Monday, which was a good day. It now means that I don't have to deal with USCIS until April 2010 - such a good feeling!

Other than that I've just been looking for work. I got signed on at a temp agency yesterday so I hope they can find me something soon.

Hope you and the bump are well Marta.

Aha!! I have dutifully added it to my recipe box

I think maybe we need to invest in another fan as well, even with the aircon on, our miniscule little kitchen corner gets roasting hot... Oh man I am sooo hungry now - just been planning our trip to AZ and what we can do when we meet Agnes - I was looking at the menu and it is sooooo yummy and sooo cheap!!

If anyone is interested:

http://www.bignosekate.com/10901_Longhorn_WEB2.pdf


Marta - we still have barely any furniture in the living room and we can only afford to run one aircon unit at a time so that's my excuse for not being quite so domesticated!!!! That and the gas only went on yesterday

Hmmm I can't wait til we find a home for the recycling as well - that will free up one of our tiny end counters in the kitchen...


Cool!! So is the two year thing from the date you got married, the date you filed....??? Nice to know you can just get on with life for a while although I would be paranoid that I would forget to file to remove conditions!!!

I am sure you will be paranoid when the time comes Or at least worried (Oh wanna come visit here? It´s like 70° here - very nice)

I hope you get some nice job soon Gillian I think the 2 years is the GC anniversary not the wedding anniversary.

So if it is the GC anniversary then Gillian would be filing in July, not April?!?!?!

70f just sounds so cold right now!! I sat in Jeremy's workplace where it was 76 and I had to wear a jumper and had two A&W aprons wrapped around my legs because I was so cold!!!

You are allowed to put your application in to remove conditions up to 90 days before your Green Card runs out. I'll be able to put mine in on April 12 2010 and not a day before!

You mean in the 90 days running up to the GC running out? What if you don't?!?!

I have no idea! Removing conditions can take a really long time right now - about a year I think, so I'll be putting my application in as soon as possible. I'll be mailing it off on April 11 2010 without fail.

I'm just paranoid that I will forget!!