<p>Hopefully, the school will be running free shuttles to and from the airport during the coming and going days too. And if you have to pay for an airport bus, don’t pay in advance like I did! It’s easier to cancel (and not pay) then hope they’ll give you a refund for your sick child (they won’t).</p>
<p>Hi Bears, You’re right! She takes every costume seriously, and it would have bothered her to know that “Tigger” was ever embroidered on the fuzzy tummy! LOL!</p>
<p>Not too late for a bargain, especially since if he is traveling right at the Christmas rush. My kiddos always ended the semester early-mid December and fares then are super cheap. Also helps going back the week after the New Year; again, cheap fares! Our only break, right?! Also, kids have more flexibility b/c they don’t have a car parked at any particular airport that they need to pick up.</p>
<p>My sister just gave me the Sparks book to read (Three Weeks…). I want to talk to her about it! I found it interesting b/c we are from a big family and the book flashbacks to their childhood (Sparks and his brother). THey are slightly younger than me, but also grew up in a family and in a time where kids were not pampered as they tend to be today. It raises questions about whether attention = love, how bonds form among siblings, how to deal with adversity, etc. I know I’ve read his early books, The Notebook and maybe Message in a Bottle, and The Guardian (I love dog stories!) but after that thought his stories were too fluffy/romance drama. Now that I know the history behind his stories I think I will read a couple more. Anyway, this book really made me think and I can’t wait to talk to my sister about it and how she sees our family through its filter!</p>
<p><<<especially since="" if="" he="" is="" traveling="" right="" at="" the="" christmas="" rush.="">>></especially></p>
<p>Oops! Meant to type: especially if he is not travelling right at the Christmas rush. Earlier in December you can score great fares!</p>
<p>Want to say Hi to everyone. Enjoyed all your posters so far!</p>
<p>I got back from SF last Saturday and finally get my work in order.
I had a good time there and in between the weekend, I went to some places nearby:
Point Reyes National seashore
Muir Wood National Monument
Napa valley to the vineyard and wine country</p>
<p>One thing worth to share:
I met a very nice and interesting gallery owner. I think he is in his 40s. He got his painting degree from SAIC and at his graduation, his dad hold his diploma and said: “the value of your diploma is less than the value of this piece of paper”. He said look at me now, I am success; I am rich and happy. He own a nice gallery near Macy store in SF. He said he is a author and a artist and a gallery owner.
He did say his 4 years training in SAIC didn’t qualify him for any job but give him potential to grow by himself.
In order to support my D, he said the best thing you can do is to support her to work on something to make herself happy not to make me “the parent” happy.</p>
<p>loveblue, that’s just great! What a wonderful conversation to have with someone you’ve just met. For someone in their 40’s, I think he’s accomplished a lot. I wonder how much he was positively influenced by those awful words his father said. Some people get spurred on by things like that, others can crumble.</p>
<p>He said he really get along with his dad now.
He did think parents are selfish and they all think of let their children doing thing to make them happy. His dad push him so hard wanting him to get in Law school but failed.
We may did something like his dad also, at least me did push D to do anything but art.</p>
<p>You are right, He seems did got defeated by his dad.</p>
<p>Thanks for the reminder to book my D’s plane ticket! It was my wake up call and made me realize it was getting late. Normally it is cheaper to fly out of Orlando, but this time, all the airlines had the same fare whether you were going into Orlando or Melbourne which is 2 hrs closer to us. So instead of the usual Southwest into Orlando, Delta into Melbourne was the same price and saves me 2 hrs in time and gas! Seems like everyone had the same prices, Delta, Southwest, & US Airways. Makes it look like they are price fixing.</p>
<p>My H’s dad decided he should be an engineer and therefore had a terrible freshman year. He decided engineering wasn’t for him and switched to psychology. Meanwhile his dad wasn’t happy with that decision - but he wasn’t paying for H’s college anyway. Told him he was up until 6 months before, then said sorry, he wasn’t paying.</p>
<p>redbug where you been? (didn’t speak up in parents’ forum, have you? wink wink)
tell your D to take biscotti when offered. does she drink coffee?
if so, ask for coffee and two milk thing.
the cookie itself is really nasty looking, with raised “D.E.L.T.A” molded/baked onto.
and not any good by the cookie itself.
BUT when you dip it in their watery coffee for few seconds,
Voil</p>
<p>Pretzel scrabble…could be fun, if a little messy. I am known in the family for making really extravagant food for flights…as the quality of the airline food has gone down, my take-along sandwiches or snacks have become more and more elaborate. It started when the AA flights from Ecuador started offering, hands down, the absolute most disgusting breakfast on the flight to Miami. You have to go to the airport 3 hours ahead of time so as not to lose your reservation so you are there at 4:30 am and it is really chilly in the airport and nothing is open. You finally get through paying a massive airport exit tax, slow military clerks manning the immigration desks and a careful, slowsearch of your handluggage that still will miss pocket knives, large scissors and even skewers (I know, each year I manage to travel with one or more of these items). Then, finally 4 hours later you are in the air and you are given “breakfast”…bread (stale), egg something (slimey) and fruit (given the awesome fruit in Ecuador why are we served soft chilean grapes and apple slices?)…this has been the treatment for over 5 years so I make a quick purchase the day before from Ecuadorean bakeries and delis along with some fantastic fruit (disenfected) that must be eaten before landing and going through customs/USDA inspection. I actually look forward to the flight now but the pretzel scrabble could add some interest to the inflight snack.</p>
<p>I sort of realized that some normal families that don’t eat off other people’s plates or take a bite or ship off other people’s food might have issue with this game.
please add the following points.</p>
<p>You should break pieces off with your finger (but it is so much harder than nibbling off)
cover the table top with clean new napkins, wash hands before touching pretzels, if you touch one you must take that one. no pretzel letters should be touching each other. You should discard used pieces instead of munching them off.</p>
<p>^ that would rob off all the fun.
we are happily disgusting people, always been, always will.</p>
<p>I’m all about sharing food…just not bad AA food! I will never forget having lunch with a good friend and one of her fries was falling off the plate so I just nabbed it and she was UNABLE to eat anymore because she couldn’t bear that someone touch her plate/food. Definitely I am on the disgusting side…or, perhaps more kindly, the “sharing” kind of people.</p>
<p>^I have a friend like that too! I have learned never to ask her for a sip of soda for sure. I come from a grabbing family. Does anyone remember the commercial “I’m not hungry, I’ll just pick”? That was us.</p>
<p>My friend and I invented an eating game when we were little called “pig and prim”. We would take something difficult to eat (like a whole peach) and then have at it with a knife and fork, usually a tiny lobster fork and a tiny pointed knife; linen napkin up to the neck, etc. The pig person would take huge bites and get all juicy, dripping down her chin and neck. The highlight of one event was when she let her dog lick the peach before she took a bite! Either role seemed to be equally fun if you got into the proper spirit.</p>
<p>I remember feeding D1 and D2 certain foods and making sure they were naked first. They basically had to be hosed down afterwards! Watermelon and cherries come to mind.</p>
<p>G
don’t forget “baby’s first spaghetti with tomato sauce”!!
and
the “first birthday cake”</p>
<p>disgusting one upper
I had a coworker who brought her Boston terrier with her occasionally.
He knew who to jump on and lick any human food residue off the face(me)
also he have been following and sniffing the French Bull (they were buddies)'s bottom intently prior to that.
In short, I was kissed by the Boston’s snout that was on the French’s butt.
miss him (them) just the same…</p>
<p>switters, any poodle update?</p>
<p>Poodle is in high spirits. Baby Switters not so much. He has been complaining about his back. It’s been ongoing for a while. He finally mentioned his rash, so now I am certain he has shingles. Had he mentioned the rash earlier I would have freaked out sooner, and gotten him an appointment. I made him one for Thursday. Since he is clearly not grownup enough to do it on his own. Growl. I had shingles 5 years ago. It can change your world view…</p>
<p>I didn’t know what shingles is and looked up.
Gawk! my kid did chickenpox at 10 month. means at risk!
I am a medical moron. being never sick (or didn’t notice we were sick) won’t know anything about anything.
I just talked to my kid about whole new degree of whatever that is happening or going to happen.
why is that it get harder as they get older!?!?!
when are they old enough so I don’t have to freak out on anything about everything?</p>
<p>My BIL had a terrible case of shingles a few years back. I am so sorry for little switters. If it is bad it could blow his whole semester. It is very, very painful. My BIL did get some pretty awesome pain killers that seemed to also bring down the rash on his back and chest (always one side of the body…scary to think it traveling along the nerves). The treatments seem much more effective on the symptoms and I believe they give antivirals now too. I hope he gets better soon! Kids aren’t used to serious illness so you may need to go to NY to make sure he takes care of himself. I fully believe in helicoptering for health. I think managing their health issues is one of the very last things they really take ownership of as they move toward adulthood. …remember I did the mission of mercy for the sprained ankles during my S’s first semester. </p>
<p>I had the worst case of chickenpox when I was 4–first memory. I had them down my ears (burst both eardrums) and am pretty badly scarred even now…small pits on my forehead and near my eyes but my legs! like mild smallpox. Even my knees are scarred! I was hospitalized and nearly died. I had such fear that kids would have the same experience them so had kids vaccinated for chickenpox the day after the vaccine was approved. I didn’t wait to have the insurance cover it…just paid out of my pitiful graduate student pocket. My (half) sister doesn’t believe in vaccines and, despite my experience, put her daughter to sleep with son when he got chicken pox-some type of weird way of getting kids through childhood illnesses…my nephew had a mild case but, sadly, my niece is now scarred too. Perhaps the kids with the really really bad cases don’t get shingles? that would be fair.</p>
<p>So I can’t figure out if a kid who had a vaccine for chickenpox is safe from shingles. Anyone know? Why don’t they just vaccinate all the students…S got the NPV shots because CMU advised it for boys even before it became hip and they insisted on a new whooping cough booster but no mention of shingles vaccine.</p>
<p>Well we don’t know yet if it’s shingles. He just mentioned the rash today. He has been complaining about the back and I was thinking a pinched nerve. Also the rash is right on his torso just below belly button but it is centered not only one side which is more typical of shingles. He missed one class a week ago. I tried to talk to him about it tonight but he was whispering because he was in computer lab, so he clearly was functioning enough to make it to class and to move on with his other work. I had it 5 years ago and I couldn’t function at all. My h had to carry me to bathroom and push me down on toilet screaming because it was too painful to bend on my own to sit down. I am really upset. I wanted to go to NYC but he sId not too. The rash could be laundry soap or something else. Ugh. But the back could be carrying too much, walking too much,10 hours on a bus to and from Boston for Halloween. He has a ridiculously high pain threshold. He broke his foot in middle school and walked around on it for a month before he finally asked to go to the doctor. I miss my baby and wish I was closer.</p>
<p>Hope it is not shingles.
As of I know for shingles, the older you are, more pain you will get. Since baby switters is young, even if it is shingles, it can not be that bad.</p>
<p>Oh switters, that’s awful! I hope it’s just stress and strain and bad laundry soap. My fingers are crossed for him…</p>