A Late Night Post
It's late, and I'm posting. Why? Well, Alex is talking to his brother James and the kids are in bed. In other words, I actually have a free moment.
We've had the extreme blessing of James visiting us these last two weeks. He leaves on Sunday. I can certainly say that I'll miss him when he goes. He's an easy houseguest, and the kids adore him. At first, Alex was finishing up his internship at Michelin, so I was in charge of entertainment. I took James here and there and cooked up a storm. Proudly, I can say that James announced that he wasn't sure he wanted to go to restaurants in America when I cooked better than most of them. Man, I swelled with pride over that one. He even said I cooked better than his father (who cooks for restaurants in France!). Since James is not prone to random flattery, I will hold his words to my heart and cherish them.
We've taken James all around the area (twin falls, Clemson University, shopping malls, you name it!). We've taken James to Gervais and Vine (and he agreed that it was actually a fantastic restaurant...wooohoo!). We've also subjected James to our Wii.
Now, for those of you non-geeks out there, let me explain: the Wii will suck you in. I'm sorry, but it's true. We took it to my brother's house, and he's NEVER touched a video game. When I was a child, he stared at my Atari and scoffed at it. He has not picked up a single video game that I have ever seen. But lo, he sure as hell played Wii Sports Baseball against Alex when we were last in Raleigh. WOW. My niece, Jill, who also never ever plays video games became obessed with Cooking Mama and the Wii Play/Wii Sports disks that we brought. This is truly the video game system that even snags the "bah, humbug, video games!" set. My back hurts from doing Wii boxing. Alex lathers up into a sweat every single day due to the Wii. I'm not surprised that I've heard incidents of it being used for physical therapy in old folks' homes and that folks use it for exercise. No other video game console makes you work for your fun this way! It's really a good thing we love it this much, though. We had to hunt a month for it before we snagged one. They're still in short supply, but I can highly recommend them if it's your bag. Or even if it's not.
What else is going on? Ariana has read through five books in three weeks, a new world record for her. These cat warrior books by Erin Hunter are totally sucking out her soul. I wonder if it's the topic...or if the reading bug has finally bitten her? Only time will tell. Jared lost his first tooth, and I think Amanda can testify that he looks amazingly cute with it gone. Alex is going through immigration hell right now. I thought it would be resolved by Sept, but now it looks like Oct. Foilwoman gave me some advice, and I'll see what I can apply to speed things up. Sigh. We have three months. Last Sat., his student visa expired as he graduated from USC. Then he gets three months here, and he must leave at that point back for France unless we've fixed the green card situation.
Mind you, we applied back in January.
And also mind you, the kids and I will be so very sad if this can't work out before he has to go back. I am an adult; I can handle it. However, the kids really can't have their main dad go away. I can only hope things work out before then.
What else? Well, I have two different lit classes for this fall! I will teach Brit Lit (very happy doing that...lots of experience) and World Lit (not as much experience, but we'll make it!). I also have two 103s, and those I can do in my sleep at this point. I start back at the same day my kids do. It's been a great summer, but we can sure use that pay....
Otherwise, hopefully Grant will actually COME UP HERE for once. He has never seen our humble abode. We've always gone down to see him, and he's treated us royally to encourage that. But he's now made noises that he might visit us here...wow! I can't give him even a tenth of the excitement of Atlanta, but it'd be great to have him here anyway. He's become one of my closest friends, and I met him over the net. Alex loves him too. So, whenever anybody makes fun of you for making friends through a computer, remember this: it's how I met my husband, and it's how I met Grant. I also have a dozen other friends I met here...plus many from my so-called real life. I truly don't think one medium is superior from another. Friends are friends, and it's so very lucky and fantastic to get another one no matter when and where!
Hope y'all are doing great too!
We've had the extreme blessing of James visiting us these last two weeks. He leaves on Sunday. I can certainly say that I'll miss him when he goes. He's an easy houseguest, and the kids adore him. At first, Alex was finishing up his internship at Michelin, so I was in charge of entertainment. I took James here and there and cooked up a storm. Proudly, I can say that James announced that he wasn't sure he wanted to go to restaurants in America when I cooked better than most of them. Man, I swelled with pride over that one. He even said I cooked better than his father (who cooks for restaurants in France!). Since James is not prone to random flattery, I will hold his words to my heart and cherish them.
We've taken James all around the area (twin falls, Clemson University, shopping malls, you name it!). We've taken James to Gervais and Vine (and he agreed that it was actually a fantastic restaurant...wooohoo!). We've also subjected James to our Wii.
Now, for those of you non-geeks out there, let me explain: the Wii will suck you in. I'm sorry, but it's true. We took it to my brother's house, and he's NEVER touched a video game. When I was a child, he stared at my Atari and scoffed at it. He has not picked up a single video game that I have ever seen. But lo, he sure as hell played Wii Sports Baseball against Alex when we were last in Raleigh. WOW. My niece, Jill, who also never ever plays video games became obessed with Cooking Mama and the Wii Play/Wii Sports disks that we brought. This is truly the video game system that even snags the "bah, humbug, video games!" set. My back hurts from doing Wii boxing. Alex lathers up into a sweat every single day due to the Wii. I'm not surprised that I've heard incidents of it being used for physical therapy in old folks' homes and that folks use it for exercise. No other video game console makes you work for your fun this way! It's really a good thing we love it this much, though. We had to hunt a month for it before we snagged one. They're still in short supply, but I can highly recommend them if it's your bag. Or even if it's not.
What else is going on? Ariana has read through five books in three weeks, a new world record for her. These cat warrior books by Erin Hunter are totally sucking out her soul. I wonder if it's the topic...or if the reading bug has finally bitten her? Only time will tell. Jared lost his first tooth, and I think Amanda can testify that he looks amazingly cute with it gone. Alex is going through immigration hell right now. I thought it would be resolved by Sept, but now it looks like Oct. Foilwoman gave me some advice, and I'll see what I can apply to speed things up. Sigh. We have three months. Last Sat., his student visa expired as he graduated from USC. Then he gets three months here, and he must leave at that point back for France unless we've fixed the green card situation.
Mind you, we applied back in January.
And also mind you, the kids and I will be so very sad if this can't work out before he has to go back. I am an adult; I can handle it. However, the kids really can't have their main dad go away. I can only hope things work out before then.
What else? Well, I have two different lit classes for this fall! I will teach Brit Lit (very happy doing that...lots of experience) and World Lit (not as much experience, but we'll make it!). I also have two 103s, and those I can do in my sleep at this point. I start back at the same day my kids do. It's been a great summer, but we can sure use that pay....
Otherwise, hopefully Grant will actually COME UP HERE for once. He has never seen our humble abode. We've always gone down to see him, and he's treated us royally to encourage that. But he's now made noises that he might visit us here...wow! I can't give him even a tenth of the excitement of Atlanta, but it'd be great to have him here anyway. He's become one of my closest friends, and I met him over the net. Alex loves him too. So, whenever anybody makes fun of you for making friends through a computer, remember this: it's how I met my husband, and it's how I met Grant. I also have a dozen other friends I met here...plus many from my so-called real life. I truly don't think one medium is superior from another. Friends are friends, and it's so very lucky and fantastic to get another one no matter when and where!
Hope y'all are doing great too!
posted by Kira | 9:05 PM
13 Comments:
James is a sweetheart. He should just stay here. And Jared would be cute if he was completely toothless!!
Hmmm the Wii sure is fun. Once my brother leaves, I have decided to start a full Wii training program. By the end of the year, I am aiming for the pro baseball leagues, the World heavy weight boxing champion title, Wimbledon and the French open, and perhaps also Iron Chef king (thanks to cooking mama).
Having my bro go home is going to royally suck, but I am sure I can find someone else to tease and pester. It won't be the same though. He has had 21 years of putting up with me bothering him in typical big bro manner.
I am now starting to panic on a regular basis about money. I hadn’t actually earned a real salary since 2003, and now that I have actually been paid a decent one for the first time in my life, I would like to be able to contribute to the house's income. So as soon as I get my green card, I am going to try and get any job I can. In the meanwhile, I am going to be a stay at home dad" this includes taking the kids to school and back, and cleaning the house as well as taking care of the pets. Kira will continue to cook though, since she loves that.
I enjoyed meeting James! I wish I'd been more focused and taken the opportunity to speak some French, but I was focused on my crying baby. =o(
Alex, I think it's phenomenal that you'll be taking on the Mr. Mom role.
And congrats on the lit classes, Kira. It's definitely an indication that you have impressed the administration that you were chosen for these courses.
Sounds like a good time was had by all!
Enjoy!
What happened to the deal where an alien marries an American citizen, and therefore becomes a permanent resident as well? Does that not apply to you/Alex?
Kira: Thought you might like this article...it's long, but it's a great read.
http://dat.erobertparker.com/info/milliondollarnose.asp
That's a rather substantial light-night post.
I'm glad James seemed to enjoy his time with you. And if you're cooking is that good, I think I'll drop on you guys one of these days.
On second thought, I'd probably think better of it and take you to that restaurant anyway.
I wouldn't say that the books are suckking out Ari's soul, unless she's scratching you and clawing the furniture.
Amanda--Amy seconded your motion about James. I think we should take a vote and if it's in favor, he should have to move here ;)
Alex--and I'll continue to make the tea and do the laundry. Those things provide me comfort for some reason. But feel free to continue cleaning the house, taking out the trash, and generally being Mr. Mom to the kids while you're waiting for the green card ;) je t'aime
Angie--I told James that there was a high chance you'd speak French to him as you were a former French teacher! I figured that Anna was distracting you from that goal because I remember you saying a while back that you wanted more practice with your French. Oh well! There's always Alex, and James will assuredly be back. We SO love the kitten, so keep telling Anna that the kids spend all day playing with him.
Val--yeah! Sometimes, life is really good when it's fun and simple :)
Hoss--it does apply to Alex. However, in years past, Alex would have gotten his green card through marriage in under four months. Times have changed. Instead of cracking down on illegal immigration, the gov't is cracking down on legal immigration. We now have to wait for a number to pop up for his visa instead of it being automatic, and the paperwork has gotten worse. I have no idea how folks with less than a master's degree fill out this crap.
NWJR--I ended up reading sections of this article out loud to Alex, and we enjoyed it very much. Thanks! I have always heard that the folks from Bordeaux largely enjoyed Parker because he loves their wines; I did not realize it was mostly the right bank/predominantly merlot producers that adored him. The incident with the dogs being sic'd on him was amazing...in that he could still retract what he said when he thought he was wrong even though he had a wound from the injury. I am familiar with wine fatigue, and even a famous and talented nose/palate such as Parker could have undergone that if he tasted too many wines that day. Also, the wine could have been stored improperly or had very faint cork taint or something...well, I babble, but anyway, it was a great article!
X.dell--you can do both: I can cook for you and we can go out :) Come on down! We love company.
OK. If the Wii can convert ME, that would be impressive. I don't like games...and I especially don't like video games. But I'll admit that the sweat part sounds intriguing.
Brit Lit? That sounds fun. Makes me long for my old school days. Lucky you.
Good luck on the Green card situation. What a travesty! It should be resolved by now. Stinking terrorists, it must be their fault, don't you think? Mucking up the system for legitimate people like Alex.
I am so hoping the new improved* whatever the INS is called nowadays is able to be helpful. I also hope that your Senators and Congressman respond to your parents contributions. Yup. Let me know if you need any legwork in DC. I'll do it for Alex. I wouldn't do that much (or even a tenth that much) for most men, but I figure if he keeps you happy, he must have a redeeming feature or two.
*Really, completely and absolutely sucky, their motto is "You're not a citizen, so ThBLLTH*!?&*!!! And no, we don't give a flying fuck about you."
late nite posts are the best.
Hi Kira. I'm closing my blog to the public for now, (for reasons I'm sure you'd understand.) Send me an email if you want to read it. I'm at jenblanck@aol.com. Thanks.
Hey -- it's been a month and a half -- where's the beef? :)
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