<p>Happy Birthday, Fallgirl!! </p>
<p>NMN-- sounds like a fun day! And a beautiful one to boot!! And by the way, wolfgang got WONDERFUL reviews. Food to die for.</p>
<p>Oh my! D called earlier to say that BF’s parents are coming to school take them both out to dinner tonight. This is a little bit more than I had anticipated…</p>
<p>FallGirl, I hope your birthday lived up to expectations. Eggmom, enjoy your vacation. We move S1 out of his house today. All of his friends have headed to Myrtle Beach for this week and the campus is reportedly dead. He has a mountain of stuff to do, however, and sounds energized so not missing the beach trip. </p>
<p>S2 moved into his house yesterday. Our old car (a 1996 Honda Civic) apparently struggled on the drive. I sure hope that car lasts another three years because buying another car is definitely not in our budget. S1 never took a car to college but we need S2 to be able to drive himself here next week-end and get himself there this week-end so it made sense to give him the car at least for the next two weeks. No mountain of stuff for him. Even though the car is tiny, he had plenty of room. Definitely a minimalist.</p>
<p>We took the passat to D25 over the summer. Friday, she crashed it. Well, actually she was in a construction zone and some car waved her thru to the other lane where she was promptly hit by an oncoming car. She is fine, but the airbags went off and so it scared it her pretty good! Not sure what’s going to happen there but geez oh man, if it’s not one thing, it’s my mother! :)</p>
<p>H who went the “long way” of an already long way, is visiting his brother today and will head up to school early Monday to pick up son. He has an exam and so H is going to play a round of golf on the school’s course. Son doesn’t play (well, he can but doesn’t really like it). They’re going to stop by and see my H’s grandmother (97 and sharp as a tack) for dinner on Tuesday and they will hopefully be home by Thursday.</p>
<p>Thanks to all for the Birthday wishes. I did have a much nicer day than I had expected. (and S didn’t get kicked off the band trip). Went for a long walk, shopped and watched a movie with D,went to the garden center with D & H. Quiet, but nice.</p>
<p>Am off on another long walk today as rain is in the forecast for the next few days.</p>
<p>Moda- am glad your D is OK.</p>
<p>Moda – Really glad your D is okay, and thank goodness for airbags. </p>
<p>And congrats to NM for taking off another pound – even with som’mores!</p>
<p>Friday night guests for appetizers - 7 different ones that I made. Sat night spicy shrimp and homemade red beans and rice for H, S and I. Sun. night made spaghetti sauce with homemade meatballs. I have loaded and unloaded the dishwasher way too many times this weekend. What was I THINKING? Finished weeding the last flower bed and went to buy flowers for the flower baskets along with tomato plants and herbs. H is know moving mulch – I should really go help but really just want to SIT DOWN!!! Where does the weekend GO!!!</p>
<p>Oh RochesterMom, I hear ya! I’ve been working in the yard all weekend - its’ been a great growing season here so everything is huge and full already, including the weeds :(<br>
Neighbor on one side is an obsessive gardener - his yard always looks perfect. But no matter how bad my yard got, the neighbor on the other side was always worse…until this year - the house has a new owner and that yard is perfect too. I am not kidding - their grass looks like a green carpet!</p>
<p>Fallgirl - belated happy birthday wishes! Sounds like you had a lovely weekend.</p>
<p>Moda - so glad your D is okay. How scary!</p>
<p>DD finally made it home Friday night after several hours delay due to weather. She has spent the weekend mostly sleeping and Skyping with BF. Today was graduation at the college in our little town and I could hear them reading the names and the crowd cheering as I worked in the yard. Made me realize that in a few short years, we’ll all be gearing up for our kiddos’ graduation!</p>
<p>Oh Moda! So sorry to hear about D25. Glad she is OK. Very scary for you.</p>
<p>I hate to admit it, but I hired all the spring clean up etc etc out. I was sick of my yard looking not so great… thin grass and by summer’s end an Ant colony it seems. Neighbors on either side look far better. So I hired someone to dethatch, fertilize and then weed and mulch all the gardens. I still need some planting and I have spirea out front that have seen MUCH better days that need replaced. I also will get on my window boxes so those are done before S gets home. And while the gardens look good, the yard still doesn’t look good three weeks later. Should I call them back and say they need to re-fertilize or something? Seriously… I have a fugly back yard and I want lush, walk in bare-feet green green lawn!!!</p>
<p>Hi everyone. Haven’t posted for quite awhile but I try to follow the posts of those of you who are active. Not sure where else to share this. We picked my d up yesterday and I have an overwhelming sense of melancholy. When we dropped her off last Aug I was a little sad, but didn’t cry until I walked into a Target store 3 weeks later — go figure. She is so very happy doing great academically, has a fabulous set of friends, is set for an apt next year, etc. She is having a great college experience. As she said, “I can’t believe how fast this year has gone!” She is happy to be home but already misses her college friends. Basically, I couldn’t ask for anything more for her. I guess I am just so aware of where this is all going and how fast it’s gonna get there! Anybody else in the same emotional-boat? Thanks for letting me vent; now I think I’ll have a glass of wine!</p>
<p>I know what you mean, crzymom. I felt so proud of how my dd did this year, and the fellowship she got for summer travel. She won’t be home for most of the summer. I was thinking how wonderfully she had managed finals, writing papers, making all her own summer arrangements, packing up her room, etc. and then all of a sudden I was panicking…she doesn’t really NEED us! She is mature and very independent, and has wonderful friends, but where does that leave Mom? </p>
<p>I have to make a new wonderful friendship with her, one which doesn’t involve the daily nagging of high school, or the weekly advice-giving of the first few months of college. </p>
<p>You’re right the time will just fly by now. One year passed in a flash, and I’m afraid graduation will be here before we know it. My dd is 3,000 miles away now-who knows where she’ll go next! </p>
<p>OK, sorry. Please pass that wine!</p>
<p>(Of course I can distract myself with worrying about my 17 year old dd who seems to be becoming less mature lately! She has a severe case of junioritis.)</p>
<p>Moda, I would love to hire all of my spring clean-up yard work out! After moving D out on Friday was literally so exhausted it was all I could do to keep my normal weekend routine up. I thought I was getting in better shape but moving uses completely different muscles, I think. Or so I keep telling myself. Glad your D was not seriously injuried. I hope she was checked out at a hospital to make sure no hidden injuries. </p>
<p>I suspect when D returns from her trip this week she’ll be telling me she doesn’t want to continue with an engineering path. Just my mother’s intuition at this point but given her desire to pursue more humanities based courses and a marked lack of enthusiasm for her upcoming curriculum makes me think we’ll be having that discussion soon. As mid-year transfers to the College aren’t permitted it would be now or next spring. I honestly think she’s been afraid to tell me based upon my husband’s comments which makes me feel very sad.</p>
<p>Son went to church with us yesterday…Our whole situation has made me realize that the typical questions we all have for returning college students aren’t necessarily clever or even appopriate. He got “are they letting you come back next year? ha, ha ha?” and “are you going back” as if those were such funny questions. It’s easiest to say something like, “sure, ha ha ha” because it’s like saying “how are you?” The person who is asking doesn’t really want to hear how rough the year was and yes, he could go back but isn’t.</p>
<p>Moda, I’m glad you D is OK. I hope the repair bills aren’t too onerous. </p>
<p>I wish H would hire out for our yard. With neither son here to help, I become his designated helper for spreading mulch, weeding, mowing, etc. </p>
<p>Sabaray, your comment about a lack of enthusiam for upcoming courses tells me your mother’s intuition sounds right. Neither of my boys fits the general stereotype of an engineer as described here on cc. They don’t like to build things, aren’t good with computers, are more social than studious, and don’t possess any technical aptitudes that I can see, but they both do like the engineering classes because there is always a right answer and a wrong answer. This seems very appealing for some reason. Anyway, they look forward to taking classes in their major. As an example, S2 had to find an elective this summer to replace the physics class he no longer needs since he passed. I saw pages of possible electives, most of which are liberal arts based, because they want the kids to explore other things. He ended up signing up for a computer science course, having no interest in any of the other stuff. If you remember, he had difficulty with computer science last semester (although now tells me he had a B when he dropped it and actually liked the course; it was only the teacher he hated). </p>
<p>Your D is in the right place to have a lot of great alternatives to engineering. S1’s friends in the comm school all ended up with amazing job placements, if she has interest in business.</p>
<p>missypie, thanks to cc I have trained H not to ask his running buddies questions about where kids are going to college, etc. He now realizes how sensitive these questions can be. S2 doesn’t even ask his friends how they are doing and if he does, they give a non-answer answer. My favorite was, “I left some room for improvement.”</p>
<p>Thankfully S has been helping H with the yard work for many years but we have so much to do this year it may be possible to persuade Scrooge to part with a few dollars for some professional help. Trees need work, mulching needs to happen, planting…trimming…I’m having a panic attack just thinking about it! </p>
<p>When I think back to what really motivated D in high school it wasn’t physics or math. She enjoyed math and had a fabulous relationship with a teacher who had really mentored her since elementary school. But it was pure math that she enjoyed, not applied math. Did not enjoy physics. At all. But she has made it through. Hopefully she’s made it through everything else, but she just doesn’t seem happy. Even lacks enthusiasm for the lab, which should be a real highlight! </p>
<p>I’m not overly concerned should she transfer internally. I know she’ll find what she’s passionate about. Most of her engineering courses will transfer and when she entered she had something like 42 credits thanks to AP credit that would fulfill most if not all of the core requirements. So she’d still be on track to graduate in 4 years. And hopefully would be a bit happier, too!</p>
<p>Glad D25 is safe and sound, Moda. Happy belated b-day to Fall Girl, and congrats all around on various other posts upon which I am just now catching up. Had a nice weekend with a girlfriend since grade 7 – great to see her as she lives far away and has been through hell these last few years. (Her eldest daughter of 2 died in a car crash her first year at university two years ago.) After a “victory lap” due to the family crisis, her D2 (my goddaughter) is now finally headed off to university and I am relieved and excited for her to get a fresh start, but at the same time, can imagine that my friend will have a lot of anxiety to manage with D2 going so far away. At any rate, spending time with someone who’s been through that really helps give perspective. Life is short and control is an illusion. Celebrate anything you can find to celebrate. And don’t sweat the rest.
So, I am trying to resemble that remark these days.</p>
<p>Re: Hiring out yard work. I am my own worst enemy. H. ALWAYS hired out yard work before we married. I disliked the company, felt they didn’t do a good job, and that I could do better. H. said fine, cancel the contract, but know that I will NEVER help you with the yard work. Seven years later, he remains true to his word. However, with McSon up north, I am finding it just too much at times. I’ve let everything get a little wild – fittest survive and all that – and the thatch buildup in the front is completely out of bounds. I am teetering on the brink of saying Uncle and hiring a lawn guy, but I know that H. will tease me forever, because I’d made a big deal at the time about how important it was to stay connected to the earth, move your body, blah blah blah. So if I cave, I will be forever mocked.
I may hold out just a little bit longer ;)</p>
<p>Geez, the lawn work is too much sometimes. We all have allergies. We hired the lawn mowing out when I was pregnant with D and they’ve been doing that - mowing and trimming, sometimes bush trimming - since then. A few years ago we also hired the natural lawn service for fertilizing. That leaves time for us to do planting and whatever. Around here, on an average lot, it’s pretty affordable.</p>
<p>We hire someone to cut the grass and remove the trees which seem to fall at an alarming rate in our yard. I do the beds - not very well this year, I might add.</p>
<p>Unfortunately our yard is about an acre in the middle of the city. While I love all the trees (as they form a natural barrier around our lot), they need a great deal of work. S and H take care of the mowing, which is done pretty quickly. There are beds everywhere in the yard- we bought from a retired couple that obviously enjoyed gardening a great deal more than I do. I shudder to think of how many flowers I probably mistook for weeds when we initially moved in (the house had been vacant for some time). </p>
<p>Oh well. Sounds like I’m the bad neighbor on the street!</p>