Brand New

We finally picked a new car last three weeks ago after 7 days booked. It was Saturday, Sept 5th in the morning around 10 am. The 5th of day which is actually Axel became 31 months year old. Special day. We chose transport that simple, reliable and easy to maintain. Silver again! We snapped pictures before we took off from the showroom.

 Finally Axel looked at the camera

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Weekend - Slide Ride

Last weekend we spent our morning at the park which is 15 minutes drives from our house. The slide is wide and high so we decided to take turn for slide down.
Seriously we had fun.

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My Birthday 2013

August 27th just past a week ago and it was my birth date . I think my birthday this year was very light and the simplest I've ever made. One thing, my baby Axel did not understand it. Warming birthday wishes from family/friends, I totally appreciates who remembering the date. Ultimately the blueberry cheesecake was the highlight of this special day. This is the first time I celebrated with three of us. I am happy and thankful!

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The fight scene - like us

What on earth had I watched the notebook movie a couple days ago? I guess I did not see the whole story before. I noticed something at the fight scene of the movie. It totally remind me that we used to fight like that. Not all of it but it started at 2:00 min when he said you are bored to.... the end.  It made me laugh and I showed it to R. 

 I agreed any relationship is not easy but we make it through by working on it.

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Too Much Like Us

Every relationship has its ups and downs. Sometimes simple thing could make bad things happen. Recently Robert showed me a specific scene of 1994 movie “Pulp Fiction".  He said that Butch and Fabienne part were just look too much like us. We watched it together and the scenes absolutely gave us a great laugh. I don't know how to break the part of the movie so I just find the scene parts from the YouTube

This bathroom scene just remind us when Robert likes to aggravate me and I feel irritating, he said sorry, kissing thing

Butch: My name is Fabby! My name is Fabby! My name is Fabienne

Fabienne: Stop it! Stop it! Shut up fuck head! I hate that Mongoloid voice. 

Butch: Hey, sorry, sorry, sorry, I take it back! Can I have a towel please, Miss Beautiful Tulip. 

Fabienne: Oh I like that, I like being called a tulip. Tulip is much better than mongoloid.
Butch:I didn't call you a Mongoloid, I called you a retard, but I took it back.
F: Butch?
B:  Yes, lemon pie
Fabienne :  Where are we going to go?
BUTCH:  I'm not sure yet. Wherever you want.We're gonna get a lot of money from this. But it ain't gonna be so much, we can live like hogs in the fat  house forever. I was thinking we could go somewhere in the South acific. The kinda money we'll have'll carry us a long way down there.
FABIENNE: So if we wanted, we could live in Bora Bora?
BUTCH :You betcha. And if after awhile you  don't dig Bora Bora, then we can move over to Tahiti or Mexico.
FABIENNE: But I do not speak Spanish.
Butch:  You don't speak Bora Boran either. Besides, Mexican is easy: Donde esta el zapataria?
FABIENNE: What does that mean?
Butch: Where's the shoe store?
FABIENNE: Donde esta el zapataria?
BUTCH: Excellent pronunciation. You'll be my little mama ceta in no time. Que hora es?
Fabienne: Que hora es?
BUTCH: What time is it?
FABIENNE: What time is it?
BUTCH:Time for bed. Sweet dream, jellybean.

 
Another scene that reminds me one time exactly Robert acted when he got really mad, except no throw stuff on the floor.  This scene is so funny. We definitely laughed when they were talking so nicely about breakfast and then suddenly turned into something bad

F: I'm gonna order a big plate of blueberry pancakes with maple syrup, eggs over easy, and five sausages.

B: Anything to drink with that?

F: Oh yes that looks nice.  To drink, a tall glass or orange juice a black cup of coffee.  After that, I'm going to have a slice of pie.

B: Pie for breakfast?

F: Any time of the day is a good time for pie. Blueberry pie to go with the pancakes. And on top, a thin slice of melted cheese

B: where's my watch?

F: It’s there.

B: No, it's not.  It's not here.

F:  Have you looked?

B: Yes I've fuckin' looked!!What the fuck do you think I'm doing?!  Are you sure you got it?

We've had that kind of conversation before and it was long time ago. Funny when we can see image of us.

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Missing something

I completely feel missing something when I am here. After a while out of the country I am currently adapting with present situation especially temperature, foods, activities and people. Escaping from winter season (Dec-Feb) is the best thing to do. I love snow but hate extremely cold. How is that possible?? Robert loves temperature here and unfortunately he can only eat certain asian food. If not he will get diarhea. Warm place making him so happy. I am just fine with both countries. The most important thing both of us happily together and never be apart.  A lot of things we missed and some of them are

Babe, we sent him to Matthew. Robert's li'l brother, who loves dog. It making me crazily sad when I am thinking about him. Leaving him with somebody was a tough decision for me. Babe is like my little brother. Of course we would love to take him with us. Personally we concern a lot of things. But we have no choice. So far we just contact Matt to know his condition

How about the food ?  I really miss solid cheese. I couldn't find it here.

The picture above was the last monterey jack cheese I bought before leaving US. I put in my luggage for snack. Here I just found cheese stick.

Another thing the cake mix of red velvet. I bet you could find velvet cake at the restaurant or bakery shop.But the mix one is not available here. I love baking on my own. I have been looking at the Cold Storage but they didn't sell it.

One funny thing I am still missing is Gigolo TV show by Showtime. It is reality tv show and we never missed to watch it in every Thursday at 11 pm. That show document the real lives of five men working as male escort (gigolo). Whether that show is real or fake but generally interesting.

Pic from google wikipedia

So far we trying living at the present moment. We are looking forward to create positive energy for any environment or changing situation. Hope you all have happy weekend!

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Welcome 2012

First of all, Happy New Year to everyone. So what's your new year's resolution? I wish you all the best and success in life ahead. It's hard to believe time flies so fast. Lots of things happened in 2011 and I never forget the sweet, joy, sad and happiness moment. Robert and I learned many things, got encouragement and hope. This year, first time we celebrated in KL, Malaysia. We love watching giant fireworks!! We never missed. Last year we watched the fireworks at the beach and this year we watched fireworks from my mom's house. What an amazing night in different place!

pic from atpm.com

And again wish you all a very good new year, good health and lots of love. Big hugs from us.

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Yard sale

We had yard sale on Saturday last week (Dec 3rd). It was one day yard sale and thankfully everything done smoothly. I couldn't believe a lot of people came over and interested to buy our stuff. It was my first time to have a yard sale and absolutely I enjoyed talking to customers, deal with the price, selling stuff and excited to put bunch of dollar bills in my pocket. We advertised on the newspaper, internet and also made 5 signboards on the day before yard sale. 

The night before yard sale, Robert put price tag on every stuff and I painted the letters for the sign boards. I slept late and Robert didn't sleep whole night!

We actually opened yard sale at 8 am till 5 pm but unexpectedly people came before 8 o'clock. I was so busy handle customers and can't take picture people coming. We sold tools, surfboards, electronic/electrical stuff, TV, men clothing and other stuff.

Few people still came over after 5 pm looking for stuff to buy. What an amazing day!

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Card in the mail

I should update this two months ago after I wrote this post. I completely forgot about it. This post is just for reminding me when I received my US residence card in Aug 22nd. Two weeks after the interview.

It is known informally as a green card because it has green color on top of the card.

I didn't show the entire card due to security purposes. Secretly, I am so thankful when this immigration process done. I think I am part of USA now.

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Grocery Shopping

Shopping for food supplies is part of household task. Basically we do grocery shopping once or twice a month. Speaking of spending money for grocery; I would say the bills are varying in a month. In fact, the healthy foods are expensive. We try change our eating habits like less carb, less sugar, stay out of white food and eat more veggies. Staying on budget and sticking on shop list are part of shopping rules. Honestly sometimes we break the rules; we would buy stuff which is not on the list.

Here are some of our thoughts:

How much does two person household spend on food?

-We plan meal on weekly menu and we make a shopping list. This way we can  shop two weeks at once.

-We mostly shop dry food at Wal-Mart for deals and go to Lowes or Food lion for veggies and fruits.

-We stick on the certain brands than generic brands.

-We buy raw food like whole grain pasta, grits, oatmeal and rice.

-We buy meat/chicken in a big package and pack in the freezer to stay longer. 

 

Do you make an effort to control on food spending?

-We rarely dine out. Cooking at home is so much less expensive.

-We always simplify our meal. Robert packs his own lunch to work.

-We clipped coupons. Definitely save 10%-20% of total cost.

-Buy in bulk or on sales or promotion.

-No fast food. No processed food. 

We at Wal-mart

Do you grow on your own food?

-Absolutely, we don’t grow our own. Too much work (water, fertilizer, keep the bugs off). It’s worth buying produce at the farmers market.

Do you simply buy what do you feel like?

-Yes, most of the time. Lately we crave for ice cream, chips and soda a lot. Hope we will reduce our bad habit soon.

I really enjoy and love shop with Robert. We can discuss while in the store and make a trip in every department and also he will carry all those shopping bags.

So how you guys do grocery shopping?

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My Birthday 2011

My birthday just past a few days ago ( Sat, Aug 27th) which had happened on the hurricane day. Sadly we can't go out to celebrate due to the weather condition. But we celebrated it with a bundt of coconut cake! That cake looked terrible in shape but it was so soft and absolutely delicious. I messed it up when I turned it over to the plate. We ate half of it and took a picture after that. Here it is coconut cake with vanilla cream topping.

Thanks to hubby, friends and family for wishing my birthday. 

Have a great weekend!

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Green card matter

Fell in love and getting married. It's easy to say but is it the marriage based on faith and real love. How to prove that you have bonafide marriage in the USA?

USCIS is so strictly about interracial marriage between US citizen and immigrant since there were many cases of marriage fraud happened in the US. Thousands people (or called immigrants) from the other countries came to the US as a business person, professional workers, students, asylum and other backgrounds want to live in the US. What happened when their visa close to expired? So some of them are intentionally looking for US citizen just to get the green card or maintain their visa residency in the US.

Personally we are one of many couples who have a very long distance relationship. Approximately 10,000 miles distance between 2 countries and I tell you the relationship is quite tough and hard. We visited each other and finally we decided that I come and stay in the US and got married. US gov. has granted me a "conditional" residence in July 2008 after I filed I-485 form. It is "conditional" because our marriage occured less than 2 years on the day I was given permanent residence. The conditional resident valid for 2 years. So I have to file the petition to remove  the conditional residence in July 2010. The chronology of my green card as following;
June 25th, 2010 - I-751 submitted
July 7th, 2010 - Received I-797 - Notice of Action
Sept 9th, 2010 - I had my biometric taken at ASC Durham, NC
Oct 29th, 2010 - Received letter from USCIS requested additional evidence.
Dec 7th, 2010 - Evidence submitted
July 20th, 2011 - Received letter from USCIS for interview

On Thursday, last week (Aug 4th,2011) was our appointment with USCIS in Durham, NC. It is 2 1/2 hours away from our house so we left home in the morning. The appointment was 1 pm but we arrived early about 11.30 am.

Our case was randomly selected for interview after I sent the I-751 June last year. Duration of application process basically taking 6 months long but they delayed. Government.... (Sigh!). This appointment wanted us to show prove of shared life together such as rental agreement, joint account, filing tax or life insurances. That sucks! We have been doing those things separately for years. 

Speaking of interview, Robert thought that they gonna locate us in separate room like in the "Proposal" movie. Have you seen the movie? It was about Canadian immigrant (Sandra bullock) forces her assistant (Ryan Reynolds) to marry her in order to avoid deportation to Canada and to maintain her visa status in the US.

That day was the result of continuance of my US residency since I hold a 2 years conditional resident.  Deny Or Approve?? I had nervous feeling. Ironically we’ve had the same guy who interviewed us that we met in 2008. Thank god. We didn't remember his name but we totally recognized his face, an Irish man, bald with a rubber around his thumb. He also glad to see us and surprise he remembered us. 

The interview just took about 20 minutes. He just needs our extra evidence documents to prove that we aren't in marriage fraud. We did joint account in the last minute. We told him the truth how we have been sharing life together and answered honestly of his questions. He got into silence for a while and typing on his computer, marking my paperwork and finally he said "ok that's all for today".

"You've been approved!!" and 

"You will receive your new card in the mail within a month!"

We felt so happy and grateful to hear that and shook his hand before leaving his office. That picture of building below is the USCIS(US citizenship and immigration services) office in Durham, NC.

That day was hot, I forgot to take Robert photo with his coat and tie. He took off his coat just right after we reached our vehicle. Face of joy!

On the way back, we stopped by at Wal-Mart in Goldsboro and Kinston to shop some groceries. We bought a pizza for celebration. That's all.

 Some signboard that attracted us

 

Have a good weekend!!

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Special on July 1st

July 1st is a major remark on my calendar. It is Robert's birthday. I planned to have something fancy for his birthday, but he just wanted to keep it simple this year. No dining out. Just a cake and some present. I was thinking to make a black forest or coconut cake or pineapple upside down but he desired something different. So I baked a cake that had never been in my thought before. Here it is..

Strawberry cake torte with rich strawberry cream topping.  

Pink colour huh. Great! My first trying on letters decoration. It turned out good!

Besides that, one thing on the 1st of July last year happened on the 1st of July this year. It was about fledgling young bird I found in the yard yesterday. What a coincidence? Or is that young Robin bird planning to learn flies on the 1st of July? You can refer my last year post about this bird (click this). Same date happened to this year. 

Two birds flying while making chirps sound over my head when I came closer to that young bird. For sure that was its parents. Their chirping sound really annoying but obviously that was part of their communications. The young bird moved around on the yard while spreading its wing and remained one place after awhile. I took a chance taking some pictures and touched it.

It looked at me silently and didn't move away from me. It was so cute. What a special day!

Maybe it wanted to wish a happy birthday to Robert. I left after few minutes with it. Hopefully it would fly soon.

Those birds were gone when I came to the yard today. I guess that young American Robin already flew with its parents.

Have a great weekend!

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Steaks

Silent of the lambs?Yeah.. That horror movie... No no no...

I feel better with this nursery rhyme title "Mary had a little lamb". The song is a popular kid song and I used to play this song with a piano when I was a kid. Some of the lyrics are

"Mary had a little lamb,
Little lamb, little lamb,
Mary had a little lamb,
Its fleece was white as snow....

Both of the movie and song had to do with a gift package we got from Hearst Company last week. One of the package he ordered was lamb. Since I was excited to have a lamb steak for Sunday dinner, he called it a Silent of the Lamb but I preferred Mary had a little lamb.

We planned to have a medium cook for temperature degree of cooking.  The medium temperature means the middle of the steak is hot and red with pink surrounding the center while the outside is grey-brown. So we bought a big pack of King's Ford charcoal and grilled them in the cute charcoal grill on Sunday evening (Feb 27).  We just grilled 2 steaks, one lamb shoulder for me and one rib eye beef for him and we stored the other meats in the freezer for other special days.

We  arranged the charcoals into pyramid form and burned them until they all turned into grey. Then we placed the meat  when the charcoal was ready. The hated part was grilling time because I got smoky perfume on my clothes. But the important was the best taste of meat so I  have to forget about it.

We cooked them for few minutes and flipped them over for the other side. That charcoal grill really portable with the wheels. We can locate it everywhere we want. Last time we cooked under the shade, and this time we cooked in front of the garage. 

What was he doing over there?He was arranging things on the shelf. The picture below showed the grill was on grilling time...

Finally my little lamb steak almost done cooking,

Our dinner was great and we were happy that both of the steaks were so tender and perfect temperature degree for medium. We felt like flying in the air when we were chewing the piece of steak. It was so goood!
We will cook the other steaks in another days. FYI, grill with charcoal is the best than the oven.

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My Birthday 2010

It is my special day today. I turned into 33. Well, it is just a number. I am still in the same shape and I received many birthday messages.Thank you  to sisters and friends for sending me such a lovely birthday wishes.  Not forgotten to hubby and Alice who were celebrating my birthday here. Baskin Robbin ice cream cake was a part of my birthday celebration. Few pictures to show how the cake looks like. Yummy!

And a Dale Jr Tshirt from Robert as my birthday present. I love it.

Besides that, most of the fast food such as TGI Friday, Apple Bees, Cold Stone Creamery, Baskin Robbin and others  offer coupon to claim food on your birthday and it is actually last for two weeks after your birthday date. So this is the good opportunity for myself to get good food for free.

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