Rather Delayed Update

   Well, it's been awhile. In that time, The Fella got his employment authorization document (Early January 2014), got a job, then got his green card! Whee! It's been quite a ride lately. And best part-- he's eligible for health insurance and other benefits at the end of this month. YAY!

   The other major thing that's come up is having my thyroid removed. Not sure if I mentioned it in a past post, but I found out in March of 2013 that I had a nodule on the right lobe of my thyroid and was told "possible thyroiditis". I was prescribed steroids for a week, then told to take Aleve for a week. I had a fine needle biopsy done on the nodule shortly after stopping the Aleve and found out it was benign. Still had some troubles, but with all the immigration stuff and wedding planning (amongst other things), the thyroid thing took a back seat until a couple months after the wedding. Then, I just couldn't handle it anymore. I was tired, my neck was uncomfortable. I was having difficulty breathing (always felt like something was stuck in there and made it difficult to get comfortable at night to sleep). Stuff like that. Yet on the other hand, I wasn't experiencing many of the symptoms of being hypo- or hyper-thyroid. I was really cold a lot of the times (not totally out of character for me) and I started always feeling like I had a cold or the beginning of a really bad cold. I finally decided to go in in December. They ultrasounded they thyroid and nodule again and checked my bloodwork again. All of my stuff came back normal. No idea why.
   In January, I was *really* fed up, not feeling great, and was sick of dealing with it. Went back to the doctor and she referred me to an endocrinologist. In the end, that was one of the best things that could happen. Talked to the Endocrinologist the end of January and he did some more blood tests and did a quick ultrasound at his office. Consensus-- I have Hashimoto's Thyroiditis and the recommendation was that due to that and the fact that the thyroid was rather enlarged and inflamed (because of they thyroiditis) and wasn't going down and that I had a 3 cm nodule; it was recommended that I have the right side of the thyroid removed...at the very least. A total thyroidectomy was recommended if I was willing to go that route. Got a referral to a general surgeon and saw her a few days later.
   Well, we saw the surgeon beginning of February and set a surgery date for the 19th. The plan was to remove the right side, make sure the Recurrent Laryngeal Nerve and my vocal cords were undamaged, then do the left side at a later day. Whee! Well, that was until I got a call from the surgeon the day before surgery saying that the more she thought about the particulars of my surgery, the more uncomfortable she was with it and wanted to see if I was ok with a referral to a person that does this surgery all the time. So, they found a person in Denver that does this and referred me down there.
   So, at the beginning of March, The Fella and I found ourselves in Denver consulting with the surgeon. And much to our joy, she was friendly, informative, listened, and was totally ok with doing this surgery. It was brought up again that I could have half the thyroid removed or all of it. She discussed the pros, cons, and maybes of what both entailed and what I had to look forward to as far as surgery and complications and what options I had for medicines and treatments. By that time, I was totally fed up with the thyroid, how crappy I felt, and was ready to be done with the whole thing. So, after a bit of discussion the plan was made to remove all the thyroid...the next week.
   March 11th was the big day! Went to Denver the night before, met up the next morning with one of my aunts that lives in the area to check out the Museum the next morning before surgery, then headed to the hospital to get checked in. Surgery went splendid! There were a few surprises, like the fact that my thyroid was more scarred, enlarged, and otherwise in rattier shape than they thought. My lymph nodes were really inflamed since my body was attacking (and had been for quite some time) the thyroid and trying to kill it off, and there was a small amount of damage done to the cartilage of my trachea. Not much, just a bit of thinning on a couple of the rings, but enough to weaken that spot some. The surgeon said she was really glad I decided to have it all removed at the same time because of that. They managed to save 3 of the parathyroids for sure (not sure what happened to one of them) which is awesome! You only really need to have one functioning one, but as she said, the more she can save, the better off I'll probably be. The parathyroids control your calcium levels. So if you don't have any, you're on calcium supplements the rest of your life. Not exactly and ideal thing. Anyway, after I got out of recovery (vaguely remember some stuff from when in there, but not much) and got to my room and kinda rejoined the world on the same mental plane of existence, I was doing pretty ok. Sore and in pain, but not doing too bad. Spent the night in the hospital and was released the next afternoon. The first few hours out of the hospital and some of the next day were CRAP. I didn't keep up on my pain meds when we were getting the discharge time worked out, so I was in some serious pain when we finally got to the motel room. Popped 2 Norco, then snuggled with my favored ice pack and a couple of heat packs. Ice for the surgery site, heat for the back of my neck and shoulders because holy crapola did they hurt! Some of that is from how they have your head positioned during surgery, some is from hunching after surgery as a form of comfort and protection for your neck. Heat packs are your friend. Oh, and definitely sleep as upright as you can handle. Trying to get up from laying on your back hurts and if you're like me and have sinus issues anyway, laying down after they've aggravated your throat with that breathing tube is a bad idea. Gunk will drain and collect near the back of your throat which is not fun. Especially since you're coughing up gunk anyway.
   Fast forward to Friday-- post-op check up with the surgeon that morning because she wanted to take out the thin suture she used and steri-strip the incision. She did that so that I'd heal up with a less noticeable scar since I apparently have very fair, light, delicate skin and no wrinkles to hide a scar in. I'm just so happy to have the thyroid gone, that honestly, as long as it didn't look like someone did a botched job of cutting my throat then I was good with the dissolvable stitches or a suture like what she did. LOL.
   As of tomorrow (Tuesday, March 25), it's been 2 weeks since surgery. And I feel *GREAT*. I'm sure I'll come off of that as my natural thyroid hormones fade out of my system and I'm totally dependent on the synthetic hormones. But honestly, the fact that I can breathe normally again, swallow without hindrance, and move my head to the right comfortably without feeling a nodule catch, those alone are worth this. I've seen some pretty horrific post-op horror stories about this, but I didn't run into that with mine. It pays to have a good surgeon, I'll grant that. I honestly think if the first surgeon did it, I might not have had as good a recovery as I did. It took almost a full week after surgery to completely regain my range of motion with my neck, but with a bit of stretching and gently moving my head around I got the full movement of my head with no trouble at all. I still have to keep the steri-strip on until Friday, but from what I've seen of the incision site so far, it looks like it's healing up really well! YAY!
   And that really long post is pretty much what's going on around here so far. LOL.

Crafty Stuffs!

   There are a few days in the year when I absolutely refuse to go to the stores or anywhere there's the potential for an extremely large mass of people....Black Friday and that entire weekend would be one of them. I generally don't really check for much in the way of deals unless there's something I know I want and want to see if there's a deal, or if I see a deal and decide I want whatever it is. LOL. I'm just not a people person (especially if it involves large groups of folks that are crazy for deals) and I usually just get what I need or want as budget permits because as I learned this weekend that you have to be super quick with the Amazon Lightning deals (well, pretty much most online deals) since there are thousands of people that want that as much, if not more, than you do!
   I did manage to find something that seems like a good deal --especially since I missed out on several Amazon Lightning Deals of a smaller, but similar bundle-- was that Silhouette has several holiday bundles for their machines! So, I showed the hubby and asked his opinion...and got a good approval of it and apparently he wants to use it too. LOL.
    I've always liked the concept of the Cricut (it's the only one I'd ever heard of. Who knew there were other machines?!), but wanted something that allowed me to do more than what Cricut offered. I don't want to buy the cartridge/die things all the time, especially if there's only one or two images in the pack that I want. And fonts? I have crap tons of them already, so why do I need to buy a die with them? Great concept, but I wanted more. Well, that's where Silhouette appealed to me. You can use your own stuff, they have a lot of great single images on the online store for a good price, and you can use your own fonts. That just appeals to me. A bit more expensive initially, but for me it pays off in the end.
   I don't have the Cameo yet since it hasn't shipped as of now, but I'm really anxious to play with it and see what all I can do with it! Everything I've seen people do online has been amazing and it's really making me impatient to get the danged thing. Once I do though, I'll have to check back and let you all know what I think. Whee!

From Miss to Mrs.

   Long time, no post! Lots of stuff has been going on and I think it just might have settled down...maybe. Time to play catch up.
   The Fella had his interview June 11, 2013 and all went well and ended with an approval! :D It took a bit of time for him to sort through his stuff, sell some, store some, put in notice that he was quitting, notifying people, etc., but he got it done and flew over here September 4th. YAY! While he was getting his stuff in order, I was getting my stuff and some of the wedding stuff taken care of. Once he got here, there was more wedding stuff to take care of, getting his social security number, adding him to the bank account, lease, and a few other things, and some other miscellaneous stuff that I can't recall. LOL. Everything worked out and we got married September 27th...then honeymooned in Vegas for a week. Whee!
   Since then we've been working on getting my name changed on stuff which is taking a bit since the government was shutdown and I had to wait to change my name on my social security card, hence delaying some stuff. Whee? We've definitely been enjoying the married thing though. Something about it is just...wonderful. Not sure what makes it different, but it is. Huh. Anyway, we filed for the Adjustment of Status, Employment Authorization Document, and Advanced Parole last week and got the text stating they received our crap. Now we're back to the waiting game. Fun times.
  Other than that, that's pretty much it. Been keeping entertained at work and such, but nothing overly exciting. Well, nothing I want to post about online anyway. LOL. As usual life happens and sometimes the stuff in life isn't fun to deal with, but you kinda have to. :)

Approval!

Click for a larger version

   This morning I woke up to a text on my phone telling me that my case status had been updated! I checked out the uscis.gov website and I found out that the USCIS approved The Fella's visa! YAY! We still have a lot of stuff to do yet, but at least we're over the "worst" bit of it. :D Now I have to send a copy of the initial application packet and some other paperwork to him. :D The US Embassy over in Frankfurt will send him a packet stating some stuff that he needs to gather and some paperwork that he needs to fill out. There's more than that, but I don't want to bore you with all the gritty details. LOL. Still, this is a *big* step forward.
   I was really surprised to see this notice though. Right now, California Service Center (the center our paperwork was sent to) is horribly backlogged. So backlogged in fact, that they're still working on visas from July. Freaking. July. Very little of August and September have been touched as well. They're supposed to be doing these applications in the order they're received and while I am extremely grateful that we have our approval, there should be no reason whatsoever that a bunch of people from late November and beginning of December have gotten approvals while people from July are being told that USCIS is doing what they can and they'll just have to wait. It's bullcrap. So anyone with a K1 visa from before November, I'm sorry you're waiting. :( You should have had this long before now and I really hope you get your visas approved soon!

E-Readers!

   I'd been considering getting a dedicated e-reader for awhile. I have a 1st Generation Kindle Fire and while I really like (ok, love) the thing, the battery life is kind of crappy for plane rides, car rides, or a quiet day reading. Even while stopping to do paperwork or answer the phone on my slower days at work, I still usually end up having to plug my Fire in towards the end of the day, even though the Wi-Fi is off and I've turned the screen brightness down. When I'm near a power outlet--basically at home or work, and a few vehicles--that's not an issue. Long plane rides though, not so much. LOL. Hence, the reason for a dedicated e-reader, and not another tablet style e-reader.

  After looking around a bit, I opted for a Nook Simple Touch with Glowlight. The price wasn't too bad ($119) and I have the option of adding more memory which really appeals to me. I also get a little built in light for when I don't have as much ambient light around, so win for me! What I didn't know though, was that the fiance is apparently part Betazoid and was thinking an e-reader (Kobo Mini) would be a *great* Valentine's Day gift. LOL. Imagine his surprise when a few days before Valentine's I'm going on about how I like my Nook...and my surprise when I get a Kobo Mini in the mail the day after Valentine's. Now I have 2 e-readers. Whee! In lieu of that, I decided to put together a post on the pros and cons of the Nook Simple Touch with Glowlight and the Kobo Mini. I haven't used any of the standard Kindle readers, so I'll not touch that subject. 

   *Also as a side note-- I sideload everything via Calibre. It's free, easy to use, and you can keep all your books in one spot and have a hard copy. I found it simpler and more intuitive to work with than Kindle for PC, Nook for PC, and Kobo Desktop App. Of the 3, Kindle for PC is probably the best set up and easier to use, but does us no good with a Nook and a Kobo. LOL.

  Nook Simple Touch with Glowlight-- One of the better known (right along with Kindle) is Barnes and Noble's Nook. They have one without the GlowLight for $79, so if the $119 is a bit more on the steep side price-wise, I'd suggest just going with that one. The GlowLight is nice to have, but not totally necessary unless you have very little light nearby. It comes with a computer cable/wall charger which is great because you don't have to charge it in the computer unless you want to. I love that it has expandable memory! You stick a mini SD card in there (it doesn't tell you which way on the slot or, so be careful when loading it and don't force it). Being able to use a mini sd card also means you can unmount the card from the Nook, then load it in the card reader on a computer. Considerably more convenient in some ways, especially if you can't find a cord right off the bat. For flipping pages, you can use the touchscreen or the page turner buttons on each side of the Nook. Top button moves the page forward, bottom button moves the page back. Perfect for if you have a dog on your lap and can only use one hand (or eating, or having a cup of tea...whatever problem you have). I think that's probably my favorite feature because it never fails that when I read at home, Bear *has* to sit in my lap and demands to be petted. LOL. Another favorite feature is the fact that you can customize your screensaver for it. All you need is a grayscale 600x800 photo (there are plenty pre-made, free screensavers for the Nook online), load it onto your Nook (BN.com tells you how, just check out FAQ or Support), and change it from the Screen settings on the Nook. Boom. No more creepy dead author screensaver. LOL. Worst surprise ever was seeing that screensaver pop up the first time. Less than 30 minutes later, I had that resolved. 

  

 Pros:

• Expandable memory
• Customizable
• Page Turner buttons on each side, or you can use the screen
• Great battery life
• computer cord/wall charger included, it's also the micros usb so you can use another charger in a pinch
• Lots and lots of free ebooks and you can Lend some books or rent from your local library (if the library has that option, not all do)
• All sorts of covers and accessories are available and you can get them most anywhere
• Convenient tech support if you have a store nearby

Cons:

• Price. $79 is pretty reasonable for the basic Simple Touch (pretty average price for ereaders), but the GlowLight version is another $40...just for a built in light. 
• It doesn't allow you to set it to shut off after a certain amount of time, you can set how long before the screen times out and goes to a screensaver, but not shut off.
• I'm listing this even though it's common to all e-readers--ebooks are DRM. I know *why* it's that way, but it's a huge pain in the butt when you buy a freaking book and can't read it on whatever device you own. I'll get more into this later.
• Can't share snippets of non-Nook for PC side-loaded books. So if you like sharing what you're reading on Facebook or Twitter, not a great option unless you buy books from B&N.
• Doesn't show percentage wise how far you are into the book, just page x of xx. I like percentages. LOL.

Kobo Mini-- While they aren't a big name like Kindle or Nook, they're still pretty good. If you want something that isn't well know and a bit more...open, for lack of a better word...they're a good option. At $79, they're comparable in price to your other e-readers as well. Multiple language options and while they have their own version of an epub file (ke-epub) and you can buy your ebooks and read them anywhere. Not sure if it wreaks havoc with certain countries that are funny about copyrights, but it at least sounds more open. The smaller size is perfect for if you want a reader that fits in a purse or pocket without being obvious. I have a good sized purse and my Fire and the Nook stick out a bit or reach close to the top of one of my pockets. I do have a lot of crap in the purse though. LOL. 2 GBs of internal memory so you can store about ebooks on there. It's a great travel sized e-reader! It's about the same height and only about 2 inches wider than my Motorola Razr phone, so not much bigger than your average smartphone. It's fairly customizable too. I can set the screensaver/sleep screen to the book cover or a sleeping Kobo design. I can also set it to shut off after a certain amount of time (YES!) so I don't drain my battery as much if I forget it's on in the case...for about a month. lol.

Pros:

• Small size
• Timed shut-off
• Computer cable, but no wall charger. Not too big of a deal since it's a micro-usb.
• Surprisingly clear text for such a small thing. You can change the font size and type too and find a more comfortable sized text.
• Great battery life. I actually have better battery life on this than the Nook.
• Can share snippets of side-loaded books to Facebook. 
• Has some fun little awards for little things like "Finishing your first book on your Kobo," "read so many books," etc.
• Reading stats! They show you how long it takes you to read a book, average time per page of the book, percentage done, etc. 

Cons:

• Setup can be...interesting. It takes awhile. You can set it up wirelessly or via computer, so that is a nice option. Tried both and they're about the same. You do need a Kobo account, so set that up first.
• A little laggy at times. Touchscreen can be a bit more temperamental than the Nook. Not terribly bad though.
• Due to its smaller size, I really don't recommend this for people that need large print books or if you have a more difficult time with smaller printed stuff. Use a bigger e-reader. Your eyes will thank you. LOL. I wear glasses, but I don't have a problem with the text size. My corrected vision is really good though, so if in doubt, don't get the Kobo Mini, but get a Kobo Touch, Glo, Nook, Kindle, whatever. lol
• Not as many accessories for it, so if you like to accessorize your gadgets you'll have to be more creative with this
• Again, with the proprietary ebooks. 
• Desktop app sucks. I'm not a fan of it as you can tell. LOL. 

   It basically just comes down to what you prefer. I found I actually enjoy the Kobo Mini a lot more just because it's so much easier to keep with me all the time. I like the Nook a lot, especially for reading in bed or the lower light at home, but the Kobo Mini was really more of what I wanted in an e-reader when I was trying to find one. 

   As for Calibre, ebooks, and DRM-- Part of why I use Calibre (and not just because it's easier for me to use), is the fact that with the proper "unofficial" Calibre plug-ins, I can strip the DRM off of my ebooks. It takes some experimenting, but it's really not hard. Now I'm *not* advocating stripping DRM off of ebooks so that you can sell or disburse ebooks to the whole internet or "stick it to the man" and upload them for anyone and everyone that wants them. That isn't fair for the authors that took the time to write those books.
However, as many others have said, I paid for the books and I want to read them on any and all of my devices. I see nothing wrong with stripping DRM for that. /rant

   And that's just my 2 cents worth on those two particular e-readers. :)

*Oh, and the particular ebook you see on screen is "Winter's Heart" by Robert Jordan. His Wheel of Time series is amazing! If you like epic fantasy, check it out. ;)

The screen saver on the Nook screen is one I made from a photo I took in Paris. :D 

Ramen Salad Recipe

   I can't get plurk.paste to load, so I'm typing up a Ramen Salad recipe here instead. :D It'll do.

I'm lazy and usually just use a bagged salad, then add the dressing and topping to taste. I generally don't mix everything together if I take it to a potluck or something just in case someone is allergic to nuts, but it's a lot more convenient if it's all mixed together before you leave for wherever you're going. You definitely want to have the topping and dressing prepped ahead of time because they need to cool down before you put them on the salad.

Ramen Salad Recipe

Topping:

1/2 stick (1/4 cup) butter, melted

2 pkgs Ramen noodles, crushed (you only need the noodles)

1/4 C. sunflower seeds

1/2 C. slivered almonds

Heat oven to 350F. Mix ramen noodles, nuts, and butter together and spread on a cookie sheet. Stick in oven and toast until light golden brown. 

Dressing:

1/2 C. sugar

1/4 C. vinegar (I use rice wine vinegar, but any kind works)

3/4 C. oil (I use olive, but any kind will work)

2 teaspoons soy sauce

Mix all dressing ingredients in sauce pan and simmer until sugar is melted or boil for 2 minutes. Place in fridge to cool.

You'll need around 6 cups of whatever salad you'd like to use, Just mix salad, dressing, and most of the topping together in a bowl. Sprinkle leftover topping on top before serving. 

K1 Visa Paperwork!

   Thursday November 15, I sent in a good sized box of paperwork (US medium flat rate mailer box) to the USCIS. Tracking number shows they received it Nov. 17...then we didn't hear anything for awhile...until Sunday Nov. 25, 2012! Woohoo! When you send in all the paperwork, there's a form you can include that allows them to reach you by email, text, or both, rather than just by mailing you a hard copy. We sent that for in, and last night we got both a text and email saying that they got the paperwork, assigned us a case number, and let us know what service center (California or Vermont) was going to process the paperwork. :D Talk about a happy moment!
   Now, we have to wait for awhile, and if we don't receive any RFEs (Request for Evidence), we should get another text, email, and hard copy stating that they want my financial info. Whee! The ball is finally rolling!