<p>So, DS#1 has been gone since the middle of August and is returning home on Tuesday to spend the Thanksgiving holiday with us. When he left I shut off the vent to his room (controls A/C and heat) and closed the door. When I just checked the interior weather station in his room, it tells me that the temp in the room is 49.4 degrees. How long do you think he’ll stay? 
Seriously, though, I will turn everything back on Monday. How do you deal with your kid’s room when he/she is away for months?</p>
<p>I lower the heat to 50 degrees and I turn it back up the day before my D’s come home.
Depending on how kind I’m feeling, I may also vacuum (usually around piles of discarded clothes), and change the sheets.</p>
<p>We also close both the vent and the door in S’s basement room. But thank you so much for the reminder! I better run down and open both when I get home so it warms up before he arrives home tomorrow! (our basement is always much colder than the rest of the house and overnight lows have been in single digits the last few days).</p>
<p>This time, we left her door open! She’s been gone for three months and I’ve never seen her room look so nice!</p>
<p>^^Ditto for S1’s room^^</p>
<p>I have to remember to go in and change the sheets and remove the lavender-scented air freshener before Tuesday…we had out-of-town overnight guests a week ago.</p>
<p>Radiator is off and door is closed.</p>
<p>both my college girls sleep on the third floor. The only time it gets used is if my younger daughter has a few friends sleep over or they go up to play Wii.
Heat has been off and will remain so until they return. I was watching the local weather and they are leaning towards a snowier than usual winter in our area.
Brrrrrr !</p>
<p>Funny you should mention this! D arrives home Tuesday night. Just yesterday I was up there cleaning her bathroom. It wasn’t a total disaster, but after 3 months, it did need cleaning. Then I’ll put on the flannel sheets and down comforter – it’s really cold here, and she’s coming from NC, so …</p>
<p>^Last night my D texted me at almost 2AM from NC (almost 5AM where she is), saying it was snowing in Durham!</p>
<p>53 inside. 58 outside. Stupid me, I started the pellet stove and turned on the electric oil heaters when I should have opened the windows.</p>
<p>Shrinkrap, it snowed around 2am here in Winston Salem…big beautiful flakes. It was just enough to make a dusting and didn’t stick around for long, but it was pretty to wake up to this morning. I’m an NC native and can’t remember the last time it snowed this early (or was this cold…) I think eastern NC got some flurries earlier this week, too.</p>
<p>It’ll be cold and windy for football tomorrow though…brrrr.</p>
<p>D was born & raised in Cal and only sees snow falling in Tahoe…I hope she’s taken off the flip-flops…Maybe she’ll change her mind about the “tenting”…</p>
<p>My daughter is on the plane right now and I will be picking her up in about 2 hours at the airport! Her sheets were changed last night and I sprayed a bit of air freshener in her room. I leave both kids doors opened as the cat sleeps under their beds. As all the bedrooms are on the same level, I don’t think it would really help much to close off their rooms; plus the cold that would slip out would make my room cold!</p>
<p>I thought 49.4 degrees was the average for diplomas per CC family…</p>
<p>Thanks for the reminder to go open the vent and wash the sheets in D’s room. She’ll be home tomorrow!
Make a note to hit Target in the morning to pick up the 49.4 different hair, skin and grooming products she’ll be using and won’t have brought with her… those things magically appear in the bathroom, right?</p>
<p>I just shut the vent and kept the doors to D’s room closed mostly because I do not the kitten to knock her stuff off the shelves. I redecorated her bathroom with the bargain rugs, towels and soap dispensers (all matching, finally!) from the going out of business LNT. D will be home Tuesday - hurray! I’m sure D will be happy to see us, the new cat and the Wii. And thanks for the reminder about the various hair, skin and grooming products - I need to stop by the local Costco to stock up on those.</p>
<p>
LOL! D always thought they did, until senior year in HS when I started making her buy (& pay for) her own stuff. S is currently a senior, and I instituted the same rule. Somehow it’s just not the same – he doesn’t seem to run out of stuff, to say nothing of the fact that he has very little stuff in the first place.</p>
<p>dragonmom-You mean the same bathroom fairy visits at your house? How is it the fairy know just the right shampoo, face soap and medication the kids use?</p>
<p>Actually, since my daughter flies, we keep a supply of those products here so she doesn’t have to check a bag; my son on the other hand is another story! We went to visit he a few weeks ago (we live 2 1/2 hours away) and he tells me the night before that he needs more shampoo. I inquired as if their might be a salon in his city that sells Redkin products, knowing full well there is. Our CVS even carried his shampoo so I know he could find it. But of course, nice mom that I am, I go buy him 2 bottles. I just hope some day he marries a nice woman that will take over his care!!</p>
<p>Just now reading yesterday’s paper. How is it that “Zits” always knows what goes on in our house?</p>
<p>[Today’s</a> Zits Comic Strip - ArcaMax Publishing](<a href=“Zits | Comics | ArcaMax Publishing”>Zits | Comics | ArcaMax Publishing)</p>
<p>DD has been in France since early September. We closed her vent and bedroom door and placed a rolled towel on the floor outside her door to stop the interchange of heat/air. For several weeks leading up to her departure, I reminded her that I would like her room to be left in decent shape. She and I obviously have differing opinions on what “decent shape” means so leaving the door closed also helps us avoid seeing a messy room. She’ll be home late night December 23rd and I vacillate between cleaning her room well and simply shoving everything currently on her bed to the floor just so I can get to her dirty sheets. DH has mentioned that he might go in a do some straightening before she comes home. That would be quite the shocker as he has trouble picking up behind himself!</p>
<p>Me to S (15 y.o. HS sophomore): We need to go to the pet store and to Target; we’re out of cat sand and shampoo.
S to me: And body wash. </p>
<p>!! He’s the only one who uses it, but would he pick one out!!! No! He wanted me to! (Nothin’ doin’, kiddo – engage in your own life a little, please, and pick out what you want!)</p>