<p>Spanx feel like a girdle to me. Does anyone remember the “panty girdle” of around 1964 on ? I wore this always, with shoes and a purse to match my dress for a “DATE!!” where the guy came in and met the parent (in my case) and we would go to a movie and then pizza (yummy thick stingy cheese) and then “make out” in the front of the house.
WOW am I old or what?</p>
<p>Didn’t do the girdle, although I did do the shoes and purse to match kind of thing (but mostly this was some sort of earth shoe and perhaps a leather satchel) and the boy had rang the doorbell and met the parents where my father would just look up from his newspaper and then kind of just be a silent presence. Scared the crap out of most boys although he wasn’t big or intimidating in the least. I think the only thing that hasn’t changed is pizza and a movie! But yeah… I am thinking we’re both old. :)</p>
<p>I guess I need to buy some spanx. I have been stress eating everything in sight lately. </p>
<p>I feel like there is a lot to do to get S1 ready to leave in only a month and to have everything he needs for years to essentially fit in a suitcase that is easy to carry. The car was stuffed when he went off to college, so this is much more difficult. We finally set our computers at home up with Skype (had to buy a webcam/speaker). I ordered S1 a new light laptop yesterday and picked up a pocket sized external hard drive. His employer will give him a laptop but he will still need a personal one for music and whatnot. I am going to get him a Blackberry Tour to use as his phone. The monthly fees seem ridiculous, but I will let him figure out how best to minimize that cost, presumbably by getting an unlock code, local Sim card and Skype subscription. He will probably need to pop up to DC to get a work Visa in person. In the meantime, he is very busy with exams, presentations, and projects at school.</p>
<p>S2 is headed into “dead” week this week, which is the week before final exams.</p>
<p>Can you all believe that Freshman “year” is almost over. Amazing!</p>
<p>We were expecting eggson to stop by the house Sunday afternoon on his way back to school from a volunteer event in another town.</p>
<p>Instead, there was some shapeshifter masquerading as my S! Mature conversations, no hair in his eyes, he asked advice about summer work, made plans for moving home… Dropped off electric guitar (I need to be studying, not playing) and some winter clothes. Told some funny stories about mutual friends. Expressed eagerness about next year’s Physics class.</p>
<p>But, I knew it was really him because he ate up all his usual favorite foods.</p>
<p>As he was leaving, he gave me the usual stiff arm hug, then set his bag down and gave me a big bear hug.</p>
<p>He’ll be moving back by mother’s day. I hope this trend continues.</p>
<p>^^ Not at all! In fact, I have yet to plan an “exit strategy” for son to even return home. If I hear one more time, I’ll figure it out, I think I will scream. It seems like all he did was take things TO school and will have way too much stuff to get home. Need a plan and I am no good at very last minute strategies. With luggage rates on airlines, storage seems the much better option. Wish he’d actually get on the stick with this, but hard to nail this info down when there seems to be so much academic stuff to do that this is far down the list!! UGH. I do not relish driving 22 hours to pick him up, this is certain.</p>
<p>Saw Son yesterday…we took a family road trip to see In the Heights. He loved it but wasn’t prepared for the part where the main character left school because she lost her scholarship.</p>
<p>Ds had never seen Son’s dorm room so I went up first to help him make it quasi-presentable. I really don’t think moms should ever be in their son’s dorm rooms. I started to put soem dirty clothes in his hamper - he said no, because the hamper is full of clean clothes. He had done laundry on Friday and the hamper was stuffed with unfolded STILL DAMP clothes. Is he really going to wake up in the morning and put on a damp t-shirt and shorts? And what about the damp clothes at the bottom of the pile? There are some things that a mother just doesn’t need to know about!</p>
<p>Hi there my fellow 2013ers. Please would you kind folk help me with a query not directly related to my freshman? Soooo, US visa permitting, my H and I are arriving JFK on May 6th, to visit the S cool huh? My face just splits into the most enormous grin at the prospect of seeing my lad! We are thinking of being in NY for 5 nights, before heading down to Florida to friends, where S will join us when he finishes up his exam week. We havent been in the US for decades so are completely uninformed! We would like to stay in Manhattan for those 5 nights, but where to start?! Perhaps an apartment rather than a hotel? Is it crazy to budget around $150 per night for a double room? Any suggestions would be most welcome !</p>
<p>Zimcollegemom, crossing my fingers that the visa comes in like clockwork.</p>
<p>I think it might be difficult to find a decent place to stay in Manhattan for $150 a night. If I were you I’d post my question on the US board of fodors.com. The people there are helpful and knowledgeable. Do you know what part of Manhattan you want to be in?</p>
<p>MP - not even sure of that! Perhaps Greenwich Village?</p>
<p>A Canadian friend of mine has recommended Eastgate Tower to me in what he described as the mid-town area of Manhattan. They paid $300 but had a suite with a dining area, full kitchen, multiple beds/bedrooms and the like. He mentioned that there are smaller suites available, I am assuming for a lower price. He’s an experienced traveler; notes it’s about 3 blocks from Grand Central; close to several groceries. D and I will hopefully be staying there this summer for a brief vacation.</p>
<p>Hi Zim! I start grinning just thinking about you seeing your boy :)</p>
<p>I have no NYC hotel recommendation, but my travel “bible” is tripadvisor .com ([Hotels</a> and Vacation Reviews - TripAdvisor](<a href=“http://www.tripadvisor.com%5DHotels”>http://www.tripadvisor.com) You can sort hotels by neighborhood and price, and the user are reviews are usually spot on. Also, I have found the forums to be extremely helpful.</p>
<p>End of year “exit strategy” for D consisted of me telling her over spring break that I wasn’t planning to drive 12 hours to get her and her stuff, but I was willing to buy her a plane ticket home if she could figure out how to pack and store her stuff at school. As of last week, she has located a storage place and is collecting boxes. Definitely EDM, but no where near eggmom’s shapeshifter experience. I am still looking forward to that day ;)</p>
<p>I seond tripadvisor.com Always been helpful. Sidestep.com has also been helpful but I just like the reviews on tripadvisor for help in getting the “best place” for my needs.</p>
<p>So happy for you Zimcollegemom!!! How exciting!</p>
<p>Good Morning! Back from a fun filled weekend of scrapping and shopping. H says I missed a great weekend at home. Both girls and their boyfriends were here and had a cookout with their dad on Friday night. They played yard games and then had a bonfire and talked late in to the night. Their dad was thrilled! D1 flew out early Sunday morning to Florida. Saw D2 for about 20 minutes before she went back to school late Sunday. She drove back on Friday to take a foreign language placement exam at her transfer school. She dropped out of Spanish after her junior year so wasn’t sure how she would do. Thankfully the test was an on-line exam and she was able to find out immediately she passed all of the tests and won’t have to take the required three semesters!! Hooray! Even better was that she was excited to see how active the campus was and how several people stopped to talk with her. As she was getting in to her car in the parking lot a carload of girls drove by and one girl stuck her head out of the window and yelled that “we love your purse!”. This is my fashionista D so she is now sure that she has chosen the right school! ;)</p>
<p>Not a hoarder/pack rat here(unless it’s scrapbook stuff) but not a cleaner, either! I hate cleaning!</p>
<p>Zim – look up Club Quarters and then check priceline if you can. The one near Times Square often sells rooms via priceline for a discounted apx $150 ish per night and are clean and well-appointed.
Club Quarters is actually a “club” for business people who travel a lot and whose companies will hold membership in different American cities. That means they’re more suited to business than pleasure travel but I’ve always enjoyed their reliable performance and economy.</p>
<p>Note that many other hotels in the $200 and under price range in New York are of very uneven quality and cleanliness. And I mean “really uneven”!
Good luck and enjoy!</p>
<p>Son’s choir is singing at graduation and I just found out that those participating in graduation can stay an extra day in the dorms. I think I’ll be glad that the dorm will be abandoned when we move him out…the emotion of leaving to probably never return, after the hope and promise of last August, might just overcome one of us (and by one of us I mean me.)</p>
<p>The stars were aligned today my former boss an American (in his seventies) was out in Zim recently, and we hosted him and his daughter (in her forties) as they went on various safaris. The daughter emailed today and it turns out she has a large beautiful apartment in Soho, close to the subway, which will be available for us to use for our trip! At no charge so cool! Thanks for all your suggestions I had fun looking up all the options neat little hotel called The Pod brand new was looking most likely til advent of this offer .</p>
<p>Zimcollegemom, I am so envious! You will have a more authentic NYC experience than most of us will ever have, no matter how many visits!</p>
<p>Zim – that is FABULOUS! I had a couple of suggestions, too, but they don’t beat free. What a generous offer from your former boss’s daughter!</p>
<p>Obviously, I need to meet more people who live in great places who would have me as a house guest! Can’t beat free, but to have it in Soho? Now that’s pretty cool.</p>