One of my readers concluded a comment with this sentence: "Can't wait for your Christmas blog and New Years full of wisdom and hope through the sparkling words of the author !!"
Oh shoot, really? Now I'm blushing! I've always thought that my readers, through their comments, were the ones who were full of wisdom, and I still feel that way. But thank you for the kind review.
The high temperature today is supposed to be about 50F° and the low tonight is forecast to be 38°F. The storm gets here tomorrow, and tomorrow night is forecast to be 9°F (-12.8°C). I'm gonna be burning those dinosaurs (or whatever heating oil is made of). I've seen colder weather here and I've written about it. But I shouldn't complain. The temperature in Great Falls, Montana, is currently -25°F, and today's high temperature there is forecast to be -12°F.
For Christmas, I gave Nuria a Garmin GPS for her car. Now she is car-less, so I tested the GPS on my Jeep. It worked fine. I figure she'll need it until she knows the area. Even then, it's a handy device when you're driving around a part of the city that is unfamiliar to you. I used to have a TomTom GPS and it worked great. It worked on a trip to Inverness, Florida, and back home—a 24 hour round trip. After that, the TomTom prompted me to update the map. I tried to, and it began installing the new map. But then it said that it was out of memory and couldn't install the new map, and the old map was gone, so the TomTom was useless. I threw it into the trash after using it one time.
I got up at 6:30AM today, after being awake since 3:30AM. I always wake up during the night and usually can't get back to sleep. Now it's 8AM and a light rain is falling. I will drive Nuria to a doctor today to pick up paperwork for her permanent residency application. She has to sign it in front of the doctor, and the doctor has to sign it in front of Nuria. Then it goes into a special envelope, is sealed, and is sent to her lawyers in Chicago, then they check everything and send it to USCIS (Customs and Immigration Service). Nuria and the USCIS have been swapping paperwork since 2020. But the money flows only one way, from her to them. The lawyers charge $4500, and the government charges a few thousand dollars. When all is done, the paperwork will have taken about three years and the cost will total about $7000. Even after that, she can be denied residency. The government promises nothing.
I hope my next blog post will be more Christmas-y and less complaining. I recently bought some fire logs, and today would be a good time to use one or two. Stay cheerful, people!
2 comments:
Greetings
I love this crazy weather and being retired I get to remain at home --so I feel for those who have to be out and about. I've always said let it snow on my lawn only !! I believe it makes me feel festive.
It's been a steep learning curve on this side of Nuria's attempt to get permanency in the US. If I find it difficult and tiring --one can only expect she finds it exhausting and so dang costly. The gov't doesn't need $7k so why do they put people through this? For terrorists that amount would be pennies --so it seems (I can't find the word --painful maybe).
I have always wanted a Garmin so I'm a little green -- it's a wonderful and priceless gift and will have years of use for her. It doesn't go unnoticed --the irony of no car at the moment !! Glad you tested it -- love the comments about the TT -- I wanted one of those as well --but now I don't.
This year I've enjoyed doing Food ministry. I've made lists of food stuffs and other household necessities with my grandson --and we've shopped online and had the items delivered to others. I also have 3 huge food giftbags that I hope we can complete by tomorrow for neighbors. I'm adding the essentials in them like paper towels, toilet paper, tissues, Clorox wipes, oranges, apples, apple cider and on and on -- I may need a forklift to have them delivered to the doors of my neighbors. I truly feel like I'm being helpful to them with these costlier items. I wanted to take some things to the homeless around my area -- but our city has become a bit frightening so I won't do it this year.
A wise man once told me a great way to help with your own depression is to help those who really are down on their luck. I can attest that this activity is a great way to overcome depression. It may go along the lines of "idle hands are evil hands". Not to mention hopefully instilling generosity and caring into my grandson.
It brings a smile to my face as I remember doing this in years past -- we didn't have Walmart delivery so my grandson and I would actually have to go to the store, purchase items and deliver them ourselves. The greatest gift of all is having him reminisce with me about our adventures. I can imagine how many steps the Iphone would have racked up --
And my rule is I never buy anything I wouldn't use in my own home. I forgot to list soap, grapes, dishwashing detergent and sweet tea. Nearly any respectable household drinks it.
I remember this author writing about his experiences buying breakfasts, lunches etc. for Veterans. Maybe that's where I got these ideas.
My dad died during a cold and snowy month-- I had his clothes and shoes in bags in my car for the goodwill. While shopping in Kroger --I noticed the man in front of me didn't have a coat and was obviously needy --so on the way out of the door I approached him and told him about losing my dad and asking if he would like the clothes --as they were simillar in size. He said yes and followed me to my car -tried on the shoes and immediately put the corduroy coat on -- it fit perfectly. He said to me "Miss, I have no way to get these to my place.".....so I gave him a ride. You can't do that nowadays of course. But the memories of making that man happy will stay with me forever. My father would have done that. And did --as I write I'm recalling all the times he dragged us kids to do this type of service for other humans. I guess he instilled it into me as well.
Thanks for the memories !! And a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year !!
(I would love to tell the story about the Peacock I got for a family friend one year)....
.oh the memories.
Best, LL
Hello!
It is a nice thought to give Nuria a GPS, I thought it did not exist anymore. I hope she will get a car soon and will be able to use this helpful device.
I heard in the news about the bad weather over there. I hope nothing bad is going to happen.
I'm glad Nuria got the papers and no more delays for her to mail them. Will keep my fingers cross.
I hope she will get a good reward from the insurance company and she will be able to get a good deal with another car.
Happy Holidays to all the readers and you Mr. VW that have taken the time to write all these posts for us, I wish you a warm Merry Christmas and I'm glad that spirit of Christmas touched your heart.
TA
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