AWESOME NEWS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My daughter got married in California and while I was out there for the wedding I got a text message from the USCIS that hubby is APPROVED!!!!!!!!!!!! Now all the paperwork goes to the National Visa Center. Hopefully that part will be shorter. It was a short visit in California due to flight delays and general rudeness of the San Francisco airport people. But the wedding was beautiful. I heard a song on the flight home and remembered that I first heard it at the naturalization ceremony on the 4th of July on "A Capital 4th" in Washington D.C. I'm dedicating it to my hubby. It's called Home by Phillip Phillips. Hubby listened to it and said it's appropriate, he loves it too.

The words below speak of our immigration journey and are so true for anyone going through immigration.

Home lyrics:

Hold on to me as we go
As we roll down this unfamiliar road
And although this wave is stringing us along
Just know you're not alone
Cause I'm gonna make this place your home

Settle down it'll be all clear
Don't pay no mind to the demons 
They will fill you with fear
The trouble, it might drag you down
If you get lost,you can always be found
Just know you're not alone
Cause I'm gonna make this place your home

Time out for antibiotics

Well about a month ago I got nailed by mosquitoes and the bites itched like crazy. I tried really really hard NOT to scratch them. I tried everything I had to make the itching stop. But I scratched them. And then two wouldn't heal. No matter what I did....so I finally went to my doc.

Doc: "You can take penicillin, right?"
Me: "No! I'm allergic!" (I know my chart says that)
Doc: "Then I will write (I heard the word sulfa-something)"
Me: "No, please, sulfa drugs make me sick!"
Doc: "I can write cyprofloxacin."
Me: "No, please, no, that's like getting kicked in the stomach for two weeks!!!"
Doc: "Z-pack?"
Me: "Yes! I can take Z-pack!"

Thankfully Z-pack is short, because it makes me tired and dopey. Last pill, Monday night, so I will start feeling normal about noon Tuesday.

Yeah, the bites are better.

I've been moving slowly on the house cleaning. I am frustrated. I have been piling stuff in the living room and kitchen that I no longer need. Now I am faced with getting rid of them. Most of them need to be sold, but to do eBay I need to find boxes for everything. And I have no way to hold a yard sale, nothing to put things on, and no helper to carry them out. And I really don't want people coming inside the house....still thinking this over.

Coming up...daughter's wedding in California and a trip to see my mmmmmmmmmm honey in Kosovo. I love the jet-set life! But I wish immigration would hurry up and send my hubby to me. We are looking at next year now. I think they do that on purpose, just to see if you will give up and withdraw the petition. Someone on an immigration forum mentioned that the Statue of Liberty should say, "Show us your money." No, that's not in the context of a bribe, it refers to people from wealthy nations getting approved faster.

He would be here sooner if he had sailed around the horn

I swear immigration is as slow as molasses in January and I don't know what the hold up is. I asked our lawyer and she said they are behind. So I asked, "What is the new time-frame?" She said between 9 and 12 months from filing to interview. Freakinhell it's already been 6 months since I filed and 8 months since I left him standing there at the airport looking like a lost puppy wrenched from the arms of the only love it had known. Life goes on. We deal with it, longing for the day when we are again together. We send romantic emails. It's one helluva long honeymoon. In a way, it's nice, but there is a lot of longing. Pictures on my computer just don't compete with actually looking into his Illyrian eyes and all the other wonderful things and his sexy accent that I hope he never looses.

In the meantime, I have been off on adventures that he longs to join me in. My daughter and I drove across America, well from Indiana to California, to visit my other daughter. We brought belongings and the pets in a rented minivan and flew home. I wanted to give my hubby an example of the distance. The best I could come up with was Prishtina to Istanbul Turkey. Everywhere in Europe was too close.

So I am now pet-free. I cried all day the first day home alone, mostly because I felt like I abandoned them, which was ridiculous because they are now living with their original kitty mommy. They have all settled in and are all happy and well cared for and I'm fine knowing they are.

So why did I give up the pets? There were a whole slew of reasons that just came together and concreted the decision. The first was living with my hubby for 6 weeks in a pet-free environment and appreciating the difference. The second was realizing how much he loves to wear black and knowing I can't walk through my house in black. And the third was realizing that Europeans in general are not used to having pets inside. I know in my heart that my hubby will have adjustments to make here, and I didn't want pet hair and pet odor to be part of it.

Off in a different direction now, my friend A :-)  posted an interesting story about a man drowning at sea who kept refusing help because he was waiting for God to save him. This is so like my neighbor. She is quite a bit older than me, twice divorced, and she has been praying for a husband for years. I feel sorry for her. She met someone a few years ago. She told me he was a real hunk. But she turned him away because he wasn't baptized into her church. The first thought that came to my mind was that he could have eventually joined her church. But she is still waiting for God to provide her with a husband. She dresses like a bag lady.  That is the honest truth. Three layers of baggy clothing even in summer, dumpy skirt, hose AND socks and tennis shoes. I went to church with her once. No one else dresses frumpy. All the women were wearing modern dresses just like anyone going to church. I gave her my mom's church clothes. She won't wear them. I don't care how straight-laced a person is, you should at least try to turn a head.

Back to normal

We got home yesterday. The kitties were SOOO happy to see us. They keep checking up on me to make sure I'm still here. Last night Sophie jumped on the foot of the bed, ran up along my side and meowed in my face, just one meow, then she left. It was so funny! Still trying to figure out what it meant. Do pets think their people got out and ran away?

This morning I picked up our dog, Trixie. She stayed with my daughter so she brought Trixie to work with her and I met her there. So now that we have eaten home cooked food gotten a good night's sleep we feel back to normal.

Now for some pictures:

The balcony outside our room

Looking toward the Inn

Saturday from the conference room---the sun peeked out for a few seconds

Sunday morning---fog on the lake

On the pier looking back at the Inn

One of four lakes at the Natchez Trace

Clouds reflecting in the water. So blue!!

And clear

Moss garden

Beaver work

Postcard perfect lake

Monday morning fog

Dad getting ready to leave.

We enjoyed the fresh air and quiet. The scenery was so beautiful!

Vincennes

We're staying in a better place this time. Also found a decent Mexican restaurant, La Fiesta. Home tomorrow. I miss my kitties!!!!!!!!!!

Natchez Trace State Park, TN

I started this post on Thursday the 15th. It's now Sunday, the 18th and we're still here! The weather for the conference was disappointing, chilly, damp and cloudy. Of course Sunday, the day everyone had to leave, was sunny and gorgeous. So...we didn't leave. I took lots of pictures but I'm not sure if I can edit them until I get home. I didn't install my editing software.

Back to the 15th:

We are here, tired, and about ready to grab something to eat. I hope it's sunny tomorrow so I can get a nice picture before my head is buried in all the conference work (didn't happen).

The drive down was rather unremarkable. Western Indiana, Kentucky and Tennessee don't have the spectacular rock outcropping and cliffs. I saw field after field of corn and soybeans. We saw cotton in parts of Kentucky and Tennessee. The most unusual thing we saw was long, covered conveyor belts for moving coal to the railroads in western Kentucky. They undulated up over roads and down through farm fields for miles.

Thursday night the boss, vp and I sorted out all the shirt orders and stuffed the gift bags. Friday morning I set up the equipment area in the conference room. It was a long day so we crashed early and planned an early start on Saturday. The weather was cold and gloomy.

Dad and I finished all the equipment in time for dinner with the employees. We enjoy their company and honestly would rather talk than work. But that's "my marathon" I call it. I cleaned, checked and updated 19 laptops (I think---my list is packed) and printers. Dad cleaned all the inventory calculators.

Sunday (today) morning we packed up all the conference related stuff and decided to stay. We took several walks and ate yummy pizza from Sparky's in Lexington, TN, only about 10 minutes drive away. It's time to post this and head to bed. We must start home tomorrow!

...Paoli continued

After the pub we went back to the Inn. Dad said let's go look at the park. It's in a valley behind the Midwest Inn. We decided to take a walk. It's so beautiful. The Lost River runs through it. Here are some photos.

Redbud tree behind the Inn

We begin our walk

Bluebells!

The Lost River

We thought it was really pretty there.

It was one l--o--n--g walk! We were tired when we got back and decided to order pizza instead of driving back to town to eat at the El Compadres Mexican Restaurant. The pizza was pretty good, the toppings were good but the crust needed improvement.

I had been watching the weather and it looked like rain was moving in for Sunday, at it looked like it would be raining ALL the way home. So we made a decision to leave on Saturday. The notice was too short for us to get our money back. The lady promised she would try but it didn't happen. Oh well, I wasn't going to ask Dad to drive home in the rain to save 50 bucks.

When we got home we had a discussion. Should we keep looking or had we decided? The only thing we didn't like was all the traffic on 37 and 150. The people are friendly. They look healthy and spend time outdoors. The young guys in the pub were polite and friendly to Dad. When was the last time THAT happened?? Oh---probably at Foxy's in Briggsville, Wisconsin. There is a clinic, a hospital and a health food store in town, among other amenities. I love the quaint town square, and the historic Orange County Courthouse with the clock that has been restored to working condition.

The vote was unanimous! We hope to make Paoli our new home!

Some things to do in the area:

http://www.fs.fed.us/r9/hoosier/docs/sp_features.htm

http://www.exploresouthernindiana.com

Getting better...finally

Dad is doing fine and it seems like my cold is trying to break up. I almost lost my voice today. Really happy to see dad feeling so well!!

Yesterday I packed up three boxes of violets to send to my bingo winners. Every month the online African Violet club I belong to has a bingo game. I was the host for April. I have more room now, and I even have more to send out to friends. My collection may actually be under control...briefly. Well, I admit I am saving some starter plants for the ladies in Paoli who are growing violets. Oh. Didn't I tell you about that? No, I didn't, and I left out most of the story because when we got home I was incredibly busy catching up with work and then Dad ended up in the hospital and then I got this awful cold.

I see I left off with a "hello" from Bedford on April 16. Friday we headed south to Paoli, got settled at the Midwest Inn and then headed back to the town square. When we visited last November the court house had scaffolding up. Now it was complete and the antique clock is working at it even chimes! I have to say the only drawback about this quaint and historical town square is the traffic. There seems to be no other route for all the hustle and bustle other than 37 through the middle of town, around the square and out on 150 west. I think I heard mention of a bypass. Well, who wants to live on a main highway anyway.

We stopped in at the Lost River Market & Deli. We found grains! All kinds. I still have my mom's Vita Mix blender that grinds grains into flour. They also have a good selection of bulk herbs and spices. Then we wandered into Roslyn’s Corner Gifts and Antiques. Well, I wandered in. Dad decided to sit on the bench under a tree. When we stayed in Bedford the room had coffee cups, but the Midwest Inn didn't. Since we brought our coffee maker but forgot the cups, I needed to buy some. Anyway, Dad said I could find him at the pub when I was done.

Roslyn is sweet, easy to talk to. She tracked down a phone number of a realtor for me. I paid for the cups and lo and behold there were African Violet leaves rooting next to the cash register! She got them from Maggie's Fashions. I almost went there but decided instead to meet Dad at the pub. He was talking to someone who owns a lot of properties for rent and he said he will rent to seniors with pets. Wow! We exchanged numbers. So if we have to rent for awhile, most likely we will be set.

It's getting late, and I need my rest to get rid of this cold. Next time I will continue the story.

The good and the bad

I wanted to write about what a wonderful time we had, and all about talking to the nicest people, and finding such a beautiful area that we want to move to, that we have found our "somewhere" in Indiana, but tonight dad is in the hospital with internal bleeding. An ulcer maybe. So everything will have to wait. Here is a picture of us in Paoli. Dad looks happy and healthy. I'm sure he will recover just fine.

Hello from Southern Indiana!

It's beautiful down here! Spring is everywhere and the air is fresh!! We're in Bedford now but will head down to Paoli tomorrow.

Stuff

I think I've finally shaken this cold. Well, the cold went away but the congestion stayed for awhile. We are having our normal up and down late winter weather, 60's and open the house, 30's and turn on the heat, mostly turn on the heat. We had quite a bit of rain and thunder last night.


I had a phone interview with a reporter in Fort Wayne, IN regarding my ProAir experience. He wants to know how it's going with the Xopenex inhaler. I told him it's been hard to tell with the chest cold I've had. I'll try to give him an evaluation before the story is published March 22nd. He's interviewing others, too, of course.


Do you remember "the Wall"? No, not the song, the trade show wall. I put a picture in a former post on November 10, 2008. Well, now my boss has a bigger, heavier Wall, and he brought it here because Neil was stopping by (last Friday) to pick up a new laptop and he would take the Wall to Ohio.


Now, my boss is a pretty strong guy, because I've seen him pick up some pretty heavy stuff, but he was struggling to pick up the Wall just the few inches to clear the porch. Geezo Pete I thought. Anyway, the monster Wall sat in the living room for three days, until Neil came to pick it up. Neil has been through chemo more than once. Must I say more? The boss leaves a heavier than earth Wall for a recovering cancer survivor to pick up. So anyway, Dad helped him. This thing did NOT fit in the trunk of the car!!! Dad had to shove it in the back seat while poor Neil tried to help pull from the other side. And now Dad's back hurts. I hope the Wall is never coming back here!

Speaking of being self-employed, I need to do my taxes. YUCK!!! I want to do them before our trip to southern Indiana. We won't go in freezing weather, so who knows when it will be warm enough, April maybe. I also have the April bingo in my online African Violet club (which I can call on the road). Then I will have lots of leaves and baby plants to mail out. Can't wait! Some of these leaf pots are taking up room I need for my other violets. Below is a "leaf pot", meaning a pot full of baby African Violets. This one was blooming, which is unusual.

Speaking of African Violets, I've been trying to find someone in southern Indiana who grows them but so far I haven't "bumped" into anyone online. I belong to a couple forums and I asked if anyone is growing them, but so far no answers. I think there are lots of people in Missouri who grow them, but Missouri didn't work out because of the health insurance thing.

I guess I've rambled on long enough.

Reflecting on our trip

First of all, we had a good trip home. We took Hwy 46 west from Bloomington to Spencer. Then we took Hwy 231 north through Greencastle. From there we took Hwy 36 west to Rockville and the Hwy 41 north all the way home. It was a nice scenic drive and it didn't take much longer than taking I-65 to I-465 to Hwy 37 on the way down. Hwy 41 used to be bumpy but it's been repaved so it's nice and smooth. It was good to be home. The kitties missed us.

If anyone wants to know, the Super 8 in Bedford is clean, very clean, and has smoking fast DSL. If you like Mexican food, you should eat at the Casa Brava.

We drove around a lot, with the intent of covering as much area as possible. We drove around Bedford, Mitchell, Orleans and Paoli. The weather was cold. Very cold. Walking around town will have to wait till spring.

Bedford has the most in the way of services, but Paoli, population about 4,000, is the one that caught our eye. It is right on the edge of the Hoosier National Forest. I have health coverage there, but I have no idea about high speed internet and package service (UPS or FedEx). I just subscribed to their online newspaper. Paoli has a hospital, CVS, Walmart, along with quite a few other businesses. It looks like a clean, yet affordable area.

So, that's where we're at right now, thinking about Paoli, trying to learn more.

Going Home

Up early and ready to go. Wouldn't you know, it's going to be a beautiful, sunny, warm day---just like when you go fishing! I feel fine this morning, so what I ate last night didn't affect me.

Bummer start to an OK day

We came this >< close to leaving this morning. I woke up at 4 AM, couldn't get back to sleep for hours, got up finally, had vertigo and looked like death warmed over with a headache. We decided to stay, figuring the trip might make it worse and we should wait it out, or I might get better. I was about 90% better by noon. That is why we rarely go out to eat. (see bottom of previous post)

We took a drive around Bedford, came back to the hotel for a snack, and then drove to Mitchell, population 4,500+. We didn't care too much for the huge concrete plant. Some neighborhoods are very nice and some are run down. In all fairness, Mitchell is proud of the fact that it is the home of astronaut Virgil "Gus" Grissom, one of the seven original NASA astronauts. It is also located near the beautiful Spring Mill State Park. Bedford, population about 14,000, has just about everything we would need in the way of shopping, at least the way dad and I shop. After some looking, dad and I decided to eat at the Casa Brava. It was a good choice. I even had a Margarita.

On the way home we plan to drive the scenic route, from Bloomington, Hwy 46 to 231, then north to Greencastle, then to Crawfordsville, then 74 west, then over to 63 and then 41 north to home. We're leaving early, so we'll probably be home early afternoon.

When we get home I'll look into subscribing to a paper from Paoli. Next spring we hope to drive down and zero in on an area, take some time to meet and talk to the locals. Friendships are important, even more than rocks and hills.

Friday

Today is a sunny but cold day. Hardly a cloud in the sky, unlike yesterday, which was dark and gloomy the wold drive down. Here is a picture taken this morning from our room.

Note the blue sky---no brown haze on the horizon!!

We took a drive on a Lawrence County scenic route and came to this pretty spot on the East Fork White River, which is in Williams, a tiny town west southwest of Bedford on highway 450.

Williams Dam

East Fork White River just downstream of Williams Dam

Before we drove the scenic rout we drove down to Paoli, so we went from Bedford south through Mitchell (near Spring Mill State Park), then on down through Orleans and then to Paoli.

Paoli is very hilly. It has a quaint, attractive little town square that is like a mini version of the square in Crown Point (northwest Indiana). We like Paoli, although some of those hills are a bit intimidating to a flat-lander like me. We do like the fact that Paoli is right next to the Hoosier National Forest and too hilly for farm fields. The thing about farm fields---allergies when they plow or spray.

We saw a lot of nice country around all of the towns, nice hills and woods, and only a couple yards full of junk. I mean it was rare to see any junk.

This evening we will drive around downtown Bedford.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

6:30 PM---Note to self----do not eat at Bob Evans.

We are here

We just arrived in Bedford. Going out to eat soon.

Bedford instead

We have decided to drive down to Bedford, already reserved a room at the Super 8. Most of the areas we are interested in checking out are nearby.

And...I was kindly reminded that #6 should be "a place with high speed Internet and UPS pickup and drop off" (so I can do my job). Thanks, Karen!

Thursday!

Finally...I'm caught up enough in my work! We're planning to start our short little trip around Indiana on Thursday. The weather looks like it will hold out, not all that cold and most of all no rain or snow. We plan to drive down I-65 and stop somewhere south of Indianapolis, could be Seymour. Not sure at this point where we will spend time looking around before driving to the Bedford area. From there we can look at Mitchell (Spring Mill State Park area) and I don't know where else at this time. Hopefully I'll have Internet access every night and can let you know what's up and maybe upload some pictures. Our choices of places to look are based on:
1. Do I have health insurance coverage there?
2. Hills and rocks---gotta have some.
3. Affordable housing.
4. Decent place to shop without driving a bazillion miles.
5. Excuse me but I just can't handle motorcycles roaring past my house (like here), so it has to be a quiet side of town.
6....I'm sure there are more, just can't think of any tonight.

Checklist---clipped the dog, tomorrow she gets a bath. Watered my violets. Lined up pet sitters (thank you daughter and neighbor). Went shopping. Not much else to do but pack---plan to travel light. Not sure what day we'll be home, Saturday, Sunday, Monday? Who knows.

Maybe next week!!!!

I am so excited!! We might be taking our drive around Indiana next week. We've missed the fall colors, I'm pretty certain, but the weather looks good. I think I've caught up enough on my work, plus I'll have a laptop with me and as long as I have an Internet connection at the hotel I can do everything except shipping. I'll try to put up an itinerary in the next couple days. Not sure what day we leave, maybe mid-week.