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<p>I am a terrible mother. I dont know what either of those things are!</p>
<p>Moda, too funny. S wouldn’t know what they were either but fortunately he’ll eat most anything I put in front of him. He likes to cook as well so makes dinner easier. Of course tonight we are having carryout. I just had a compressed 5 day workweek in 4. Still can’t believe the year is over.</p>
<p>DTE- Great news!</p>
<p>NM- Happy Birthday!</p>
<p>Cheers to both of you.</p>
<p>I’ll have some of that curried cauliflower soup. Yum. </p>
<p>D has a whole host of foods that particularly likes at home, starting with eggs (cooked the right way), crepes, and roast chicken. I’m waiting to see what new dish she ended up liking at school – in the fall it was hummus (after years of turning down my excellent hummus.)</p>
<p>I did notice at spring break that she was a lot more willing to use store brands now that she’s been buying groceries on her own now. Turns out the Safeway yogurt is just fine.</p>
<p>dte - I am so happy for you</p>
<p>NM - happy birthday!</p>
<p>We are having adjustments here with S home, but so far here is how it goes: He sleeps until noon and I go to work at 9 am. I return from work at 7,but he is already out with friends when I get home. I go to bed around 11, he comes home at 2.
I saw him Monday evening and didnt see him again until Thursday (tonight) at 7 pm. (My car was in the shop so he picked me up at work.)
Tomorrow night, a friend of his will be visiting and Sunday we leave for a 4-day family vacation. When we get back, I expect him to be hitting the job-hunt pavement.</p>
<p>Zetesis, we’re not anxious about the summer here. </p>
<p>ShawSon just finished exams. He was anxious last night before his last exam. He told me that for his math exam on Monday there was one thing he didn’t understand, and he went to the Quantitative Center, where they couldn’t explain it either but he figured it out himself, so he went into the exam confident that he fully understood everything from the course. On his last exam, the course had assigned 40 economics journal articles, some long and some very hard. He said, “There’s no way I can know everything.” But he went and talked to the professor who told him he knew the material and to get a good night’s sleep. He said the exam was fine. This is one driven kid. But, maybe he needs it to overcome the dyslexia. We’re so proud at how well he’s done given his learning issues and pleased that his professors have figured out how strong he is intellectually.</p>
<p>We’re eager to have him back. When he’s home, he’ll sleep until 11, but so far, he’s been responsible. He’s going to go up to our house in Canada with a couple of friends and then he’s going to Europe for most of June with a couple of friends (I get to use some of my stash of frequent flier miles). From there, he’ll have 6 weeks to finish his novel held over from last year. Then up to Canada for our end of summer vacation and back to school. </p>
<p>ShawD is going to Martha’s Vineyard with her best friend’s family when school ends, then on an service trip to Appalachia, and then up to our Canada house with best friend (with a likely tour of McGill as they are rising seniors). Then, she’ll spend the next 6 weeks practicing ACTs, practicing driving, and doing or at least starting college apps. Then summer vacation in Canada. She and I may take a few college visits as well. [I’d decided summer visits would be useful, but her college counselor urged us to visit some of the schools]. She can be slug-like, but she’ll have a lot on her plate.</p>
<p>We have three cars for the four (and she only has a permit). But, my wife’s minivan is pretty old and perhaps we’ll give that to ShawSon for next year. We did a lot of 3.5 hour roundtrip drives this year, that would be obviated if he has a car (freshmen weren’t allowed to have them). Plus, he’d use it for debate team trips. And ShawD could have the little Subaru. Both are old cars and I’ll have to buy ShawMom another van – she needs it not for kids but to haul plywood and other art materials around as well as her finished 4’ x 4’ paintings.</p>
<p>News worth celebrating DTE!</p>
<p>Passing OOP worth celebrating, as well, FFScout. Looks like it was well worth it for him to retake. As you know #TS also retook this but refuses to look at his grade tonight - says he’ll look tomorrow. He has passed everything else - did well in CalcIV, did average in Physics (magnetism, electricity - he did well, a B, in last term’s physics - motion - but he is now finished with Physics) So… so far, an A, a B, a C and probably an N/R again in OOP. sigh - not sure what it will mean. We need to have a serious talk tomorrow after he comes to terms with his grades. </p>
<p>Happy Birthday NM!</p>
<p>Shawbridge - you SHOULD be proud of Shawson. He is really working hard and overcoming his learning issues. #TS neds to take some lessons from him.</p>
<p>Got word this month that several of my poems are being published in several different publications. At least something is going well around here.</p>
<p>Fantastic news, DTE! I hope you can hear all the virtual cheering happening around the country for you!</p>
<p>And congratulations to #theory Mom on your publication news. How exciting!</p>
<p>And I hope your birthday is wonderful, NM.</p>
<p>I will confess to a little jealousy about all the kids coming home. My dd wanted to do public health type work this summer in a spanish-speaking country. She arranged it herself, wrote a proposal and received a fellowship to do it. I’m proud of her and her independence at age 19, but I will miss her this summer. It’s harder when all her friends are home and she’s not. She will be here for 3 weeks at the end of the summer, so I guess I shouldn’t whine too much.</p>
<p>hmmm…so happy for all who have happy summer college kids. I am already thinking of running away from home. I did make a “second” dinner of plain pasta with red sauce as he would not touch the lobster ravioli (love trader joes) and eggplant parm. S ate his pasta with potato chips as I had not put bread out. :rolleyes: H tells me I must not do this and I did announce that I am not doing either kids laundry. But then I see H doing dishes when he should not be.</p>
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<p>Son got this reputation on his floor of being a master at stretching a dollar…a bunch of them would go to the store and everyone’s tab would be $15 and his would be $10. They’d be buying the same stuff, only Son would be buying store brands. (I admit that I’m not even willing to buy the store brand of “Cola.”)</p>
<p>Glad you’re done, DTE! Congrats to all who have had success!</p>
<p>My D has exams next week - 2 days, 2 exams each day back to back. Thanks to some low initial grades, she’s sitting on a 79 in CalcII (a grade that places her in the top 1/4 of that class) so the pressure is on for that final. Otherwise, it’s been a great year at the comm. coll. academically. Socially, not much fun. I’m really hopeful for a good transfer! She has HS friends who have done OK but not great at the CC - not great students taking remedial classes - so I’m not complaining.</p>
<p>D returns tomorrow and I’m very happy to finally see her. I’m hoping she’ll spend some time with us. I’m planning on some bribes, with tickets to events that she’ll enjoy.</p>
<p>Her first order of business was to find a summer job and I wasn’t very optimistic about the availability of jobs. She applied for a camp counselor position at a local summer program and had a phone interview yesterday. They called her back shortly after the interview and offered her the position! She was so excited and relieved when she called me later in the day. Now she can actually have some fun before her responsibilities begin. </p>
<p>It will feel a little strange as she will sleep there 5 nights of the week, but hopefully she’ll appreciate home and us even more.</p>
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[quote]
Got word this month that several of my poems are being published in several different publications. At least something is going well around here. [/qupte]</p>
<p>That is so cool. Writing has always been on my “things to do when I retire” list, but after so many years as a lawyer, I don’t think I’m capable of writing anything a normal human being would want to read.</p>
<p>Oh, I left out probably the two interesting things in our summer schedule for ShawD. Her HS has an amazing dance program – there’s a company that is pretty spectacular – and in the summer, the director brings in famous dance people to work with the kids (and others who have to audition). I believe he worked with Twyla Tharp and the names he is bringing in are people I, who know nothing about dance, recognize. He’s been urging her to join the dance company, which she’ll do next year, and to attend this 3 week summer thing. And, she’s spending 10 days at a science summer program at one of the Canadian universities to which she’ll be applying. She’ll work on a research project with one professor and some current undergraduates and stay in the dorm. It should be a good way to see if she’d enjoy being there – it is Canada’s top-ranked undergraduate focused university and its alumni love it – but I can’t imagine she’ll do any serious science. But, that’s one college visit we won’t have to schedule.</p>
<p>shawbridge, those sound like fabulous opportunities for your daughter. SabarayD will be working in a lab this summer and believe it or not, research experience she had during high school (a bit more than the time period for your D) definitely factored in. </p>
<p>I have two left feet so can’t really relate to the dance thing but all sounds wonderful in your neck of the woods. Good for your son really excelling!</p>
<p>Congratulations #theorymom! Published!! That is so very cool! Will we be able to read your work? I hope you share!</p>
<p>Looking forward to having both Ds home tonight! D1 will be here for ther weekend and D2 for the rest of the summer. And there is sunshine today after more than a week of cold and rain!</p>
<p>Cheers and congrats to all with milestones, accomplishments and otherwise joyous opportunities!
Shawbridge, will you adopt me? Your children seem to be having the life I’d always wanted as a teen/young adult 
And WOOT to conquering chemo and object oriented programming and prospective summer unemployment!</p>
<p>She is on her way home!!! D2 finished her last final and has left campus! Will be home tonight! :)</p>
<p>Wow, congratulations to published poets #TM and MissyPie.</p>
<p>Wait, what did I say that said I was a published poet? The last thing I had published was a law review article on a topic too boring to even type. Don’t want to take away from #TM’s accomplishment.</p>