Oh and I casually made a profile on Rover.com! Its kinda like a reverse airbnb for dogs- instead of having a room to rent for visiting humans, we have our house for rent to dog sit whilst their families are on vacation. I got my first booking last week, and he's coming to stay with us tomorrow for the week! I'm so excited! He's a German Shepard mix called Anubis and he's like 75lbs- he makes our place seem so small! But its good because we're not in a position to foster just yet and we'll be making some extra money, which is always nice
So onto Travel!
My SO and I have been talking about vacations a lot lately. We've been lucky, getting out nearly every weekend, seeing new places, but it just isn't good enough for someone with chronic itchy-feet! I love this country, and I love Colorado, but dammit, I need to leave the country for a week or so soon! My greencard is up for removal of conditions in March, so at first I thought the only safe month to go anywhere out of country is in January, because I can bet all our life savings that they wouldn't get it processed in under a month!
So, my SO suggested going to somewhere like Mexico or the Caribbean, because he's always wanted to see what an all-inclusive was like. So I was looking and it was coming up like $2000 for the two of us with flights and a decent hotel. And I was thinking, 2 grand is a lot of money for a vacation that isn't even really on our list of dream vacations. Its just a vacation for the sake of a vacation.
Then I got our giant world map poster out and stared at it for a while, then thought I'd look up flights to South Korea, which is actually on our list. Flights are around $800-900. Cheaper than I thought. So I looked on airbnb- lots of cool places to stay, even traditional Hanoks for around $50-60 per night. So I looked up how easy it is to travel around Korea for non-Korean speakers- several clueless bloggers have managed it just fine and had nothing but good things to say about the country... hmmmm hmmm hmmmmmmm....
I had words with my SO, and his thoughts are basically "It sounds crazy without a guide but if you think we can do it, I trust your judgement". YAY! The only problem is, Korea in January is supposed to be horrendous. I don't mind a little rain etc but not the freezing, windy cold that has been described on the internet. So we'd have to go in spring or autumn, which isn't really inline with this whole greencard malarky
Now, I have to do some more research on how the greencard thing goes down. It is my understanding that I get an automatic 1 year extension on it when I apply to get the conditions taken off, and I think their usual processing time right now is 6 months, but then there is probably another round of Biometrics to be done, and an interview, and I'm pretty certain they refuse to change the time if it is inconvenient for you, so you absolutely must go. I'm considering a strategic delay of sending off the packet. I can send it off from December 31st, and normally I would send it then, but if I delay to say, end of February, I'd be more confident traveling in May, knowing I wouldn't be up for an interview til most likely August. I need to do more research but hopefully we can do this! Next summer is the only time for the next year I will have a life, because I will not have a break once I start the MLT course at school, as I'll be on fast-track so everything is crammed into 3 semesters instead of 6. I need to go somewhere!
The only spanner in the works is my SO is like "If we can go to Korea, we can go to Europe", so we can visit my parents. Its just, I don't really want to go. We're always going to have this. We want to travel the world but we always have to see family- we're never going to get anywhere! My thoughts are, whilst we may remain child-free forever, we may not. Shit happens. We may change our minds. And if we have a kid, of course it will be a priority to go home and see the family, and we'll probably not end up seeing Korea or Japan at all. But right now, its just us. And I don't want to get stuck in our ways and not do anything exciting. Its prime time to go do this trip! I know I sound selfish, but its one trip. A dream trip. And my parents are already talking about visiting again anyway, and bringing my foster brother, so why can't we have both? Idk, we'll see where my research takes me, and see what happens in the next few months...
onto Presents for expecting couples!
I'm hoping you guys will have some suggestions for me. Our best friends are expecting a baby boy! We're so excited! My SO is going to basically be the child's paternal uncle, because Ryan is an only child, but my SO and him are brothers- they were even nearly common-law married lol We were the first to know aside from the grandparents
I went and got a card, which we haven't sent yet because they haven't announced it, and I was wanting to send a gift too. Not a gift for the baby; we'll buy the baby pressies later, though their parents are both rich and crazy, so there will probably nothing left on the registry to buy the kid, but we really wanted to buy the actual couple something!
But I don't know what. I thought maybe a restaurants.com giftcard so they could have a date night on us, but I checked their surrounding area and there aren't any restaurants nearby that take them. And they don't really eat at chains :/ So I'm really stuck. My only other close friend who has had a baby had a "Didn't know I was pregnant" pregnancy, so obviously I didn't get her a gift lol. Any ideas?? They're in Ohio, so it has to be something we can either send or order online
I didn't think of maternity clothes! its still pretty baby-related though =/ I wanted something just for them though, because the parents never get anything... its tough and my SO has no clue either
Presents... Maternity clothing might be nice. Or oil for her belly (helps with the itch, minimizes stretch marks (tho they are genetic, if you get them, well you get them!)) because that shit's expensive and you go through heaps of it.
You know what else is awesome? Video games. You can buy games for people as gifts over steam or origin, no need to mail. If they don't play those movie gift cards. Because you don't get to see a lot of movies or play games after you spawn. Couple's massages are great, as long as the venue has a masseuse qualified for pregnant chicks. Closer to the birth gift cards for maid services, food delivery services or nappy laundering services are all fantastic.