I watch too many romantic movies!

It won't hit me until I see the visa in my passport, but I completely notice the difference between myself today and yesterday--now I can actually relax a little, and enjoy my time left here in the States

That sounds like an awesome situation.   I keep mentally going over my "happy path" for moving (i.e. the best case scenario).  At best, I'll get citizenship this month (unofficially, unless I can also squeeze in the ceremony), a passport next month, and a job interview/offer immediately after that.   More realistically, though, I'm still shooting for early 2010 to move, and hopefully a visit (with job interview(s)?) this fall.

I still have to start tackling selling all my stuff...procrastination for the win!  (I think once I get citizenship and the move becomes more "real", I'll be a lot more motivated to try and sell things, donate stuff, etc, but right now it's hot and my abdomen still hurts every time I stand up or walk, so I'm not very inclined to haul things around, or even clean things up.

*and I forgot FedEx is closed today, so I won't get my visa till Monday, urgh But it's in Oregon at least*

D'oh!  But at least you already know it's approved.   Kansas State was nice enough to tell me that they'd finished my pets' blood tests on July 1 and I should get the results in a week, but of course, they didn't tell me what the results actually were.  I'm 99% sure they should be fine, but it's that 1% that's bothersome.

D'oh!  But at least you already know it's approved.   Kansas State was nice enough to tell me that they'd finished my pets' blood tests on July 1 and I should get the results in a week, but of course, they didn't tell me what the results actually were.  I'm 99% sure they should be fine, but it's that 1% that's bothersome.

I hate it when that happens, I've had it happen to me in various forms throughout the years. It's bad when you *know* it'll be fine, but you'd love to hear it anyway

And actually, FedEx was a bit off--their office closed down, but they got it in the truck before they closed down, and the trucks are still out. So their computer said Monday, but the guy just dropped it off a little bit ago, so I chalk it up to their computers just automatically telling me Monday instead of today.

I was a big dork at first over it (it's in the visa thread, it's a bit embarrassing, but sorted). But now I think it's all sorted, and everything got back to me in one piece (minus the clips I used to bind it together ).

kf - ohhh have fab! What a way to start the holiday weekend!

I am just sitting around waiting and waiting as bf gets here tonight (3 hours) I have been stressed all day...Only has 1 hour 20 min to get thru DFW and get on his flight..Well they took off 66 minutes late then showed up on my alert he would not land until 5:40 and his flight was 6:05 - noooo way.  I called AA and she said no I show it at 4:58..I almmost got in my car to start to drive THEN I looked up the DFW to AUS flight well it is coming from CA and late by an hour! soooo now we have 1 hour 45 min to get thru DFW and catch the flight..

Woohoo I still won't be calm enough until I get the call he is in the AUS plane...

As for the rest of the discussion - everyone is different, it is what makes the world go round and each of you are great in your own way and help each person differently with support and true feelings...I know I'm new but I appreciate each person with their own honest feelings - so thanks

Happy 4th of July!

Awww eq, we have several blokes! Come on over, I'll introduce you. 

Becca, I've been forbidden from London by the hubby Only in very extreme cases would we go I think, but I'll be damned if I don't figure out how to make some Mexican food...well, once I learn how to cook anyway. Might as well not put the cart before the horse I suppose. I need to start with learning to cook things without 1.) burning the house down, and 2.) making it fit for human consumption.

But yeah, I'm a very introverted person, and very much a homebody--I never really have had the urge to go out and explore, at least not on my own. If I have others with me, awesome, but otherwise I just stay inside and poke around on my own. It's how I was raised I suppose--a naturally shy child, with a slightly overprotective mother, and then I turned into me as I am now. I don't go out really on my own unless I have something specific to do--Steve's the total opposite to me, but it works. He gets me out of my shell a bit, and I bring him back down to earth.

And like Sarah said, I know a few blokes too in Daventry who might be single

Awww eq, we have several blokes! Come on over, I'll introduce you.  

And like Sarah said, I know a few blokes too in Daventry who might be single

Awesome, I knew I liked you girls for a reason!  (Just kidding, you're awesome even without convenient single friends...)

In all honesty, I might be weirded out by the blind date concept (and yet not by the online dating one, go figure!), but I could probably get over that, in which case I might be contacting you both for details in a few months once I've moved.

Becca, I've been forbidden from London by the hubby Only in very extreme cases would we go I think, but I'll be damned if I don't figure out how to make some Mexican food...well, once I learn how to cook anyway. Might as well not put the cart before the horse I suppose. I need to start with learning to cook things without 1.) burning the house down, and 2.) making it fit for human consumption.

Awwwww, London isn't so bad!  But I guess I can see Steve's point  

I made Mexican food twice while I was visiting Tim. There's a pretty large selection of Old El Paso stuff in Tesco. It's not perfectly authentic, but it did the trick.  Cooking honestly isn't hard....if you need help, I can try to help via IM or teach you a few things after I'm back in the UK.

But yeah, I'm a very introverted person, and very much a homebody--I never really have had the urge to go out and explore, at least not on my own. If I have others with me, awesome, but otherwise I just stay inside and poke around on my own. It's how I was raised I suppose--a naturally shy child, with a slightly overprotective mother, and then I turned into me as I am now. I don't go out really on my own unless I have something specific to do--Steve's the total opposite to me, but it works. He gets me out of my shell a bit, and I bring him back down to earth.

Oh, I LOVE going exploring with other people, but I also have lots of fun doing it on my own!  I get a little stir-crazy when I'm stuck indoors for too long, so I would wander out during the week while Tim was working whenever I could. 

And like Sarah said, I know a few blokes too in Daventry who might be single

I know some up in Lincoln....but you have to like, er, older men and trains.

Hehe, probably if I really set my mind to it, I could cook, just not too well Steve's much better at it than I am (more out of necessity than anything I suppose), and he doesn't mind doing it, so I end up doing all the washing up which is fine. But he doesn't like Mexican food, so I'd be cooking for myself--especially if refried beans are involved, Steve hates those with a passion  I think I found Old El Paso in Morrison's once, but I'll have to try the Tesco in Daventry, I can't remember if they had anything last time I was there.

As for staying inside, my cure for boredom is WoW I'm not so bad that I won't do things around the house or go outside for it, but if I don't have anything else really to do, it's a good (and relatively cheap) time waster.

Before you leave, I'd suggest you pick up one of the following cookbooks (or all three):

*Betty Crocker
*Better Homes and Gardens
*The Joy of Cooking

I learned to cook from Betty. 

If you do pick up a cookbook in the US, don't forget to pack a set of US measuring spoons/cups too or you'll wind up having to look up conversions constantly.

The Betty Crocker book I picked up in the UK turned out to be a US edition.  I'm not sure what the UK equivalent to Betty would be, but I honestly learned from her cookbook(s). 

The idea is to start slow. Mexican is easy and unless you don't like uberspice, you can't really mess it up too badly. Spaghetti is easy.  Believe it or not, a basic steak is easy, too. 

I don't know how close Steve is to his mum or other female relatives geographically, but Tim's sister came over one day and helped to teach me how to cook in a UK kitchen (my biggest problem was the measurements!).

But if Steve's willing to cook  


(Tim's idea of cooking is to open a cardboard box.)

My mom does some pretty mean Mexican, and I'm sure if I applied myself to it I could do it--it's just not within my comfort zone, though my expertise is refried bean burritos in a pinch I am definitely the type that needs a recipe to follow and directions to lead me step by step, but I can do enough to live if I absolutely have to. It's just Steve is so much better at it than me, especially when he makes Shepperd's Pie and his chili and stuff

His relatives are all in Northampton, they're just not very good cooks either--usually just stuff from the freezer and into the microwave or oven--very nice women in his family, but Steve's definitely the best cook out of all of them. Now I just need to explain to him what you do for Thanksgiving and we're set.

Steve does have a set of US measurements though, but when he tells me he needs 200 grams of whatever, I just look at him like O.o. I'm sure measurements will be the thing that takes me the longest to adjust to, and the gas marks on his oven.

Me and Tim sound very similar in that regard though--I'm really good with things from the freezer section that I put on a tray and throw in the oven

I know some up in Lincoln....but you have to like, er, older men and trains.

Trains are cool.  I might have an issue with older men, though.   I have a self-imposed dating rule that anyone I date should be closer in age to me than my parents...and my parents had me ridiculously young (18/19), so that gives me roughly a decade window, but that's it.

Good news today: My pets' bloodwork came back, and they're good to go!!

I'll have to wrestle with the vet office a bit, I think, since they swear they have no forms with stickers on it (and even if they did, their initial impulse was to give me photocopies, not the originals, which is rather ironic since if I'm paying $200+, I would like the original forms, thanks!).  (For those of you not intimately familiar with the PETS scheme, the sticker is the bit of magic that verifies that the form/results are valid/accurate, so it's kind of vital to have it.)

That's one weight off my mind, though, since now my boys should be good to travel as of 12/12/09.

Good news today: My pets' bloodwork came back, and they're good to go!! :

That's one weight off my mind, though, since now my boys should be good to travel as of 12/12/09.

Congratuations! 

We had a nice night tonight, the boy and I. My mom visits on Saturday for two weeks!  We can't wait. She and I are going to do a bit of travel without the boy. London for 2 days (shows, the Eye, whatnot) Bath, Stratford, and Somerset.  And we'll spend a week around Cambridge too. 

I had to fight for the sticker form also, but was triumphant in the end!  Does your vet go through a third-party lab, or is everything done in-house?

Sounds like a great time, Sarah!  Enjoy!