All for clean clothes.

I typically do everything in my power to avoid shopping on weekends. This is made easier by the fact that I'm a nurse, and work crazy hours and typically have a weekday or two off. But lately, the schedule has been altered a bit by extra shifts, and due to a semi-emergent situation this morning (no Tide), I was forced to brave the crowds and hit up Wal*Mart.

So off I went. Into the wild.

Within seconds of entering the store, I knew I had a problem. Aside from the hoards of people and children screaming things like "No! I want the BIG chocolate bunny!"- I had managed to forget my canvas shopping bags in the trunk of the car. Drat. I had already made it this far, and refused to go back to square one. So I pressed on... bagless.

I started to grab the few items we needed- Tide, downy (since they didn't have the fancy Tide/downy combo in stock)... and as I entered the produce section, a very sweet old lady came up to me and asked: "What exactly does a vegan eat?" Though taken by surprise, I explained as well as I could. As she put it, her grandson had "just married one" and they were coming to visit. So I helped her pick out some black bean burgers, but ultimately told her that it'd probably be best to just ask her new grandaughter-in-law. I wished her luck, and she was on her way.

Next up- the check-out. And to say it was chaos would be the understatement of the year. So I found the nearest express lane, and joined the crowd... right behind a very nice transvestite. He was extremely muscular, and was sporting some cut-off jean shorts, a floral tank-top and a blonde, shoulder-length wig. He definitely added some excitement to the wait.

But I finally got up the front- and proceeded to throw a big 'ole wrench in the Wal*Mart check-out process. As I stood waiting, I had decided to go ahead and put all of my items back into the basket after paying. I could then take the whole cart back out to the car, put the stuff into my bags, and get it all home without ever even touching a plastic bag! I was proud of myself, but the check-out girl and her trainee acted like I was trying to bring down the entire corporation. "Ma'am, you have to have bags. Are you sure you don't want bags? How will you carry all of this?" (by the way- I had 9 things total) They thought I was absolutely insane. But they did it.

And then I got to hear it again from the receipt checker at the door. "Ma'am, did you pay for these things? Where's your receipt?" As I handed over the receipt and she studied it for every single little thing, all I kept thinking was- Lady, if I really wanted to steal something, I wouldn't be sauntering through the front doors with a basket full of groceries. I'd be at a full sprint, with a laptop under my arm!

Yesterday was Earth Day people! Is saving a few plastic bags really that out of the question??

I got out of there at last, made it home, and told Leo that we need to keep a better eye on the level of Tide left in the jug. This cannot happen again.

Tiny fruits.

I went out earlier to snap a picture of our first tomato...

And found he had a friend!

Baby strawberry!  :)

Let the good times roll...

I know I've been slacking on the blog posts lately... There have been so many wonderful things happening around here, and I think I was waiting for a pause to sit down and write. But I don't see any end in sight to all of this awesomeness... so here we go.

Over the past few weeks, HUGE strides have been made in our immigration quest. Leo not only got his Social Security number, but is now the proud owner of a US Work Permit AND a driver's license!!

And as for me- I just got ACLS certified last week, turned 27 yesterday, and had a grad school interview at Baylor today!

And the icing on the cake: we started a vegetable garden out on the patio-- and already have our first teeny tiny tomato!

From L to R: tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, cilantro, basil & strawberries!

...and now that we've covered 3 weeks worth of great events in a few short sentences, I'm going to focus in a bit and discuss my super amazing 27th birthday!

Leo and I started the day extremely early-- 4:30am to be exact. He had passed his written driving test on Friday, but had to come back early yesterday to conquer the road test. And because the Dallas DMV is INSANE and only takes the first 30 people in line every morning, we had to set the alarm crazy early and be there to steal the #1 spot (whoo!). As the line formed, we knew it would be a fun wait. It seemed like every corner of the world was represented... a mini-UN of sorts. And some had obviously been in that line before. While our backsides suffered as we sat on the damp concrete (from a ginormous storm only hours before), some people had shown up with camp chairs, incredible spreads of food, newspapers, etc.

But we made it-- and when they opened those doors at 8am, after our 2.5+ hours of waiting, I just about jumped for joy. Leo was in and out in less than 30 minutes, official-looking sheet of paper in hand!! His real license will show up in 6-8 weeks... and my birthday was off to a great start. :)

After arriving home, we napped for a couple hours, got a little recharged, and then headed out again. We ran past the grocery store and then hit up Old Navy. And then came home to BAKE! My favorite cake in the whole wide world is angel food. It's delicious and makes me smile, and it had been FAR too long since I'd had it. (With Botswana's lack of electric mixers, it was an impossibility.)

And Leo was in on the action from the first egg cracked! I was so impressed with him...

We did everything perfectly, and the cake baked beautifully, but there was a small malfunction in the cooling process. A few minutes after turning it upside down, it dropped straight out of the pan! I have no idea why... because it definitely wasn't under or over-cooked. I blame the pan. Clearly Leo & I are superb bakers and could NOT have made a mistake. But even though it was a little more "compact" than expected, it still turned out deeeeelicious. A few fresh strawberries on top, and I couldn't have asked for a better birthday cake.

But I'm getting ahead of myself-- Before we actually ate the cake, we enjoyed a lovely sushi dinner. We found a new little place, that could very well be our new favorite. (I'm one lucky girl for having a husband who loves sushi as much as I do.)

Nothing big & crazy (except for that DMV line)-- but it was a great day! And now I'm officially in my 27th year! :)

ps- I'll keep you posted on the garden. I go out and talk to the plants every single day to make sure they grow big & strong.

Yes We Can!

This picture was taken on October 28, 2010-- the day we first applied for Leo's Social Security number.

We left that day so full of hope, so excited that in just a few short days, he'd have his card and be on his way... The SS# should have been the easiest part of the entire immigration process. But for some reason, for us, it was anything but. We were that unlucky 1 in a 1,000 who got the run-around from day one.

After the typical waiting period of 2 weeks had come and gone, we started calling on a weekly basis to check the status. Each time hearing: "It's pending. Everything is fine." This went on for a couple of months... We would call once a week, and be told there was nothing we could do.

And then one day in December, Leo got a call. The voice on the other end of the phone said something along the lines of: "Mr. Rangira- your application will be expiring in 2 weeks, and if it expires you will never be issued a card." I remember calling straight from work, and asking for supervisor after supervisor until I got the head manager of the office. She seemed to have good intentions, and even apologized for the threatening call Leo had just received. But alas- she had no real authority and ultimately couldn't help. It turns out the original app (back in October!) had actually been sent without Leo's birth certificate. A huge error on their part.

After filing the application once again (through the aforementioned supervisor), and waiting another month- hearing the whole "it's pending" thing the entire way through- that's when things started getting interesting. We got both of our state Senators involved, started calling the center at least once a day, contacted the national social security office to file formal complaints and even wrote an email directly to the oval office. That's right ladies & gents- OBAMA.

Even with the senators and the national office involved, it still seemed hopeless. We were told that because his initial visa had now expired, we would have to wait until his green card was issued (another month or two) to finally get his SS#.

Do you know what you can do in the state of Texas without a SS#?? NOTHING. The correct answer is NOTHING. Can't set up a bank account, can't get your driver's license, can't start working (even with a work permit), can't file taxes... We would sometimes stop and wonder: what do non-international newlyweds worry about? They've both got SS#'s, they can both work and drive cars, they can both come and go from the US as desired... Not that we are whining, but seriously. We really are curious.

So after hearing back from a very nice woman at the national office, and getting some information (frustrating information, but at least information)- we settled on the idea that it'd be another couple of months. So we basically put it out of our minds. Formal complaints had been filed, Obama had been informed, our pictures were most likely posted on the wall of the local office... there was nothing else to do.

Until this week.

Monday night, I got a text from Leo saying he had a surprise for me. So I hurried home from work, all excited about what it might be. First, he tried to lead me astray by presenting a Victoria's Secret coupon that had arrived in the mail. And as, um, great as that was- honestly, I was a little disappointed. But then he had me sit on the couch and close my eyes. And when I opened them, he was holding up an envelope from the Social Security Administration. At first, I was completely speechless. I took out the contents and saw that it was HIS CARD! Still speechless... I looked at him, and back at the card, and back at him, and back at the card. Then I read every single word on the enclosed paper because I seriously couldn't believe it was real. And after reading it all, and realizing that it really was his actual card-- that's when the screaming, and jumping, and likely scaring of neighbors came about. I couldn't sit down for a good half an hour. Even Keebler got in on the happy dances.

Leo had opened it up 3 hours earlier- ripping the envelope apart with a key, thinking it was some rejection notice- and by the time I got home, he already had it memorized! Neither one of us can figure out how it came to be in our mailbox... as Leo hasn't received a green card yet, and that's what they claimed to be waiting on. But mistake or not, we'll take it!

We still have some major obstacles to conquer... Including the fact that Leo went to take his driver's test 2 days ago and was informed he could not test until he was issued a work permit. (I had a laughing attack right there at the counter- not knowing how else to react.) But the SS# is one HUGE STEP in the right direction.

We never did hear back from Obama, but I like to believe that he secretly went over the Social Security Administration, rattled a few cages, and made it happen.