<sigh> I want babies....1.5 more years

Well I am sure you all heard the news. The aussie icon, Steve Irwin, died today in a freak accident with a stingray. Although I thought he was a bit a dill, I always thought of him as "untouchable" when it came to his exploits with wild animals.

RIP Steve Irwin, aka The Crocodile Hunter.

sittin here with my jaw to the floor.....omg i didnt know... now that is a shock...

happy labour day..went down town with robbie to a union parade here in toledo....wore he union t-shirt with hubby...then went to the union hall for hotdogs and chips...

relflecting back ..i watched robbie smiling a waving his flag he looked so proud...although i was in my union in oz i was never a died hard union person...i dont even know if in oz they have this kind of parade on our labour day...???

well as everyone i have seen say to me as i do to you HAPPY HOLIDAY
dont mean to offend anyone BUT it's only a long weekend...
anyhow i had a good long weekend with my hubby cant wait for the next one..

take care
kath

Yes very sad about Steve Erwin. An annoying larrikan but a good man. He did so much for our wild life and he and his family seemed to share so much love. Maybe a case of you don't know what you got till he's gone. Very sad news.

Yeah sorry, I am guilty of not checking in so much. This computer of Andrews is so slow and the keyboard so broken I can hardly bare to get on here and use it. Very busy and still sewing his shirt. Have been unwell mostly since I got here.

Well getting "Handfasted" this Saturday. $10 rings and now no Wedding dress. Had to spend that money on Vet bills for a cat. Oh well we have lots of love to go around so all's well. Kathh have a new Hotmail address now so will write soon so can finally get those pickies off yah.

Take care all and promise to check in more after the wedding.
Stella.

HI all,..

I dont venture in here as often as I could, but I stumbled across this lil love poem, and thought the true blue Aussies would get a bit of a giggle outta it,...


[attachmentid=2309]


Cheers,.

Jodee

hi ya

love the poem jodee....

i changed my pic came across a pic i made of my daughter an i and put them together we are roughly the same age here...wish i looked like my daughter in my days lol

i asked this question in the adjustments of status but not got an answer as yet..

do i have a choice in where i want to go for my change of status an ead..
columbus an cleveland are roughly the same distance for us but columbus is much easier to get to.. can i choose columbus instead of cleveland?/??

matt... thanks for answering my other question too and it does make sense to use two cheques too..

also on the aos thingy.. do i have to send in copies of the pages out of my passport and roberts and my divorce decrees...???? does robert have to get another letter from his employer also?

i think thats about it from me..if i think of anything else i will post it...

take care and i do hope all is well with everyone ...

kath

kath,

no worries. afaik you don't have a choice, uscis makes it for you.

also, in regards to your other question check out this page: AOS.

matt

Yipppeeee!!! I'm a Mrs.........Never thought I'd get married. Can't get used to this wearing a ring thing all the time. Not much of a one for wearing jewelry. Andrew keeps chasing after me with it in his hand with a grumpy look on his face, ha ha ha. God I love him.

Taake care all
Stella.

Kath,...

I actually rang the NVC phone line with that exact question about going to a different office and got put through to a immigration officer. I said my I-751 approval letter says I must go into Fresno office to hand in my photos, which is 3.5 hours from my CA residence, as the County of Kern comes under Fresno. But Los Angeles is a little under 2 hours, so would be much easier to get too for us. He said, I could go to what ever office was closer, but if I tried to book an an appt thru infopass it would automatically allocate Fresno, according to the zip code I input. He suggested to input a zipcode valid closer to the office I wanted, just to get the appt there, otherwise, try and contact the office via email, to see if they see me on a walk in basis. I have done walk-ins before, on both occasions thru Los Angeles, for my AOS, and EAD/AP, and never had a problem.

As it is,...I have sent a letter off to them with some more photos, and a copy of my hubs Military orders explaining Im overseas, and could they please issue the card based on that, so as I dont have to make a special trip home just to hand over some pics! The immigration officer suggested it, so if it works good, if it dont, well, my 10yr card will have to wait til Xmas. I certainly dont suggest you do that though, sending a letter in I mean ..LOL, its just that I had a slightly awkward situation, and wanted to share what I was up too...lol.

StellaR,.

Congrats on the wedding, hope you had a Happy Happy Day!

Jodee

hi jodee
thanks for that ..interesting huh...well will see what happens...where overseas are you based jodee ... hope its in a country that is safe for you and your hubby mate...

STEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEELAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

CONGRATS GIRLIE ... good to hear from you sounds like your happy and can't wait to see the pics...hope they turn out really well for you...
you picked a good date too how can hubby forget that lol...and i wont either that was my grandads and is my nephews birthdays lol

good luck to ya stella
take care mates
kath

[attachmentid=2361]


hey Kath this is a copy of the cover letter i used for me AOS and EAD hope it helps if you need any info just email me

angela

Kath i cant get this attached so i will email it to you and maybe you can post it here

angela

Anybody know of any companies that will ship belongings from South Australia to the US? If so, anybody know the average cost per kilo, etc...?

Fiance wants to know... she wants to send some stuff ahead of time if she could

david,

they charge by cubic foot, so it's the size not the weight.

get her to check out OSS. that's who i used and didn't have a problem.

matt

David, I used Grace Brothers in South Australia to ship all my stuff to the US, found them very good,professional,fast and reasonable cost.

Thanks everybody... just to let you know... My Stephanie and I are getting married this weekend in Las Vegas. We'll then proceed with the DCF process some time in November (Sydney walk-in)... I can't wait to finally get started. Thanks for all the questions I've asked... I'll definitely post my timeline once I've got started!

hellllloooo everyone...

its been a while... i'm so glad everyone seems to be doin' great... congrats on the bub matt, i didnt even know about it til just now....

smooth sailing in baltimore... tom and i bought a beautiful house and treehouse in the city, last week i got my first social work job after having graduated, my best friend is visiting for a month in oct and 2 weeks after she leaves i'm goin' home for three weeks... cannot wait... and that would be an understatement... i'm really curious though how much i'll miss my new home once back in oz... i've heard it's quite surprising....

and now that i've babbled.. i have a question someone can hopefully answer for me... is my alien number meant to change? i ask because it has, only noticed tonight when the number on some of my paperwork doesnt match the number on my permanent resident card... it matches some of the paperwork but not all of it... i found it odd.. 'cause of all the reading i've done i cannot remember reading that it changes.... what you think? sorry if it's very obvious that it does...

thankyou to whoever can assist....

take care everyone..........

jodie.

jodie,

thank you.

as far as i'm aware your alien number should not change. you might get in touch with the useful crowd (haha) at USCIS and see what they have to say about it.

matt

jodie,
While it's not 'meant' to change, it sometimes does. Are you looking at old documents?
If someone accumulates more than one A#, they are usually merged at the time of Adjustment. The one on your Green Card is The One.

(often it's the EAD that gets the new A#, don't know why tho. Some people have had 3 numbers!)

hi ya all

hope everyone is well and enjoying life itself..

well its posted finally...i at one stage reliased i needed 4 passport photo's i went to walgreens and they only gave me two for damm $8...went saturday to get another lot done..Walgreens machines were on the blink.so went to Rite-Aid..came across some ladies that didnt know what the hell they were doing..the photo produced had the top of my head cut off.. so i refused them explained what they are for an said no way am i was paying another $8 and getting a RFE on them...

so sunday went to another Rite-Aid..we dealt with the manager who knew what she was doing BUT the company that set them up with passport feature did NOT give them any guidelines to go by so I had to explain the sizing and the measurements for a passport photo...told her to go online to get them printed out..I really didnt expect this to happen in the States in Oz yes but not here...
after all that i got um and this afternoon all the forms were posted off to Chicago...with 5 days to spare...

keeping my fingers crossed for a quicker than 25th dec completion lol...and that we dont get any RFE's either..

take care you lot
kath

I have a tax question i hope someone can help me with. im doing my tax on line and im not sure how to answer a couple of questions... Am i a resident for tax purposes i was there for 6 months so if i put no then i have to pay way more tax if i put yes i get a return... but i dont have an aussie bank account any more so i cant put it on the tax form just wondering how much checking they might do. im not talking alot of money under $1000 just dont want to get in the ###### any ideas


angela

hi angela
send an email to matt he seemed to know more about it than me when you guys were discussing the tax thing last time remember angela..

tc
kath

angela,

is there anyone you can trust to send the cheque to? if so, put down their address as yours, when they get the cheque have them send it to you so you can endorse it to them. send it back to them to bank it and send you the cash.

as far as i know they don't do too much checking. i said i was a resident and i haven't been there since august last year. but i still have a bank account so they did a direct deposit...somewhere around $2000. as far as the ATO is concerned i live at my mothers address.

hope this helps. if you have any other questions just give me a yell.

matt

Thanks Matt i will look into some things and see what i come up with

angela

hi ya matt

how this for an aussie coincidence ... i posted my aos an ead on the same day you did...be interesting if the process has improved huh on my journey lol

how are thing going work life..has ya wife got over her morning sickness yet...

well im gunna go start some dinner.... 3 hours before robbie gets home wonder if i will have enough time to cook lol.. joke ...can't ya tell im bored outta my brains here...

well take care
kath

Hi all! Tons of questions I def. DONT know the answer to. Stewart's parents brought his tax documents so he can file for a refund. That's good cause we need the money. We still haven't even bought a second car yet!!

No news other than that. Counting down to our trip back to Oz! Flights over xmas are down to 1600 through AIr New Zealand. Not bad

Matt - yes update us on Jerren (I think I remember the name right)...hope ya'll are all doing well.

hi all,

work is good and keeping me busy. chanin is over the morning sickness but gets tired easily so we have to slow down a bit.

kath, it will be interesting to see if they have sped up any since i did mine last year.

attached is 2 of the ultrasound pics from last week...in the second one it looks like connor is waving at us.

take care,

matt

Great pics Matt!!!

That's so amazing to see!

hi matt
looks like ya boys ^5ing you...aint technology amazing damm its 21 or so years since i first seen mine..hell thats seem along time ago

you three take care now

kath

p.s. still no NOA1 the slacko's not even the cheques cashed..it seems worse this end than being apart lol...the wait im talkin about...lol

hi there

ok we got our NOA...question is ... is MSC====Missourri (not sure on sp) just wondering not stressing about it...
just glad were in the race with it all lol

Matt what was your first 3 letters on your NOA mate...

hope all is going well for everyone..were fine here...rang my sis an mum yesterday they were worried cos i hadnt rang for a while..sheesh i think i have a land line lol....

you guys take care
kath

thanks guys.

kath, mine was MSC as well, so it looks good for you so far.

matt

hi there

got this answer about MSC...how i missed this one i dont know

Your case undergoes preliminary processing at MSC (Missouri Service Center or National Benefits Center). Often it is the MSC that issues any RFE's for your case. The I-765 and I-131 are adjudicated at the MSC, while the I-485 is forwarded to your local district office for an interview or to the CSC for approval without an interview.

just thought i would post it in here just in case someone else doing AOS wanted to know...

thank matt for answering im hopin this application wont take long...

hope everyone is well and stayin out of trouble lol

kath

cooooooooooooooooooooooooooooeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

aussie aussie aussie

anyone listen to the grand final or did anyone get to watch it over here in the states..if someone did watch it can ya let me know where lol

i got the 3aw website up and listened to it on the net...damm it was an exciting game and i sure would of liked to of watched it...was great to hear rex hunt call the game and his antics made me an robbie laugh lol you dont realise you miss the aussie accent until ya hear it...and it sounds so broad lol if ya get what i mean lol

take care
kath

hi there

well today Mon. received my biometric appointment...but instead of going to cleveland local office they are sending me to Detroit..they must of heard all my moaning about going to Cleveland lol...ohh the power of suggestion is a mighty thing...and robbie was only asking this afternoon if i had heard anything about the appointment date yet lol..he's good..lol

only draw back is we dont get to meet up with one of our mates now..she lives near cleveland...

well were happy now we know whats going on..
take care
kath

oooh!! Glad you got the appt!! Good luck Kath!

awww thanks caroline..
been awfully quite in here ...lol
not long before u leave for oz...enjoy your stay

take care
kath

you got your appointment quick kath...i ended up making an appointment because it went past their own time allowed.

good luck.

matt

hi ya matt
thanks mate..yeah i know it goes along with the k-1 visa approval lol
they must of pulled their finger out or summit who knows with them...robbie was rapt too not having to go to cleveland...
so how are things going with u at your new job good i hope..me im going crazy ...i spend too much time on here reading up on things and trying to pass time by while robbie is at work...
i have survived 2 an half months of it so far...lol
take care you lot
kath

Hello all... to those I was in contact with in the middle of the year... I just wanted to let you guys know that Stephanie and I finally got married two weeks ago and our DCF process should begin by the end of November since I'll be doing a walk-in Thursday in Sydney instead of waiting on an appointment for Melbourne.

Cooeeee!! thought I'd better type a few lines. Still drop in to read some just slack now I'm here and got this old computer to contend with.

Big congrates David A and lovely Stephanie

And so cool seeing the new addition to your family so soon Matt.

Sorry Kath, just ain't the footy kind, no Rah Rah's from me.
Doing the AOS thingy now too, and so good of Kath to send me some of her always helpful info etc.

Wish I had that littlle mouse picture of Wenchies to put up here sometimes. So appreciative you guys are keeping the "'down under" alive. Getting pretty home sick, I can tell ya. Dreaming of local beaches and the smell of eucalyptus leaves, barbi's in the bush. Crazy nights out in Sydney. Had to ring a government office in Aussy the other day, so yeah the accent made me feel the guy was a great mate, so yeah know what ya mean. T'is a beautiful sound that Aussie accent.
Ranting now. Crying heaps watching the Steve Erwin special on TV, not just cause it was so sad but 'cause I was feeling so home sick.

Anyways besides all that, all's well here and hope it is with you all too,
Stella.

CONGRATS David!!!! I know you've been waiting a while for that Good luck and keep us posted

congrats david and stephanie...hope the DCF interview goes well for you good luck to ya....

awwwwwwwwwwww stella...we all know what ya going through ..i only cry when my boy rings me i miss him so much.....i do miss the feeling of belonging ya know what i mean...i could go out at home an know where i was going and not the feeling of ###### if i go this way i might get lost...i know it will take time especially when i dont drive here yet..god help um when i get on the road...lol
will email you stella..
well robbie has put in for his day off so i get an extra day with him next week all to myself..him working saturdays sux and he came home last night saying that they might be working saturdays till december...so he was pretty depressed about that..friggen work wants the nitro's built...hate it when a new jeep comes out...lol

well thats it for me
take care
kath

Quick question, I'm sure it's been answered and I can't remember where I saw it... but before I purchase this 1700$ ticket to Sydney... is it ok for me to submit the I-130 in Sydney although my wife lives in South Australia.

walk in thursday of course.

Couple of hours later... I found my answer. Lunamel added a post on one of the older threads "Australia DCF new changes"... I guess I can go ahead and purchase my tickets! I'm doing a walk-in in Sydney!!!

sheesh, I'm blowing up this thread aren't I anyway, the Sydney Consulate sent me an email stating I can file directly even though my wife is in South Australia... so once again, my question was answered.

hooooray!! Great news David!! Buy that ticket!! Are you using Air New Zealand? They have real cheap flights

I got a delta flight from Pensacola, to Atlanta then to LAX, and then a United Airlines flight from LAX to Sydney and back again for only $1675. I leave on the 27th of November so I'm sure it's a little pricier since it's just after Thanksgiving weekend (US Holiday). I prefer Delta when I fly domestic because they have never lost track of my luggage.

You're in p-cola!! When you get Stepahnie here we need to have a FL meet up soon!! I'm in Jax!! There aer three Aussie couples in FL now...you, us, and Lorelle!!

Well according to estimated timelines of DCF... i might have her here between January and March of 2007. I'll keep you updated.