crockpot cooking recipes

On Living the Crockpot Life #recipes

I’d never used a crockpot before last month. *gasp* When I moved Stateside, one of the first things I set my sights on was AJ’s. I have issues with the food in America: if it isn’t restaurant quality (and I mean the sort of restaurant where they make stuff from scratch with actual ingredients rather than the sort of restaurant where they serve you plastic food-ish through your car window) then I become a very sick puppy. As I’m mostly pathetic when I’m feeling sick, it’s for the good of everyone (and my bank account) I make my own food.

Enter the crockpot. It promises so many things. Delicious, healthful, simple (cheap!) meals, thrown in early and forgotten about until my stomach’s ready to digest itself. Om-nom-nom. (more…)

dmv driving speedometer

On Paperwork

I was going to take my driving test today. AJ’s been grilling me on all the rules of the road, I’ve been zooming around the streets like a local (or better: I actually use my blinker), and I was all psyched up and ready to go. I’d got my social security number, my UK licence, my passport, one piece of mail with my current address on it, and AJ to sign her life away by swearing I lived with her. (more…)

paris peace solidarity

On Solidarity

The world woke up this morning to devastating scenes from Paris. I watched them unfold last night with my heart in my mouth. The reports were garbled, bits and pieces of news coming in from Twitter users and the odd reporter who happened to be on the ground as the attacks took place. Stories were published, corrected, and amended in moments. Chaos reigned. (more…)

houston equal rights ordinance hero

Dropping the T from LGB

It’s the last point on which the legislation died. The right wing whipped up a frenzy about “men” being allowed into women’s bathrooms, and that was all the general public heard or knew about the amendment. Even Wikipedia describes the ordinance solely as a bill which “gave transgender women the right to use women’s restrooms.” (more…)

fedex truck

The FedEx Debacle

One of the biggest dramas of moving to the U.S., after getting all my paperwork sorted, was what to do with my stuff. I narrowed it down over the months before the move (thank you, eBay!) but I still had rather a lot; yet not enough to make shipping it over cost- or time-effective. So I started looking into sending it by post. I managed to get about fifteen packages shipped over in twos and threes, but in order to send the bulk (and the more expensive items) I needed to have the right customs paperwork or I’d have to pay import duty on the lot. (more…)