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

Are there 2 c's in accross? Or 1? It looks odd.

1

Thanks Jabber. Major brainfart there.

lol @ kickass and mananny. 2 weeks and you'll be on your way!

I assume you all know about the Nestle Cookie Dough E coli thing? Just in case

Hi all.

Kickass we also had roast beef and yorkshire pud on sunday (just the once). Was a fathers day request but not quite what we fancied in the end as it was almost 100 f.

SB I think its just typical that once no longer available the fellas are queueing up. Hope your plans are going ok.

Mananny good work with baby. DD1 couldn't have milk or soya and si I ended up feeding much longer than I would have. The hypoallergenic formula was yuck.

We are still here and it looks like the whole reorg thing will take ages so who knows we may do our planned 2 years anyway. Seems to change by the day though. Kickass not sure how you cope with constant uncertainty.

We don't feel all that strongly either way I just don't want the dcs to be totally screwed up by to-ing and fro-ing.

Anyway I have a question. Do ALL Americans have really tidy houses? I just constantly feel like I can't keep up house wise and when people (very occasinally) come over I feel like the house is really chaotic. Now I've never been the tidyest but do people just spend all day cleaning / tidying up? We don't live in squalor or anything - just have 3 young dcs and while I like things to be clean, tidy just seems impossible. Will people still be friends with me do you think? What with that and the off-white teeth I do feel very foreign sometimes.

Oh Bunkups, it must be so stressful. I hope you have some idea soon so you can plan or feel settled or whatever.

IME, not all American homes are really tidy. Some are cluttered but in an arty way but most are tidy. Everyone round here has cleaners and I think that makes a difference.

I wonder if it's that homes are bigger so there is more space for junk heirlooms and it doesn't feel like a big mess. I bet Dooney's house is clean and tidy. And Jabber's too.

Can any of you lovely ladies help with a fax problem...

I know to phone the UK it is 00 44 + phone number (minus 0)

So to call 01202 xxx-xxxx, you'd do 00 44 1202 xxx xxxx

Is it the same for faxes?

Because I tried and it wouldn't go through and its for a job application and the deadline is tomorrow

Oh, Bunny, how you make me laugh.

My house is not dirty in the least, I'm far to anal about that. But I have 2 small children, and their stuff seems to be almost everywhere in the house. Their rooms are tough to control. Even when we do a good cleaning and everything's in its place, it doesn't last very long. I also have the added problem of having most of dead MIL's stuff in my house that was full to begin with.

Not to say I haven't seen some utter pig sties in my life. Once I went to pick up someone's DD, and they let me in their house, and there was dried cat poo all over the entryway of the house. I couldn't believe it. They knew I was coming. DH's best friend's house totally grosses me out. There's just mess all over that house, and dried food on the walls, and the sink was beyond gross, as was the one bathroom I was in. I have no problems with clutter. Especially with small children involved. But I will admit to being highly judgmental of filth.

Wish I could help with the fax thing, but I think you know I'm clueless on that. Hope you figure it out.

SB try 011 44 1202 xxx.

hm, i would expect the fax thing to work. is it turned off out of hours? can you email & tell them that they have a problem? could you email them the stuff anyway? (flailing around with useless ideas in an effort to help)

bunkups, yep, they all seem to be tidy & clean. someone i know had a bit of mess, but still clean. her babe was 3 weeks old at the time, so forgiveable. quite a few of dh's work crowd are fairly 'hippified' & they still have a clean house, even without cleaners. i think huge amounts of extra storage really does help. i've noticed how every house in the UK seems crowded & cluttered now!! sb - you will prob be going back to somewhere bigger, and possibly more tidy/organised, but in general, i think it's almost impossible to keep houses clutter free when you have so much less space than my lovely big midwestern mansion!

just been sitting on the south bank of the thames, drinking wine (at a reasonable price) and chatting up australian barmen, (in a very mild way). had lunch out today as well! i shall be the size of a bus before i get back on the plane on sunday. a big red double decker bus at that!

Bunkups was right - why didn't google tell me that? Thanks BU! If anyone needs to fax anything internationally, can I suggest NOT using Kinkos unless you are willing to sell body parts to pay for it? I think applying for this job was pointless because I doubt I'll be back in time for the interview day, if by some miracle, I get called for one. But still, good to keep trying, I suppose.

Kickass, I think you're right about storage. American homes seem to be much better designed, that way. Big rooms, lots of cupboards and closets. And lots of electrical sockets too.

Cat poo house is revolting.

I'm glad you got it faxed, SB. that kind of thing is sooo annoying. I have just tried twice to efile our taxes and it's been rejected. so now it's paper file and wait and I've already had to file an extension when the computer decided to die right at tax time. grrrrr

Storage, yes, an absolute lifesaver. We still manage to create a lot of clutter. Dh's main request is that we get a cleaner again once the recession is over I for one want a massage first

On the bright side, business in my new office is picking up so maybe this year really will end on a high note.

How annoying about the taxes, Jabber. And, I agree: massage first THEN cleaner. Great news about business picking up.

Please think of me tomorrow.

i assume it went well? tickets booked & ready to go? i'm heading back to MI on Sun. Looking forward to having my own house again, and just staying in one place for a few days!
went to see the lazytown live show this pm. dd loved it. amazingly, my mum fell asleep, in spite of the noise

Well done for sitting through Lazy Town! Not my favourite and I can never hear what anyone is saying (hopefully not same on stage).

Good luck for journey home - ours (3 weeks ago) was bad. I hear loads of stories about people with young kids being rushed through immigration well not us! 2 hours in queue with baby and 3 and 5yo. All crying by the time we got to the desk.

Then had to run like crazy accross O'Hare airport (about 4.5 miles) to catch connecting flight.

Hope all ok SuperBunny?

Yes, all went well, thanks.

As a special treat afterwards, I took Dinner on a double decker bus tour of the city. He'd been nagging me for months about doing it but then he fell asleep . I woke him up at the foot of the Sears Tower which, he claims, is his favorite building, but he denies all knowledge of seeing it. Was fun though. We were going to have a nice lunch but all he wanted was a giant pickle and a banana milkshake so we had that in the park then played in the fountains. Was quite lovely.

So, other than minor stresses with BA and DHL all is ok.

Have a safe trip home, Kickass. I don't envy bunk-up's journey at all!

I'm now about to enter my Final Week

But everyone is being sooooo lovely and I have had a really nice couple of days with my twins, we went up to ME to the beach yesterday and we all ate ice cream and chased seagulls and splashed about in the (rather too cold but kids don't seem to notice!!!) water. Little Miss said that day was "perfick" and when I asked her why she said because she's never allowed a huge icecream except at the beach. Little Master said he will be sad I'm not coming up there this summer with them as he won't have anyone to hold his hand when he goes in the waves (pass the Kleenex)

The family with the wee baby gave me a huge bonus after my last overnight with them today, I was embarassed but they were so grateful for my help in getting their baby happy and healthy! That's the part of my job I LOVE. They are such a lovely family I will miss them too. Ugh I hate good byes.

I'm about to embark on a weekend of partying, with my best friend's bachelorette party. Then next week I have my twins for 2 more days, and the rest of the time is frantic last minute visits/packing/etc til next weekend when I will need Valium I think. It's going too fast!

It's amazing how fast it goes, isn't it?

Your goodbyes all sound sad Mananny and it is clear that you will be missed. Good luck with your packing.

hmm, so this is more than a bit last minute. but when i leave here, i son't need to have filled in that form which informs the us govt that i intend to travel, do i? cos they already know about me? please tell me i'm right, i don't even know what it's called, but i'm fairly certain that dh said i didn't need to do it, as it's only needed once a year, or something.

i get so travel sick, i usually just dope myself up so that i don't even know what's going on, dh looks after dd, and i follow like a bewildered sheep. i know i don't want the green visa wiver form, but can't for the life of me remember which form i do need, the one that gets stapled into my passport. i'm just trusting that some nice airline official will give me the right paperwork & help me to fill it in.

i really don't do forms. can you tell?

Kickass, I haven't traveled since they have started this form business but it used to be that if you have a visa, you don't need to do anything else (well, the white card to go in your passport on the plane). The air people will tell you

argh! i hate all this. just checked in online. it asked if i was a US resident, and if i had a permanaent resident visa. sounds simple?
BUT immigration DON'T count me as a resident, I am residing in the States, on a temp visa, but not an offical resident (so don't go through that queue when i get to immigration). How the feck do i know if the airline meant resident, as in just living there, but not offically there forever, or resident, as in got a green card etc. there were no notes to explain how 'resident' i had to be to tick yes or no to the question.

bloody stupid forms. i want to go back to the 1950s, when i would have been met by a courteous man in a uniform, with a cap, who would have guided me through check in & called me madam!

(kickass may be confusing agatha christie novels with reality)

I thought that if you live here, you are a resident - not a permanent one so you can't go through the US channel at Immigration but I thought you still counted as resident. You have a resident's visa...

I know it's stressful & I am probably not the best person to advise as it's over 3 yrs since I last came into the US. Ali, Bunkups, AL and Cali (I think) have all travelled more recently.

Good Luck Kickass

Another panic... I finally have Dinner's passports but the photos are of when he was 3 months old. He is now almost 4. It looks nothing like him. Is that ok? They expire in 2011 and I can't see anywhere it says that you have to renew the picture... they are ok, aren't they?

Also, I know he has to leave the US on his US one but what about coming and going from the UK - which passport does he need to use?

He should be ok on that passport, perhaps call the UK consulate to check?

As far as entry/exit I think it's best he enters/leaves the UK on his UK one and enters/leaves the US on the US one?