March 6th was F.B.'s 1 year anniversary since he came to the USA. We celebrated by getting Chinese Takeout for dinner. :-)



We still have a ways to go with immigration though... around September I have to contact our immigration lawyer again. We will need to rehire him. It's going to cost around $1,500 to finish everything- (That's including our lawyer's fees). We have to file to remove the conditional status from F.B.'s green card which expires March 2013, but he needs to file for the I-751 90 days before his 2nd anniversary in the USA.

Evidence that will need to be submitted when we file our Form I-751 to remove the conditional status off F.B.'s permanent resident card:

1. A copy of the Permanent Resident Card or Alien Registration Card (both sides);

2. A copy of the Permanent Resident Card or Alien Registration Card of CR children included in the petition (if applicable);
 
3. Documents establishing joint ownership of property and/or joint tenancy at a communal residence;
 
4. Financial records showing the commingling of financial resources and liabilities, e.g., joint bank accounts, joint federal and state tax returns, insurance, utility bills, joint installments and/or loans;
 
5. Birth certificate(s) of child(ren) born to the marriage (if applicable);
 
6. Affidavits of persons having knowledge of the good faith of the marriage; and
 
7. Photographs of the couple taken during the marriage.

NOTE: Our lawyers Peter J. Gonzales & Shanna Stanton have changed firms. They are no longer with Kahiga Tiagha. They are now with Green and Spiegel LLC, but still located in Philadelphia.

When you leave your pet rats home alone for the weekend. ;-)  Hehe! 

(Just wine residue!)

And... a close up of Violet! :-p

My treadmill has been collecting dust lately... I still use it occasionally, but it's gotten a bit repetitive. I really haven't been working out regularly for over a year now, which is bad. I wake up at 4:45am and with my 1 hour train commute both ways to work, I don't get home until about 5pm at which point I'm always so tired. I really need to get back into working out every day, but I needed something to motivate me.

I started researching exercise bikes online at first, but then I saw it really only strengthens muscles in your legs & not all over. I saw the Gazelle Edge Trainer had 1,012 good reviews on Walmart.com and it supposedly strengthens muscles all over your body. Plus the price was right, $99.00 which was cheaper than some of the exercise bikes I was looking at. I've also read online it's good for people with bad knees (which I definitely have). It also doesn't use electricity, which is a plus!

So using some of my tax refund, I went ahead & ordered it from Walmart.com with free site to store shipping. (Being in an apartment now, I really love that I can order my item and just go pick it up at my local Walmart, instead of waiting for a delivery I might miss).

My husband & I set it up last night, it probably took about 30 minutes to put it together. This morning was the first time I tried it out. It definitely takes some getting used to, I don't think I've mastered it yet, since you need some balance to make it work. But I used it for 20 minutes, while listening to music on my iPod.

You definitely work up a sweat and the muscles in my calves & biceps & gluts feel a bit sore now. (I'm sure other muscles I don't even know about will be hurting when I wake up tomorrow, lol!). The timer on it doesn't let you cheat either, when you stop moving, it stops moving. So I definitely got in a full 20 minutes.

I'm not going to add my review to Walmart.com until I've used it for a full month, but it's definitely something new to get me motivated about working out again. Plus I love that you can fold it up when you're done to store it in a closet or against the wall. It weighs just under 50 pounds.

You can get the Gazelle Edge Trainer on Walmart.com for $99.00 and Amazon.com is also selling it for the same price!



And no... I did not get compensated in any way for writing this post! I'm just excited about my new toy, so I thought I would share my thoughts with everyone! I do use Amazon associates, but I have not collected any money from it. I mostly use it to links to products I'm talking about!

We had this for dinner the other night and it turned out great. Thought I would share my recipe with everyone! It's pretty easy to throw together!

Cheeseburger Lasagna: Crock Pot Recipe

• 1-2 pounds of ground beef
• 1 large onion chopped into small pieces
• 2 jars of Ragu Double Cheddar Sauce.
• 1-1/2 cups of shredded cheddar cheese. (I only had enough cheddar to coat the very top, so I used mozzarella in the middle layers).
• 2 cans of diced tomatoes. 
• Oven ready lasagna noodles *(make sure the box says 'Oven Ready' noodles, these are noodles that are already slightly pre-cooked so you don't have to boil them).
• 1 Teaspoon of Goya Adobe all purpose seasoning (red lid)
• Bottle of ketchup.

(You could also add bacon to this recipe by cooking up 6 slices of bacon and crumbling them into the ground beef while it's browning). 

Ingredients- (ground beef & shredded cheese not pictured).

Step one: 

Brown your ground beef & onions in a frying pan. Toss in 1 teaspoon of Goya Adobe all purpose seasoning.

Step Two: 

Coat the bottom of your crock pot with a thin layer of the Ragu double cheddar sauce. Next a layer of your ready cook lasagna noodles. (You may need to snap some in half to fit; make sure you completely cover the bottom with noodles).

Layer of cheese sauce & lasagna noodles broken to fit.

Your layers should go like this:  

• Lasagna noodles
• Diced tomatoes
• Ground beef & onions
• Double Cheddar Sauce
• Shredded cheese
• Criss cross of ketchup.
• Lasagna Noodles

1 finished layer, waiting for more noodles

Repeat process until you get to the top of the crock pot. Top with more cheese sauce & shredded cheese & a criss cross of ketchup. Let cook on low for 5-6 hours. Enjoy!

Sorry for the lousy after photo, but it tasted really good! :-)

This has been the most difficult week... I've had four losses... Hazelnut due to old age & a tumor on 2/12. Rosie who passed during a spay for a prolapsed uterus on 2/13. And now Fern (2/22) and Clover both to pneumonia... this sucks...

Clover was adopted from Star's Rat Rescue in South Dakota in August 2010. She always loved running around on the floor and exploring. She never liked to sit still, she was always too curious.

I really hoped Clover would get better... she drank some water on her own earlier today, but she had stopped eating. I tried giving her antibiotics in baby food, ensure, etc in an oral syringe, but she did just not want it. When I came from work today, she was doing very poorly, she did not even want to move much. I wrapped her in a baby blanket, and cuddled her and pet her head until she passed away...

It has not been a good month for me. I already lost my Hazelnut to age & a tumor and my Rosie during an emergency spay for a prolapsed uterus just last week. Fern contracted pneumonia. She's been having respiratory issues since she's getting a little older. Fern was somewhere around 1.5 years maybe 2? I'm not really sure.... she had been doing very poorly the past few days, not taking her medicine in baby food, so I would have to try and get it in her mouth with the oral syringe. She stopped eating... I knew it did not look good. Fern passed away yesterday evening around 5pm...

My spunky girl, I adopted her last April from SRR, along with her sister Olive (RIP). Fern was shy, but she was spunky and territorial in her own cage. She lived with her other SRR sisters. She was my short little pudgy girl.

The sad thing is... Clover, who is already 2 years old, has been getting frail also and I'm pretty sure, contracted pneumonia from Fern. They were both ill, so I had them set up in a hospital cage together and have been giving them their antibiotics in baby food and Ensure, etc. Clover is stronger, but she's barely eating at all during the past 24 hours... which is not good....so please keep Clover in your thoughts, it has been a tough month...

Teddy, Aspen, Templeton & Curry

Aspen, Templeton & Curry

I finally got down to Ikea in South Philadelphia, I've never been there before. It was pretty busy down there and bit picked over, but we picked up some decor for our apartment. :-)

(The Loot!) Almagrundet bathmat, turquoise $6.99 (Not online)

GODTA Bowls 7", turquoise $2.99

GODTA Bowl 10", turquoise $3.99

SOMRIG Vase, assorted colors $2.99 & Artificial Rose, $2.99, Assorted plants $1.99

Closer Look. :)

Artificial potted plant, House bamboo $3.99 & Plant pot, galvanized $0.79

Gestalta Artist $4.99 (No longer online)

5-piece cookware set, stainless steel $9.99 & STEKA Frying pan, dark blue $2.99

P.S. Bring a reusable bag with you! I didn't know so we had to pay $0.59 cents for a large Ikea bag during check out. 

Meet Pretty Boy! My 1st Betta fish. We brought him home February 11th.  :-)

I have a theme when it comes to our apartment. Black/White & Aqua colors. Our Sofa is black. Our end tables & coffee tables are black. And my 2 favorite armchairs are black & white floral. There are small bursts of aqua around in the throw pillows, baskets on my coffee table, etc. I recently bought black & white damask dishes to keep on with my theme.

Now I finally found the perfect place mats for our dining room table. And finally found the perfect coasters in an aqua floral color for our living room. For some reason, it's REALLY tough to find coasters at the store! Plus it was a great price for both! 

Turquoise Flower Leaf Tile Coasters $6 -Etsy

Torre & Tagus Floral Print Placemat Set of 8 $9.99 -Target

I really would like to check out Ikea during my long weekend. (No work on Presidents Day yay!) I've never been to our Ikea. It's downtown in Philadelphia.

I really want to get a few of these realistic plants for our apartment:

Artificial potted plant, grass $3.99 -Ikea

Artificial potted plant, House bamboo $3.99 -Ikea