Living in America... visitors welcome

[SuperBunny]

East Coast
MaNanny - Boston
Twinmommytobe - Boston
MuminCT - CT
Greatgooglymoogly - NY State
Yesthereare4ofthem - NY State
Brooklynmom - NYC
alarkaspree - NYC
MKG - New Jersey
Mummimamma - PA
Poetmum - PA
Twirl - MD

South
Earlybird - TN
jabberwocky - AR
Sunchowder - Florida
Marls001 - Bentonville, AR
Tinpot - NC
MadameDeathStare- AL

Midwest
SuperBunny- Chicago
Dodgykeeper - Dayton, OH
Chocchipcookie - Ohio
MonkeyLover
KickAssAngel - Ann Arbor, MI
MumofFivemeanschaos

Rockies
Alipiggie - Boulder, CO
Ribena

Northwest
AnnieLaurie - Seattle, WA
Dooneygirl - Oregon City, OR

California
SittingBull - nr San Francisco
Califrau - Milpitas
loopsngeorge - Brentwood, LA
Syd - Manhattan Beach, LA
SofiaAmes - LA
LATyke - Redondo Beach
CarmenSanDiego - San Diego

Texas
Texan - Dallas
Tiggyhop - Houston
Vixie78 - Houston
BananaPudding - Austin
Cosmicdust - East Texas

Canada
Hellish - Ottawa
Shouldlistenedtomymum - Hamilton
Nooka - BC
Jacksmama - Langley

Exotic Islands
Anorak - Bermuda
cp - Trinidad
Barefeete - BVI

Brazil
Albert

Is there such a thing as chocolate licorice?

DS has had:

1. carrot cake and chocolate zucchini cupcakes
2. 3D Thomas
3. Kite cake at home and Lego cupcakes at playgroup

I'm so desperate for cake that I might make chocolate porridge for my supper. I think it is the closest I can get to cake tonight.

sb, that is fairly desperate!

ok, so i have to make 3- 4 doz cookies to takeinto school on weds am (cookies for cancer). they have to be individually wrapped. they can't have nuts in, or must be individually labelled.(when i volunteered to provide cookies, i didn't expect to make quite so many)
so, what's easy to batch bake? ALL the flour i has says 'not guaranteed to be nut free' so i shall have to buy labels & hand write them & stick them on, after wrapping them all up!

am thinking of doin about 20 otameal raisin cookies & maybe 20 choc chip, but choc chip come with the nuts warning on them as well.
SERIOUSLY thinking of buying the packets & just baking them tues eve, the packet stuff does NOT have the nut warning, so cuts down on the workload.

I NEVER miss my birthday. Ever. I've only had 11. We just weren't home for 3 nights in a row, and then in-laws babysat the kids while we got away, so I didn't have opportunity for cake.

And I'm on your weird-ass early birthday cake planning. I've been thinking about it since last September (both mine have August birthdays) and have given up on it and am getting a store-bought cake, because this year we're headed to IL's for their birthday, and I won't be arriving until the day before the party, so making a cake at their house late at night doesn't appeal. Bringing a cake isn't an option, because it is pretty much over 100 degrees every day there in August, and we have to stop a couple of times, and I can only imagine what being in the car without the a/c running would do to it.

I'm excited, next week I'm having another MN meet up on my turf this time. The Butterfly/Burnsifiedeffect is almost in town!

Kickass, I won't often say this but I think you should buy them. You're in for a huge amount of work.

Dooney, bought cake will be fine too. How exciting to have a meetup. I want one!

kickass you don't have 10 days. You have 30 days once you are out of status (ie from when your dh stops being on the payroll) and then up to six months before you will be held to have violated your legal status, although I wouldn't want to get that close to the edge because it becomes up to individual immigration officers.

Our situation was that dh was made redundant in August, with about six weeks pay off, and we moved to Canada in November. The school and everyone else was fine with that.

Let's have rotating meetups. We can head to California, Arkansas, Michigan, Canada, Chicago, Oregon, Colorado, and of course Bermuda and anywhere else I've forgotten. I wonder if we could find a sponsor to finance this thing?

Good idea, Dooney. I vote for Bermuda first. Not that I can leave my state but it's nice to dream.

perhaps it's that the status runs out 10 days after being given his marching orders? anyway, we'd prob go home, get de-visa'd, then head back as visitors & just holiday for a while!!

dh seems confident about the next 4 - 5 months, which is about the best job security he's ever had, so i'm ok with that. will DEF be investigating how i could get a work visa when i return from uk though, a little more stability is needed, i think.

I love the meet-up idea!

So will it be Chicago first?

Oh, yes. The host has to make cake! What a brilliant idea.

I love SB, and have already been to Chicago. I vote for Bermuda first.

bermuda gets my vote, though i am heading to chicago at the end of august, so sb could make me cake then!

we could all make a cake which reflects our environment. cali = lemons
i could do coconut, cos of hos snowy it gets here.

does anyone live in hawaii, wouldn't mind going there! (pineapple & ham cake, of course)

kissangel what sort of visa is your dh on? My dh had a intracompany transfer visa which meant that I could get an employment certificate to work, but when he lost his job I wasn't allowed to work as my right to work was dependent on his job too. I think you would need to get a visa completely independent of him, which would not I am afraid be terribly easy. The States is a bit of a nightmare that way.

Meeting in Bermuda would definitely be fun! MY father proposed having his 50th wedding anniversary (pending both him and my mother surviving he said very cheerfully) in Bermuda, as my sister has just moved to Australia, so it would be in the middle for her and me (still not that easy for my elder sister and brother though!).

dh is on the infamous H1B
so, he is allowed to work at his co, and can transfer it to another co, but must not have a gap in employement
dd & i have residency visas which are reliant on his. we are allowed to live & study on them, but not earn money. i would also have to pay 'out of state' fees to a college.

Can he really transfer it? I thought all the work based visas were entirely linked to the initial company. The US is so incredibly unwelcoming IMO. We are probably just as bad in the UK mind.

Has anyone got any experience of living in Geneva? Might be heading there imminently. Weird mix of emotions: sad and excited.

i think so, yes. that's why it's so disliked by many americans. once he's proved he's 'worthy' he can work here for 5 years, as long as he has a job. other one (L visas) are tied to a specific job, and J visas let in both partners - i think!!

like i say, i will be talking to a soicitor.

mananny. dh looked at a job in Geneva, v v expensive, but v v lovely. will you have to pay for accomodation? i was shocked by the cost. on the other hand good ski-ing, beautiful city & a huge international community.

Thanks kickass, I would have accommodation provided for me (live in nanny). I'm waiting for a second phone interview and then they are going to fly me out there if I'm still interested. Am very interested so far, the job sounds lovely. And if I have to leave my current gorgeous family then I want to make sure it's at least to something as good as I've got now IYSWIM.

No idea mananny but I am sure other MNers have been there. Sounds very swanky. Hope you are ok. Life is complicated, isn't it?

Mananny, it does sound really good. BEst of luck.

mananny, it sounds very exciting. You certainly know how to turn lemons into lemonade