Soft kitty, warm kitty, little ball of fur

We spent the morning taking me down to the immigration building in Detroit to get my fingerprints and photograph taken for my residency and work petition which is another step closer to being sorted, but still so far away from being finished. Then we went for buffet lunch in Mexico-town which was oh so very tasty. As a result today's post is a bit of a stock filler. Without having the garden to mess around with my macro shots Ed became the subject yesterday [Smokey is still too timid to sit still enough with the camera around]. That or Ed is rather vain.

Our Wedding Sampler

Being partial to a bit of crafting, I thought I would design myself a wedding sampler. Why design my own rather then merely buy a kit? Because the ones I found to buy [somewhat limited] were either super traditional or super cute [IE teddy bears]. Neither are us. Being a fan of blackwork - which is basically working with backstich in creating patterns. So I thought I'd use that as my basis, searching on google images, pinning things as I went and a bit of imagination I managed to create this in just over a month;

Measuring a fair 8 x 13 inches it features wedding chains, roses to represent my Yorkshire roots, love hearts, snow flakes because we got married in December and it snowed on our way to Chicago for our honeymoon and also a quote from Captain Corelli's Mandolin that featured in our wedding ceremony. It was so fun to sew, knowing it was marking such an important mile stone in our relationship and lives.

I framed it myself using special backing board for sewing projects and a frame that was on clearance. Over all the project cost just under $15 which was really good going seeing most shop brought samplers were at least $25. It now proudly hangs upon our wall above the TV - it has the pride of place in the whole apartment!

Have you ever designed any sewing projects? Did you do anything special craft wise to mark your wedding day?  What are you crafting at the moment?

Lets take a blast to the moon baby

Our weekend clockwise from the top left - Southfield Antiques Expo and the goodies we brought, Fridays OOTD for getting fish n chips at Applebees Jumper - Target, Shirt - H&M, Trousers - Zara, Necklace - Charmed Charlies. Ed spotted playing with the typewriter, giving up pop for lent has led me into investigating more of the fancy teas Joe has in his cupboard - this one in particular being a new favourite. Making strawberry margarita's on Saturday night - a new addiction and detailing of our new vintage teapot.

On Saturday we went to the Southfield Antique and Vintage expo here in Michigan which was a show I'd been looking forward to for ages. The hall was filled with all kinds of vintage goodies, from old clothes, posters, toys, antiques and lots of vintages ladies accessories - from buttons [oh so many buttons], bags, costume jewellery and my favourite thing - vintage compacts. As with these exhibitions a lot of the compacts were over priced [predominately being priced between $60-$180 dollars] but we managed to find two which were reasonable priced and in a fair condition - a Bourjois and a Rex compact which I'll blog about in the future in more detail. There was also a stall selling plate stands which I use to display my compacts so we grabbed a load of those because they aren't the easiest thing to find.

Although I did get slightly disheartened about collecting compacts yesterday when your constantly faced with not being able to find information on the internet about manufacturers and feeling somewhat faulduant because of it when it comes to blogging and writing about then in comparison to the big name compact collectors who also have blogs. Gah.

Driving back we happened upon the Mitt Romney campaign bus - currently in America is the big Republican candidate leader campaign to decide who will run against Obama for president, the vote for which in Michigan is on Tuesday. Not to get political but I don't side with republicans for their views and it was weird seeing his bus that close to our apartment. To get over it we drank posh wine and made strawberry margaritas from scratch which were delicious - I totally got into drinking margaritas on our honeymoon and they are my weakness.

I was trying to think up something to give up for lent although I'm not religious but I'm all for a challenge and if it helps saves us money - all the better. I opted to give up drinking pop/soda for the next six weeks. Its something I never drank it in the amounts I did before moving to the states at the expense of not drinking enough water. It's been the perfect opportunity to drink more fancy tea too. Our friend has been clearing out a family members house and gave us a teapot to re-home, it has gorgeous porcelain rose heads and leaves decorated out around the sides.

Did you have a good weekend? Anything planned for this week? 

Rocky Road - instant cheer me up!

After getting a little down about things on Monday/Tuesday, I craved one of the things I often use to treat myself to at lunchtimes when I was working - Rocky Road. While my version may never match the bars I use to treat myself to from Marks and Spencer, this offers a cheap and super quick version. I love the fact that this recipe gives you the freedom to add and try different ingredients from alternating the chocolate, marshmallow sizes, other sweet goodies and nuts. You can even make it with, or without condensed milk - there are tonnes of recipes out there just have a google and see which takes your fancy.

What I used;

What I used;

2 cups of semi sweet chocolate chips

1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

3 cups of mini marshmallows

1 and half cups of bashed about honey roasted peanuts

The mixture before heading into the fridge. 

All you need to do is carefully melt your chocolate chips in a bowl over a pan of hot water on the oven, then add in the vanilla. In a separate bowl measure out the rest of the indigents. Pour in the melted chocolate and stir in until just mixed. Add the mixture into a lined baking tray and pop into the fridge to harden for at least two hours and make sure to lick the spoon. Then cup into squares when it's hardened and enjoy!

Lets just say it went down well with the husband and our close friend. Are you a rocky road fan? What type of indigents and recipes do you use?

So that's another week down also can't believe I'm so close to 500 followers! I hope you all have a lovely weekend, we're hopefully off to a vintage/antique expo and spending the rest of the time head long into a new sewing project!  Do you have any exciting plans?

Kaley Cuoco

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When I saw these photographs of Kaley I just knew I had to post them. Alongside Danielle from American Pickers Kaley is one of my greatest inspirations; idols, I love her attitude and style. Acting as Penny - the female star of The Big Bang Theory - which happens to be my all time favourite comedies - we watch reruns every night, seek them out on You Tube and as I've mentioned before I always sing Soft Kitty. I constantly want Penny and Leonard to get, and stay together. I first came across Kaley after finding reruns of 8 Simple Rules and I still see, perhaps wrongly the early days of Penny as Bridgette living in Detroit. Now Kaley is the cover star of American magazine Zooey and she looks truly gorgeous. Don't you just love all the pastels, the sixties theme and those shoes?

Zooey magazine are also giving you the chance to win Kaley's autograph via their twitter page [deadline 29th Feb 2012] details are on their website.

Pancakes and sweetie goodies

I never knew there was so many terms to call one day. Pancake Day. Mardi Gras. Fat Tuesday. Paczki Day. Parts of metropolitan Detroit's cities have large Polish communities so they celebrate Paczki with doughnuts. American pancakes are often made with some raising agent like baking powder so I stuck to making what we know as pancakes in the UK for my pancake day!

Whatever you name yesterday it's now the countdown to Easter. Which means sweet goodies. Not being raised as a child in the USA means getting the chance to try what American children get as their Easter candy. Much to Joe's great delight when he shouted "omg you never grew up with Peeps!" in the middle of the store at the weekend. Thus started the huge multi wide store search for said goodies which he came home with on Monday night!

Peeps are marshmallow sweets covered in a huge amount of sugar and insane colouring in pink, purple, yellow or blue and are shaped as Easter chicks. They would probably be banned in the UK due to said sugar and colouring content [as many American goodies like Mountain Dew use to be] but oh my they are good! Oh so sweet and sickly, but oh so tasty!

 
Joe also signed us up for some Girl Scout cookies. I'm not sure if a similar project exists in the UK but the Girl Scout Cookie Program allows young women the chance to develop financial, organisation and money management skills all through raising funds for the Girl Scouts whilst selling cookies. As a result it's America's largest girl led business. We got four different boxes - thin mints, samoas, savannah smiles [lemon cookies] and tagalons [peanut butter patties]. I think it's a great course to support and we get tasty goodies out of it!

It doesn't look like we'll be giving up goodies or chocolate for lent! Are you giving up anything for lent? Also a big thank you for all the support from yesterdays post, sorry if I was being a bit melodramatic but it helped just typing it all out - that and buying things on clearance in JoAnns!

When life turns you glum just sing soft kitty

Some people even though they are thousands of miles away still effect my mood. Especially when you just want people to be happy for you. I must be the daughter people dread having, the one that runs away because she wants to be happy and because she is in love. Not to blame them but perhaps if we'd of had a better relationship years ago things might have never turned out this way, yet belittling and feeling constantly small, in the wrong, and the digging wears you down after a while. So yeah, me and the parents aren't getting along at all, their silence is deafening, because I'm applying for residency in America. Meh.

If I hadn't actually grown so much in strength and confidence over the past couple of months perhaps I'd of ran back home by now seeking forgiveness. But I'm not. And I won't. Everyday I go to bed with the love of my life. I live with my best friend. He makes me tick, laugh, giggle, cry with laughter when he wrestles me down for tickles. We text each other System of a Down lyrics. Watch countless Big Bang Theory episodes and I sing Sheldon's Soft Kitty. I let him get me into Transformer Toys, we drive around countless Toys R Us Stores but I go on about compacts and my blog. We aren't rich, but we're rich with love. We have a place of our own. Two gorgeous kitties. We have each other. I'm never giving this man up to return to a mother who spites me.

While that might get me down, plenty of things at the moment are making me happy not forgetting our kitties and that today is pancake day;

From top left clockwise: System of a Down songs remind me of when me and Joe sing along in the car together to them. Tea dresses - what I wore when we went for afternoon tea [dress and belt from New Look, Cardi - H&M, tights - Primark, Shoes - Famous Footwear, necklace - Forever 21. Sewing transfer of butterflies, dragonflies and flowers - my next sewing project might even attempt some embroidery. Nicole by OPI - Green up your act nail varnish which I'm wearing at the moment brought from clearance for only $3.48 in Target. Sparkly Roskstar Pink by Sally Hansen [yesterdays treat]. Joe's application to be registered as a Social Worker in the UK.

Joe got word a couple of weeks ago that they are reconfiguration the application for registration to be a social worker within the UK if your from overseas. Originally in December 2010 he failed the application but he got a letter declaring he would now be successful. Sunday was spent refiling the papers. I see it has our back up plan if I can't get residency here in the USA. I could never live anywhere near home because of all the above parent reasons. We'd need to make a fresh start. So where we settle down is still up for grabs.

But sometimes that unknowing make it so much more fun and enjoy your pancakes if your having any!

Project Perfect

After having a bit of a quiet weekend after sharing afternoon tea at The Whitney on Friday, I thought I share this post with you today. I know many of you will have come across and taken part in Amy's Project Perfect as it grows across many blogging spheres. I wouldn't normally take part it something like this but this is something that really appealed to me as a girl with limited self confidence regarding my appearance. My guy would tell you the same, he's always trying to egg me on about how I look and be more confident and it is something I'm working on. Weirdly since moving to America I've been getting a lot more compliments about how I look or what I'm wearing from total strangers. So here goes. 

The idea behind the project is to post a photograph of yourself that you really love and say why, state three things you DON'T like about yourself but mention why other people might, and lastly state three things you DO like about yourself.

Part one - the photograph

This photograph was taken back in March of 2011 in Edinburgh on holiday with my boy. I love that it just shows me for how I am everyday with my hair doing what it's meant to and my make up being ok. I know when the photograph was taken I was all happy and unstressed because me and the boy were together after being apart for seven months [LDR] and I guess it really does come to show on the outside too. I'm at peace with myself and the world when I'm with my boy.

Part two - three things I don't like about myself, but others might

I've always had really rosy cheeks, not in a birth mark or rosacea way, they just have always been rosy. I use to hate it, as kids do they find flaws in each other and it was something other kids picked on me about which therefore made me hate them even more. An old lady in the hairdressers once commented how she loved them because she hated how pale she looked, so I guess they make me look fit and healthy. 

My boobs have always bugged me, they are on the large size which gets annoying when buying certain tops and dresses. Other girls would probably love them because, well some people would pay good money to have fake ones this size [and bigger], my guy loves them and they give me a good hour glass figure.

If you remember the occurrence of my rash then you know how bad my skin can get. Typically I get a form of eczema on my hands, on my knuckles and elbows that get really itchy. Recently the rash had me waking up at 1AM scratching the skin on my feet off. But in comparisons to other people, the problems with my skin is nothing so maybe they'd love my skin.

Part three - three things I like about myself

Certainly my eyes, I love how deep and brown they are. 

Since having longer hair [and having my way with it rather then my mother] its something I love, while it has it's bad days, it doesn't do what it should and it splits rather badly, I love how thick it is and how well it can stay in certain styles. Plus my hair has put up with a lot of bleach and dye in it's life.

I have tiny little fingers which I love because they look rather delicate and somewhat lady like.

Have you taken part in project perfect? Send me your link if you have! What do you love about yourself?

One hundred days in America

So today I've been in America for 100 days. I know going by the poll [to the left] a lot of you are interested in comparisons between the two nations. So here is where we are starting. This is what one Yorkshire girl has learnt so far;

♥ All those people [I should state here work colleagues] that claimed they would keep in touch after I moved - didn't [bar one]. Some even claimed to be sending Christmas cards - there must be some black hole before the apartment door I'm unaware of.  But if you go way back with this blog you'll remember my work tales. I shouldn't be surprised.

These are all over the place - in Yorkshire I only had to worry about snow and rain, now my house is going to blow away!

♥ BBC America sucks, you'd think all we watched in the UK was Gordon Ramsey [yes for some reason all his channel four shows are on BBC America], The Tudors, Top Gear and Star Trek. The only semi decent program is the snap showing of BBC news but that is limited to being on between 5 to 7AM. Useful when you can't sleep, but little else. Radio is lacking too.

♥ There's drive thru ATM's and banking facilities, you can do everything from the comfort of your drivers seat.

♥ Weather forecasts are always in Fahrenheit which I'm not sure on, just that 32 is freezing. And here was me thinking that America was ahead of everyone else so why am I going back to using inches and Fahrenheit?

♥ American's love the British accent but they always double check your not Australian. Then they often mention the Queen - at points I feel like I need to be more brainy about the Queen and royalty in general and all the royal updates always get shown on the news.  

American's have huge museums big enough to house items like these - the only German U Boat captured during WW2 which is housed at the Chicago Museum of Science and Technology.

♥ After leaving a country that had a free health service that I never really used in all of 25 years but as soon as you land in a country were such free things don't exist; you need them! No matter how much people slate off the NHS you should feel lucky that you have a free at the point of service health center. Because I'm not yet on my boys insurance plan yet we had to pay $102/£65 just to be seen by a Dr.

Detroit at night, with Canada [the red light of Ceasers Palace] in the distance.

♥ I don't understand American politics and why it has to be so involved with religion.

♥ Chips are fries, crisps are chips. Galaxy bars are Dove bars. Cheese in a can is wrong. You can buy tubs of 200 certain drugs including antihistamines and ibuprofen in one go. Naan bread is nigh on nonexistent and when you eat, all you need is a fork, I'm apparently posh because I additionally use a knife.

♥ Oh and things are just generally cheaper over here especially beauty things [I might comprise a whole post about this - interested?].

But is there anything about the UK I'm missing? Yes one thing ....

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I really miss Quavers! American crisps [or chips if we're using American terms] aren't the same. Walkers are even called Lays and that doesn't sound crispy! If anyone knows the whereabouts of anywhere that sells Quavers in America please let me know, I miss their cheesy curly niceness.

Any suggestions for any of the comparisons your interested in seeing?

I can see you

Like an overly proud mother I feel the need to post and document all Smokey's progress. In this instance Smokey and Ed getting to know each other yesterday before Ed went back to hissing. I should state that Ed is the true owner of our apartment. I currently have Ed asleep next to me and Smokey asleep on a dinning chair, if only she knew close Smokey was, she'd be awake in milliseconds.

Up close with Smokey

Smokey let me grab these photographs of him while he was in one of his favorite places - his bed. Due to all the loving you showed us and this little guy when I introduced him last week I thought I would keep you updated on him adventures. As soon as we turned off the lights the first night, he crawled from under our bed and onto the window still [his second favorite home] this is something he repeats every night once the lights go out. After spending a couple of hours with him on Friday he grew braver, crawling upon the bed, snuggling with us. He is a huge ball of love, craves attention, loves his tummy tickled and being held. Reading up about Russian Blue as a cat breed they are said to be very intelligent, playful and empathic to their human companions all of which are true with this little dude. 

The big step was the introduction of Ed. Sunday was the first attempt we've been doing it every day for a couple of hours, each time a little longer - today I'm planning on letting them be together for most of the day. While we haven't had any fights, Ed hisses when Smokey gets too close and she watches him like a hawk. Smokey is curious and goes off wandering around the apartment then remembers Ed and freezes. Other times they get face to face and Ed doesn't hiss. So I can't tell if we're getting anywhere or not. This was never going to be easy and I wonder how long it will take before Ed gets comfy [if at all] with Smokey. I feel like the over protective mother because I feel for Smokey because I know it takes a lot for him to come out of the bedroom and I know he just wants to play and be friendly. Ah!

Some Valentines Day Lovebirds

I thought I'd go with the Valentines Day theme and show you this silver-plated Zell compact which I got rather excited about when it appeared upon Ebay. Not only did this compact come unused, with it's original puff and sift and it's original box. But also the original box it was posted in by Zell on behalf of a man serving during WWII.  

A bit of poking around on Wiki reveals that the T/5 before the senders name indicates he was a member of the Technician Fifth Grade Rank within the US Army. The addition of the T/5 helps us to date this compact because as a rank, the T/5 only existed between 1942 to 1948. Additionally a bit of detective work reveals the stamps to first released in 1938 because they bare the face of John Quincy Adams, a former president of the USA. All that is left is to assume that this compact was a Christmas gift perhaps from a brother to his sister, or father to his daughter.

Upon the compact's cover are two large exotic love birds decorated alongside orange and fruit trees, with pink and white flowers carried off around the edge upon the silver - gold design. The detailing and it's quality is immense and for being this one, being in this fine condition is rare.

Unfortunately the mirror itself needs replacing because it's come apart from the compact but that can easily be replaced. The original paper declaration of the silverplate is additionally intact and in fine condition like the powder pan. This is due to the fact that this compact has never been used therefore the chemicals within the make up haven't effected the metal or the mirror which often suffer from considerable markings and blurring over time. Having all these pieces in such good condition is incredible and was worth the money we spent on securing it.

However and wherever your spending today, if you believe in it or not, have a lovely day. I love what TJ created to celebrate this day of love - we even feature upon the photograph wall! We're using it as an excuse to go for posh three course afternoon tea on Friday which I really am so looking forward too and Joe got an extra Transformer from me for his collection. Tonight we'll just spend watching NCIS and The Big Bang Theory reruns, hopefully getting a take out and drinking wine. 

A weekend in February

Seeing I haven't been posting on the weekend and spending time with my boy, I thought i'd start doing weekend summary like so many people do. So our weekend was all about;

♥ Making these utterly delicious chewy chocolate chip cookies which I nearly ate all by myself. Ooops!
♥ Joe getting mail from the UK Social Workers Council regarding their changes to overseas applicants. Previously he couldn't get registered but now he would be approved only a little over a year too late. The future country for settling in is back up for grabs.

♥ Getting a gorgeous bath bar present in the mail from Em 

♥ Going for 9PM cookie dough milkshakes at the drive thru, dressed in pjs whilst snowing. It being so cold that it took several attempts to be able to get the drivers window down to order.
♥  Loving the crunching snow from walking on fresh, thick snow.
♥ Introducing Ed to Smokey, Ed hissing a little and then spending the rest of the meeting under the sofa. Little steps. Smokey on the other hand is a huge bundle of love.
♥ Buying Ed a Kong toy which you fill with treats or biscuits which they paw it in certain directions to get the food out. It's highly entertaining to watch.
♥ Spending Sunday sewing some of my sampler I'm making to celebrate our wedding, all designed by myself. Sometimes harder then it looks.
♥ Being spoilt using Lush massage bars to help with the itch and my skin after it's rash.
♥ Buying nail varnishes on clearance because it would be a crime to leave the OPI and Relvon varnishes there right?!

♥ Constantly poking HelloCotton for new blogs to read - that website is so good and so addictive!

What were the hits from your weekend?

Say hello to Smokey

After we couldn't adopt Big Red we went to the second kitty that captured our heart, his name; Smokey. As with all pets that end up in rescue shelters they all have a history and Smokey's is an interesting tale to tell. He was apparently found hanging around a burnt out apartment [hence his name from the smell of smoke], whether it was his former home or he just happened to be in the area no one knows but he was taken in. He's a cute gorgeous little dude, Russian blue in colour and ever so tiny and shy. Every time we saw him his little pen he was always sleeping, he wraps himself up so tight. He really is adorable.

Because we already have a cat called Ed, they are currently being separated, so Smokey is living in our bedroom until they both get use to the idea of each others smells and hearing each one another. As soon as we released him from the cat carrier he ran under the bed and has stayed there pretty much ever since. While we were asleep he ventured out, had a play around the bedroom, attacking newspaper and sat on the window still. We know he's coming out to eat, drink and use the litter tray so we know he's looking after himself, we just can't rush it with this little man. I'm just making sure I pop in every couple of hours to talk to him so he gets use to us although I got super lucky managing to grab these couple of snaps while getting dressed and he ventured back to the window. He even let me stroke him, so we are getting there.

So our weekend will be spent looking after him and chilling out, maybe we'll introduce Ed and Smokey but I don't think that is something we should rush.

An oatmeal bath

As you all know a week last Sunday I was diagnosed with Strep Throat and was put on antibiotics to cure my horrid horrid throat. Everything seemed to be going peachy and I was getting tonnes better. Then on Sunday I noticed small little red spots on my stomach which then appeared on the tops of my arms,  my chest and my face. At first I put them aside as merely being hives because I tend to get that a lot, yet the rash kept spreading and spreading till it covered the majority of my body [the only free parts being the front of my legs and my feet]. Because it appeared six days after starting my course we couldn't pin it down as being an allergic reaction, more of a side effect but I went back to the Drs to be on the safe side. I think my rash somewhat disturbed the Dr so another one was brought in and suggested a test for mono, they were both very surprised it hadn't been tested originally considering the test for strep throat was negative. So rather then having strep throat, I had mono [or I may have had both]. Either way, said rash is a huge side effect of giving amoxicilin to people with mono [the fact that it occurs in 95% of cases]. My antibiotics have been put aside to be replaced with steroids. 

The dreaded rash - pretty much what it is like all over. Ikky ikky.

This rash can get extremely itchy, while I've been taking antihistamines sometimes they just don't do anything, and the rubbing and mere wearing of clothes can make the itch worse. And when you know you can't itch, that just makes it unbearable. I can across the suggestion of having an oatmeal bath  to  temporary soothe a rash and the itch because it's a skin protector with anti inflammatory properties so I thought I'd give it a go. This method is considered an aid for people with eczema, hives, chicken pox and poison ivy rashes.

Crush up your oatmeal and pop it into your bath.

   
While you can buy versions from the store [Aveeno do a version] they aren't that cheap and all you need is the oatmeal you'd use for your breakfast just bash it up slightly with a rolling pin or the back of a spoon [or use a food processor if you have one] till it resembles small crumbly mixture [see photograph above]. Then sprinkle into your bath - I'd advise using warm or tepid water rather then hot because heat at aggravates rashes. While it won't create anything half as pretty as a Lush bath bomb it does turn the water a nice oaty colour.

Did it work? To a point yes it did, it definitely helped with the constant itch I feel on my back but I fear because my rash is so big it can't help everywhere. Nevertheless it has soothed the vividly wild red colour on my arms and has helped more then the cortisone cream I've been using. But it won't make the rash fade and it still itches when I have clothes rubbing against my skin, it's slowly slowly doing that by itself but I can see it kicking around for a while longer as I loose my sanity trying not to peel my skin off. 

Do you have any tips for itchy, rashy skin?

Chapter two - applying for residency

So I thought I would update you all and tell you how you go around applying for residency and why I even need to. Last October I got my visa to get me into America which came with a certain regulation;,we had 90 days in which to marry [if we didn't I had to leave]. Then if I wished to remain in the USA we had to file for adjustment of status. If you remember last year was all about the paperwork and this hasn't change, we had five forms to complete all questioning my biography, financial evidence and supporting documents of our marriage certificate, birth certificate and passport. We also sent in a form to ask for permission to look for employment, yes you even have to ask for permission.

We came across a bit of a big hiccup. When I went for my medical in London they wouldn't update my tetanus because it didn't expire until December. Fair enough. All we had to do was get the said jab before we filed for residency. I merely assumed this would mean walking into an approved Dr and ask for said injection. Apparently not. I had to go through the WHOLE blood testing, get flu jab [after working in a pharmacy I question the need for such injections in January] and a TB test. This test came back positive, and apparently having passed ALL these tests and having a chest X-Ray by an approved Dr I had to go through the chest X-Ray again. I guess it wouldn't matter if it was all free, but I'd already paid over £300 in London and was having to pay another £130 for this. After a week of stressing, I didn't have TB. They also fail to recognize that the TB injection many of us had as a child in the UK sometime produce false positives. I know they have to be certain people are free of diseases but I went though this all before. Ahh ... and breath.

After that we posted the package to the homeland security with a cheque for another $1070/£650 and now it's just a waiting game till we get the date to go for my biometric checking and our interview. Both me and Joe get interviewed this time to prove we have proper married life. At the end of all this I get residency for two years and then we go from there. I'm not sure if I'll go for full American citizenship at the end of it all, it surprises me how much moving makes you hold onto your British nationality. Oh and until it's a yes or no on the residency, I can't leave the country but with the way my parents are acting, I probably can't go back "home".

On a side note I created a Hello Cotton page if you feel like following me there!

A Winter Walk

While the homeland was on an amber weather watch because of the snow, Michigan was treated to a sunny and slightly unseasonably mild February Saturday. We spent the afternoon at one of the metro parks [kind of like a forestry commission place] full of huge lakes, a nature center, picnic areas and trails. We opted for one of the shorter walks through a boggy area and was treated to lots of wildlife, to the point were the birds were actually feeding off the hands of people, they were that tame.

PS as regards to the kitty I talked about yesterday sadly Big Red as he is named, was sadly adopted this weekend so we were a day late, just one day, in our application for him. I'm glad he's finally got a home but sad that it isn't ours. Now it's back to searching for that new kitty but after we get my insane rash sorted that I've acquired probably due to the antibiotics or a misdiagnosis. Whatever it is, it's so itchy.