<p>I already know what I am going to pack in S’s first care package and it’s all condiments! He loves Sweet Baby Rays BBQ and Crystal Hot Sauce (actually I don’t know if that’s how it’s spelled) but with the cafeteria in his dorm he doesn’t have to trudge it anywhere. And he LOVES hot sauce. Anyway… favorite foods are simple… meatloaf. Simple meal for sure, but it’s one he even asks me to make on his birthday when he could have anything. Not sure what this says about my cooking in general, but admittedly everyone loves my meatloaf – even those who think meatloaf is gross. :)</p>
<p>ellemenope–thanks, I already bank with D there. Good to know.</p>
<p>B of A rep was able to tell us right on the spot that D’s “application” was accepted.</p>
<p>Modadunn, 3rd laptop is NOT a Dell (bought a Toshiba cause I couldn’t find any gripes about it about anything in the recent past – problems were more than 3 years old). U of Richmond has tech support staff who will help and hopefully she won’t need that. Desperately trying to get this laptop though since I’m the one who needs to get it all set up. It has arrived in Indianapolis but for some reason won’t make it to OH until Tuesday? Now get to call Fedex.</p>
<p>Husband used to have a toshiba and actually, never had any issue with it mechanically - and then of course it was outdated. I think he now has a sony – he is the only hold out since the rest of us have MACs. I ordered sons through his college (no tax or delivery, free Ipod touch and printer) and hoping it gets here BEFORE we have to turn around go back! Basically the tax and shipping and printer amounted to pretty close to the equiv cost of the apple care warranty.</p>
<p>Son has STILL not unpacked from our trip east and while we were gone I had he carpets cleaned and so there are still things stacked on his desk etc. He is not working today and so my goal is for him to clean up his room, and maybe go through the 100 of t-shirts to give some away? He has a closet full of clothes and I know he wont wear half of them!! The incentive is going to be it will let me know what he truly needs to outfit his college wardrobe.</p>
<p>Hello all. I have been AWOL for at least a month and have read everything, but my comments all got lost. I wish working on a running commentary–based on 15 pages of reading–were possible. It sounds like all of you are plugging away, whether you’ve launched your Frosh or are about to. Stepping back for a bit, I am awed by the support you give each other. I also just had a moment of “OMG where were we a year ago???” and am in total sympathy with parents of HS seniors! I am grateful for 2 years OFF!</p>
<p>The highlight of my last month, besides vacationing with my fam and loving having all five of us together, was meeting Historymom for breakfast last week! I could have talked her ear off all day…it’s amazing trying to contain a conversation, considering the many subjects we touch on here every day–from kids to food to reality shows! Anyway, it was really fun–she’s as warm and lovely in real life as she is in writing!</p>
<p>I’ll try to be a better member now…</p>
<p>On the condiment discussion…does anyone else have a ranch dressing junkie? My S1 is obsessed with ranch, and for his graduation 2 years ago we got individual packets of ranch for him (there’s a website that has single-sized packs of all kinds of things, from laundry soap to ranch–can’t remember the name of it). Now we cut to the chase with the Costco-sized bottle! Regarding the bank accounts, Wells Fargo has a student account package that includes checking, savings, debit and credit cards. I think you have to be 18 for the CC. </p>
<p>And I’ve never had Texas sheet cake, but have rarely met a cake a didn’t love–and it sounds delish!</p>
<p>SJTH-Welcome back. So glad you enjoyed the vacation time. </p>
<p>You’ve all made me think about younger son and his condiments. I think I’ll have to send him off to school with jars of salsa in 3 years. </p>
<p>I googled Texas sheet cake last night. Wow, I’m getting a tooth ache just thinking about it. I’m thinking about making one for D before she leaves though. She is a chocolate lover!</p>
<p>Admittedly, sometimes I wish we could lock the door to this thread and really get down to brass tacks, but I imagine the sheer number of pages of this thread would be deter enough. Either that or pique one’s interest!</p>
<p>How much fun to meet for lunch! Unfortunately I am not a chocolate lover, HOWEVER, I am a carbohydrate queen - which is far worse as far as I am concerned. Also, I have rarely met a cookie I didn’t love. </p>
<p>How do you like this? Son gets up and it was so nice to just see him I didn’t want to burden him with the list of things to do. Then! I barely get a load of clothes out of the dryer when I turn around and see he is dressed in his valet stuff! I was like… ?? While I can appreciate how hard he is working and trying to save up as much cash as possible, there are also a few things to do before he heads to school and I’d like to start the packing process on a clean slate or at least cleared floor!!</p>
<p>I just found out that the airlines 1st bag rate went up to $20, and so I am wondering if it wouldn’t just be easier (and around the same price) to mail UPS or Fedex. I tried to figure out the shipping rates and my computer won’t open their rate sheet for some reason. Could be a MAC incompatibility, which can sometimes be an issue with MAC but mostly not. Anyway… </p>
<p>He did get a note back from his roommate (hasnt friended or heard from suitemates I assume) who said that he has a lot of experience in the roommate thing since he went to boarding school. So… not sure if he’s going to fill in the blanks, but S will be in the room a full two days before roommate arrives so I hope that’s not the end of the conversation!</p>
<p>Yeah, if we could all meet for “lunch” it would need to stretch over at least an entire weekend! </p>
<p>I did have one neat lunch this week. A former co-worker has a rising senior. We have shared info about our kids through the years but don’t really ever see each other’s kids. Because of this, when she said she was doing college tours at some of the same schools we toured, I felt comfortable sending her an email with Son’s stats and the merit aid offers he received from each school. At lunch we talked college search and she thanked me for my email and said she has referred to it many times. Nice to have all this info in my head be of use to someone. The school Son is attending is her favorite for her son, but who knows where he’ll end up.</p>
<p>We leave for school in a week and a day. I wanted today to be Son’s last day of work, but Husband talked him into working another week. I’m very nervous and potentially weepy. Depending on Son’s work schedule next week, I hope I can leave work early a few days next week. </p>
<p>In one way, I’m glad that Son leaves for school a week before the girls start school. That will give us a bit of time to focus on them instead of having it be all about Son. BTW, D16 got her braces off yesterday and looks amazing! Oh, to be 16 and have perfect hair, teeth and skin. Didn’t get those genes from me, but she’s a fortunate girl.</p>
<p>D has just sent 16 boxes home from NYC. The least expensive way was to use USPO–regular ol US mail. She made a list of each box’s contents and numbered them. She did a lot of rsearch, as did two friends who are also returning to Or. Hope that helps…</p>
<p>Told S last night that he has until Monday (which is 2 1/2 weeks to leaving) and then I am turning into “the world’s meanist mom” 
He actually smiled. Then I told him that he has not purchased a pair of shoes since Nov. and that if he does not start dealing with this stuff he will be going with those…
In the meantime, there is just about nothing pulled together and I have a lot of regular life going on also.</p>
<p>I just got a dose of reality: D’s tuition bill is online. No sign of a credit for scholarships or housing/meal plan though.</p>
<p>Yep, that tuition bill with a due date is more than a dose of reality, it’s a bucketful!</p>
<p>WHen we got both our Ds tuition bills, the first one didn’t include any of the loans, schoarlships etc. Then we got the update on and phew. They still messed up the older Ds and I sent the school a fax this morning to get a “what’s up with that”</p>
<p>Wnen in for jury duty, and they didn’t even want me to go into the court room. Another lady and I were dismissed. I think it was my quesstionaire. I tried not to smile as I left, but a three week asbestos trial now wouldhave just been horrid. </p>
<p>Older D moved from one dorm to another and she needed me!!! My job was to call the Residential life people and make sure they would give her the key early. After much runaround, I prevailed and all is well.</p>
<p>Now we are just waiting for younger D to get her housing and roommate information. Driving her nuts. But no need to remind her to shop for new shoes!!</p>
<p>My dining room is chaos. But I did find some amazing little storage things at Lillian Vernan. On sale and really useful and handy. Its like a foot tall shelving unit with 6 round drawers that swing out. About the size of a large mug in diameter. Great for desk suppllie, bathroom, make up whatever. Heighth is the way to go when it come to storage.</p>
<p>Daughter is painting thin corkboard to put on walls. Looks cool. We have 2 1/2 weeks.</p>
<p>How much was it to send USPS vs UPS?</p>
<p>Finally made some progress, gave the D some cash and she went to BB & B and Target. She purchased comforter, sheets, towels, some melmac dishes, a set of flatware, a pillow, etc. I was not invited on the shopping trip! (not that I really wanted to go!) I spent some time scraping off old stickers on the 4.0 cubic ft. refrigerator-it can’t go with another school’s stickers/bumper stickers on it, now, can it?</p>
<p>By herself! I’m impessed.</p>
<p>Some vendor just sent me a marketing package that included a “stress ruler”…I pressed my thumb on the pad and actually registered “normal”… obviously the thing doesn’t work!!!</p>
<p>Yesterday D had her final piano and flute lessons. She has been with each of those teachers for many years so it was very sad. I managed to hold back the tears but it wasn’t fun. Both teachers are great ladies.</p>
<p>Today was dentist and orthodontist to get an impression for switching to a bonded retainer since she doesn’t want to deal with a portable one at school. Went and got some more shopping done on the way back. Realized we had forgotten some of the things we needed so next week when she gets the retainer we’ll have to finish that. She’s now back to cleaning her room. Anyone have use for 6 permanent markers, several complete and intact boxes of pencils and a box of 24 unused crayons :)</p>
<p>I promised I would rework the list of things we’re buying once we get to Richmond.</p>
<p>Tomorrow she’s back to work for six days running and then she’s done. We’ll have a whopping 4 days before we leave to get everything done.</p>
<p>Oh, so many goodbyes! After saying goodbye to all her friends on Sunday, D had her final (for now at least) lesson with her aerial dance/silks teacher. H and I went to watch, to see what she had learned; I almost wished I hadn’t gone (not quite as daring as cirque d’soleil but still…) I promised her she could go in for lessons when she’s home on breaks; but she is sad to have to give this up for a bit. </p>
<p>Hard times for these kids as they say good bye to so many things and people; no wonder they’re stressed by this transition.</p>
<p>D started cleaning her desk out today. In the pile of things to go with her to school: 4 notebooks, 11 folders, many sets of dividers, and … a tiara and a can of silly string. Ah, she’s still my girl ;)</p>
<p>*Regarding the “last” lessons. * It’s a good thing our kids can’t see into the future and know which of the “lasts” actually are the last. The last time I played in my HS orchestra was the last time I played my violin. The last performance of our HS musical was the last time I was ever on stage. But when you’re 18, you think that you’ll pursue/continue/pick up these activities again later. As it turns out, you may or you may not. And if you don’t, it’s probably because you don’t have a passion for it. But if you knew when you were 18, “this is the last time I’ll ever play my instrument” it would be heartbreaking.</p>
<p>And the laptop is on the fedex truck from Indianapolis to OH and it still says they aren’t delivering until Tuesday. I called to be sure they really do deliver on friday and monday and was told yes. No obvious explanation on why not until Tuesday. If it’s in Columbus tomorrow and they aren’t delivering it I’ll see if they’ll let me pick it up. This just shouldn’t be so hard.</p>
<p>On a more positive note, I was told by the insurance agent that our car insurance would go down $800/yr with D out of town. I’m sure I’ve already spent all of that.</p>