<p>So…yesterday I was able to persuade Son to go on a dorm shopping trip with me. Once we were in the car he announced that he would be going to his girlfriend’s house in less than two hours. As we were shopping, he announced that he hadn’t taken his ADD pills that day. So you can imagine how much we got done! </p>
<p>We only made it to two stores and didn’t buy a thing, but now I have a good idea of what *I’m *going to buy in the next few days. I’ve also got several printed checklists in front of me, together with my notes from this board…time to make The Master List. (Husband still can’t comprehend why we need to but a single thing.)</p>
<p>Son’s dorm room has one of the oddest layouts one could imagine. I woke up at 4:30 am worrying about the room…it’s a good thing that he doesn’t care in the least. Hundreds of freshman have endured that dorm, so I guess he will, too.</p>
<p>I’m wondering if a microwave is a “don’t ask - don’t tell” item, or if their “what not to bring list” is ancient. A microwave is on neither the list of what to bring nor what not to bring. The three story dorm does not have any sort of kitchen area.</p>
<p>When D1 went to college, I felt like I shopped all summer. With D2, I haven’t yet done a thing… All your shopping stories make me think it’s time to kick into gear …</p>
<p>shopping today for dorms stuff and CLOTHES<strong><em>Gasp</em></strong>* she asked me to take her!! What was that I was saying yesterday?? Shopping for us is not easy it’s 1.5 hourse to the nearest mall. The Kohls we are going to today is about 15 minutes closer. </p>
<p>so the eggcrate is not pricey and the memory foam is and many of you have had great luck with the eggcrate??? hmmmmm.</p>
<p>The mem foam thing at kohls is 28.00 today but it is not x long so I am wondering if I should go for it. help please!!!</p>
<p>Harriet How far is S1’s and D’s school from your home??</p>
<p>historymom, do you have absolute confirmation that the dorm mattresses are TXL? If they are, then yeah, you do want the longer eggcrate or memory foam. The place you can go with regular is top sheet and anything else - but fitted sheet, mattress pad, etc. need to be long enough. </p>
<p>2.5 hours, if there’s no traffic. Which is really only the case if you’re traveling in the early morning or late evening. What about your Ds’ school?</p>
<p>Clothes… I had lunch recently with a woman whose son has always worn a uniform to school. He owns one pair of jeans (and is a reluctant shopper.) She’s got her work cut out for her.</p>
<p>Here’s an issue that has been on my mind: what do they do with their wet towels in the dorm? Okay, I pretty much know what they actually do…throw the wet towel on the floor and dig through the pile next time they need a towel. But what should they do? I simply can’t remember what I did with wet towels in the dorm and I wouldn’t have thrown mine on the floor. Do you put a couple of those 3-M hooks on the wall and hope the towel will land there?</p>
<p>At D and S1’s school, there are towel bars in the dorm rooms. The bathrooms have - really, there’s no other name for it - cubbies, with hooks that will hold a washcloth, and a small shelf for the bathroom bucket or caddy or whatever each kid has.</p>
<p>I think your idea (a command hook or two) would be a wise way to go, if there’s no towel bar.</p>
<p>My S1 lived with a fairly strict dress code for the last seven years. He’s pretty pleased that for the first time since fifth grade, he can actually wear jeans to classes. I did go out and buy him a few more pairs, since he’s only ever had one or two at a time, and I’m not too optimistic about the frequency with which he’ll do laundry. . . .</p>
<p>Harriet yes the dorm beds are all TXL but the mem foam is a topper and just sits on top. I don’t think it is fitted so it would leave her feet unpadded but she would still have a mattress cover. Making sense?</p>
<p>And we are 2.5 hours away too, under the same conditions. I am glad you are that close; though I know it will seem like much further in 5 weeks :(</p>
<p>Missypie I do think BBand B has over the door hooks that go up w/o nails but 3M makes some heavy duty hooks that will do the trick too. Now if only there can be a homing device installed which will insure that the wet towel makes it on to the hook I am fairly sure that I draped my wet towel over the back of my desk chair but really I don’t remember.</p>
<p>historymom, yes, it feels like a comfortable time/distance to me. Given that they can’t be right upstairs, I mean.</p>
<p>You absolutely could use a regular-twin mattress pad. The potential problem I foresee is shifting - she’d start out with the foot-end as the unpadded area, but the pad could end up sliding further and further down. Or not, of course - if the padding + mattress cover is thick enough, then the fitted sheet could hold everything firmly in place.</p>
<p>It seems to me that kids who go to school in places where winter coats will be required use those over-the-door rigs for their coats. Those in light jacket states could definitely use them as towel holders.</p>
<p>D is a huge fan of command hooks (the 3M dealios) for lots of stuff. And yeah - S1 is very happy about the jeans.</p>
<p>We were talking about our “contract” with S last night and asked what he thought a minimum gpa should be to continue, and I think we all agreed a 2.5 minimum was reasonable. THEN we got to phone calls home. I asked for at least 1x a week with one good/bad experience for him to share…apparently that is WAY out of line for him! ARGH. I’ve read other threads where students (particularly boys) can go weeks without any contact home, and I’d go crazy. Of course, DS thinks I already am.</p>
<p>I’ve seen those over the door racks. I think I’ll bring some hooks and see if we need to buy something else in the future.</p>
<p>An interesting part of this whole “sending a child to college” process is that it has brought up some things that I *simply cannot remember *about my own college days…and I didn’t take drugs and drank very little. What did I do with my wet towels? What did we do on Saturdays? </p>
<p>I also don’t recall having freshman orientation…but I don’t think that is a memory failure. I think we came up over the summer to register for classes and have our (hot sweaty faced) ID pictures taken, but I really don’t think there was a second of freshman orientation.</p>
<p>D purchased 3M hooks, she used them for everything, including hanging a hand towel on the wall next to the sink (her dorm room as a sink and vanity area), another hook to hang her keys, more hooks for pictures on the wall, corkboard, etc.</p>
<p>The make the hooks in various sizes. BB&B had them.</p>
<p>missypie, funny about what we remember and what we don’t. One thing I do recall about orientation is feeling pretty bored by the end of it (it was nearly a week), and suspecting that the lengthy nature was designed to make us want classes to start.</p>
<p>cpeltz, I don’t go a day without talking to D. I like to keep in contact with her and with cellphones, it’s very easy to. We, ok ME, is also going to figure our Skype, although she uses it with friends from home. </p>
<p>I’d also suggest that everyone gets an emergency contact number from their roommate or best friend at college. Luckily, D called me a while back from one of her best friend’s cellphone because hers needed a recharge. Luckily, I saved that cellphone number because last week D and I were chatting and she hurried off the phone. I didn’t know this, I thought we were cut off, and got concerned, kept calling her back and getting voice mail. I was upset, thinking someone broke into her room or she was walking the campus and was mugged and remembered having her best friend’s cellphone number, who happens to live across the hall. I called her and asked her where D was “oh, she’s in her room studying”. “PLEASE go over!” I asked. The girl knocked and said “music is really loud in there” and I’m thinking the worst, BUT D opens up the door and is surprised to hear that “your mom is on my phone”. D thought our conversation was over, was preparing to shower and turned the music up (couldn’t hear me calling her back multiple times).</p>
<p>I may be buying the 3M hooks in quantity, then. I’m trying so hard to keep what we bring to school for Son to a minimum and to try think through organizational systems for his room. One of the things about his Aspergarian brain is that he can’t find things that are lost. His homework may be in the center of the desk in his room and he can’t find it. Things like keys and cellphone will need to have a *place *or all hope is lost.</p>
<p>cpeltz: Do you think your S is objecting to the once a week or the +/-? I think that was a good thing to ask for but now that he has objected you get to be the good mom and say "OK, maybe asking you for a positive and a negative won’t work for you so I am willing to give that up but I’m firm on the once a week " At orientation for my girls’s school they told the kids about the Sunday evening call home so maybe your S will get the same message when he goes. </p>
<p>When he does call I am sure that you have the ability to wiggle a positive and a negative (hopefully there aren’t too many of those) out of him without him realizing it.</p>
<p>Tell me about your hardest class.
How is the food?
Is your roommate still sitting on your bed when naked?</p>
<p>What activites did you sign up for?
Have you recovered from your first fire dancing experience yet?</p>
<p>Yep on the built in spy and emergency contact :)</p>
<p>Those are great suggestions, historymom (and excellent questions :D).</p>
<p>I’m paying attention along with cpeltz, because I know I’m spoiled by D’s cheerful and fairly constant contact. We don’t actually talk on the phone much, but I leave an IM window open and there’s usually some note in there for me at some point during the day. (Sometimes much more.) I have no idea if S1 will do that. We may actually have to ask for the Sunday night call. </p>
<p>I don’t mean to be so flippant about my spy, either. It is a wonderful piece of luck that things worked out this way, but obviously I didn’t have a contact when D went off as a first-year. It’s a small school, though, and I did make a point of noting where to find contact info for the deans and so on.</p>
<p>I think S is rebelling against the weekly call…my idea of a positive and/or a negative thing was so he wouldn’t call and say, “okay, here’s my call, bye.” I offered that he could friend me on facebook for respond to IM’s, neither of which he’s willing to do now. I don’t think there’s anything secret, he’s just doing a masterful job of distancing himself. My overwhelming fear is that it will continue when he’s 1,500 miles away. Fortunately, his stepsisters live in the city, and he really respects and enjoys his ss’s husband. Please, please, please let this just be a phase.</p>
<p>On the eggcrates, do the kids really just get the cheap one? I couldn’t find them on BB&B’s website, and on Overstock, there are mostly the memory foam mattress toppers.</p>
<p>S is going to Wisconsin, and insists sneakers and a sweatshirt are all he needs. And yes, he has spent time there in the winter!</p>
I am fairly sure that I draped my wet towel over the back of my desk chair but really I don’t remember.</p>