<p>I did the Mrs. Fields cookie cake for D for her b’day to school. I wouldn’t recommend it. She said that it was dry and almost stale once it arrived and she picked it up the same day that I was notified that it arrived. Maybe part of it is the fact that it needed to go Maine.</p>
<p>Had good luck with Edible Arrangements.</p>
<p>I’ll have to think about the recipe idea. I LOVE to cook so wouldn’t think of it as an imposition. Just finished making a batch of chocolate chip cookies and low fat mocha chip muffins. Cookies are to send D and muffins are for H. Make some sort of muffin for his lunch every week. </p>
<p>Dinner tonight is homemade chicken pot pie.</p>
<p>Guess I just don’t think about cooking as anything but FUN. I’ll have to rethink. Maybe I’ll just ask the girls when they are here would like to eat. If it’s something that I don’t know how to make I can ask them to contact someone for the recipe. That might work out better.</p>
<p>D I’m sure will want steak one night and an eye or the round one other night - 2 of her favorites.</p>
<p>As gracious as it is to prepare things they like, I always delude myself into thinking if I make things that are “my signature dish” that people traditionally love, it will be a hit. Eg. my son’s favorite part of traveling Europe this summer was experiencing normal family dinners in different cultures – he came away with a world of new favorites. Then again, perhaps I am more limited in the things I cook well That said, this scheme of mine has backfired before. I cooked cornish hen when son brought over a date one time, and she was totally repulsed by the “little baby looking things” on the plate. (She was polite; it was McSon who told me afterward…)</p>
<p>I would love a recipe for homemade Chicken Pot pie. I used to love it as a kid - my grandma made it, but my mother went with the whole frozen thing and well, it fell down on the wish list. So… RM… if you are so inclined I’d love to know how it’s done.</p>
<p>While my D might be a little fussy about what’s set before her, I miss my son’s appetite most of all. He would eat anything and be grateful for it. I have never thrown out so many leftovers as I have since he’s been gone.</p>
<p>I’ve got brownies in the oven right now. Maybe I’ll send some to S. I think he’s got finals this week (4 terms per year), and he might appreciate it. He’ll be staying at college over spring break. I have hopes he’ll set foot off campus, but I won’t hold my breath.</p>
<p>There’s some big gaming con (PAX East) in Boston later in March - I know he’ll be going to that!</p>
<p>Modadunn - I know what you mean. My mother was a really BAD cook. Luckily my grandmother taught me I didn’t get her pot pie recipe but knew basically how it worked and so kept looking for one that was similar. The one that I found is on-line at <<a href=“http://www.finecooking.com/recipes/chicken_pot_pie.aspx”>http://www.finecooking.com/recipes/chicken_pot_pie.aspx</a>>. It’s really close to the one I grew up with and we like it although it is a lot of work. For H and I when I make it I split it in two and make 2 freezing one so we get another night out of it for 1 meal.</p>
<p>I make a variety of recipes. Not uncommon for me to make homemade chicken enchiladas one night, homemade Boston baked beans another night, Kung Pao chicken another night. Bizarre I know but I love to cook and I’ll try anything.</p>
Hey, S told me about this, firefly – his best buddy from HS, who is a year behind him (so a senior) is coming from CT to stay at WPI with S so they can go to this.</p>
<p>Morning All! Back from our trip to Upper Michigan. Lots of snow, beautiful views of Superior, and deer peering in the through the windows! Need to go back and read about what happened this past week. </p>
<p>D2 got her academic scholarship offer from her transfer school of choice. We had hoped for more …don’t we all…but at least it’s something!</p>
<p>Welcome back NM! The idea of going from Northern MN to the UP for a February vacation still baffles my mind, but I’m glad you had a great time ;)</p>
<p>No idea about the font - my CC view never changes…?</p>
<p>Son’s car won’t start. I think he’s run the battery down so many times that it won’t hold a charge anymore. Now the challenge will be do get it to a dealership without missing classes, all in time for spring break.</p>
<p>Challenging situation here with D2. We have a rule that if you don’t get enough sleep because, for example, you have 2 friends “sleep” over on Friday night and then spend Saturday night at a youth group lock-in where sleep is apparently an optional activity, you are still responsible for your behavior (no snippiness or attitude) and your schoolwork (e.g., no pleading on Monday morning to go to school late because you are exhausted and your Chem paper isn’t finished).</p>
<p>So last night D2 was getting pretty snippy and was struggling to stay awake and finish said Chem paper and frankly, I was showing her no sympathy, when we got word that one of her friends had taken a handful of painkillers. Long story short: the girl was persuaded by friends on the phone to throw up the pills. In the meantime another parent (alerted to the situation by her D) called the police who arrived to find the girl okay; she denied to both her parents and the police that she had taken any pills.</p>
<p>All of this unfolded late last night. Of course, D was very shaken by the incident and the subsequent flurry of texts and phone calls among her friends. I finally went to bed when it was apparent that my attempts to comfort and talk to her were more annoying than helpful. And of course, this morning she is exhausted, the paper isn’t finished, and I let her stay home. I’m pretty sure I made the right call. What do you all think?</p>
<p>PRJ, I think I would have done the same thing. I was pretty strict about missing school. There were parents all around who were much more lenient (including one: a schoolteacher yet – who let her kids miss school so they could see the first showing of the lastest Harry Potter movie). However, sometimes there is something that happens that isn’t on the horizon and I think it’s fair to bend. At least that’s me. I understand the logic of a harder line, but gee.</p>
<p>Thanks missypie and bblfraser. I think the reason this wasn’t an easy call for me was that had she been well rested and had her homework done already, this incident would have been upsetting but not enough to keep her home from school. </p>
<p>She has always been the easy child - eager to please, sunny disposition, diligent about her school work. But lately she is pushing the boundaries little, and her grades are suffering. I don’t think she is doing anything really <em>bad</em> - it’s mostly just attitude and not caring so much about school.</p>
<p>I am a hard-liner “go to school” kind of parent. However, everyone is entitled to a mental health day. And PRJ… this, in my opinion, falls squarely in that realm.</p>
<p>^^^^Exactly what we call them here, too. Mental health days have been an option in our house but probably have only been used twice throughout both D’s school years. Neither of my girls liked to miss school because they felt they fell behind. Even now both won’t miss classes at college but know when enough is enough and a break is needed. Let yourself off the hook PRJ!!</p>
<p>Caution…rant ahead!!!
We have a little crisis brewing here. H is not happy with D2’s scholarship offer and he made some off hand remark to her about it. She called me in tears and thinks he doesn’t want her to transfer. Grrr…I hate when he does this! He was well aware that she was walking away from a full ride and applying to a very expensive school and gave her his blessing. Luckily we do have the college savings to pay her way but it will wipe out her account with nothing left after she graduates. H now knows he is in the doghouse with me.</p>
<p>Oh, NM – I can sympathize with you on this one. My H is prone to doing the same thing. I call them his “irrational tirades.” I’ve learned to pretty much ignore him/just let stuff go when he’s going on about something to me, but D hasn’t learned that art. She ends up in tears, and just doesn’t understand why he does that. (OK, I don’t understand they “why” either.) S seems to let everything roll off his shoulders, but I’m sure some of that is an act.</p>
<p>H has made a similar comment to me about D16 college choices… asking if she needs an expensive school like S. My response was he didn’t “need” the expensive school and yet it is true he applied to no school that offered merit aid (we wouldn’t qualify for financial need). Anyway… I am just glad she wasn’t around to hear it since it would pretty much be translated to she wasn’t worth as much as her brother. Now, I don’t believe he meant that in the least, but it is true that if she wants to go to a great big school there is no reason why she should apply OOS to a state school when the local options are very good. In any event, I choose to mostly ignore the remark because it’s still two years out and a lot can change between now and then.</p>
<p>Sad state of affairs: I know now when it is time for a manicure based on my ease of typing… and now I hear way too much clicking …</p>
That said, this scheme of mine has backfired before. I cooked cornish hen when son brought over a date one time, and she was totally repulsed by the “little baby looking things” on the plate. (She was polite; it was McSon who told me afterward…)</p>
I didn’t get her pot pie recipe but knew basically how it worked and so kept looking for one that was similar. The one that I found is on-line at <<a href=“