Lisa’s Place

GoDaddy says, “Happy Independence Day” (with redcoats and everything).

It’s been 3 months exactly since we filed our K-1 Visa Application with  US Citizenship and Immigration Services.   Sometimes it doesn’t seem that long ago (in patient, “It’ll happen soon” moments); other times, it seems like ages.

We’re waiting for approval on the US side, then approval on the UK side.  We should be able to have Ian fly over in late September.   Cross your fingers and say a few prayers for us, ok?

In other news, I managed to get out to Hobby Lobby today and just pick some flowers for the wedding.   Normally, I go into the store, start building a bouquet, get frustrated, put the flowers back, and leave the store.   But today was different.   I picked my favorite flower, ranunculus, to be accented with wild field roses (in red).    I also bought some cream zinnias and ivory rosebuds.

Photos to come.   I know you can’t wait.  

I sent off for our marriage license, too, which, handily enough, you can do in Nebraska without being there in person. (yay)

I’m learning a LOT about flowers, as I try to choose some flowers I like for the wedding.  I think we’re going with silk, so I’ve been hanging around silk floral websites looking for odd things like “parrot tulips”.

I can now see a french garden rose and know exactly what it is and differentiate it from all the other roses.   Begonias.   Caladium leaves.   Lisianthius buds.   And my favorite: ranunculus.

I blame Martha Stewart, in a nice, sort of “Thank you for some amazing ideas” sort of way.

Welcome to Nebraska, land of the 110F heat factor, after adjusting the actual temperature, due to humidity, to describe the temperature it “feels like”.

Since we have air conditioning here, wearing glasses in high humidity heat can be interesting.   Due to the extreme temperature difference between inside and out, glasses need a few moments to become foggy and clear up before becoming that appliance that’s supposed to be helping you see.

Interestingly enough, the College World Series is happening this week; the hottest week of the year, so far.   The news reports that everday, one or two people are carried out on stretchers due to heat exhaustion.    You have to admire that sort of dedication to baseball.

I happened to catch on the news that the CWS represents $60 some-odd million in revenue for the city.   We’ve hosted the CWS for years and years.   We’re even considering building a new stadium, although I don’t see what is so wrong with the old one.

We’re in for another toasty day!

Her:  “Did you see the dead birds?”   

Me:  “What?”

Her:  “Look over there”

There were 5 dead baby birds laying on the concrete.  One baby bird is left alive, but perched on a protrudance of vinyl above the apartment complex door.    It’s flapping its wings to test them.   I bet he could fly down to the ground, but he doesn’t seem sure.

The mother bird is a foot away, in her nest.   Not doing anything.   I want her to do something to save her baby bird, but she is just attending to whatever is left in her nest.

I put some disposable gloves on, rummage up a shoe box, and scooped the dead babies up from the pavement.  I stare at the live baby bird for 15 minutes, watching it test its wings, then just sit there on its perch.

Later, I went to get something from my car.    When I came back, the mother bird was on the perch with her baby.  I have a feeling they might be in for a long night, unless the flight training goes well.

I hope it does.

I nabbed this from Cooks.com, and it is really much better than the (ahem) boxed mix I normally use, and it’s quick to make and bake.   I used basil and garlic, since I had no powdered anything.  Tip:   Add a bit of salt.

—————–
QUICK PIZZA DOUGH
—————–

1 pkg. Quik Rise dry yeast (Red Star)
1 c. lukewarm water
2 tbsp. vegetable oil
1 tbsp. honey
2 1/2 c. flour
1/2 tsp. garlic powder (no salt)
1/2 tsp. onion powder (no salt)

Mix yeast in water in glass bowl. Add other ingredients. Mix
well by hand. Let sit in bowl 5-10 minutes, covered by
towel. Flatten on greased pan. Add your own topping. Bake
at 450 degrees for about 12 minutes.

Grease hands for nonstick mixing.

I have ordered a wedding dress.     I have mail-ordered through jcrew.com.   If I don’t like it for whatever reason, I just box it back up, drop it in the post, they keep $7 for shipping and refund the rest.

Not a bad deal, really.  

P.S.  Darnit.  I said “post”.   I’m being assimilated, aren’t I.

And you are?  :)

Things have been quite busy lately, and maybe a scosh stressful.

Work:  I have been working hard and doing other people’s work and muddling through the afteraffects of redundancies, leavings and other miscellany.   I have my job, but it’s been stressful.   I’ve been letting things get to me.   Sometimes my day seems like a slew of joking around and not taking things seriously, which I could mostly do without.   The key is to keep busy, I think, and work to change my tolerance levels.  

Expecting:  The good news is that we are expecting an alien.. and not what you are thinking.   Ian is moving to the US!   We are mid-visa-process, which involves lots of fun paperwork, mostly on Ian’s part now, and lots of fun waiting.    Our petition, which included proof of who we are, a resume citing where we’ve lived and worked for… ages…., proof of our relationship, photographs, and a couple of handy notes saying, essentially, “Yes, darn it.  We do actually want to get married”, involved a couple weeks of work and over 75 pages of documentation.

The fun part was photocopying everything.   Photocopying machines and I do NOT get along.   I called Ian midway, very perturbed after several paperjams and dealing with feeding irregular sizes of paper, ready to just lose my mind.  He said, “Step back from the machine… keep stepping back….  Now.   Take a deep breath.”    :D  (Fecking photo machines)

We’re watching a site called visajourney.com to see where we stand in the process.   So far, most of the February people signed up for the site have been approved and some March approvals have even rolled in.   April (our month) will not be far behind.

Once the petition is approved, then it’s shipped to London, where Ian fills out another batch of paperwork, I send him a few more things, then he makes medical and interview appointments, gets approval, gets his visa in his passport and then flies over.

[Having seen a window of opportunity to tell his boss about his impending plans, the cat is now out of the bag, in that regard.  It went well, really, although I'm guessing it was a tough conversation.  Ian enjoys his job so much.]

We get married.

We apply for an “adjustment of status” (so he can permanently stay), “advanced leave” (so he can leave the country and be let back in) and permission to work.

We have a wedding to plan, social security cards to get, and someone needs to learn to drive on the wrong side of the road while looking in opposite spots for oncoming traffic.

We are hoping for October.   And it just MAY happen by then, by the look of it.

So, there.   That’s how I’ve been spending my summer so far.    I’m not wishing my life away, but I’m hoping for a speedy summer.    Ok, maybe I am.  

For a man who listens to everything with a loving heart

So, I have finally come close to running out of Ambien, after a year of taking it almost nightly.     For a light sleeper, it’s heaven to go to bed within 20 minutes of taking a pill and waking up 7 hours later.    It’s good sleep.   Why can’t I do this sleep thing naturally?

I have 2 pills left.  I could wean myself off slowly by cutting them into quarters.  I only took half anyway.   I can’t believe that, at one time, a whole pill was required.

“Pah!” to the people who say it eventually loses it’s effectiveness.

In desperation, I bought some Benedryl.   I figured, if nothing else, it would alleviate my allergies.    It also gave me a nice nap for some of the afternoon.

Having not slept for a lot of last night.

So far, the withdrawal symptoms:

• insomnia
• mild panic attacks, here and there (joy)

But at least I feel more like “me”.

I expect that tomorrow, I can add “irritability” to the list.  I AM going back to work, afterall.