childress_london

I know what you mean, when I was living in Dartmouth, drinking tap water was a GIANT no-no. Simply because, although we had the Atlantic Ocean, anything that went down the drain ended up in the harbor...and we didn't really have any major water treatment plant..so it was just a NO. DON'T DO IT.

Houston water is pretty good. I drink it from the tap all the time.

Hey guys, I'm signing up for the Custom House foreign exchange service everyone recommended. But it doesn't state fees anywhere on the site. How much do they charge to transfer funds to Canada?

Thanks!

It's FREE!!

Free?? WOW. How do they make money then?

I married my husband in August and of course he is still in Canada, has never been to the U.S. (and he is an Iranian citizen living in Canada.) I am trying to file Married Separately, but it seems I need a SSN for him, which of course he doesn't have. What do I do?

BTW he is a student and not currently working.

NV, I found out that I have to file as single, since he does not have a SSN.

Hey guys, I'm signing up for the Custom House foreign exchange service everyone recommended. But it doesn't state fees anywhere on the site. How much do they charge to transfer funds to Canada?

Thanks!

Interesting story here, a young girl in NJ is being deported, strange set of circumstances:

http://www.philly.com/philly/hp/news_updat..._cut_short.html

These stories make me so mad. But, this girl is married to an American citizen. So I don't understand why he can't just file a petition for her as his wife? The story mentioned something to that effect, but in one mysterious sentence. LOL.

Well, my case is unique I think. My husband is from Iran and is in Canada on a student visa and we got married there. I'm just wondering how difficult this will be for us since he is a citizen of another country, especially Iran? He has already been denied a visitor visa and a student visa to the U.S. supposedly based on insufficient proof that he would return to Canada or Iran. Will that effect the decision made on the K-3?

Thanks!

if he is a student,as long a he has a student permit for at least 6 months prior to moving to States he should be fine....I read that somewhere before I am still looking for the link ..I can't remember...

Yes his student visa is good for another year or two and he just got a work permit, so no worries there. I'm just wondering how the consulate will look at him being Iranian and not Canadian. He's already been discriminated against.

I married my husband in August and of course he is still in Canada, has never been to the U.S. (and he is an Iranian citizen living in Canada.) I am trying to file Married Separately, but it seems I need a SSN for him, which of course he doesn't have. What do I do?

BTW he is a student and not currently working.

Well, my case is unique I think. My husband is from Iran and is in Canada on a student visa and we got married there. I'm just wondering how difficult this will be for us since he is a citizen of another country, especially Iran? He has already been denied a visitor visa and a student visa to the U.S. supposedly based on insufficient proof that he would return to Canada or Iran. Will that effect the decision made on the K-3?

Thanks!

Me, USC, 46

Him, Alien, 25

I couldn't take the poll BTW. It kept giving me an error message. Maybe our age difference overloaded the system!

My favorite soup is onion soup. Can't get any easier than that and it's great on a cold day.

Put some butter in a frying pan and add 1 large chopped onion. Cook until the onion is turning brown. Add 1tsp flour, stir well, then moisten with a little warm water. Add enough boiling water (I use vegetable stock in mine) to bring the total liquid to 2 cups. Pour soup into a pot, bring to boil and cook for 8 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste. In a serving bowl, place small pieces of stale bread or toast and sprinkle grated parmesan cheese over them. Add soup and serve.

It's your money and choice what goods and services you want. I've never had a newspaper subscription, a more expensive cell plan or a pool. Hard times might make for less waste as you find you can live without the frills.

I made a comment on another thread about living without cable/satellite and just getting a TV antenna. I was somewhat surprised no one felt that was even an option.

I too do not subscribe to cable. I only subscribed to the $20/month Internet service from the local cable supplier. But guess what? I get around 25 channels on cable anyway! I don't watch tv much, so not subscribing to cable was no big deal, but it's nice to have a few channels for no extra money. :-)

VISA APPROVED! Just got word today! On to NVC! - sorry I should say I-130 approved. I'm getting a bit ahead of myself. I'm just so excited!

WOW that's great! Congrats!

lol apparently all of us go grocery shopping on saturday! I got the stuff to make a baked spinach dip and a mexican layer dip today. Taco's....its whats for dinner!

Mmmm...that sounds yummy. Can I come over?

Wow, I can't imagine managing money this way. My husband isn't with me yet, so I don't have any real money experience with him, but with my ex, we had a joint account, all money was our money, and I managed it, paid the bills, etc. This worked out great because he was bad at managing money. So far with my current husband, if he has the money, he won't let me pay for anything. He's a poor student living in poverty and he still manages to pay for everything when I come visit, he's paid for some of our fees, he's even paid for some of my plane tickets. If for some reason he thinks he has extra money, he asks me if I need any! So far he has been great in this area. We'll see what it's like when we are actually living together.

Oh wow, I am SO sorry. On top of everything you have been going through!

ok ladies and Charles.... going to take my husband to meet my mother and sister today.....should be interesting to say the least... Harley riding tattoo ladies meeting my conservative muslim husband.. just screams of "interesting times" lol

LOL sounds like book material.

Happy birthday and remember, there are no calories in birthday cake!

So is this idea about innovation only Shia? I am always interested in both sides of the equation. I will check out the shiachat too. Thanks.

Oh, no, I just noticed that your SO is from Iran, so I made the leap that he was shia and maybe you wanted information from that point of view. What I posted above is the 2 divergent sunni view points - all bida is bad vs. there is good bida and then there is bad bida.

That's OK, that's an obvious assumption. Actually he's not religious and doesn't care to discuss religion. But I am curious about everything, so when I read about this the other day, it just seemed confusing to me. Of course, I think it would be important for me to know the Shia point of view since his parents are Shia, but I also like to know the Sunni beliefs as well. B)

Jen, your knowledge astounds me every time I read something you post. My hat is totally off to you!

It's all the fault of high school debate. I learned how research research research as a debater. But really, what I know is nothing in the grand scheme of things. I'm just a student at the beginning of the path.

If you are at the beginning, I don't even have my big toe in the door yet! The way you put your info is really helpful and understandable for folks like me who are trying to learn and sometimes just don't get it. Just appreciating you girl!!

Hey, just keep walking through that door. The sahaba had 23 years to learn Islam from the Prophet (saws), so there's no reason why we shouldn't also have time to learn too.

you know what is interesting i asked my moroccan husband if he is Maliki he doens't know... hummmmmmm

People these days affiliate less with the traditional madhabs of their areas, due in part to the influence of the la-madhab movement out of Saudi Arabia. Petro dollars buy a lot of influence.

From my understanding the timeline is within three days but I am not certain as to the why???? Perhaps that is what was done with the Propeht (pbuh)?

Everything in Islam is because that's the way the Prophet (saws) did it

Thanks for your help. Maybe I should use the "call a Muslim" number. LOL. Have you heard of it?

1-800-why islam? They're sunni based, and I'm not sure if they'd have shia info, but it wouldn't hurt to ask Shiachat probably has some knowledgable people who'd be happy to answer shia questions.

So is this idea about innovation only Shia? I am always interested in both sides of the equation. I will check out the shiachat too. Thanks.

I'm not familiar with the shia view of bida (innovation), so I can't help you on that front.

Bida within sunni islam refers to innovations in religious practices. While at times in history, groups of muslims have been reticent to accept techonological innovations (the Ottomans and the printing press, the Saudis and the radio), when muslims speak about bida, they're using it in the religious practices sense of the word.

There's a disagreement as to whether the prophetic injunction against bida is absolute or conditional. My increadibly simplistic take on the matter - either you accept bida hasana (good bida), or you don't, and that's what colors your whole view of islam.

Sh. Nuh Keller provides the "classical" view of bida, in that certain types of innovation are allowed.

Sh. al-Uthaimeen provides the view that there is no such thing as a good bida.

In general, the former view was the majority view throughout most of history, and the later view has only come into force in the last few centuries.

If you want to see a good illustration of this debate, look at any argument over sufism's role in Islam. It's either, ooooo sufism is all bida thus it's haram, or sufi practices are good bida, which are allowed under most jurists. That's the debate that goes on in my household weekly

Thanks for your help. Maybe I should use the "call a Muslim" number. LOL. Have you heard of it?

I'm racist against caps lock.

I think why some people are attacking instead of offering support is because of the lack of details. It seems like anytime somebody screams green card fraud, that's all they say and nothing else, leaving the rest of us hanging wondering what the heck happened. It's very frustrating and does nobody any good. Please if you want to share your experience, at least be forthcoming with some information about your circumstances.

Responding to all posts in one:

Sneaky kitty. Strong too.

Drawstring on sweater. Yeah. It would have to have been thrown strong enough to have left a visible mark long enough for the police to get there and see it. Yeah. Hard to absorb that.

I love funny t-shirts. I bought my kids some from engrish.com. I love that website.

Whoooo, Flames! Way to go!!!

Okay, back to laundry.

LOL @ engrish.com. Sooo reminds me of Japan!

And yet another "timeline", just to add to the hysteria.

http://www.iranwatch.org/ourpubs/articles/...rtimetable.html

I'm confused about the prohibition on innovation. What does this mean? Is this like the Quaker idea where they don't use any modern technology? I have a feeling that the majority of Muslims must ignore this rule, or I am hopelessly confused. LOL.

I don't know about someone new to this country, but I was laid off from work a few years ago. It took me 6 months of sending out endless resume's and applications EVERY WEEK before I finally found a job BELOW my education and experience. I have sinced then had to work my way back up! So I say, if your husband is at least actively searching, don't expect a miracle, especially now with companies laying off employees left and right.

Oh, and I had to relocate too. I wasn't just applying in my city. I was applying all over my state and even in other states.