<p>CB, waiting for the update on how book club went. </p>
<p>My big laugh was DTE’s comment about a thread hijack. I don’t think a hijack is possible on this thread, which is one of the things I love. </p>
<p>My brother has a senior in high school who is not planning to go to college and isn’t sure what she does plan to do. I suggested in all seriousness that she try to get a job at DisneyWorld. She is a stunning looking girl with very long, straight, light blond hair–would make a great looking Alice among other things. My brother wants her to live at home, where he can keep a closer eye on her. Right now she works part time as a hostess at a restaurant and enjoys riding her horse, playing the piano, and cooking–hates school and has the failing grades to show for it. It will be interesting to see how that situation plays out.</p>
<p>Moda, you are fortunate to have that gift. S was very, very fussy as an infant and H was wonderful with him. I’m probably the mom that gets the kid worked up!</p>
<p>Analyst, I would like to move in with your brother and be one of his children. I too enjoy horseback riding, playing the piano, cooking and working part time. Is he seeking to adopt?</p>
<p>A couple jobs my older D had in between college stints are:</p>
<p>flight attendant and hotel restaurant manager (which included a lot of special events etc). She till waits tables to this day to cover the bills. Who knows… just on the face of what you’ve said of her, I’d say going to culinary school or getting into restaurant management might be a very fine path for her to take. Or perhaps if there is a horse show or fund raisers for an equestrian center she can involved herself in the organization and planning of events. (please hand me the glass that says “half full”)</p>
<p>My bright 17 year old really wants to be a Disney princess. Instead of a semester abroad, she wants to spend a semester in the Disney College Program, where she will hopefully get a princess gig (as opposed to a cleaning the restrooms gig or a making french fries gig.) </p>
<p>Somewhere I have a chart with all the height/size requirements for the different characters.</p>
<p>A friend who has a small law firm had a pretty young receptionist. One day she resigned, saying she’d gotten her dream job. She’s now Cinderella.</p>
<p>My sister has a friend who has worked at Disney World for all of her summer breaks since she became a teacher! I have no idea what she is now, but she has indeed been a princess on more than one occasion. Now that she is nearing 50 however I wonder if she’s not the wicked stepmother at this point. :)</p>
<p>Update: Book Club (yes, we meet in the morning) was great. I actually ended up with 17 women – gotta love those people who never RSVP. We were quite cozy in our Family Room, but it was all good. Food was a success – we do “breakfasty” type stuff, and sometimes the hostess tries to tie the food into the theme of the book. We just read “People of the Book,” (excellent, by the way) which has a Jewish theme. I made a Cheese blintz casserole (thanks for the recipe, missypie – I printed it out from your holiday recommendation), which was related to the theme, an awesome banana bread w/ chocolate chips (come on, the Club is all middle aged women – of course we need chocolate!) and a fruit tray. Plus, of course, coffee, etc.</p>
<p>I just got back from my first trip of the year to the driving range. Oh yeah, I’m ready for golf season!!!</p>
<p>Oh, my final news flash of the day – my 82 year-old father is on Facebook! I think it’s funny; D is horrified! :)</p>
<p>Wow, I’m impressed - to host 17 women, in the morning no less. One year my husband insisted that we should host the Sunday School class Christmas party (since we decorate a bit, as you may recall.) That, of course, was the only and only year that EVERYBODY could make it. Our humble home was a bit crowded.</p>
<p>Had a nice little nervous laugh a little bit ago. D2 called and was nervous and funny! She has an English Comp class and their assignment was to write a definition paper…pick a word that had multiple meanings, define it and tie it to a social/political issue. Anyway a young man picked her to peer edit. She said the paper freaked her out…his word was “criminal” and he proceeded to list all of his felony convictions, misdemeanors and “handful of acquittals” that he had! She wanted to know if she could really be honest when making corrections/suggestions for him. Said she was a little afraid as he has a violent past but was joking at the same time. Guess he is in another class with her, too. She had some classic one-liners and I am ashamed to admit that I did laugh at and with her. We both have a strange sense of humor! ;)</p>
<p>CBBBlinker - your book group sounds like a huge success! congrats. and wow, your father! my father is 83, is online all the time, and loves his Kindle. But Facebook - heaven forbid :eek:</p>
<p>Re: crying babies - We flew across country when D1 was 4 months old. We were delayed by several hours and despite my careful planning, I ran out of both breast milk and my back-up formula stash, and she cried for about the last hour. As we were deplaning, H was looking completely frazzled (gazillion mile business traveler, first trip with an infant), when an older man walked by, put his hand on H’s shoulder, and said “Relax. We’ve all been there.” </p>
<p>H has passed that on many times since then. :)</p>
<p>A collegue has a friend who is a (non-live in) nanny for a super-rich couple (young wife, older husband). They have a toddler. The wife got the call that her father was on his death bed. The wife asked the nanny to travel with them out of state to see the dad so she would not have to fly with her own toddler. The nanny was unable to drop everything and leave town right then, so rather than travel with her child, the mom waited and the father died before she could get there. I guess flying with a kid is *very *unappealing to some people.</p>
<p>^^OMG. Seriously? BY the time I was traveling with a toddler, I had another infant as well. I guess I just relied on the kindness of strangers, like Modadunn above.</p>
<p>I laugh because my mom got me on FB. She plays all those games. no farmville for me!
that criminal piece would make me pause, maybe he made it up who knows.
sounds like a great book club. good food. not the same as a crying baby but driving with my D2 is like that, more beeps, middle fingers etc… just because she is going the speed limit. Makes my D very anxious, I dont care and tell her to ignore it. how is she supposed to learn to drive without being on the road??? I should get a sign “student driver”</p>
<p>We never flew when the kids were little. Just very long car rides. If we couldn’t drive to it we didn’t do it. I don’t blame the kids or even the parents although it was obvious that some parents hadn’t “prepared”. What do I mean by this? No “new toys” or activities to keep the kids occupied. Crayons but no paper or coloring book. I know that there are times when one needs to travel at the last minute but since the plane was full and was almost full when I booked just a week a head so MOST of those people had planned at a minimum 1 week in advance. I always had extra new toys when we went in the car. The screamers were not infants either. They seemed to sleep without a problem. I must just be getting old. Crying babies still don’t bother me. But 2-3 year olds that can be reasoned with or distracted do when it goes on too long - 2.5 hours was too long for me. Oh well. The next few months there will be less young families traveling to Fl. from the north of that is typical so the business trips will be easier.</p>
<p>On another topic - what are your soon to be rising sophomores doing for the summer? Still trying to prod the d into moving on getting a job. Her issue is that since she isnt home until Memorial Day weekend all of the jobs will be taken. Well if she doesn’t look they will be :)</p>
<p>Moda, one of my kids had colic and DH was fabulous with him. When the kiddo was upset, he kept smelling breastmilk and it got him all overwrought. DH would walk him in circles around the living room/dining room/kitchen of our townhouse for hours, sweat pouring off his brow. He also used to do chest presses using the munchkin as a weight. Would be tough to do that now, lemme tell ya!</p>
<p>S was born three weeks premature and had a severe case of jaundice and then when he was about a month and a half old we discovered he had a double hernia - sure explains the days he would cry. I contend that’s why he was so serious, he had essentially lived the first two months of his life in pain. I think that’s when he first learned to be resilient. Before we knew about the hernias however, Countingdown’s post reminded me of how my H used to prop him in about a half-dozen pillows and take off his little socks and rub his ankles where they had left little ridges and insisting thats what had to be bugging the little guy. H’s intentions were good and to this day, son LOVES a good ankle/foot massage. :)</p>
<p>I was on a plane with a young father who had an infant in arms and a toddler. The toddler was old enough to unbuckle his seat belt and was determined not to leave it on. He also enjoyed kicking the seat back in front of him. I took the infant so the dad could manually restrain the toddler from escaping during landing and take-off, screaming at the top of his lungs throughout. Brave man. </p>
<p>My worst personal plane trip was when our older one (around age 5) got sick and threw up all over himself early into an overseas flight. We did not have a change of clothes with us in the carry-on and the smell was pretty bad for all 6+ hours. Now that is something that fellow passengers I’m sure did not appreciate.</p>
<p>I have never been on Facebook. I am quite sure my kids don’t want me looking at their pages anymore than I want them reading what I post on cc.</p>
<p>I had a flight in which my two kids and my wife all threw up – they were all motion-sensitive and it was a bumpy flight. Yuck. The kids threw up a fair bit when flying so we always brought a second outfit. Both ShawWife and I have flown separately with both kids. Rochestermom, they threw up in cars too. We used to drive up to Toronto in the early years.</p>
<p>Rochestermom, ShawSon is hopefully going to go to Israel on Birthright Israel (still waiting to hear) and if possible travel to Europe at the end and visit a friend in Switzerland. He was supposed to travel last year in Europe and both of his friends flaked out (one due to over-controlling mom) at the last minute. Over-controlling mom my flake out again this summer, though ShawSon is trying to cause them to all buy tickets by the end of March. In addition, he and co-author are supposed to finish their novel. Next summer will be the time internships/jobs get started, though he will work in my office for a bit this summer. Plus, we’ll spend our normal time up in the Laurentians.</p>