<p>When does the bus arrive? The house is ready.</p>
<p>Actually, I took pictures of our decorations and uploaded them onto my Facebook page (a first for me!). If you friend me on Facebook you can see them. (There’s a CC parents group on Facebook where we reveal our real names.)</p>
<p>Am fighting a cold…hope it doesn’t develop in to anything…can’t afford the down time!
D2 has her last two finals today and then her long drive home. Glad she has one person along for the drive. They packed the car yesterday so they can leave right away. Flurries expected for the trip. The alert system in her car is indicating her one tire needs air, probably from the bitter cold. She isn’t quite sure how to accomplish this but it should be another fun learning experience! 
Can hardly wait to see her late tonight! :)</p>
<p>Missypie, we’re almost there–is everyone on the bus? Once everyone is on, we’ll be there! I was weepy over the Hannukah skyping too–so glad I wasn’t alone.</p>
<p>S1 is finished with finals–packing up for 2 days, as he is studying abroad in Spain next semester, so won’t be back on campus. S2 has one more final, and is feeling really ok about the ones he’s had, a big accomplishment in his conservatory, where literally ALL the new music theory and sigh singing were new for the little drummer boy. Both boys are home tomorrow–yea! Bball game for S3 tonight. In the meantime, I’m delivering Trader Joes sea salt chocolate caramels to teachers, coaches etc, (Have you had these? $4.99 and delicious!!) and cleaning/getting the empty space ready for the party tomorrow. Kind of fun to create a party in an empty house! I dragged out our fake pre-lit christmas tree and the place already looks festive! Now I’m worried about food quantity, as the guest list has blossomed! There’s no heat, so I’m checking the fireplaces today and getting two industrial space heaters going (bro is a contractor). Hopefully it will be comfortable. At least its not 2 degrees here, which it is in S1’s town in upstate NY!</p>
<p>Wish we had Trader Joes. The only source I can find for sea salt caramels is Crate & Barrel and they are pricey there.</p>
<p>Son’s GF’s brother is getting married tomorrow. The wedding is during the day, about 2 hours away; I assumed it would be an up and back thing. No. At his sister’s choir concert last night he told me he was being picked up by the family at 10 this morning and would return Sunday afternoon. YIKES! At home, a flurry of ironing. (I’m SO glad I bought him a navy blazer and a suit over the past few years.) He has no idea where he’s staying but since he’s a no worries kind of guy, it doesn’t stress him.</p>
<p>If I wasn’t swamped up to my eyeballs with Christmas preparations, I’d be freaking out. Asperger’s Son attends two days of GF’s family’s wedding events out of town. OMG! OMG! OMG! Last night I was trying to give him a lifetime review of social skills…shake hands, look people in the eye, don’t isolate yourself, say thank you, be polite, wear deoderant, take your pills, etc etc etc etc etc.</p>
<p>If you can think of anything I’ve forgotten to tell him, he’s home for another hour…</p>
<p>Shave? It’s something my S always forgets to do …</p>
<p>LOL, when I was leaving the house, H was headed up to help him work on the sideburns and back of his neck…yes, he came home decidedly Scruffy College Freshman Boy.</p>
<p>The way I look at it Missy… his GF knows him and she’ll probably be reminding him of all this stuff as well… And if he’s sleeping there, perhaps a pair of sleep pants/sweats to wear in the downtime? </p>
<p>Again, my S with no aspergers, seems to have forgotten how to hold a door open for a lady OR his mother - which in his eyes is probably not the same thing!</p>
<p>I told him to bring an entire set of pajamas…he could be bunking with the dad or other brother for all know! His GF (bless her heart) is as spacey as he is…the bride’s family will probably just brand them as the quirky couple…</p>
<p><a href=“There’s%20a%20CC%20parents%20group%20on%20Facebook%20where%20we%20reveal%20our%20real%20names.”>quote</a>
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I’m a complete Facebook newbie – I’m on it, but barely! How do I find the CC Group?</p>
<p>type College Confidential Parents in the search box in the upper right hand corner</p>
<p>Re: the sea salt caramels, I saw recipes for them if you are so inclined on the tastespotting blog. Also a recipe for sea salt caramel ice cream! I might have to try the ice cream. I’m too cheap to pay for food I can try to make at home.</p>
<p>Thanks to all for the tips on teenage boy social reminders. Eggson has been invited to spend 2-3 days with GF’s family in her town (4 hours away) during break. I wasn’t really keen on this, but DH thought it was a swell idea and has been enabling the somewhat complicated logistics.</p>
<p>At the end of break, GF will be staying at our house due to another set of convoluted logistics concerning her travel arrangements and the day that dorms open. Again, DH agreed to everything as I was pondering.</p>
<p>“Wear both parts of your pajamas” seems like a good place to start.</p>
<p>Eeek, now I am starting to stress over this whole scenario.</p>
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<p>Isn’t having sons a riot sometimes?</p>
<p>Considering H sometimes wears his boxers to the mailbox professing they look “exactly like shorts,” having an H is a riot at times as well!</p>
<p>We host D1’s BF all the time. Although we have an exra bedroom upstairs we put him in the finished basement on an air mattress. D2 didn’t want to share the upstairs bathroom with him and D1 and the extra bedroom is right next to D1’s so D2 insisted he be out of her personal space. It’s not too bad…he has a huge bathroom all to himself and access to the big screen tv and video games that he can play late in to the night.</p>
<p>A riot indeed. And I hve found that the more I protest H and S’s fashion choices, the more they revel in them. Last Christmas I bought S a $5 pair of fake suede mocassin slippers. He now wears them everywhere! When I protest that they look awful, he says no they look like regular shoes. ugh. The more I hate on H’s jeans with a hole, the more likely he is to wear them to my mother’s house. I try to keep my mouth shut, but my good taste gene is too strong. </p>
<p>Meanwhile with the end of semester grades out for S, I now have a few definitions to share:</p>
<p>Fine = A
It depends = A-
OK = B</p>
<p>First semester average = OK+</p>
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<p>I agree. But there are some times when Ds and I draw the line and tell H that he simply CAN’T leave the house wearing what he is wearing. It always involves the pants…bright purple XXXL baggy sweat pants, short shorts that look like boxers. We tell him we are stopping him for his own good. He thinks it’s a conspiracy.</p>
<p>Your Asperger’s son has a GF? Wow.</p>
<p>Oh my, “Fine” is absolutely NOT an A in this house. That would be “Fantastic”!!</p>
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<p>I know, isn’t it delightful? She’s a year ahead of him in school. They were both in choir and on a choir trip his Jr year, her Sr year, they became an item. She’s quite sweet and cute but is spacey as I mentioned (e.g. always leaving her purse behind). I’ve told him that if they ever married, they’d have to buy cell phones and house keys in quantity. Husband isn’t as thrilled with her as I am - she’s not perfect at the social stuff either - but I tell him to look at who we’re bringing to the table! I try to help Son out with birthday and holiday reminders because I don’t want him to blow a good thing due to his forgetfulness.</p>