Fast Forward...

So who can resist getting a blog entry in for February 29th?

Yeah, yeah... it's been a while. I just lost the inspiration to blog for a while. And a LOT has happened since last May. Yeah, my world has pretty much been rocked on it's axis...

So I suppose I'd best do a quick fast forward... Lessee...

May 2007:
~ Ms. Pukesalot dies (but then, you knew about that)
~ My good friend, Radish, introduces me to a new online mystery solving RPG called Sleuth
~ Radish and I are invited into a virtual detective agency in Sleuth on my birthday, the 22nd
~ Sleuth provides just the distraction I need after the stress of Ms. Pukesalot's illness
~ I become dangerously obsessed by Sleuth
~ I play Sleuth every extra waking moment not spent at work
~ I meet a guy... a fellow detective at Sleuth

June 2007:
~ Still dangerously obsessed by Sleuth
~ Radish and I get to know our fellow detective a bit better
~ Fellow detective lives on the other side of the Atlantic

July 2007:
~ Still dangerously obsessed by Sleuth
~ My home and bills and just about everything is thoroughly neglected for Sleuth
~ I start crushin a bit on my fellow detective from the other side of the Atlantic

August 2007:
~ Still dangerously obsessed by Sleuth.
~ Still ignoring everything but Sleuth... and my new Brit Crush

September 2007:
~ See August 2007

October 2007:
~ Sleuth obsession is beginning to ease up a little bit
~ With the help of Radish, my new Brit Crush and I finally admit we kinda fancy each other
~ My new Brit Sweetie makes plans to visit me for New Year's
~ I realize I have ignored my home and bills and just about everything all Summer
~ I panic and hit high gear to clean the place up for Sweetie's visit
~ I almost get fired at work for constant tardiness due to my migraine medications
~ I begin to see a new private practice Neurologist, who prescribes new medications
~ Gram's health deteriorates as she is hospitalized then checked into a nursing home
~ I hear from a long-lost friend from high school... let's just call him Crazy. Yeah... just Crazy.
~ Crazy suggests I paint arrows on the road pointing left with signs reading "Look Left" for Sweetie's visit
~ Gotta love Crazy... lol (also have to have been to London to understand this reference)

November 2007:
~ Sweetie sends me flowers at work, just cuz
~ Everybody at work now knows about Sweetie
~ I spend the day in a state of permanent blush
~ Now dangerously obsessed with preparing home for guest
~ Sweetie's birthday comes and goes on the 24th, and he successfully quits smoking 4 days later
~ I don't even know until a week before his birthday that Sweetie smoked
~ Anybody who knows my allergy to cigarette smoke understands why I'm thankful he'd already planned to quit... lol

December 2007:
~ Still dangerously obsessed with preparing home for guest
~ Gram dies during an ice storm on Monday the 10th
~ Attend funeral for Gram in Hutchinson, KS during a snow storm on Saturday the 15th
~ Sweetie and I meet in person for first time at St. Louis Airport on Friday the 28th
~ Sweetie and I spend New Year's Eve with Mom & Pop

January 2008 (explosion of activity ensues):
~ Sweetie proposes on New Year's Day... yes, proposes marriage... yes, I accept
~ We decide to celebrate our marriage in both countries, and that at least one of them will be on November 28th (points for knowing why that's a special date)
~ We also decide that Radish really needs to be a part of our wedding, having been the instrumental kick in the pants we needed to get our relationship started
~ Sweetie postpones return flight to stay one more week
~ Sweetie and I plan to visit each other every other month this year
~ We also decide he will ultimately move here from England, and start researching Immigrant Visa options
~ Sweetie wants to keep engagement a secret until I can meet his folks when I visit in March
~ Sweetie (attempts to) fly back to London
~ I get a text from Sweetie at his layover in Minneapolis airport saying they won't let him on his next plane while he has beer on his breath
~ They can evidently serve beer on one plane and refuse a passenger entry on the next one for it
~ Go figure
~ Sweetie gets to spend the night at Minneapolis airport, then flies home the next day
~ Mom blows secret engagement outta the water, and launches into wedding planning mode
~ We have 2 ceremonies and 3 receptions on 2 continents to plan, not to mention a Fiance Visa to process, so I appreciate all the help I can get
~ I discover my monthly VA disability compensation (a sizable chunk of money) has disappeared because I missed my re-evaluation appointment
~ Re-evaluation appointment was last June... while I was obsessed with Sleuth
~ Oops
~ Now have to write a letter to re-open disability claim while figuring out how to compensate for the missing money to pay my bills
~ Money left to me by Gram, which was originally gonna pay for my wedding(s), is now compensating for the missing VA money (this will only last a year)
~ Mom and Pop are kind enough to front my wedding funds until I get my VA compensation re-instated
~ Hopefully this will happen soon... and hopefully the VA will back-pay for the missed months
~ Hopefully I win the lottery and none of this will be an issue
~ Mental note: must buy some lottery tickets

February 2008:
~ I receive an e-mail from a chick I don't know that sounds for all the world like my friend, Boomer, has had a heart attack and is in the hospital
~ I send an extremely obnoxious get-well card to Boomer
~ I hear from Boomer one week later telling me thanks for the card to his dad in the hospital
~ Oops
~ Sweetie and I spend our first Valentine's Day as a couple... on 2 different continents
~ Day is slightly better for knowing he's opening my extremely obnoxious (and noisy) Hoops and Yoyo Valentine's card at work
~ Payback is sweet
~ Sweetie and I finally finish our 2-inch thick Fiance Visa Petition packet to submit to the USCIS
~ I deliver our hard labor to the Post Office and mail it by certified mail on Saturday the 23rd
~ USCIS helpline indicates that petition can take 3-16 weeks to get logged into the system
~ I receive a reciept notice from USCIS on Thursday the 28th saying our petition has been logged into the system on February 25th
~ 3-16 weeks and/or 4 days... you say tomato, I say tomahto
~ USCIS website indicates Petition should take about 5 months to process
~ With the growth rate of tomahtos lately, I'm keeping an eagle eye on the mail next week


Amway, that's pretty much my life up to speed. With the Petition (which is only step one of the Visa application process) already on it's way, and the foundations set for the Nov. 28th Commitment Ceremony in England, and the Dec. 6th Wedding here in Missouri, the chaos is beginning to settle a little bit.

Now I'm gearing up for my visit to Sweetie exactly two weeks from today. It'll only be about 4 days (my vacation days this year are very carefully allotted) and we have a ton of stuff to do. I get the feeling that none of our visits together are gonna be very calm, as we have too much to do to prepare for not only the wedding(s) but to also completely uproot his life to come live in the States at the end of the year.

So, I will try to keep up with the blog more often. For a while there, my reluctance was the prospect of catchin up to speed with so much information. But that's outta the way now, so I should do better now. :)

So happy leap year to you... and Happy Birthday to all you lucky peeps who are technically a quarter of the age of everybody else... :)