I just finished making our reservations and plans for the weekend, and am SOOOoooooo excited! Here’s what is on tap:
Friday night — wine tasting
Saturday — ski at Mt. Rose
Saturday night — fancy dinner and a magic show
Sunday — ski at Alpine Meadows
Sunday night — stay at the Cal Neva Resort at Lake Tahoe, and have a COUPLES MASSAGE (Yes!!!)
I am so ready for this weekend to begin!!!
This time last year, I was hoping that JB was thinking about proposing to me. In fact, I had suspicions that I might get a ring for Valentine’s Day. Well, I got snow shoes, but luckily, a few months later, I did get that ring.
Here is the poem I wrote for JB last year. I was worried that the very last line in the poem was assuming too much, but fortunately it wasn’t.
It’s you,
That I think of
Day and night
And long to hold me tight.
It’s you,
That makes my heart race
And keeps a smile
Upon my face.
It’s you,
That I see
In my dreams
And makes life feel
More perfect than it seems.
It’s you,
That I love
More with each passing day,
And to whom
I want to say ~
It’s me,
That wants to be yours
This Valentine’s Day
And forever more.
Written on February 14, 2004
As part of my New Year’s Resolution, I have been pecking away at fixing the mess otherwise known as my name change.
I started yesterday by going back to the DMV to get the titles/registrations for my two vehicles changed. I was already peeved because this was my second trip to the DMV to complete the name change, thanks to them not being specific enough on their website about required documentation.
I actually had to pay $20 per vehicle title to change the name on my title, which is required to change the name on your registration, which is required by law. But then, I discovered that the bank where I had my original car loan THAT WAS PAID OFF THREE YEARS AGO neglected to sign my title, and hence, I have to go back to the DMV for a third time once they send a letter releasing me of debt to them.
So today, I decided to tackle the social security office. If you recall, the NV DMV wouldn’t let me drop my first initial (as I go by my middle name), and hence how my name change got all screwed up. If you recall, it was a very lengthy process that would require hiring a lawyer and publishing your intent in the newspaper for three consecutive weeks. Bah! Too much work and effort! YOU WIN!
I waited for over an hour in line next to some REAL characters at the social security office, and when I got to the window, I told the man my situation:
“When I got married, I started here, and you let me change my name to Lynn3tt3 C00k B3llin (numbers used to fool the search engines). Then, I went to the DMV, and they wouldn’t let me do that without a court order, so I’m back to change my name to A. Lynn3tt3 B3llin.”
“You know there is an easy way to change your name, don’t you,” the clerk asked me.
I was not entertained. Perfect timing, I tell you.
“Oh, yeah,” he says, “you just go to the court building downtown, and pay them like $30, and they’ll process your name change for you.”
“That would have been nice to know before I waited an hour in line and changed my name at the DMV.” I stated, “I’m sick of all this buearocracy. Let’s just change it.”
“You shouldn’t let them win,” he tells me.
You know, I could sit here and waste a bunch more time fighting the system, but it just doesn’t seem worth it. I could go to the court house, then to the DMV, and then back to the social security office to get them all straightened out.
But I won’t. I’m going to let them win. I’m going to continue having a first name of A to the government and the state of Nevada. I’m going to continue to get calls for A and AL, and as much as that annoys me, I’m just going to deal with it.
I was amazed at the life details people were offering up to the clerks at the social security office. Here are a few exerpts:
Said by a middle aged man with a huge bump growing smack dab in the middle of his forehead: “Yeah, my girlfriend dumped me back in Vallejo, and I had to hitch hike for two days in the rain. My last ride dropped me off in Truckee, and I had to take the bus from there. I lost everything — my wallet, my cash… Hey, man, where is the closest bus stop?”
Said by a very white trash looking middle aged woman: Well, this is my last name on my birth certificate, but my Daddy died when I was 6 months old, so I took the name of my Mother’s second husband, and then I got married, but we just got divorced, so I want to change my name back to the name on my birth certificate. And I really want to go back to the city where I was born so that I can see what it is like.”
Said by the cute 20-something girl that was missing a front tooth and wearing a 49ers Harris jersey:“I don’t even like the 49ers, and I have no idea who Harris is. I just wanted a jersey, so I stoled it from my ex.”
There was also a young obese woman with a tracheostomy and an oxygen tank. Every few minutes, she would do this coughing/suffocating thing that made me wonder am I going to have to use my CPR skills, and gee, I guess you’d have to blow into the hole in her neck, right?
Ugh. Way too much time in the social security office today.
We had an unbelievable weekend. We kicked it all of on Friday at wine tasting with two of our good friends. This was our fourth Friday at wine tasting, and we have met the nicest, really fun people there. It’s like we’re actually starting to have a social life… Or something…
After wine tasting, we went out to Thai food with our friends, and it was absolutely delish.
Saturday, we hit the slopes. It had snowed 2 feet in the mountains on Friday, so we were greeted by blue skies and epic snow. It was amazing, really. There were fresh tracks to be had everywhere.
Saturday night, we made up a dinner of steaks, garlic mashed potatos, and red wine, of course. We then went to bed early in preparation for another day of skiing.
The snow was more packed on Sunday, but we kicked off our skis and hiked to find some untracked powder. The wind was blowing 60 miles per hour over the ridges, making it feel like we were on a Mt. Everest expedition when we got off the chair lift. However, the wind served to blow the fresh snow up the mountain, making what I was calling wind packed snow… Untracked, and as soft as baby powder. I was in heaven, I tell you. After skiing on Sunday, we hit the bar for some hot toddies, which really hit the spot.
The only problem with skiing both days on the weekend is that Monday mornings tend to be more painful. I was extremely tired, ready to crawl back into bed the entire day.
And now, I have to ski today and tomorrow for work. Life is tough right now. Really tough, I tell you.
Ha!
I’ll post pictures of our skiing outings as soon as I get around to it.
This weekend, I…
What did you do?
My #1 New Year’s Resolution this year is to fix the mess otherwise known as my name change.
It all got messed up when the DMV wouldn’t let me drop my first initial of A (because I go by my middle name), but the Social Security Department let me change my name to Lynnette Cook Bellin, because it seems that they truly wouldn’t care if I wanted to change my name to One Hot Babe.
I’ll need to go back to the Social Security office and change my name from Lynnette Cook Bellin (as I wanted it) to A. Lynnette Bellin (because the bureaucratic bastards got the best of me). Then, I can change my name at work from Lynnette Cook Bellin to A. Lynnette Bellin, and then finish off the process with changing my retirement accounts, frequent flier accounts, and my car titles.
Blek. It is amazing how messed up everything got in such a short period of time. I still can’t believe that the State of Nevada has me on record with a first name of A, and that it would take a court order to drop that A. Stupid, stupid, stupid.
Like every year, Christmas flew by so fast that it almost seems like a dream. I had a wonderful first Christmas as a married woman, and truly enjoyed spending time with my in-laws. They make a big effort to make me feel part of the family, and they succeeded!
Christmas Eve was almost magical. After a scrumptious dinner of Chinese food, we went to an amazing Presbyterian church. It is so popular that people line up outside of the church to get in. They had a small orchestra, a huge choir, and tons of candles.
At one point in the service, we were asked to bow our heads and thank God for the blessings in our lives over the past year. I have been so unbelievably blessed this year that I had happy tears rolling down my cheeks as I thought of my husband, in-laws, the wedding, my nieces and nephews, and all of my family and friends. I had dreamed of spending the holidays with my soul mate for so many years that actually doing so was a big treat for me.
We took the three dogs with us to the in-laws’ house. For the most part they were good. One of them decided to tip over a flower pot and dig up the plant that was in the pot. JB and I discovered this, cleaned up the mess, only to find that the same pot was tipped over and the plant that was in the pot was dug up the next day.
Remembering that my obedience instructor had once said that placing dog poop where the dog is digging will stop them from digging, I put on some gardening gloves, collected dog turds, and then placed them neatly all around the plant in the pot.
JB and I then went on a bike ride, and that is when my mother-in-law, the avid gardner, discovered the poop in the pot.
She was very perplexed at how one of the dogs had managed to poop so neatly all around the plant. It’s actually a rather funny mental image.
Anyway, that was good for a laugh.
And then, our pup Tucker turned into Houdini while we were visiting with my brother’s family in Folsom, CA.
Because they have a dog, and we had our three with us, we asked to put our three dogs in the side yard so that they didn’t have to wait in the truck. Putting them in the side yard would ensure that that they wouldn’t disturb my brother’s dog.
Or so we thought…
While we were eating dinner, we kept hearing a knocking noise. After a few minutes, Jane said ‘I swear there is a dog in the laundry room.’ My brother’s dog, Clyde, was standing close to the laundry room door with his ears perked.
I got up to check, and the minute I opened the laundry room door, Tucker’s black nose poked out to greet me. This was very exciting for Clyde. Tucker had evidently discovered the doggie door into the garage, and we then assumed that he had pushed an unlatched door open to get into the laundry room.
After a good laugh, I put him in the garage again, made sure the door was latched, and went to sit down. About 10 minutes later, we started hearing that knocking noise again. Sure enough, Tucker was back in the laundry room. He had evidently figured out how to use their door knobs, which are handles (not round knobs).
So then I put him in the side yard, locked the door to the laundry room just in case, and about two minutes later, we saw Tucker’s face peering through the glass door in the back yard. He had somehow figured out how to open the gate into the back yard, and came around to greet us. Of course, he let the other two dogs out in the process, so we had our three black dogs staring down my brother’s dog through the glass door. Eventually, someone had the bright idea to put a few chairs in front of that door and drape a blanket over it so that the dogs couldn’t see each other. Try to get around that, Houdini Tucker!
So those are the dog stories.
Now for a wine story. My husband is getting very into wine, so we went to a local California beverages store called Beverages and More. Evidently, everyone calls it BevMo.
We spent A LOT of time in BevMo. Most of the time, I just wandered around, waiting for JB to make his selections. I then met him at the cash register when he was ready to check out, and my eyes bulged when I saw the total cost of that little excursion.
I was in shock as JB said he wanted to double check the receipt. We stood by the door of the store, and that’s when JB noticed there was a $297 item on our receipt.
After inquiring about that item, it was discovered that the cashier had keyed in a wine glass sku wrong, and had keyed in the sku for a $297 bottle of Opus 1, which evidently is a VERY GOOD bottle of wine. The store was jam packed so it took a while to get a credit back, but we had a good chuckle about ‘buying’ such an expensive bottle of wine.
So those are the funny stories of the weekend. Other than that, it was just another enjoyable holiday weekend, with staying up late and sleeping in, eating a lot of wonderful food, family time, and a few bike rides and runs thrown into the mix.
I hope all of you were as blessed as we were.
Christmas continues tonight, as we’ll be celebrating tonight with my parents, brother and sister-in-law and niece, Kacey.
I came home tonight and felt the needles on the new Christmas tree, and the entire branch full of needles fell off in my hand. We had yet another dead Christmas tree on our hands.
After dinner, I took the tree back to the lot and requested my money back. I then decided to go to Costco to get a fake tree. I think we’re just not meant to have a real tree.
Of course, Costco was out of fake trees, so I opted to just pick up some photos I had developed there. In with my photos were two rolls of photos of buffalos. That’s right, buffalos. Not my pics.
It was 8:30, Costco was closing, and they had tried to charge me for two rolls of buffalo pictures in addition to my pictures. It took over 20 minutes for them to track someone down and adjust the price. I can’t tell you how many people asked me if I wanted to keep the pictures of buffalos.
I then went to Lowes, where I discovered that fake trees cost a good $200, so I came home empty handed.
I then vaccuumed (for the fourth time since Sunday) all of the needles up, and decided to put the Christmas tree lights on a palm tree house plant. When I got all of the lights on the tree, it leaned over droopily, so I decided the lights had to come off. While I was taking the lights off the house plant, I got a strong shock from a broken bulb’s fuse, which made me scream. I ended up sitting on the living room floor in tears.
It’s not supposed to be this hard. All I wanted was a real Christmas tree. When it was obvious that we couldn’t have a real Christmas tree, I decided to settle for a fake one. And I wasn’t successful with that mission, so I tried to make a houseplant a Christmas tree, and once again, I failed at that.
I give up. I’m getting out the 2 foot tall fake tree I’ve used for the past few years. I apologize in advance to my parents, who made the effort to Fed Ex me all of my childhood Christmas ornaments. They’ll have to wait for a year when karma isn’t working against me.
What could be more romantic than shopping for a Christmas tree with your new husband, putting it up and decorating it?
Many things, evidently. The quest for a Christmas tree to mark our first Christmas together has been one giant pain in the butt.
It all started on Sunday, when I declared that I really wanted to go Christmas tree shopping. Unfortunately, JB is still recovering from the flu, so we made it out to the Christmas tree lot when it was about 18 degrees, and the poor man couldn’t stop coughing.
Which means we were in a big hurry to just get a tree and go home. And that is what we did. I swear at the time, the tree seemed to be fresh.
We got home, and put the Christmas tree in the stand. And the problem, you see, was that the tree wouldn’t stand in that stand. JB then cut off the bottom limbs of the tree in an effort to make the tree stand up in the stand, and it didn’t work. What did happen was that there was a huge bald spot at the bottom of the tree.
So, my wonderful, sick husband volunteered to go to Lowes right around the corner and get a new stand. He was gone about 45 minutes.
When he came back, he informed me that Lowes was closed, so he had driven all the way to the other side of town to get a stand at Walmart. He picked out a stand, waited in line, and when it came time to pay for the stand, he realized he had forgotten his wallet at home.
Like I said, the man is sick.
So anyway, he drove all the way home, and I suggested that the closest grocery store, Smith’s, would have a stand. He then drove there, to find that the didn’t, so he drove another few miles to Rayley’s, that had a stand that cost almost as much as the tree.
At this point in the story, I must mention that I had vaccuumed that day.
JB finally got home with the new stand, and it worked (hallelujah!). We put the tree up, and I began stringing lights. I thought it was strange that there were so many needles falling off of the tree, but shrugged it off and vaccuumed after I was done.
I came home on Monday to JB saying the tree ‘wasn’t going to make it’. I shrugged him off, thinking he was just being negative because he didn’t feel well.
I then walked over to the tree, and saw a humongous pile of pine needles below it. I ran my fingers over a branch, and all of the needles fell off in my hand. The thing was deader than a doornail.
That was the point that I just got mad. I mean, setting up a tree was supposed to be all fun and romantic. And all it had done for both of us was cause a mess and make us grumpy.
Right about then, JB got a phone call, and I was a woman on a mission. I took the tree out of the stand, and threw it in the truck, and drove straight over to the Christmas tree lot.
At this point, it was about 8:00 pm and I still hadn’t eaten dinner. I’m not a pleasant person when I’m hungry. Just ask my husband.
I ranted and raved to myself the entire drive over to the Christmas tree lot, and prepared the speech I was going to give to them.
When I got to the lot, there weren’t any customers, and there was one guy there in a trailer with his dog. He was about my age, and came out with a smile.
And I guess I couldn’t really be the scrouge that I felt like, so I told him cordially that we had bought a tree from him the day before and that it was dead. He went to look at the tree, and apologized, saying that with the cold weather we’ve had lately, some of the trees froze, which killed them. Once you get them in a warm place is when you really find out if they died or not.
He then helped me pick out a new tree that supposedly had just been unloaded from the truck, and was in the middle of the pile of trees, so it shouldn’t have frozen. And hence, this one should live.
I brought it home, and we spent the next half hour vaccuuming and sweeping the horrendous amounts of pine needles left by the previous tree. When that was done, we put the tree in the stand, and we both decided that we had had enough ‘tree’ time that night, so we just let it stay in its undecorated state. Plus, I wasn’t keen on the idea of getting it decorated just to have the same thing happen to it.
So far so good. And let me tell you, people, our house smells like a pine scented air freshener BLEW UP inside. I guess that’s what happens when you get so many pine needles in the house and then vaccuum them up.
I think I’ll now take to decorating the tree in stages, as I’m pretty darn close to calling the whole Christmas tree project off.
I have to admit that the thought of a fake tree crossed my mind multiple times last night.
“Hey, babe, look at me.” I said last night.
JB turned around, and I started doing my best 80s dance moves.
“That’s the ‘I finished all the Thank You Cards’ dance!” I said as I danced around the living room.
Ding dong, the witch is dead! (The witch being the task of Thank You Notes.)
So if you are expecting a Thank You note from us, just know it’s in the mail.
People were extremely generous with us for the wedding. In fact, for a time, we weren’t sure we could fit all the presents in our house, but now thanks to the shed (which is now finished!!!), we have been able to make room for the important stuff! Yeah!
I kind of screwed myself when I told JB, “Why don’t you write Thank You notes to your people and I’ll write to my people?”
It sounded like a great plan, until I realized there were a hell of a lot more of ‘my people’ than his.
Oh well. At least he did his share. I’ve heard many grooms don’t!
Michael Jackson’s Thriller is playing on my LAUNCHCast Radio, which brought back memories of wedding planning.
You see, back in June or July, I asked JB what he thought ‘our song’ should be for our first dance at the reception. I secretly had my own choice, but wanted to see what he would say.
“Thriller.” Was his answer, as the man moonwalked across the kitchen.
“No, seriously, what song?”
“What’s wrong with Thriller?” He asked, harrassing me.
And so, it became a big joke between us. We even toyed with the idea of playing a snippet of the Thriller song to start off our first dance.
Seriously, how funny would it be to have the crowd expecting this romantic, serious song, only to have Thriller start playing and have us start moonwalking?!
Well, as funny as we thought it would be, that just turned out to be one too many details than I wanted to deal with, so the Thriller joke was sidelined.
But I don’t think I’ll ever hear that song again without picturing us dressed up as bride and groom moonwalking on the dance floor.
JB — 3 (as in 3 mice caught)
Tucker — 4 (as in 4 mouse traps destroyed)
It’s a close game, ladies and gents.
And it’s really sad that the most exciting thing I have to write about is mice.
Thanks for the comments yesterday on the mouse situation. I LOVE COMMENTS!
Tucker is in big trouble. The wooden shield that JB built for the mouse trap by the door didn’t even phase him. He moved it and destructed yet another mouse trap.
And now the other two dogs are getting interested in mouse traps. We caught both of them sniffing at the mouse traps last night. As JB says, they all think that mouse traps are a new kind of toy with peanut butter on them.
Fortunately, though, JB has caught two mice in two days, so despite Tucker’s efforts, there has been progress.
The score is now Tucker – 4 (as in 4 mouse traps destructed) to JB – 2 (as in 2 mice caught).
Looks like I’ll be heading back to Lowe’s soon for more mouse traps.
Last weekend, while we were in the midst of the shed project, we saw all three of our dogs come running around the corner chasing something. I caught a quick glimpse of a mouse as it ran under the fence.
Later that day, JB found mouse poop in the garage.
It was war.
JB set out some mouse traps in an effort to be proactive. Later that weekend, I noticed that Tucker had a new scrape on his nose, but I didn’t think much of it until we found a mouse trap torn to shreds in the garage.
Now I’ve heard of people using mouse traps as a training tool for their dogs. Put a mouse trap on a surface you don’t want the dog on, and when it snaps, the sound will scare the dog and it will stay away from the mouse trap.
Or at least that’s the theory. Tucker, on the other hand, must have gotten his little nose caught in the mouse trap. And then I think he got mad. Really mad. Mad enough to completely destruct the mouse trap.
As JB cussed, I picked up the pieces of the mouse trap, chuckling silently. I thought it was a bit humerous.
A few days later, we found a second mouse trap torn to shreds in the garage. Then, this past weekend, a third.
JB is getting really mad at this point. It’s man against rodent and dog. I keep telling JB that Tucker is an activist — he is protecting the mouse population, one mouse trap at a time.
JB doesn’t think that is funny.
So I headed out to Lowe’s and purchased six new mouse traps. I got a few extra because I knew there would probably be more destruction of mouse traps in Tucker’s future.
And there was. Despite the fact that JB locked Tucker outside while he placed the new traps, Tucker found one of them and quickly did his thing to it.
Upon discovering this, JB proclaimed a serious war. My engineer husband decided to build a Tucker shield for one of the key mouse trap placements (i.e. the place by the door that catches the most mice). After about a half hour, that mouse trap had a nice wooden Tucker cover.
Let’s just hope it’s Tucker-proof. If not, Tucker is going to be in big, big trouble.
Well, I apologize that I haven’t transcribed more of the honeymoon travel journal. Patience, please! I think I’ll have time to do more on that this weekend.
Yesterday, we had a surprise snow storm hit Reno and Carson City. I had mistakenly listened to the weatherman who had said that the snow levels would stay in the mountains, so I drove the Trans Am to work.
Let’s just say that my low-profile, rear wheel drive, manual transmission sports car is a horrible snow vehicle.
Around noon, the snow was coming down like crazy, and I knew I was in trouble for my commute home to Carson City. Luckily, my boss let me go early so that I could get home safely and finish working the day from home.
Oh, how I love working from home in my sweats and slippers with Oprah in the background.
This weekend would be prime skiing, but I fear we’ll be spending our time finishing the infamous shed. Helping JB build the shed has been an educational experience for me. I’m more of a big-picture person that isn’t concerned with details. I’m learning that he is big-picture, also, but LOVES the details. I didn’t know you could spend so much time ensuring a shed foundation is level. Yes, ladies and gents, I married an engineer.
Luckily, there were already three engineers in my family, so I had an idea of what I was in for!!!
On a separate note, I was informed that my Comments weren’t working, which explains why I haven’t received any comments in over a month. Anyway, they are fixed now… I went through a lot of effort to maintain the Comments feature while blocking out spammers, so please people, stand up and be heard! I NEED COMMENTS, DARNIT!
Oh, and one last note… I bought a plant at the grocery store today as a thank you present for someone at work. When I walked into the Marketing office with the plant, the immeidate reaction of my co-workers was, “Are you pregnant? You bought a plant – you’re nesting!”
Good golly, some people have a one track mind…
Maybe it’s because I’m now a wife, but the spirit of domesticity overcame me yesterday. After making my hubby breakfast, I sat down and looked over recipes, went grocery shopping, and then came home and made chili and cooked some chicken in the crock pot for enchiladas later in the week.
I then went outside and helped the hubby with the shed project, and after dinner of chili and salad, I baked up some yummy pumpkin chocolate chip bars. Half were for him to consume at work, and the other half, I brought in for the girls at my work. (None intended for me, as I try to burn off calories consumed in Italy.)
Meanwhile, I was handing out candy to trick-or-treaters. And it struck me as I was working in the kitchen while the trick-or-treaters were out that I really miss participating in Halloween. Even during college and for a few years after college, I got to go to some really fun Halloween parties. I really enjoy dressing up in a costume and seeing every one else’s costumes.
But since I moved to Nevada, I haven’t really hung out with a crowd that throws Halloween parties… So there I stood, washing dishes in my sweats with my hair wet from a recent shower, wondering when I got so domestic and grown-up.
Saturday morning, JB lept out of bed and opened the curtains. I assumed his excitement was for a day of skiing, as we had planned. The man never gets out of bed with such enthusiasm.
Oh, no, it wasn’t because we were going skiing. In fact, plans for skiing went out the window when the man decided it was time for a project.
“I think I’m going to build a shed.”
Which means, since I said “I do” to the man three weeks ago, that I also said “I do” to helping him on any projects he conceives around the house.
So instead of playing, I spent a few hours in Lowes and Home Depot, and spent quite a bit of time outside in the cold Fall weather digging and leveling and getting dirt under my nails.
Ah, married life.
My family has a strange tradition of having people go by their middle names. Hence, my first name is something I was never intended to be called.
I started calling myself A. Lynn3tt3 C00k (numbers used to fool search engines) in high school, and even got the DMV and the Social Security office to start calling me that.
I’ve had telemarketers call to talk to A, or AL. I’ve had computer forms call me Alynnette. I’ve even had junk mail come to me as Alynn3tt3 A. C00k.
The A confuses people and computers, and now that I’m married, I decided it’s time to drop the A when I changed my last name.
I was told to start the name change process with Social Security. They didn’t have a problem with dropping the A.
Then I went to the DMV, who told me it would take a court order to drop the A. But after waiting in the hellaciously long DMV line, I went ahead and got my new license as A. Lynn3tt3 B3llin.
So now, I am Lynnette Cook Bellin to the Social Security people, and A. Lynn3tt3 B3llin to the DMV. And I think this is really going to screw things up for me.
I called the court house to ask about the proceedure for getting a court order. I was told to find out myself by reading the Nevada Revised Statutes. After searching the damn statutes for 30 minutes, I’m no closer to knowing how to get the court order without calling an attorney.
Sorry, Mom and Dad, but this going by your middle name tradition will be ending with me. Somehow, some way I’m dropping the A, and I’ve decided just now not to pass the Curse of the A on to any of my children.
And no, I’m not pregnant. I’ve already been asked that question upon the return from our honeymoon. WE HAVEN’T EVEN BEEN MARRIED THREE WEEKS, PEOPLE!
Update:
Holy crap. The name change information from the court is 18 pages long. Here is the process:
Sign the Petition and the Verifications attached to the Petition in the presence of a Notary Public.
1. Make three copies of the Petition after it is signed and Notarized and staple the copies in “sets”. All the original pages in one “set” and the copies, pages 1 – 4 make up each other “set”.
2. Fill out, sign and date the “Civil Cover Sheet”.
3. Do not fill out the NOTICE, but make three copies of the NOTICE.
4. Take the Civil Cover Sheet, the Petition and the copies of the Petition and the Notice and the copies of the Notice to the Filing Clerk’s Office at 75 Court Street, Reno, Nevada, with your
filing fee.
5. The Clerk will file stamp the original Petition and the copies. The clerk will keep the original Petition and give you back the file stamped copies.
6. The Clerk will fill in the information on the NOTICE and the copies of the NOTICE, file stamp them, keep the original and give you the file stamped copies back.
7. AT THIS TIME, DO NOT FILE THE DOCUMENTS TITLED PROOF OF
PUBLICATION, REQUEST FOR SUBMISSION AND ORDER.
8. Take the NOTICE to the newspaper to have it published one time a week for three consecutive weeks.
9. At this time, take a few minutes and fill in the Case No. and Dept. No. that has been assigned to your case on all the other documents you have. Everything in this case must be identified
by that Case No. and Dept. No.
10. At the end of the three weeks publication, the newspaper will mail a “Proof of Publication” to you which will be an Affidavit and a copy of the published Notice. This is then attached to the Proof of Service sheet that is included in this set of documents. Make two copies of the Proof of Service cover sheet and the attached Proof of Publication and file it with the Filing Clerk at 75 Court Street, Reno.
11. Ten days from the last date the Notice appeared in the paper, you may “submit” the case for review and decision by the Judge. To do this, sign the Request for Submission and make two copies of it. Make THREE (3) OR MORE COPIES OF THE ORDER. YOU MAY WANT MORE THAN ONE COPY FOR FUTURE RECORDS. THIS IS THE TIME TO MAKE THEM.
12. Take the Request For Submission and the copies of the Request and the Order and copies of the Order to the Filing Clerk. The Clerk will file in the Request For Submission, keep the original and give you back the copies. These are for your records. The Clerk will keep all
of the Orders for the Judge’s signature.
13. The Judge will usually sign the Order within a week or ten (10) days. The Court may notify you that the Order has been signed, HOWEVER, sometimes, the Judge signs the Order and,
for whatever reason, you are not notified that the Order has been signed. It is up to you to keep track of your documents within the Court process and when asking about the documents, you must always have the Case No. and Dept. No. ready for whoever is assisting
you.
14. It is wise to get at least three (3) “certified copies” of the Order. The orders you brought in with the Request for Submission can be certified and should be in the file. These “certified” copies are necessary for such things as school records, Social Security name change, etc.
Are you kidding me?! I just want to drop the A. At this point, the A is winning. I guess I could hire a lawyer to do the above listed beurocratic nonsense, but for right now, I’ll just sit here and fume.
Now presenting the new improved version of me — Mrs. B! We’re back from our honeymoon in Italy, which was wonderful! We got back Friday at about 11:30 pm after 24.5 hours of travel. We’re both jet lagged. In fact, it is 5:30 in the morning right now on Sunday, and I’ve been up for an hour. Despite being very tired, my body clock is still very off.
The wedding was wonderful. A bit overwhelming, but wonderful. Most everything went smoothly.
One of the best decisions we made was to go on our honeymoon two days after the wedding. Even though it was great to see everyone that came to the wedding, I was so excited to be alone with JB for 11 days in romantic Italy.
I haven’t touched a computer in 17 days, which I think is a personal record. At least, that’s the longest I’ve gone without touching a computer since probably high school. And it was wonderful. I admit that the Internet cafes were a bit alluring, but then I stopped myself, knowing I’d be attached to a keyboard again soon enough.
I kept an old fashioned paper travel jounal while in Italy, and I hope to get some of those entries posted for all of you soon. Basically, our honeymoon consisted of the following:
Overall, it’s good to be back. The last two weeks, including the wedding and the honeymoon, went by so fast, but have so many wonderful memories. They have to be the best two weeks of my life.
I think I’m finally coming down with the cold that JB had for the second week of our trip. At least I didn’t get sick on the trip… Now, the only thing I’m dreading is going to work on Monday after being gone for so long. I should start a pool for people to guess how many unread e-mails I’ll have. For some reason, the number 4000 sticks out in my head, but then again, I think at some point I probably exceeded my account size and Outlook probably shut down my account.
Until next time, I sign off as Mrs. Lynnette Bellin, the deleriously happy newlywed.
