<p>Lunitari – Yeah, it’s about 72 here today, blue skies and sunshine…</p>
<p>I am terrible in math, although my mother was a high school math teacher for awhile and my father was an aeronautical engineer who was talented in math. From the way my father described his job, it sounds like firms mostly stuck him in a corner and let him take courses and/or play on whatever he wanted to do all day. Then a few times a year they used him to problem solve something. He also got lent out to other companies for the same purpose, so seemed to be gone for 3-6 months at a time a lot. He didn’t have a lot of patience, so not a good team player and probably a bear to manage. </p>
<p>Although my boys are highly functional in math, they don’t appear to have the kind of creative spark he had. He was always designing something.</p>
<p>Good idea–after we visit Missypie’s you can all come see the Christmas ships!</p>
<p>Modadunn, re: your post # 6623 – are you impersonating me?? LOL! Back at post # 6195 I wrote:
I probably wrote the same thing last year, too!</p>
<p>So, after 4 days in a bucket of water in the garage, the tree is finally inside, in the stand. Up until last year, H’s only involvement with Christmas was putting the tree in the stand and putting on the lights. Last year he was conveniently on a business trip, and I ended up doing the lights, along with the rest of the decorating. Well, it certainly looks like the lights have now shifted permanently to my “To Do” List. He’ll be out of town tomorrow, and the tree really needs to be decorated, or it’s just not worth it.</p>
<p>On the plus side, I got all the cards done this morning. That’s usually my nemesis; last year I just never got around to doing them. I’d put shopping at about 80% complete.</p>
<p>Oh, and when the bus gets here, a round of drinks on me! D just got her grades – a straight 4.0. (I know she’s College Class of 2010, not Class of 2013, but is it still OK if I brag here? You all are like family!)</p>
<p>Congrats to BlinkerD!</p>
<p>In this house, all H does is buy the tree and get it in the stand. I either make sure it’s straight right then and there, or suffer with a crooked tree throughout the holiday. </p>
<p>I ordered Christmas cards yesterday finally resorting to a pic of the kids at S’s graduation (where they were last all together). Last year I waited until oldest came home thinking a New Years card would be appropriate, but I never sent and all 100 of them are still in my office. So… all I need to do now is write a pithy letter (I used to really go for the wit and wisdom, now I am just thankful to get something on paper considering I haven’t sent cards in two years!).</p>
<p>Son’s friends are trickling home and so I imagine we’ll be seeing less and less of him over the next few days. He drives me nuts, but here’s the rub. He is so funny that just when I am about to blow, he says just the right thing to lighten the mood. He has a certain degree of perceptiveness that younger D hasn’t quite mastered. Of course, she feels persecuted and he’s only been home a week!</p>
<p>And ohh Christmas Ships!! I wanna see I wanna see!</p>
<p>Yep H does tree-in-stand here.</p>
<p>I do the lights (I make everyone leave the room; I put on my favorite Christmas music and then wrestle with the tree/lights)</p>
<p>Girls do most of the ornaments …</p>
<p>Spent the day wrapping, wrapping and more wrapping! Almost finished! </p>
<p>D2 is in her apartment by herself waiting to take her finals tomorrow as everyone else has left. I think she is lonely. I would be scared!</p>
<p>^^ Me too!!!</p>
<p>Tree is always cut down and lugged home by H, wrestled in by both of us, set up in the stand by both ( a 2 person job ) Then he is done with it.
S and I usually do all the decorating of it.</p>
<p>I have been STRONGLY suggesting said tree should be cut ALL week. Is it cut? No. And S is coming home tomorrow night. I wanted to have lights on it, at least. grrrr</p>
<p>Main present I hear from Dell TODAY will not be coming EVER. grrrr</p>
<p>I am going through all the closets (don’t ask me why when I don’t have the house clean and have not wrapped a thing) and putting together bags for Goodwill. Have 3 bags of shoes alone. Coats next.</p>
<p>I am fighting the urge to do a cleaning as if a guest is arriving, but that is what it feels like.</p>
<p>I am still not finished making the Christmas cards either, or writing letters to everyone (well…actually have not started either, though I did get my design done). I am seeing where #theoryson got his procrastination genes.</p>
<p>I envy all of you who are <em>ready</em></p>
<p>Well, my happy-go-lucky, I-love-everything-about my-school D CAN’T WAIT TO COME HOME. She is fried beyond belief. She said she cried herself to sleep last night. Can’t bear to be there one more night. This is the first bad news I have heard from her. She’s got one final tomorrow and H -and S- should be waiting for her right after the exam. I guess timing is everything.</p>
<p>Just spoke to #theoryboy
ALL his finals were today and he is fried too.
Asked (lightheartedly) how he thought he did and he was not feeling positive. sigh
He says he just does not know. He says 2 people from his floor are not coming back next term. And he is worried he will not do well enough to come back next year. He thinks he tanked his CS final and will not get a good grade. But I said, well let’s see. Let’s wait until grades come and THEN worry about it, as there is nothing we can do right now. Told him he may have to retake if he wants to continue in the subject. He agrees he may have to and would, even with the same teacher he does not really like. I am disappointed but … He leaves tomorrow and flies home to arrive near midnight.
He sounds happy its over and he is coming home for a break</p>
<p>oh forgot the best part
He says look up the glee club on you tube so I did and got to see him singing :-)</p>
<h1>TM, even though you’re seeing him soon, so glad you got to see him singing!</h1>
<p>< big fat grin> ^^^^</p>
<p>I think my D has the latest finals of all…no classes for 10 days (her school has a period of reading days between the end of classes and finals) and then two finals back to back on the very last day of finals which is Monday. She’ll then go directly to the airport and fly home–I can’t wait!</p>
<p>Good luck to all as you pull together everything that makes Christmas special in your home…that was me a week ago as Hanukah was about to start but it ends tomorrow night. Feel very blessed and lucky though as D skyped each night and we lit the candles and opened presents “together”. Not sure if it meant more to me or D’s two younger sisters.</p>
<p>collage1, that’s wonderful to hear about Hanukah. So nice that technology helps with the preservation of tradition! </p>
<p>Happily, my tree is now decorated! H & D did all of the decorating and it looks beautiful. I was the observer. My usual 25 minute commute yesterday turned into 90 minutes thanks to a truck clipping a bridge on the interstate. By the time I got home all I wanted to do was collapse! And all that shopping I had planned for the weekend? Major snowstorm on the way. So this might be the year of the orange in the stocking. And not much else!</p>
<p>Someone mentioned being weepy this time of year, gosh collage1, did you want to make all of us breakdown in tears at that story? 
Skyping lights and gifts…I love it!</p>
<p>I too am shocked someone would intentionally miss finals. Maybe the girls don’t intend to return so didn’t care? </p>
<p>I didn’t make it here yesterday so missed the posts from sabaray. But hugs to you. It sounds like you have a tentative plan, and I know it will all work out in the end. </p>
<p>RMom–I haven’t had peanut butter fudge in decades. As I was baking yesterday I was thinking about searching for an easy recipe online. </p>
<p>CBB–yes, it’s okay! Congrats! Quite an accomplishment. </p>
<p>lunitari–I’m imaging that hug after none for 3 months. It’s another weepy moment for me. Enjoy.</p>
<p>Picked DD up in the afternoon. A friend that isn’t going home until the weekend came along. Very nice to hear some bits and pieces about her new life from the perspective of a new friend. D is now a football fan. She spent the evening with her dad, brother, and friend watching the Colts and loving it? From everything she’s told us, grades should be “very fine.” Next semester she will have a more challenging schedule so I’m glad she’s starting out strong. It will help the inevitable difficult semester. </p>
<p>I continued with my baking project while the family watched the game. I ended up with about 30 dozen cookies and some dough still cooling in the fridge. Yes, I give A LOT of those cookies away. We are supposed to drive about 4 hours tomorrow to see some extended family. We are also supposed to get some snow so I’m really thinking twice about this trip. I’m just going to wait and see what the weather is. I would really love to have the time, but I would miss seeing family. </p>
<p>I just wanted to add to the girls and math discussion. Maybe I should make it a new post. I was pretty purposeful when D was very young to encourage those “math” neurons to fire. Friends were buying their D’s Barbies and baby dolls, and I was buying D legos and puzzles (along with a baby doll or two). Until the SAT she always scored higher on math portions of standardized tests even though she considered herself an “English” girl. Still at some point she developed the “I’m not good at math attitude.” In middle school she had an excellent Female math teacher that helped rid her of that attitude. I loved that teacher. Interestingly enough the teacher wasn’t as well liked by DS. D did well in math in HS. ( A little bragging–she did have the highest grade in AP Calc–higher than the boy going to Notre Dame for engineering.) She’s looking at a major that requires some math skill, but is also strong on liberal arts. It seems perfect thus far.</p>
<p>rrah - I was thinking of trying my fool-proof microwave fudge recipe using peanut butter chips instead of chocolate chips, anyone else try this??? It is the only way I make fudge since I never have luck with the “boil it forever” recipes</p>
<p>Fudge? Haven’t made peanut butter, but the all time easiest recipe for chocolate fudge is on the back of the marshmallow fluff jar. Completely fool proof, or, as it’s labeled on the jar, “Never Fail Fudge.” Recently, S has taken over that job.</p>
<p>Forecast here is for snow on Sunday. Not sure how much. H picks up S today – I’m sure he’ll come home and sleep for days.</p>
<p>I’ve used the fudge recipe on the back of the powdered sugar box. It’s pretty easy, but uses cocoa powder. I’m wondering if I could get peanut butter in there somehow. I need to get an oil change this morning before heading to my office but am going to search for a recipe online while I wait. I also just saw that H1N1 shots are available for everyone at a few locations in town now. I may try to swing by and get one.</p>