LIFE: Our long weekend

A rather belated weekend post, but a post all the same and I really need to catch up with everyones comments on my blog over the past couple of days. With Joe's birthday being on Monday he took a couple of days off work so we got to be lazy together but on my side it was rather crafty. I finished off a bookmark of cross stitched Matroyshka's and began sewing the dragonfly [I mentioned here] whilst remembering just how darn hard it is to sew with metallic thread. We've also started playing with drinks in trying to make cocktails - this weekend fully experiencing the Manhattan - a whiskey and vermouth mixture - love and strong indeed.

Not only is Joe a huge Transformer fan as you might have seen yesterday, he's also a HUGE comic book geek so on Friday we went to see the long awaited Avengers film. Going by his reactions it was a big hit. Aside from that we enjoyed more of the May sunshine with a long walk spying gorgeous forest wildlife and the peace and quiet. We also treated ourselves to a pair of tickets to see System of a Down in August which I'm so excited about. SOAD are one of those bands I got into late but I just love their style and its always good to catch a metal fix [I will always be a metal girl at heart].

And what topped off the weekend even more was receiving my winnings from Em who blogs over at a Vintage Sweetheart which included an apron, vintage crochet patterns and some gorgeous necklaces - they really made my day!

Collectors Club: Transformers

Now this collector is an addict and because it was his birthday yesterday I thought he more then deserved the last slot in this collecting series. I call him an addict frequently but it's allowed because I'm married to him. So I admit Joe isn't a blogger, but I felt my guys collection was worthy of being included because I share my life with it. Plus it lets us have an insight into a man's collection!

Close up of Cheetor from the Beast Wars line

In 1996 an 11 year old boy got hooked into a new cartoon called Transformers: Beast Wars which was based on robots which transform into animals on an Earth far into the future. Divided into two factions - the maximals [goodies] and the predicons [badies] they are the descendants of the Transformers we see in the films, from which countless toy lines were manufactured. At one point his mum threw out a garbage bag, little did she know she was throwing out his entire Transformers collection. 15 years later that boy is recollecting and still obsessed with the show.

When I first started dating Joe I knew of his love for Transformers but I was amazed at how many he actually owned. Currently the total stands at 109 [I think, excluding the ones awaiting being put on eBay] and predominately they are from the Beast Wars, Beast Machines [both old cartons from the 1990s] and the Transformers Prime [film and the contemporary cartoon] lines. Yet it involves more then collecting toys, it involves cartoons, films, searching eBay, membership to the official club, getting member only toys and trips around countless stores to try and grab them. Even I could name your Optimus from your Cheetor to Soundwave to your Snapper. Date a guy with a collection like this and you get interested too. 

Comic within the official Transformers members magazine and Optimus Prime from the film line.

Joe's was always one step ahead of me when it came to collecting, he can part with, and sell them on eBay if he's buying in a lot and there's some he doesn't want or he already has. We don't make lots of money but we hope they go to a decent home. It always come down to condition just like compacts. Paint and chrome-ware all come into account, missing parts and missiles all affect the price. We never keep them in their original boxes [unless selling them], they are toys and they are meant to be played with so that's what we do. But it's why we need an extra bedroom, just so I can contain them into one room. It always surprises me how many grown men are buying Transformers in stores and bid on them on eBay, there's many more Transformers widows out there. The things you do for love!

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This looks to be the final post in the bloggers who collect series - although i'll gladly accept any more posts if you want to fling them my way. I want to say a huge thank you to everyone that took the time out to make this little series happen. I hope you all enjoyed it just as much as I did putting it together!

A compact that is a little odd

Me and the boy are having a super long weekend together to celebrate his birthday and becoming a fully licensed social worker after passing his exam last week. As a result I'm flinging a scheduled post or two at you. And what would be better then one about compacts?

Sometimes you get compacts that are a little odd. The flight map upon this compact intrigues me more then anything. I won it on a lot on eBay. What attracted me was that it covered not only a somewhat map of the USA but that it featured three of the cities I'd already been to - Pittsburgh, Detroit and Chicago, plus some more that I one day want to be lucky enough to visit. It's vintage and has a vintage plane on it, what more could I want?!

The route shows what was a flight plan between Seattle to New York. Saying that - to me the map seems a little wrong. Geographically Chicago is after Detroit as the bird flies. Detroit lies between Chicago and Pittsburgh. But on this map - it's the other way around. Maybe I have it totally wrong?!

Additionally there's some green thing upon the compact. Don't get me wrong this compact, on the top at least has seen some use. Debates are out if the green was a map of the land or it's something that's been stuck on afterwards. Trying to remove the green sadly removes the flight map and plane. 

As with many of the souvenir compacts they tend to date from the 1950s and I figure this is most probably true of this one too. If I knew anything about planes this would have been useful to date it by. Sadly I'm not. The compact is goldtoned with one large framed mirror inside. Although the top has seen better days inside the compact is in great condition. While it's unmarked by brand it has two compartments each with their own puffs and flaps, one for powder which has a "made in USA" marked upon the bottom and another for rogue, the latter has remnants inside.

Don't you just love things that don't really add up sometimes?

A paperwork update

Source

While you might have thought my silence regarding the official legalities of living in America now meant it was all complete - my silence has in fact once again reflected the waiting period. Last week everything seemed to come together and we've finally managed to get somewhere on the two things we were filing.

Along with filing for my change in status to become a resident [more on that shortly] we filed for me to be allowed to look and accept work and on what popped into our letter box but my brand spanking new official card for authorisation to look and take on work. I half love and half hate this step. Don't get me wrong I love the idea of having a bigger money safety net, we can think about a bigger apartment and buy even more vintage things. But with being out of the work cycle for six months I'm use to pleasing myself, crafting and blogging.  I haven't needed to look or apply for a job over three years ago and I'm out to sync with how to write a CV or sell myself. I do know I'm darn well determined to actually do something with my two degrees yet I still long for blogging to make me money [never going to happen seeing in over two and a half years only one company has ever asked me to get involved with them]. 

Anyways ... 

With regards to applying to change my residency we got a separate letter summoning us both [Joe has to go too] for out interview to prove we have a proper, proper marriage. How they judge one relationship from another being real is beyond me but we have to follow the line. We have to take piles of evidence but more legal documents. Alongside the marriage certificate you have to take bank statements with both your names on etc etc. Now here I could really start ranting again - if they knew just how hard it is to get your name added onto American things when you not a citizen is a nightmare. While I'm on the bank account I'm not allowed a bank card. I can't get added onto Joe's health insurance, because I'm not a legal resident. The story continues. I've thought of printing out blog posts to show we're "real" but I have no idea if they'd expect them, so time to reprint photos and take old birthday, Christmas, Valentines day cards and see were it goes. I know what we have is real, but when you're trying to show that to other people, it's kinda hard. The interview isn't till the end of May so we have some time to try and figure out what to take and no doubt I'll be ranting about it again. Fingers crossed they'll see what we have is real and I'll be on my way getting lawful residency for two years. Wup!