<p>My SIL was in and out of the hospital for 6 surgeries during her cancer battle, and I can absolutely attest that having somebody strong to advocate for you is the best medicine a patient can have. CBB, my best to you in your recovery.</p>
<p>My husband is a CIO, so we’re always early adopters. I really liked my first generation Kindle, but absolutely LOVE my iPad. It just feels more like a book, and is much easier to ‘curl up’ with than the Kindle. I never bring out my laptop at home any more, because the iPad is my browser, email, books, games and music all in one. I challenge anybody to play with it for a few hours and not want one!</p>
<p>The iBooks store is very weak, can’t find many that I want there, but iPad has a Kindle app, so all my Kindle books can be read on the iPad. I think the bigger size makes it much easier on the eyes than the Kindle. Every page change on the K had a quick moment when the screen blackens. With the iPad, a flick of the finger ‘turns’ the page just like a real book. That said, I never read in bed…reading only makes me sleepy when I’m laying in the sun!</p>
<p>CBBBlinker – Take good care of yourself – the party will happen just fine; you need to give your body chance to heal. So sorry that it happened on Mother’s Day, and that you were stuck in the ER for so long. (What’s that about – is there a shortage of hospital beds there?) And then to have it take so long to get surgery. Yikes.</p>
<p>cpeltz, thanks for the .02. I’m certainly leaning that way, though h. is still slightly resistent. Ironically, also we’re IT types around here but in our case it makes us SECOND GENERATION adopters (for debugging +usually more power for less $ as opposed to early adopters. (You know, hippie open source would-otherwise-be-luddites IT types ;)</p>
<p>OK…while VERY tempted to get the iPad I am getting the Kindle. I really want to be able to use this at the cabin, on the dock, in the boat (we usually anchor and relax in the bay) and also to take on vacation. Seems this is better for outside use and has longer battery life for days at the beach, etc. I will wait to see how the iPad changes with the next generation. Yay! This is a quick decision for me…I usually take months to make a decision! :)</p>
<p>Took me forever but I found something to wear out to dinner and the theater tomorrow. Man, I am still depressed about my weight even with the daily workouts for the past 6 weeks. sigh…:(</p>
<p>Talked with D2 today… she already has 3 of her 5 grades and hasn’t even finished finals!</p>
<p>CBB rest up and take it slow. It took me longer to recover than I thought. Unfortunately I have had more surgery than i wanted so i know how I do.
Still read books, no knowlege of the new technology glad you made your decision.</p>
<p>Anyone else going through an adjustment with having their college student home again? I didn’t expect this. She is an only child. So it was just hubby and I alone for 8 months or so. Our little “love nest” so to speak. And just being able to have a conversation without a third person around, etc. Just alone time. We have been going upstairs to our bedroom earlier than usual just to chit-chat alone. Nothing is really wrong, just a little adjustment. We love having her home. Anyone else?</p>
<p>Funny you should mention that Eddie. We picked up D yesterday. We were very pleased that she was packed, organized and ready to go when we got there. She wasn’t home very long though, went to her best friend’s house for dinner and slept over. She said she had spent time with us during the 4 1/2 hour ride home…</p>
<p>Total happy dance time here. Not only did D pass the hated Physics class, she got a B. What a relief. </p>
<p>eddie and FallGirl, totally understand the adjustment. Before SabaraySon abruptly rejoined the household H and I were really enjoying having the house to ourselves. Difficult to have a conversation without some eavesdropping going on - hard to talk about D who is doing well when he’s really struggling.</p>
<p>I don’t know if I wrote about this earlier or not, and McSon is presently up north for a month anyway, but the day we moved his stuff in we had a little talk along the lines of how McH and I had gotten pretty accustomed to our privacy, as we suspect, had McSon, so we strongly suggested McSon treat the “third living room” (downstairs rec room) as his own private digs, especially for when friends were over. That he of course was welcome to join us in any part of the house, but that we were, in essence, giving him a bachelor pad where we’d only be if invited, and that likewise, he’d consult with us were he to hang out/occupy “our” living space while we were home – just a simple ‘May I join you’ on each of our parts, not to be reasonably withheld ;). He thought that was a great idea to make a distinction between “child” and “adult”, and set up his space. As a result, we also said we will not have any rules about when he can have guests or when they have to go home – provided he was entertaining them in “his” space.
We only had a week of this arrangement before he left for up north, but it was pretty nice and made the transition really smooth. Shared time and alone time balanced out nicely. In our case, all we really gave up was easy access to the piano.
If this sounds a little odd, bear in mind that McSon will be working all day with McHusband and I at our studio for the rest of the summer, so there’s not really going to be a major dearth of time together!</p>
<p>i admit I am a little nervous about the summer. We are not empty nesters, still have a 16 year old in the house, and frankly, feel son’s “independence” was at the root of some of his less than stellar decisions. He does not have his own car (and will share with sister or either his dad or mine in the evenings) and so the summer is going to be filled with compromise and some efforts to garner mutual respect. (I can already see how this is going to go terribly wrong on many levels, so will need to think this one thru a little bit more).</p>
<p>I am taking my car to get new tires on it today as H is leaving tomorrow to drive the 1300 miles to pick up son. He’s in a weird business where this will actually work for him to pop in on a few customers and slowly make his way East. Let’s just hope son is doing a reasonable job of packing up his stuff before he gets there. H is not the most patient OR sentimental about “stuff.”</p>
<p>Excellent idea, mccrindle. A variation on the man-cave.
S had his interview this AM; he says it went really well. This would be a great fit and would really help fill out the resume for next year. He should know by tomorrow…keep your fingers crossed.</p>
<p>The car thing will be very ugly this summer…</p>
<p>Good Morning! What a gray and rainy day here! H ordered my birthday Kindle and it should arrive on Saturday! I am excited! We are going out to eat and then to see South Pacific tonight for my birthday. I want to find a new necklace to wear to bring a pop of color to my boring black outfit.</p>
<p>D2 texted me at 7:30 this morning with bday wishes. She was up and on her way to her 8:00 Econ final…called afterwards to chat and said she thinks she did well. One more final tomorrow and she is done and on her way home!</p>
<p>I’ve been wondering what it is going to be like to have D home – I’m guessing really nice for a couple of days, and then some significant unhappiness when it finally sinks in that the boyfriend is 1000 miles away. </p>
<p>We were lucky enough to have a kid with substantially more judgment than we could have expected, so we made it through senior year without needing to impose a curfew or set many other rules. I’m hoping this summer won’t be different. She’ll be looking for some evening or weekend work to supplement the unpaid internship, so perhaps keeping busy will be structure enough. I hope. This is going to be the longest time she’s ever had out of school.</p>
<p>It’s great having Son home BUT I sure hope he can get a job in the next few weeks. He’s delivered about a dozen applications in person, done a few more on line.</p>
<p>This afternoon is our last middle school pep rally EVER. D’s cheer squad is doing a routine that she tells us will be an Epic Fail. A high school kid has choreographed it for community service hours and it is way too hard for most of them.</p>
<p>This is the pep rally that honors the special olympics kids and that always makes me cry.</p>
<p>I love the way our kids describe things. “Epic Fail” is a classic at our house. </p>
<p>We are a two car family with a total of 4 drivers. Son has not been doing much driving other than to work and home while I’ve delivered H and continued on to work. We’re going to complicate that a bit further this summer by allowing D to use one of the vehicles for several weeks- hence the car will not be available to the other 3 drivers. I’m still not sure how that’s going to work out but she’s always been the low woman on the totem pole of drivers and it would honestly make our lives easier for her to have a car for a finite period. I’m really dreading telling S this as I fear it will just send him into orbit. </p>
<p>Missypie, won’t you be glad to be done with MS?</p>
as opposed to early adopters. (You know, hippie open source would-otherwise-be-luddites IT types ;)</p>