Our cleaning/packing project is going pretty well until today, when we hit a wall. I had a strange night last night, waking up around 5:00 a.m. with cold feet, which is so not me. I postponed our scheduled 9:00 weight training to wash and roll my hair, and was utterly exhausted by the time I finished. We did the weights, but took the day off from cleaning. This broke Roger's heart, of course (NOT!) We napped this afternoon and I feel better, but I'm looking forward to a good night's sleep tonight.
We cleared out all the closets upstairs over the past week and made various piles. We brought down the give-away stuff and it is piled in the entry-way awaiting my next French class, at which time I will take it and drop it off at Goodwill. Actually, we need to call Paralyzed Vets or the Salvation Army, who will come and cart it off for us. Perhaps next week . . . . We have several boxes packed, mostly books but some other stuff too. We have a LARGE pile of stuff for the girls to go through when they come in a couple of weeks. Roger says he feels like we haven't gotten rid of enough stuff. Maybe he is right, but neither of us wants to give up certain things!! I can't say that I share his feelings - I don't think that either of us is saving too much. After all, we do plan to have a life after we return from France. I think he may be worried about fitting it all into a 10x25 storage unit.
The powder room is coming along wonderfully. I textured it last weekend and Roger primed it yesterday while I was in Baton Rouge. He says it is not as deep a texture as he had expected, but it's not bad. I bought paint yesterday afternoon and will paint tomorrow or Sunday. I have spent the week ripping wallpaper off the master bath walls, which has been really easy, particularly when the room has been full of steam. It is vinyl wallpaper which has mostly separated from the glue paper underneath. This weekend I will get the rest of it off, along with the glue paper layer. All I have to do is moisten it lightly with a sprayer and use the stripper tool we bought, or even do it by hand. Nice. I may try to texture this weekend as well. This depends upon how much energy I have. If I feel tomorrow like I felt today, I won't have any energy, but I don't think this is going to hang on. I feel pretty good this evening.
Saturday, March 6, 2010
Friday, March 5, 2010
Frustrations . . . and victory!
March 1 has come and gone. The FBI application for a background check said to allow 13 weeks for processing after receipt by the FBI. That means mid-April! But the application instructions indicated that they would consider expediting the process if we indicated, both on the application and the envelope, when we needed the application and why we needed it expedited. We so indicated, asking for a March 1 return date. Nothing so far. Our consulate appointment for the application process is three weeks from today.
Now back to Louisiana - Roger received his background check on Monday. Finally! I decided to wait and see if we got the FBI check, but nothing for the next two days. Finally, this morning, I called the Louisiana State Police to see if I could come in and have my fingerprints done there. The clerk said yes, that there is a $10 money order payment required. So I went to the post office, bought a money order and headed for Baton Rouge, taking my application along. I arrived, checked in and sat down to wait for my name to be called to do the fingerprints. After 10-15 minutes, I was called in and a deputy printed me. She said that it would take about 10 minutes and they would have the results for me. Bonus! I did not expect this. She said that yes, it takes a long time by mail, but if you come in, you can get the results the same day. I went out to the car and got some reading material, then went to the bathroom. I returned and sat down to read. About 30 minutes watching several others come and go, I approached the clerk, asking her if I had missed being called. She checked and said "no." She explained that the prints and application were passed on to an entirely different department and it wasn't back yet. After another 30 minutes or so, they finally called my name and gave me the completed background check. Victory! If we had known it would be this easy, we would have gone to Baton Rouge at the beginning.
It is such a relief to have this done. The visa application only calls for a "non criminal record certificate to be obtained at the police’s office of the city of residence." However, when I went to check locally, the deputy with whom I spoke told me that it would only be a check of local records, and that if we had something in another parish, it wouldn't show up, and he recommended that we go to the state police to have the background check done. As well, when I happened onto the French Consulate website for Washington, it called for an FBI check. I emailed the Houston office of the French Consulate and asked them which we needed, and they replied "FBI is best." That was the entirety of the message. We decided to go for belt and suspenders and try to get both. Now we have at least something in the way of a background check to take to Houston.
Now back to Louisiana - Roger received his background check on Monday. Finally! I decided to wait and see if we got the FBI check, but nothing for the next two days. Finally, this morning, I called the Louisiana State Police to see if I could come in and have my fingerprints done there. The clerk said yes, that there is a $10 money order payment required. So I went to the post office, bought a money order and headed for Baton Rouge, taking my application along. I arrived, checked in and sat down to wait for my name to be called to do the fingerprints. After 10-15 minutes, I was called in and a deputy printed me. She said that it would take about 10 minutes and they would have the results for me. Bonus! I did not expect this. She said that yes, it takes a long time by mail, but if you come in, you can get the results the same day. I went out to the car and got some reading material, then went to the bathroom. I returned and sat down to read. About 30 minutes watching several others come and go, I approached the clerk, asking her if I had missed being called. She checked and said "no." She explained that the prints and application were passed on to an entirely different department and it wasn't back yet. After another 30 minutes or so, they finally called my name and gave me the completed background check. Victory! If we had known it would be this easy, we would have gone to Baton Rouge at the beginning.
It is such a relief to have this done. The visa application only calls for a "non criminal record certificate to be obtained at the police’s office of the city of residence." However, when I went to check locally, the deputy with whom I spoke told me that it would only be a check of local records, and that if we had something in another parish, it wouldn't show up, and he recommended that we go to the state police to have the background check done. As well, when I happened onto the French Consulate website for Washington, it called for an FBI check. I emailed the Houston office of the French Consulate and asked them which we needed, and they replied "FBI is best." That was the entirety of the message. We decided to go for belt and suspenders and try to get both. Now we have at least something in the way of a background check to take to Houston.
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