Monday!!

[And_Sam 44]

Good morning MENA!!! Hope everyone is having a great Monday!! Where's the coffee?

This week is sooo going to drag for me!!!

[R and F 34]

Morning guys raining alot here in deep south Texas. Have a great day.

[Muh and me 18]

Morning Mena

[sara535 15]

good morning everyone - having some coffee here and its so good

its cloudy and a little rainy and so far I have nothing on my agenda but a little laundry. not too bad for a monday...

have a great day all of you!

[Ban Hammer 13,590]

i'm back from brazil

[illnevergetthis 5]

Hello Everyone!

Welcome back Charles. I hope you had a good trip.

Aya, when you sign on today, I want to know how dinner went last night.

Hope everyone is having a great day

[~ameriptian~ 54]

Happy Monday all!

The weather is beautiful here today! Feeling like going out after dinner, will see after John wakes up from his nap.

ILNG, The chicken Cordon Bleu tasted GREAT!! John loved it and the kids (who are very picky) loved it as well!

Here's the original recipe I found: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Chicken-Cordon-Bleu-I/Detail.aspx

But since we don't eat ham and Swiss cheese wasn't available at the time..I made a few changes that worked just fine. Here are the changes I made:

Ingredients

4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves

1/4 teaspoon chicken and garlic seasoning salt

1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper

4 slices American cheese

5 Cooked beef frankfurter (sliced)

1/2 cup seasoned bread crumbs (I used Italian cheese flavor)

Directions

1.Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Coat a 7x11 inch baking dish with nonstick cooking spray.

2.Pound chicken breasts to 1/4 inch thickness.

3.Sprinkle each piece of chicken on both sides with salt and pepper. Place 1 cheese slice and the slices of each beef frankfurter on top of each breast and secure with a toothpick. Roll up each breast, sprinkle chicken evenly with bread crumbs. Place in aluminum foil and close tightly, and sprinkle chicken evenly with bread crumbs.

4.Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until chicken is no longer pink. Remove from oven, and place 1/2 cheese slice on top of each breast. Return to oven for 3 to 5 minutes, or until cheese has melted. Remove toothpicks, and serve immediately.

I didn't do step 4, cause the cheese inside the chicken was enough as it started to melt outside it..but it's up to you if you want to try it of course.

It was delicious!!

Andrea, 5 more days!! YAY!! What's Sameh's POE going to be?

Charles, welcome back!

Aya

[And_Sam 44]

Welcome back Charles!

Aya, that sound delicious!! Going to have to try it after Sameh gets here! His POE will be JFK. I made sure that there will be enough time between his connecting flight. Of course I think 5 hours may be too much for him but I am sure he will be ok!! Can't wait!!!

[Hopeishere 4]

Welcome back Charles!

Aya, that sound delicious!! Going to have to try it after Sameh gets here! His POE will be JFK. I made sure that there will be enough time between his connecting flight. Of course I think 5 hours may be too much for him but I am sure he will be ok!! Can't wait!!!

Hope everyone had a good day. Aya that does sound yummy.

[~ameriptian~ 54]

Andrea, I hope Sameh has a safe flight!! You sound very excited, I am so happy for you!!

Sandra, thank you!

Aya

Edited April 13, 2010 by Aya&John

[Vanessa1 7]

Hi MENA-land!

It sounds like there's a lot of exciting activity going on. Welcome back, Charles! I hope it was a great trip. Andrea, I'm soooo excited for you!! Are you all ready or still working on getting things ready? Aya, that sounds like a good twist on that recipe. I am loving reading your updates and am so glad you sound so happy. Sandra, looks like you're getting very close to an interview date. Congratulations! I know it's been a long wait for you.

I'm working on the IV packet right now. I've got everything and copied but need to write a cover letter and organize it...check, double check, triple check, and obsessively check again. I'm hoping the payment will post by morning. It's already out of my bank account so that thing is going in the mail by Wednesday. Then just one more packet and then hold my breath for the interview.

Ah well, I'm going to go do some more reading on the IV packet and make sure I don't forget anything. Everyone have a great night!

[Wife of Mohammed 0]

And_Sam...congrats, were all excited and happy for you!

Vanessa1...I'm working on my AOS packet and finalizing my husbands IV application too. Both my payments should post tomorrow as well, I paid them last Friday.

Not sure exactly when my husband will be done with his papers and the the dreaded waiting for mail from Egypt. I'm also thinking of mailing in both packets together...or is it better to send off the AOS first?? I was thinking I should also mail in my work contract for School Year 2010-2011, which I will have beginning of May. Any suggestions?

So glad things are going well so far, looking forward to everyday that comes, which means the day has passed. Take care everyone

[illnevergetthis 5]

Aya,

I am so glad that your dinner worked out so well. I am going to have to try that recipe. I love trying to cook new things.

Thanks for sharing it!

[Vanessa1 7]

And_Sam...congrats, were all excited and happy for you!

Vanessa1...I'm working on my AOS packet and finalizing my husbands IV application too. Both my payments should post tomorrow as well, I paid them last Friday.

Not sure exactly when my husband will be done with his papers and the the dreaded waiting for mail from Egypt. I'm also thinking of mailing in both packets together...or is it better to send off the AOS first?? I was thinking I should also mail in my work contract for School Year 2010-2011, which I will have beginning of May. Any suggestions?

So glad things are going well so far, looking forward to everyday that comes, which means the day has passed. Take care everyone

Hey there WoM! I'm right there with you! I just checked the NVC website and my IV bill just showed up as paid so I am officially trying to get this IV packet in the mail tomorrow. Unfortunately my laptop crashed and my backup right now is super slow so I'm going to have to get up early and go into work so we'll see if it actually makes it out the door tomorrow. I don't want to rush it and then figure out I made a mistake later. I'm soooo nervous, I think because it's getting so close to interview time. But, in terms of which to send first, I don't think it matters. I would send one in before the other if you do have it ready. I had planned on doing that because I thought it would be a little longer before I got my husband's documents but I have them so no problem there. Here's my thinking: if you have an RFE then it doesn't slow you down and you can get it taken care of while you are working on the other packet. If you wait, then you have delayed yourself if you end up getting an RFE. But NVC doesn't care if you send them separately and it doesn't slow down the process at all. From what I've read in the NVC thread you get the case complete 8-11 business days after they receive your final packet and if there are no RFE's. However, I have noticed that NVC has been working slightly faster this month...at least at the beginning of the month, so who knows. All you need to really worry about is getting the case complete by the end of the month so you can get a June interview and not have to wait until July. They are scheduling May this week so it's not very likely to get a May interview.

In terms of your teaching contract, if I had mine I would definitely send it in. As it stands right now, we don't have our new contracts yet so I am just planning to bring it with me and give it to my husband for the interview. In lieu of that I asked for an employment letter and my district gave that to me. There are guidelines and a template in the guides...let me know if you need the link and I'll try to look it up. All of my saved links are on my computer that is being fixed right now so I don't have it handy. But I bet you can search it out or just ask in the NVC thread. Good luck!!