VisaJourneyLady

You would. I wouldn't. I'm not posting to win an argument but to make sure the readers don't get the wrong information. I don't want anybody chasing "originals" that are either not needed or in many cases unobtainable based on somebody's gibberish. The stakes are just too high for that.

i double attached it - so lets try it once more!

I shipped a box back from the UK via UPS - was pricey for the weight of 58lbs - but came in on time and undamaged! Are you talking cd's or furniture?

yay, it worked! that is so beautiful, it must have taken you a long time!?

it's mostly cd's/dvd's/books/vinyl that i'd like to ship but i'd also like to bring my bike, some kitchen stuff and some other stuff i've accumulated over the years. i may well mail some of the kitchen/dining room related stuff but i don't think i could do it for the rest of the stuff.

you don't happen to know anything about civil marriages in louisiana do you?

smaller stuff can go book rate post - the other I wish you much luck!

and it's been awhile, but I went to the JP (justice of the peace) with my ex-husband back in 98 - pretty simple process. I'll look into non-resident marriages next week (thinking about exchanging vows under the live oaks myself! so checking all the options!).

And I am not done or near done with the dress! but thanks! can't see it in the photo, but the lace up top is got cute little pearl seed beads that I need to finish applying and there is loads more trim and hemming to do! But I have three weeks to get it done! Steve is coming over on the 26th - when were you?

wow, your dress looks amazing! Do you make lots of clothes? On the shipping front, if you have more than a smallish box, you should look for a thread called 'Yes! It's another shipping thread' that I started a while ago with lots of peoples experiences of various shipping options, and their experiences with some of the shipping companies.

As for the mince pies, shame the pastry didn't work out, but I suppose you got there in the end - the ones in the pic you posted look yummy!

Yay for Robin finishing with USCIS for the next few years

Happy New Year to all of you!

You are far from being an outsider, StP, or I should say, if you are, then I am too. Not being from the UK at all. But I say home is where you say it is.

not new year for me for a few hours, but happy new year to all the people still in the UK!!!

GMT would be in 1 hour. We could do it then

oh man, does the chilled pre-made dough beat my food processer dough. sucks.... *skulks off* *mumbles*....

Hmmm...thanks, aly. I'll try, but my advenntures with pastry have always have iffy results.

And yes, STP, you can pie frozen pie shells. They come in a cheap, disposable pie tin. You wouldn't approve, though, since you are tremendously green.

If you use a food processor for the dough, it just can't go wrong. Put in the butter first, add the dry ingredients, then the egg. Done.

Well then you'll have to get extras for any Bar Mitzvahs that might come in the future. You know what they say about a Bar Mitzvah that doesn't have crackers...

I live in CA, but I actually got my DL in FL, Miami to be precise. I entered on a CR-1 but it should be similar. All I needed was photo ID, my visa stamp and my SSN for the DL. And before you go, I would Strongly advise making an appointment at the office. It will seriously speed things up.

From what I hear, I think they make the DL run out when the 90 days on the visa is up, but not really sure what the procedure is from there.

Hey Hey, a new year, a new thread. How exciting!!

Just to throw it in, i have a flat screen television that i bought here in the uk, im wondering if it will work in the US and have it shipped over? It has freeview built in, im curious if it would work, thanks alot

the power in america runs differently to the uk. they run on 110v we run on 230/240v. unless your tv says it can run on 110v then it won't work, it's pretty unlikely that it would run on both but you can check on the back, it'll probably say somewhere. to solve this you can't just get a converter plug like you can for europe, it is totally different. i know you can get a transformer that converts the voltage but i don't think it'd be worth it, they're pretty big and expensive. american tv is also ntsc whereas europe uses pal, your tv may be able to display both, you'd have to read the manual on that one. i'm not sure about the freeview either.

You can't use those converters you get at Radio Shack? I bring the adapter and converter to any country

that I go and it works fine with all appliances.

I think rocks has already addressed why the problem is not simply the plug. Most converters are not also transformers, and they most certainly won't convert NTSC to PAL.

Crackers showed up in Ralphs today! They were with the New Years party stuff. Are they a New Years tradition here??

i forgot them till christmas day, even though we had our dinner christmas eve night. I'm very glad now that I didn't think of them, and didn't have any great expectations for them.

I think it would be perfectly fine, and fun to have them at your birthday!

When did she get to the US? Anecdotally people say that the hardest period is around 6mths - 12/18 mths. It's after the novelty has gone, most people have found work or begun a regular daily routine but have not really made too many friends or put down roots really.

HOWEVER, after a coulple of months you should know if the place you live is really somewhere you actually want to put in the effort for. If it's somewhere you will want to have roots. I'm sorry that this is just no advice, but you guys should have a really good talk, and figure out what you want from the place that you live, and where is the best option for this to happen. Maybe there's somewhere else in the US that fits the bill, or maybe you guys will go back to Thailand. I wish you guys luck.

i think it really depends on the individual. On of the hardest things is to know really how much stuff you would be bringing. Do you have furniture, or lots of other things that would be bulky? The options range from what you can in your luggage, a couple of boxes shipped, up to a whole container. When shipping the boxes, if you don't have that much, maybe air freighting would be worth the extra price, if you have tons, probably going to have to go for sea freighting and it can take 6-12 weeks for your stuff to arrive.

ok, they turned out to be the crappest ever! they were just mini ones from world market, but all of the prizes were single orange plastic disc, like tiddlywinks. Oh well, at least the eggnog had plenty of rum in it...

wow, these had me giggling so much, C wanted to know what was so funny. And I'm happy to say that he even got the Dis-ney one. (though at the beginning of the joke i had to say 'imagine i'm talking in a scottish accent')

i'll add in my cracker jokes once I open them tomorrow

I thought I would drop in to tell those of you pining for white Christmases that it is OVERATED. It is currently -15F with the wind chill and it took 2 hours to do a drive that normally takes 40 minutes. Oh yeah, and my life flashed before my eyes as I spun out on some black ice. Fortunately, my winter driving skills are still sharp! We are looking forward to going to England, where it will be warmer.

oh lord! glad to hear the old skills kicked in!

And Happy Christmas everyone! I'm celebrating a little earlier than usual because I'm coordinating a gift opening session with my family in Ireland, hopfully over a webcam.

Now I'm going to brave the grocery store, just one more time

It's pronounced 'Neeeve', wow 76 cousins - are there a lot of really big families?

I have no idea how many cousins I have, ummm, my dad's side is smaller just 7, my mum's side 17, so actually not that many, but the little girl I couldn't remember was one of 5 girls, Aisling, Sinead, Ailish, Siobhan, and the one I couldn't remember - Niamh. I could picture her, but couldn't for the life of me remember her name.

Is it totally f*cked up that I dreamt about roast potatoes last night? I was reading delia's recipe as I was going to bed, and I dreamt that I put them on to parboil forgot about them, and them they were falling apart as I was trying to roast them. weird.

my favourite christmas tree I've ever had

Just had to call home, cos I was doing christmas cards (i know they'll be late, but I'm sending them anyway) and I couldn't remember the name of one of my cousins! Oh lord, I've been away from home a while.

I think he's learned at least one lesson this morning.

Tuscon, I'm so glad the Eric has returned safe and sound to you. What a crappy thing to have to endure.

but I already called them pants?

I have just got off the phone with a snooty French #######. I love it when Europeans think they know more about "the world" than us provincial American rubes as she attempted to explain how the Hong Kong television market works. She got everything wrong and I corrected her (nicely), she condescendingly told me that since HK was part of the "Democratic Republic of China" (sic) it was all the same and controlled out of Beijing. Something in me flipped and I had to smack her down - but what would I know? I'm just a dumb American who only lived and worked there for a year and helped set up a department there. I must learn to defer to my European betters.

See now that'll learn ya, Robin. Stop trying to look smart. You merikins have, at best, book lernin. We fayncey europeens have built in smarts. We're just more sofisticated from birth you know.

fewer than you'd think, actually

mostly it's 'crikey!' and things of that nature

however, I had an experience on the weekend that I've only ever heard about - I thought it was too cliched to ever happen, but I was wrong!

I was standing outside the supermarket waiting for Dave to bring the car over, and a guy started talking to me... I'd only said a few words when he said 'so, you from London?' to which I had to explain that sort of, but no; I'd been living there but am really from Australia (a VERY COMMONLY REQUIRED explanation in my life here )... he then smiled knowingly, nodded, and said 'oh, Australia... Arnold Schwarzenegger, yeah?'

I have to admit I wasn't able to keep myself from laughing... he didn't say much more after that

I have no words. That is too funny.