Awww isn't it pretty!

Thanks to my friend Karla I have a lovely new protective cover for my Motorola RAZR.

It is made by a company called GELASKINS and is a very thin easily removable art print skin for Laptops, iPods, iPhones and other cellphones. The material was developed by 3M and incorporates vinyl and adhesive technology, with an ultra-clear, scratch resistant photo coating. They also make your phone look pretty individual and cool!

The one for my RAZR cost me $12.50 + shipping, so really not too expensive to keep your phone looking nice and scratch free.

Here we go again....

At about 1am this morning I finally got our I-751 Petition to Remove Conditions completed and ready to go.

For all those who have been through the immigration process, I don't need to tell you what it involved! But needless to say as usual with these immigration things it was alot of work getting all the required evidence together.

For the rest of you here's an idea of what went into it:

Cover Letter, then index pages throughout, 2 years of Tax Returns, a statement from every bank, saving or credit card account we have, life insurances, wills, retirement policies, mortgage, warranty deed, green card, passport, drivers licence, 3 sworn affadavits from friends, joint memberships, travel bookings, pictures, then lots of misc' pieces of paper that prove we live together or I live here. Oh and last but not least, a check for $545 to process it all :-)

The next step is I will get called into the USCIS (United States Customs and Immigration Service)in OKC for biometrics (fingerprints and picture) despite them having done this just 2 years ago. Then hopefully inside the 9-12 months it's currently running at, I will receive a 10 year Unconditional Green Card and be done with the USCIS for a few years!

Having said that, I plan on applying to Naturalize as a Citizen next July, as the fee's seem to double each year.

So above is our 'small' missive to the USCIS, all I have to do now is find a binder big enough to get it into, as they get very upset if you punch holes in it! It will be on it's way tomorrow, as they are also very insistent it arrives close to 90 days before my Conditional Green Card expires, but not before 90 days or they will send it back to us.

I think you get the picture!

Brit' Word of the Day....

Today's BWOTD is a phrase that could cause some confusion:

"You'd better not get my goat up!"

'Get my goat up' = annoy me

I know I live way out in the country and have taken on the rural life, but no I haven't yet started breeding goats! But ya never know....

Into the Wild

Emile Hirsch gives a brilliant performance as Christopher McCandless, in the true story of a troubled young man who gives away his life savings after graduation and hits the road to escape society, his parents and find 'the truth' in the world.

The film alternates between McCandless’ adventures in the Alaskan wilderness and the months long journey leading up to his arrival in Alaska. As the backstory unfolds, you learn more about McCandless, the pain of his childhood and slowly his motivations come into context. He is a charming, likeable young man, but he is also emotionally wounded, and like many young men he is confused and full of misguided idealism. Along the way you meet people whose lives he touched on his journey, many of whom were consultants on this movie.

Sean Penn did a great job on the screenplay and direction, and the cinematography is breathtaking at times. It is ultimately a brilliant and captivating telling of a true story and is one of the best films I've seen in a long time. It is 150 minutes long and not a fast moving movie but my eyes never left the screen, it was totally engrossing. There are excellent supporting performances by Hal Holbrook (nominated for Best Supporting Actor at 82 yrs old), Catherine Keener, William Hurt and Vince Vaughn. I was also interested to read that the character Rainey (the Hippie) was played by the film crews river guide, a man with no acting experience. Other roles were played by actual people known to Chris or who inhabited the same 'underbelly' of society, undoubtedly this contributes to the movies 'reality' feel.

This story is based on the famous book by Jon Krakauer who wrote it from Chris' own diaries and scribblings. We were unaware of the story or book beforehand and probably enjoyed the movie even more because of this, so I would not recommend 'Googling' beforehand!

Brit' Word of the Day....

Today's BWOTD is a common descriptive word:

"The meal was really good but the portions were a bit titchy"

'Titchy' = very small

You hear this word alot in the UK and it's used to describe just about anything, even a person can be described as titchy.

Bahrain here we gooooo

This weekend we have the Bahrain Grand Prix to keep us entertained. It's an amazing track built away from the city in the desert, so sand is a real problem and of course the heat.

You also get lots of pretty shots of Camels, Arab horses and beaches :-) The racing's not bad either usually!

I am also happy to report we are now beyond the middle of the night starts until October and from now on the races start at 7am Sundays.

Yesterday our boy Lewis Hamilton had a crunching crash into the tire wall but he's back out there today qualifying. Goooo Lewis!

Need a good laugh?

Then go checkout this story from the Daily Mail in the UK!

This weekend is the Grand National horse race in Liverpool and for a few days beforehand they have a race meeting leading up to it. This would be England's equivalent to the Kentucky Derby and a huge national tradition.

It used to be a sedate affair fashion wise, until the mega-rich local soccer heroes started marrying women with not much class and gave them too much money to spend. We even have a name for these woman in our national dictionary - Wags (Wives and Girlfriends), that everybody knows just applies to these particular women.

Anyway these Wags have also unfortunately inspired the far less well off local women, to go that extra mile with their 'look'. Women from Liverpool and Manchester have always had a tendency to 'glam up' more than their southern counterparts. I am Manchester girl by birth myself with those same tendencies, I think it's just something in the water!

But oh my goodness, it has now got out of hand as this article demonstrates pictorially! I am embarressed for them, they look like some extraordinary pantomime show gone wrong. Bear in mind these women are at a racecourse in England in April. So they have to walk on grass in those mad heels, it's not that warm and talk about fake tan and over the top blonde extensions!

Please don't think all British women dress like this...it just appears to be a blight on Liverpool judging by these pictures! Good for a laugh though and to make the rest of us feel better about our dress sense. Make sure you scroll all the way to the bottom...LOL

The Hubster said they all look like streetwalkers whilst falling about laughing and I think is mightily relieved I don't ever look like this, mind you if I did, I doubt I'd be here!

Quite extraordinary, makes me wonder what's happening back home?!

The Diva has landed!

I have to say I have never had any respect for Mariah Carey and her diva'ish ways, ever since I heard her say in an interview years ago that "I don't do stairs" - she was serious!!!!

Well it seems that's nothing to what she demands these days, there was an article in yesterdays Daily Mail in the UK about her ridiculous ways. Here are just a few things she now demands:

When signing autographs this week at Selfridges department store, Mariah demanded a £50,000 antique table, covered with silk cloth, to scribble upon, flown in from New York. She sat on a £1,000 throne and was surrounded by roses and butterflies.

She insisted on having a £10,000 gym installed next to her penthouse suite at Claridge's. It was also rumoured she was bringing 100 pairs of shoes with her on the trip. She booked every penthouse suite in the hotel to ensure her absolute privacy and comfort. She has a 15-strong entourage with her, including bodyguards, stylists, hairdressers, publicists and managers.

Perhaps Mariah's single greatest moment of diva madness came when she checked into London's Baglioni Hotel in 2005. At 2am, a team of her minions arrived to check everything was ready for their mistress's arrival. She, meanwhile, was driven around in her limo, until the hotel had rolled out a red carpet, lined with white candles, for her to make her entrance. The hotel management was happy to oblige. Mariah rented 15 rooms at a cost of £20,000 a night - small change to Mariah, who's worth an estimated £125 million.

Mariah refuses to speak to anyone for two days before a concert, communicating only through notes. She recently remarked that she wanted a voice machine like Stephen Hawking's to save herself the trouble of writing.

Mariah used to insist on flying her Jack Russell terrier, Jack, in a first class seat, until he grew too big. Now he either goes by private jet - "Jack lives on a private jet," twitters Mariah - or by chauffeur-driven Mercedes. She has been known to have him driven the full 2,461 miles between her homes in Los Angeles and New York.

These are only a few of the things listed in the article, if you really want a laugh you can read the full version here. But these were enough to continue my personal crusade not to line this appalling womans pockets with anymore cash! As we Brit's would say "she's way to stuck up her own ass!"

I also think with all her money she really ought to dress with a little more class than a local stripper (this may be unfair to strippers actually!) and without flashing quite as much flesh.

Actually I think with her, you can tell what she's like just from looking at her pictures, could you imagine working for that ego! As you may have guessed - I am NOT a fan and never have been!

Brit' Word of the Day....

Today's BWOTD is another common one:

"We just got the bog standard version"

'Bog Standard' = basic or bottom of the line

So if you used cars as a good example for this:

A Honda Civic base model would be bog standard and the Honda Civic with all the add ons would not be. But you can apply this to just about any appliance or electronic device, plus other stuff.

This has nothing to do with the use of bog for a toilet!

Brit' Gal put into comatose state by 2nd graders!

Oh boy! Or maybe that should be "Ohhh...2nd grade boys"

Today I had my favourite 2nd grade class and they really are, but they are sooo tiring LOL! The girls are little sweethearts, but 6 out of the 7 boys are SO LOUD and energetic. When we had spare time they all pounded me with questions about England and the Queen, but I found some online video for them to watch that finally quietened them.

I am so brain dead as a result, that I managed to almost rip my wing mirror off my Pickup as I drove into the garage. So I have had to do a bit of grovelling to the Hubster and beg forgiveness for it's smashed state :-(

The full-time teacher of this class who is an older lady than myself, has all my admiration for doing 5 days with them in a row. This particular 41 yr old is knackered after just one!

I am off to lie down and recuperate in a darkened, silent room.

So close but no cigar YET!

Well I lost another 1.4lbs this week taking me to 28lbs in total and a milestone in the UK, as that's 2 stone :-) and people are now really noticing a difference in me.

The UK measure every 14lbs as 1 stone and you say your weight as so many stones and then a few pounds - crazy I know!

I say no cigar yet....as I am waiting to hit the magical 30lbs and am determined to do it next week without fail. So no Creme Eggs this week and just a few flexies used, as we are also away in OKC next weekend and will be eating out more, so I need to start cutting back now (sigh). I will post an updated piccie at 30lbs.

Good luck to all my other weightwatchers bloggers out there.

Just got this...

I have been keen to read this book for awhile and now have the time, I am heading off to bed to get hooked. Let me know if you have read it and what you thought please?

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Pssst! THERE'S A BIG SNAKE PICCIE JUST BELOW THIS...YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED

(Ok Lynne?)

Bugs and Snakes Okie Style...

I will freely admit I have always been of a nervous disposition where bugs are concerned, but now I actually have reason to be! It’s like the bugs here are all on steroids, they are so much bigger than the ones in the UK it’s not funny.

The yellow-jackets as they are known here, or wasps in the UK, are at least 3 times the size of their Brit’ counterparts. But we also have bugs I am not used to dealing with on a daily basis like huge Crickets, Grasshoppers 2 inches long, June bugs, Roly-Poly’s, Locusts that turn their distinctive sound on and off as if someone had flicked a switch.

Then there are the incredibly cool Lightening Bugs; these appear on summer evenings and have a phosphorous tail that glows on/off in the dark. You can catch them in a jar and watch them light up. We have loads of mosquito’s in the summer, so much so, we have invested in a special machine that attracts them, sucks them in and then dehydrates them.

The first summer here I was bitten alive by Chiggers, you can’t even see them but they live in grass and bite, leaving you with incredibly itchy legs for days. The most effective way to kill them is to paint the bites with clear nail polish and it will suffocate and kill them, stopping the itch. Yes, you understood that right; they lay an egg under your skin and it hatches there!!

I have always suffered with Arachnophobia and so living in a state with poisonous Black Widows, the Brown Recluse whose bite causes necrosis of the skin (and you see them alot) and finally HUGE Tarantulas' you can see crossing roads 200ft away, is my worst nightmare! Luckily so far I have avoided any of Tarantulas', but have already warned the Hubster I will probably wreck the Pickup when I do.

The first summer I was here, the Hubster got used to regular screeches as huge bugs discovered me on a daily basis! I am pleased to say I am now acclimatising better.

I am not however getting used to seeing snakes out and about, as in the UK the only snakes you see outside a zoo and very rarely, are small Garter, Grass or Adders (the only native poisonous snake in the UK). The native snakes in Oklahoma are Rattlesnakes, Bull Snakes (that do a great Rattler impersonation but are harmless), Copperheads, Racers (who will play a version of chicken with you!), Water Mocassins, Garters and Grass-snakes.

So far I have only had a very close encounter at home with a long but skinny Garter snake in our garage, but it was enough to have me screaming “SNAKE” down the phone to the Hubster. He raced home, unsure what to expect and dealt with it for me whilst demeaning it's size, by chopping its head off – EWWW!

Then one day last summer I was crossing a friend’s drive when an approx’ 3ft Bull Snake shot across the path in front of me, my friend heard my screaming in the house and raced out to rescue me…LOL!

I have another friend who lives out in the country who once had a big (4ft+) Bull Snake drop around her shoulders as she left her garden shed. Needless to say she took off at high speed screaming and almost having heart failure. Another time there was an 8ft Bull Snake wrapped around the front axel of her Mom’s Pickup, it was apparently quite a job getting it off.

Another friend who works in the oilfields had a very close encounter with a Rattler when his toolbox was blown off his vehicle into the grass. When he went to retrieve it a Rattler reared up ready to strike right behind it, he fell over in his haste to escape but did so and eventually shot it!

There are so many Rattlesnakes out in the country and canyons here, that they have Rattlesnake roundups in certain towns. Hunters will come in for a couple of days and catch literally thousands, display them and then kill and skin them. I have actually been to one of these and amazed myself (and my visiting Brit' friend) by making it into the appropriately named ‘Den of Death’, to view them in a big pen. I couldn’t believe the smell, how many were in there (ankle deep) and the size of some of them. I tried really hard to touch one being held by a handler, but just could not do it. Our visiting Brit' friend Andrew though went alot further as you can see above, totally freaking out his wife!

The local philosophy on snakes around here is, the only good snake is a dead snake, poisonous or not! How you do it is up to you, but the most popular methods are chopping off the head with a garden implement or shooting it.

So you can probably understand why I tread warily around my garden, keep my cell phone on me and NEVER use the grass verge if I get caught short when we are in the country!

Brit' Word of the Day....

Today's BWOTD is:

"I got everything in there but the car was chock-a-block by the end"


'Chock-a-block' = closely packed together

It is believed this comes from a maritime term referring to when a block and tackle were jammed against each other to stop a load from moving.

Brit' Word of the Day....

Today's BWOTD could easily have been used around here yesterday!

"My desk was in a shambles doing the home inventory and immigration application!"


'Shambles/Shambolic' = total disarray or unorganised.

An example of using shambolic would be:

"The organisation at the conference was totally shambolic"

Another day, another dental appointment!

Here we go again!

Just hoping it doesn't take 4 injections to make me numb today, back later to post more if they haven't numbed my brain too!

**Update**

Haha...the Dentist had this new cool machine that told her the spots she thought needed filling don't after all....I am loving technology right now :-)

So I just have to pop back later to have the new crown stuck in place (assuming UPS deliver it) and I am done for the timebeing.