<p>Tessa congrats to your D!
TA - good luck to your S2.
Moda that carpet solution sounds good. </p>
<p>Re: the “stripper dressing” gf, if I read that correctly she is telling N that he has to live with a family member? Why is this her decision? I don’t find much humor here, possibly b/c I have known some guys who have gotten involved with women like her and no good came of it. Missy if your N has any money at all I foresee it being gone soon.</p>
<p>In good news, D starts a new job on Mon. It is a paid internship( the other one ended) its in her field and she is excited to be working again and learning some more skills. Her bf started a job last week.</p>
<p>For all of our friends in the Northeast, please take care and stay safe. Hopefully the storm will not be as bad, but please take care. That goes double for any of your kids at school/ living in the area.</p>
<p>Thanks on the weather wishes. We’ll stay at home all weekend and venture out to shovel and cross-country ski or snow shoe. </p>
<p>Our invitees are all in the neighborhood, so they shouldn’t need to drive. I advised ShawSon to get his winter stuff out (it turns out his winter coat is in his car – what exactly has he been wearing – so he’s going to get it today) and do no driving. He asked if he should get food and I said I was pretty sure college dining services would be ready for this. I’ll advise ShawD to stay at her place also.</p>
<p>So,I got a call today about 2:30 from a special investigator that wanted to come by to talk to either me or H about S2’s top secret clearance. Asks could she come by at 3:30! Had to hurry and clean some, get ready for her visit . Actually, I’m glad I had no notice as I would have just worried about it. She was here about 20 minutes, asked a bunch of questions and left. I think it went fine. Just glad it’s over with.</p>
<p>H and I are leaving in the morning to visit S2 at college one last time before he graduates. Will see a basketball game on Saturday. Weird feeling to have things winding down. Soon I will no longer be the mom of a college student!</p>
<p>Hope everybody has a great weekend and that the Northeast gets through the blizzard okay!</p>
<p>Moda, there are two cocktail/appetizer parties that are bigger, then many dinners. In the old days (this has been going on since ShawSon entered kindergarten and he’s now negotiating with angel investors and incubators), the groups split up again for dessert at a couple of location, but I’m not sure that is happening.</p>
<p>Exciting stuff, sevmom. Congrats, Fallgirl D on getting a paying job. And, you are probably right. Sounds like a highly manipulative woman and likely bad stuff will follow, but it does sound like a soap opera.</p>
<p>D1’s 25 th birthday is early next week and her H has planned a surprise trip for her to come home this weekend. He told her to pack a bag and made arrangements with her boss to leave work early tomorrow. Hope they don’t run in to bad weather here as we are also getting snow and ice. I spent most of the day shopping for bday gifts at MOA. Her big gift from us is an amethyst pendant that I got for her when H & I were in NYC. I hope she likes it! I also made arrangements at a local place called Pinstripes so we can bowl, play Bocce, have drinks and eat. She and her H like to be active so I think they will enjoy it. </p>
<p>Congrats to FallGirl D!!! Yay! A new journey for her is so exciting!</p>
<p>sevmom…how cool for your S2! I would have been so nervous!</p>
<p>shaw…have a lovely time! Dinner parties are a lot of work but so much fun!</p>
<p>Add to the soap opera: my brain damaged mother who asked me to help her die on Tuesday and tried to cut her own hair this morning while my Dad was occupied elsewhere.</p>
<p>NM. I WAS nervous, had knots in my stomach. Glad it’s over with. Have fun with your daughter’s birthday!</p>
<p>So sorry, eddieoddessa. My mother, who never had any history of depression or suicidality, got into saying once in awhile that she just wanted to die,kill herself once she was in the early stages of dementia. It is stressful stuff to hear. I feel for you. My mom died at 87 before the dementia progressed too much, unlike my MIL, who was very far gone. Take care.</p>
<p>Awesome for FallGirlD! That has to be a great feeling. </p>
<p>Sevmom, safe travels; they are calling for snow/ice/wintry mix up the valley starting tonight. Don’t know how far south the warnings extend, but they are saying the weather will be better tomorrow afternoon.</p>
<p>Hi,
My DD graduates this spring - she had enough credits to graduate last year but decided to stay and take the extra courses she was interested in and didn’t get a chance to take - I know this sounds financially crazy, but she really does love to learn and didn’t want to rush it and wanted to get the experience of all four years as an undergrad. It has been great to hear her state how happy she was that she chose FSU and how much she learned and was challenged. She just heard from UC Berkeley and was accepted into their Asian Studies Masters Program. This was her first choice and she is over the moon! So hard to believe how fast these four years have gone… :)</p>
<p>Thanks for all of the congrats to D. She did graduate in Dec. (well technically she is class of Jan 2013). My Dad gets his honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters tomorrow. He is my other Class of 2013 grad!</p>
<p>Hugs to you eddie, oregon and everyone else dealing with the older parents. Talked with my folks tonight and they have heard that my FIL is not looking well and is not in great spirits. I hate to have to tell H that, but I will b/c he needs to go out and visit and soon. </p>
<p>On a happier topic, NM your D’s mystery trip sounds like a fun adventure! So your family likes to bowl and play bocce and as I recall, play euchre? You all would fit in really well at our house.</p>
<p>My H says Boston is 33 inches and where I live 29 inches. He is glad he bought his snowblower this year. I am working so will have to go in early and staying at a hotel. they have closed schools. D’s university is closed. already. I kiddingly told her I wanted to stay in her dorm, and she said “you are getting a hotel room right?” thanks. The governor wants everyone off the roads by 12 friday.
D 1 called me for her security clearance she wanted to know when I became a naturalized citizen, ??? was born on an army base, overseas, of American parents.</p>
<p>Got up at 5:30 and already snowing.
H went to work for a 7:00 to 11:00 AM time frame so he should not have too much trouble getting home.
I went to grocery store last night and filled the van’s gas tank. We have plenty of gas for snowblower and the generator. I hope we don’t need the generator!</p>
<p>S’s classes and activities canceled today, his school is in 30" range! :eek:</p>
<p>Kudos to fall girl d, and safe times/travels to our nor’easters. Comparatively here, I’m feeling like a lightweight over staring at our fresh 10-12 inches and bemoaning the trek up the hill this a.m. My snowshoes might need snowshoes, but it will also be beautiful. I actually do love snow. I’m just not in love with the population of stupid people it reveals on the roads ;)</p>
<p>Shaw, I wish I had your neighbors – that sounds fun. I’ve moved around a bit too much to land in that kind of community, I suppose. When mcson was in his ms and hs magnet school programs, there was nongeographic logic to the folks i socialized with. When I think back over the last four houses, the prior was in an aging urban area, the one prior to that was, like this one, a couple of acres near a lake set far back off the road with the same kind of varied range of distant, privacy-loving neighbors I have here, and the one prior to that was a big ole Victorian, again n an aging urban area. </p>
<p>So most of the folks I enjoy casually have to travel a bit to get to me, and of course, my “closest” peeps who I’ve known for years involve a long trip and planning to see. It’s all a trade-off, but at times like Halloween and block party season, I feel a wee bit isolated. Rest of the time, I love it ;)</p>
<p>I think the realization is settling in with mcson that he’s really not (at least planning - we’ll see about attrition) coming home again. Yesterday during the storm as I was fighting idiocy on the roads to pick up his adderall prescription, I started wondering why on earth he hasn’t gotten a doctor in Ann Arbor , and last night on the phone he brought up the fact that he’d need to get a referral to do so and had better get started. And that his apartment insurance would need to be updated, etc. Small EDMs, but good that its all on his radar!</p>
<p>Spoke to D last night, she was just back from visiting her bf since both will probably be snowed in this weekend. Both have classes cancelled today.</p>
<p>PRJ, hope you make it home, or if you can’t leave, at least are someplace better than the airport!</p>
<p>DTE, I am sorry that you are the one scheduled to work this weekend, but I know your patients and their families will appreciate having your experience in the unit. Stay safe. And your D’s response is exactly what I’d get from my D - what do you mean you want to stay with me! </p>
<p>KMC, recently I’ve wished for a move to the country; we moved to our neighborhood when the children were young, but there were no other children on our street and most folks were older so there was no real sense of community on our block. That hasn’t really changed in the 15 years I’ve lived here and now I find myself wishing for some land and quiet (particularly since the new neighbors seem to be rejects from Jersey Shore). </p>
<p>It’s hard to think about D never living here again; earlier this week she was bemoaning the fact that she might have to be home for a bit until her start date. I understand what she’s saying, because there’s really nothing for her here, but at the same time it made me a little sad. </p>
<p>PRJ, hope you’re on a flight or will be soon! Safe travels to all travelling and hope the rest of you NE folks stay safe.</p>
<p>Thanks c-q. I’m cautiously optimistic. At Logan now with confirmed seat on 8:30am departure. Not a snowflake in sight yet. My thoughts are with downtoearth who is headed INTO Boston today so she can make it to work tomorrow. I. Love. Nurses.</p>
<p>DTE - good luck. Glad that you won’t be on the roads once it gets started.</p>
<p>Next - what happy news!</p>
<p>For those whose kids are getting clearances good wishes that all goes well and quickly. </p>
<p>D’s boyfriend decided to get a flight out of Rochester yesterday so he is in Me. already – good news because I wasn’t happy about her trying to drive into Portland at 11:00 tonight! Not even sure that she would have made it if he did get in. Of course now I see all the flight cancellations and I don’t think he would have made it in anyway! </p>
<p>We will get a few inches in Rochester but currently there is nothing as i look out my window at work. We were supposed to wake up to a couple of inches. Thinks must just be moving slow :)</p>
My snowshoes might need snowshoes, but it will also be beautiful. I actually do love snow. I’m just not in love with the population of stupid people it reveals on the roads ;)</p>