<p>I have to say, Oregon, that the events you are describing are surreal. They’d make part of a good Almodovar movie. If it weren’t so close to home, it would be funny.</p>
<p>kmc, congrats on completing graduation. I hope your son recovers quickly.</p>
<p>Moda, do you have 2 graduations and a wedding this month? Wow.</p>
<p>Just came back from the apple store. I bought ShawWife and iphone 5 for Mother’s Day. She was very happy. Now, I have to figure out how to make gluten-free, dairy-free crepes before I head off to Texas to give a speech.</p>
<p>ShawSon did win a prize for academic excellence in one of his majors. He was blase as it was his third.</p>
<p>PS… Shaw, actually the events are spread out over more than a month, but barely. D1 has already graduated, s graduates Memorial day and D’s wedding is two weeks later. Adding another ruffle is D2’s team is in the NCAA tournament. Busy month… I honestly can’t wait for some boredom. But still send the winning vibe out there tomorrow around 1pm!</p>
<p>D comes Monday and is bringing a bunch of photos for my “surprise” slide show. Thinking maybe I should start scanning. The procrastination is reaching epic proportions.</p>
<p>Done! Three separate ceremonies, so she’s well and truly graduated. I really liked the one where her thesis advisor walked with her and put the thesis medal around her neck. On top of everything else he’s done, giving up half a day to come in regalia and be with her was very special. Afterwards he told us that she’d done more work than some of the masters degree students. </p>
<p>And like DTE, we spent a few days doing the car-buying thing, with the typical nonsense that involves. But the best was yet to come. </p>
<p>The next day we drove up to the Fairmont resort my brother and sil were at, and my brother told D to leave her new car with the valet. So we played around for the afternoon, and then walked out front to get the cars to head off to dinner. There were some nice ladies in front of us also waiting. Valet drives up in a silver car, gets out, and the ladies climb in. Meanwhile D says, “That looks just like my car.” “Oh wow – it even has new plates just like mine.” “It is from the same dealership,” with a questioning tone, and then realization, “They’re TAKING MY CAR.” Well, we got to them before they got away, and they were mortified – their silver rental that they’d just picked up the day before was driven up next – the valets were looking completely abashed, and the rest of us were laughing so hard we were just about crying. (Though if they’d driven away who only knows how long it would have taken before they figured it out, or what the insurance report would have looked like. And I know the valet receipts attempt to disclaim responsibility for just about everything – but giving your keys to someone else along with the car?) </p>
<p>What an evening and sorry if I am self centered tonight…first my D texts many times about how her GF (the bride) is talking and talking about me and us and how we changed the course of her life ( I did ask if they were drinking:)) when she met us at the age of 14 and emotionally, and sometimes physically (like her first college holidays and her mom visited her BF and her dad and stepmom went to Europe–leaving her alone her first break from college) had changed the course of her life. Her mother has been married 5 times. Her parents are educated and dad wealthy. Her comments amazed me as I just fit her in as one of ours but really never did anything out of the way. I remember she got the same # of gifts and a pair of pj’s for Christmas that our kids got.
I am super happy for her as she is marrying a great and stable guy and she is 29 and launched and doing so well.
They had to cancel their wedding plans for here due to her mom’s lack of boundaries and so they will elope this Wednesday. So the best thing to do!</p>
<p>Next my brother called about the memorial for my mother. The alcohol was not allowed, sis did video tape. She wore the ring my mother gave to me and then asked for back a few years ago–(so OK with me–possessions are not my thing at all). Tried to stir up trouble with B about an incident that happened 19 years ago. My mom and aunt came to visit and I put mom in the very quiet guest room with private bath (she got up at noon) and aunt in D’s room with the noise at 7 and shared bath. This made my mom feel I chose my aunt over her. Actually, I did, but not yet then and honestly was looking out for my mom. But 19 years later? The very sad thing is that this sis cannot get me to react because life is too short and complicated without nuttiness.</p>
<p>All in all so glad not to be involved other than some entertaining stories. Still, so happy to have the “other side of the coin” in the same evening verifying that I, we, have been good and kind people to those around us.</p>
<p>Arabrab, congratulations! Too funny about the car!
And kudos to shawson.
And happy Mother’s Day to all!</p>
<p>So, a tip for dieters…if you’re dieting, do not go to parties hosted by Frenchmen. My goodness, I’ve fallen off the wagon yet again to major proportions. Our hosts are moving to Germany next month and the husband in particular is pretty ecstatic about it, and it seemed like every time I turned around there he was with some fabulous food or drink being
proffered let them eat cake indeed!</p>
<p>FallGirl: The school has to have a makeup SOL in the event that a kid cannot attend. My son was supposed to take his English SOL the same day as the AP BC exam. Did not happen. So he was going to take the makeup last Friday. Did not happen – AP English exam. The next makeup is Wednesday – cannot take it because of the APUSH exam. They won’t forget about him. I’m confident that it will happen before Memorial Day. Just hopefully it won’t be the same day as the regional track and field meet.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, it’s been a long time since I’ve posted here – spending some time now on the Class of 2014 high school thread. But, oldest son graduated from Alabama last week with two majors and two minors. Summa Cum Laude. A wonderful ceremony and day. After a great four years, he’s spending some time at home catching up on doctor and dental appointments and looking for a position in the DC area.</p>
<p>Happy Mother’s Day to all. I spent yesterday getting ShawWife her iPhone 5 and reloading her MacBook Pro. There was a recall of the cable that connected the motherboard with the hard drive(which, apple being apple, they didn’t tell anyone about). So they replaced it. While they were at it, they didn’t like how the disk drive looked so they gave her a new one. That meant putting all of her data and applications back for hours last night. </p>
<p>Today, sauteed apples and blue cheese omelette and then off to the airport.</p>
<p>Shaw… that omelette sounds absolutely delicious! IPhone 5 seems to be the gift as my sister announced she just got one too.</p>
<p>Thank you Eddie as I am home for good… and if I hijack this thread in the next few weeks with wedding crap at least I know you people know my heart is in the right place even if I am being ridiculous!! </p>
<p>D2 texted me on way to game: Happy Mother’s Day Homie. Thanks for giving birth to me. Charming, isn’t she? Son has called and said he has one paper due tomorrow and then is done. Not sure he is still on the list of considerations for the position in Boston, but I told him to write and follow up to be sure. The worse they can do is not respond and the best they can do is say, sorry we’ve been busy. And as i said to him, to not follow up when they said they’d let him know in two weeks is to maybe demonstrate a lack of interest. So we’ll see. But all in all, he is doing well and looking forward to the summer. He did tell me some of what he is going to say in his toast to his sister. We had a good time laughing about his plan to make it humorous and fun, but have everyone in tears by the end. :)</p>
<p>I cannot figure out how I hooked up the TV to the computer the other day so it would mirror the screen. And now this game starts in just a short while and Im still struggling! D said they weren’t going to win, but H told me she told him the same thing the other day when they did. I told her that if I were honest, I would have said her HS team was going to lose last year… by all accounts they should have. And yet, instead they set a state record for consecutive championships. So… have a little faith and a lot of fun!</p>
<p>OK… back to my techy ineptness. If you’ve got a step by step way how to avoid this “PRESS ANY KEY” in HDMI mode on my TV, I’d love to hear it. *Edit - I now realize it’s HDMI 2 not 1… and it works!! </p>
<p>Happy Mother’s Day, Peeps! Send some good vibes to my girl in Florida as her team goes gator hunting today!!!</p>
<p>Now that I have the TV up… Oregon… you are a better person than I would be in this situation. I would be ticked about the ring… but I like your way better. Just not sure I would rise to well to the occasion. Then again, I have no doubt of your D’s BFF gushing as it does always seem to me that your intentions are to recognize internal scars and do your best to not only avoid inflicting them on others but to soothe the ones already there. I admire it, even if I can’t be it. :)</p>
<p>Congrats to Shawson, My head is spinning with all Moda has to do, I am also with you on the other thread. People with agendas annoy me. Those are fighting words for me. Oregon I am so impressed with how you stick o your principals and how you have risen above being raised by your mom.
Congrats to all graduates and jobs. We have a graduate next week, but no job yet. I stress. Bought the car, not what I thought I would get, but a good one for me. I think/hopeI will be happy, stressful for me as I do t by myself, my H (lawyer) never helps.</p>
<p>H has spent the weekend helping S2 pack-up and is on his way home as we speak. S2 will come home tomorrow after the walkthrough with the landlord in the morning. Tonight, H, my mother, and I are going to an outdoor concert so I need to get the picnic together. </p>
<p>S1 called this morning and we had a nice long chat. When I asked him how soccer was going, he said it was going well and mentioned he was elected captain of the team. I wish he would share stuff like that on a regular basis. He doesn’t write as often as he used to and I miss that. Reportedly, the set-up with the client is different so he doesn’t have the time to write while at work and doesn’t get on his computer when away from work. I sent him a New Yorker article this morning about Gina Rinehart. In the old days we would have had a back and forth email chat about it. Now, he says he reads the things I send and appreciates them but unfortunately I don’t get to hear his opinions.</p>
<p>oregon - looks like you dodged the bullet on that one</p>
<p>moda - I can relate re: the follow-up for the job. D really wants a job at this huge firm in NYC. They accepted her portfolio through on campus recruitment, had one interview that went really well, and was asked for dates for the second round. She gave the dates and then…nothing. A week and a half went by and she emailed them again this past week. She (and I) are not at all hopeful about this. But she still has the offer from another firm so all is good. It’s just that’s she is an incredibly social animal and it is all going to change drastically in a matter of weeks.</p>
<p>momreads - good to know that there are make up days for the SOL’s. S hasn’t said anything yet about it, but I will wait until after Wednesday’s AP exam to bring it up. </p>
<p>Arabrab - congrats on the graduation. And I loved the car story.</p>
<p>shaw - congrats to your S.</p>
<p>Moda am sending the good vibes for your D’s team and for you with everything that you have going on.</p>
<p>Moda, I am very impressed that you can do hair and makeup! No one would ever ask me to do that (although I got very good at making tiny curls for gymnastics and dance.) Yes another Moda Talent!</p>
<p>Congrats to ShawSon on the honors. Congrats to Arabrab D on her thesis medal, graduation, etc. Congrats to momreads on the Bama graduation. (JoyleneSmith’s son started at Alabama.)</p>
<p>Oregon, I trust you to have made the right decision about the service. Wishing you continued peace.</p>
<p>Son went to a friend’s grad party after work. Younger D is holed up in her room after we grounded her for doing something we just figured out. Older D called on the way to work and said it wasn’t the official mother’s day call but did I know how to treat burns…the iron fell over and she burned her hand pretty badly. There was a Walgreens between the train and work so I told her what to buy and to not hesitate to seek medical attention. I called my mother and she is wishing that euthanasia was legal. Let’s see…older D sent a sweet mothers day card. The others did nothing (I’m not H’s mother…). BUT, I did take a long nap and that is what I really wanted for Mother’s Day. I don’t think we will be having dinner, much less dinner out. H is still talking to his mother, then it will be time to talk to older D again, then bed I guess.</p>
<p>I just have to make myself find happy places to be. I am really trying to be a positive person, so people will be glad (instead of sorry) that I entered the room. Wish H would go down that path with me.</p>
<p>Well… the game did not go as well as I expected, fabulous team and our goalie looking not only unconfident, but a little scared. So it was a blow out before halftime, but they didn’t embarrass themselves, played well in the end AND the opposing goalie SHOULD win the Tewaaraton, she was that good. All in all, it was a great season with records broken and history made, AND D got a lovely little NCAA trophy for having participated in the tournament! I hope she is glad to have stuck with it, but the jury is out on next year. She definitely flip flops depending on who she is talking to. </p>
<p>D1 comes tomorrow to kind of walk through the details, but it’s FREEZING here and has snow in the forecast. In any event, I have gone insane in buying these rubbermaid containers that you can load from the top but then access from the front. Im dealing with about 1000 sqft here and the only place there is any kind of storage is if I go up. So I bought these things to stack on the top shelves of the closet. I can fit two on top of one another. It’s not perfect and it’s slightly awkward to get the upper containers, but they make my closet look uber organized, even if there is no way I’ll keep each pod perfectly so. However, at this point everything that WAS in the closets was covering every thing else so it’s only now… after nearly two weeks of being here, that I am finally ready to unpack. But I am so glad I brought fall stuff because I need to wear it now — including gloves! Mostly I just didn’t want Meghan’s future MIL to think I was a clutter bug. :)</p>
<p>Sorry Analyst… I kinda know how you feel. I don’t have a kid that will email chat with me, but the thing I miss most about my kids is the conversation in a general way. D just called a minute ago (having texted this morning), and D2 sent a text on the way to the field and then sent me the photo of the trophy… but honestly, any time she shares ANYTHING with me, I consider it a victory at some level. S was the only one to actually pick up the phone and chat early in the day. Surprisingly though, H called - probably right before or after he called his own Mother. I honestly thought we weren’t really speaking. Mostly we’ve both been busy and there’s a lot of stressors in general right now so just “chatting” rarely is simply done.</p>
<p>And just thought I’d add… still procrastinating on scanning. Hoping D will have a good time looking at old photos while she’s here…</p>
let them eat cake indeed!</p>