Garfield fan

Terribly sorry to hear about your loss...

We probably will go to my brother-in-law's place and cook some turkey. Hubby always gets free turkey from his workplace every Thanksgiving, and so does his brothers. Otherwise, we will just stay home and cook something...

I don't and neither do my hubby.

Congrats for being smoke free !!

Congrats !! Sooo happy for both of you !

Are you talking about education certification ? I used IERF to evaluate my degree but I did it only because my current employer asked me to. Before that, I went from one temp agency to another and neither one of them wanted to look at my degree.

I think it highly depends on what kind of job that you are looking for, it might help for some jobs and it might not make any difference for other.

Job hunting can be tricky for us, immigrants. Don't get discouraged by other people that can find a job quick, because the opportunity greatly depends on where you live and how far you are willing to commute. Regarding references, you can always use personal references if you have one. If you haven't had any friends here, maybe you can use your spouse's friends ?

A temp agency is a good place to start if you really want to work ASAP.

My friend wanted to adopt a child from The Phillipines

Why? Are they somehow better than American children?

Just curious -- why do people have this obsession with the Philippines that

they go halfway across the globe to get married and adopt children?

Well, my friend is a Filipina herself and she came here under fiancee visa. She was having problem conceiving and she knew that there were a lot of Phillipines children that needed helps, so I guess for her case, it's her nationalism towards her home country that plays a role. Not sure about other people though...

But if you do want to pursue with adoption, it's better to do it locally. International adoption is a bit spendy (I heard it's about 20 grand) and the paperwork will be much more complicated.

Not necessarily true. That really depends on the international agency you work with and the country the child is coming from.

The number one issue you are going to have with any adoption is, unfortunately, your age. Age and health of the parents are taken into account by agencies.

My best friend and her husband adopted 2 children from India through the Holt Agency, which is a highly reputable long-established Christian based international agency. One reason they chose to adopt from India was because the Indian government had less stringent criteria about the age of the parents. I also know they didn't pay 20 grand to do this. But....it wasn't cheap.

I personally wouldn't do a domestic adoption. Ever. There are too many times that momma or daddy change their mind and decide they want the child back. It really does happen - not just in the movies.

If you want to do some good in the lives of older children, why not consider being a foster parent? Loads of good can come of that..........

My friend wanted to adopt a child from The Phillipines, she asked around and talked to several lawyers and agencies, almost all of them quoted her a $20,000 total cost (as they need to fly over there and do all the checks). I know it depends on the country where you want to adopt from, so don't quote me on that, I just shared some info that I heard from a friend. Regardless, international adoption is not cheap, so do thorough research.

Coming from a not-so-much-of-a-kids person, adoption is not for me. But if you do want to pursue with adoption, it's better to do it locally. International adoption is a bit spendy (I heard it's about 20 grand) and the paperwork will be much more complicated.

I sent them an email and also called them. When I called, the person told me to send email notifying them that you want to proceed with AOS in US instead of pursuing your CR1 back home. I think calling them is the best way to go, then you just see what they say.

Congrats to kaydee !! I love Sam's Club, we always get good deal there so I don't care even if the King of Satans himself found it, I will still go there ... LOL !

Cute pictures !!

I hear ya... my first flight to US: had to stay overnight in Singapore airport as the next flight was supposed to leave at 6 am, got up at 3 am only to find out that the flight (it was Northwest) was cancelled !!! Got bumped to other airlines and had to transit in LAX instead of direct to MSP, and I was over 9 hrs late. But all these craps were washed away once I got in hubby's arms

Well, we got it way before you did. It was snowing last week here in southeast MN...

An RFE on the AOS petition will indeed slow down the EAD.

Local DO's no longer issue temp EADS.

Ah, things have changed a lot since I got my GC... Anyway, good luck to the OP !

You mentioned that your parents had stocks, bonds, etc. I believe they can consider these as assets, so as long as what they have exceeds the poverty guidelines, I don't see why you should have problems. Another thing is it takes time to process AOS, so by the time you have your interview, you probably will have new job and so will Anh, and you can use your new income to make new affidavit. You can even use Anh's income if she's worked for over 6 mths at the interview time. I know the officer that interviewed us asked for new tax return as it's been over a year since we filed it.

I don't think the co-sponsor situation will affect Anh's EAD. And she can always go to the local DO and get temporary one if she hasn't heard anything after 90 days.

3+ hrs should be enough. It's better to end up having to wait for the connecting flight than cursing yourself for taking the earliest one possible and missing it. Maybe you can find things to do at JFK while waiting for your next flight. Have a safe trip !

It's Jeffrey !! I like his collections, but I don't like the two blue dresses, they just seemed too odd for me...

I actually like Uli's the best (to my own surprise !!), I really like the long sleeve silver dress and the swimsuit.

Sooo glad that Laura didn't win, she is such a two-faces-freakin-b!tch !! Cannot believe that after Tim declared that Jeffrey didn't cheat, she out of a sudden said "I didn't want to make him cry, I didn't mean to make him not showing at Bryant Park... " bla bla bla... what a hipocrite ! If you are a B! at least admit it to yourself that you are one ...

Michael's was very blah... not a surprise that he lost.

ETA: ooppss, I guess I just spoiled the rest of you guys living in west coast. Sorry, couldn't help it !

Oh , I see..........

I didnt realize they actually logged your info. Thought it was like buying booze, they look and then make the sale.

Well I guess it's a good thing then..... but geeez after you buy cold medicine and show i.d. are you then placed on some kind of " watch list"?

I think so. I believe they record how many tablets/pills/whatever you buy and how often. If you buy in excessive amount in short period of time, they probably will report you to the police or something.

Anyway, other alternative is Claritin or its generics. Hubby switched to Claritin ever since the hassles came out. Took him over 15 minutes at Walmart to get Sudafed, so he decided to try something else and Claritin works as good since his sneezing and coughing are caused by allergy/hay fever, not common cold. But if you do suffer from common cold, then probably try Nyquil or Dayquil.

I would like to throw Jim Kerry into the mix,

Do you mean Jim Carey ? The one at "The Mask" and "Liar Liar" ? well, I actually like him better than Robin Williams. I think Robin Williams is okay, funny but not hilarious...

Based on what I saw tonight, I don't think Michael is gonna win. His collections were a bit "unusual" in a negative way. I couldn't see what Uli really has, but I'm pretty much done with her print and safari thingy. Laura's is okay, good but not very impressive.

I really like Jeffrey's regardless he sew it himself or not. It will be too bad if he cheated though. I mean he should have learned from what happened to Keith that the producers really do not tolerate that kind of act, so I hope next week they will prove Laura wrong.

Another spanking/swatting supporter here !

I have never lived close to Minneapolis but I heard the public transportation system there is quite poor. I don't see any realistic ways for Minneapolis to force cab drivers to take all passengers regardless of their faiths/genders preference, etc etc. One of the more plausible ways to tackle this is by creating more public transportation, such as buses, trains, etc which in turn will create 'competition' for these cabbies. When people have more choices on how they travel, these 'picky" cabbies will have to adjust or get out of the business. Just my opinions.

Well, my house is visibly clean and smells good too, and it takes hard work for me to keep it that way. So unless you want to help me clean it, you better take your shoes off. Of course it's not a hard and fast rule, I allow some exceptions... If the host of the house that I visit demands shoes on, I will respect that too.