<p>H just called to say they had just gotten thru Chicago, so it’s only about 7 more hours of driving for them. They will be exhausted and cranky because they drove all night after stopping to spend the day with BIL outside Albany! Seriously, they zig and zagged around NY and CT and then hightailed it to the Midwest. Hopefully, they will be back in time for tonight’s games. Son’s old HS team has one of their biggest games of the season tonight and D16 is wanting so badly for her big brother to watch her play as well. Unfortunately there is an overlap of game times but fortunately they are both home games.</p>
<p>Son has an appointment tomorrow with an orthopedic to check out his wrist that he hurt nearly two weeks ago. Says it’s not healing and hurts like the dickens. Never really knew what the dickens felt like or where that came from. Might need to google.</p>
<p>Husband posted his last opening on Craigslist and said it was the easiest hire he’s ever made. There was an article in the paper the other day about the lack of work for college students/teens in general. Suggested that volunteering might be the way to go but that surely doesn’t account for those kids who actually need jobs to pay for their college education or what the school 'expects" them to earn to offset their expenses during the school year. S has a job working for H’s company this summer which as I’ve said is hard manual labor but good money. Thing is, as the boss’s son, H has already said that he will have no problem firing him if he is late or not doing the work BETTER than anyone else. We could be in for a rough ride this summer.</p>
<p>Moda, that is quite a drive. Your husband is a man of courage for undertaking it. </p>
<p>Our community has never had a plethora of jobs for college students; as it is a university town, it basically empties during the summer (or the population is substantially reduced, to say the least). College students leave jobs but there’s no need to refill them (or so it seems). S is lucky to get his old one back but it is heavy lifting and a lot of it. A couple of their practices are really ticking me off as I know they are violations of wage and hour reporting but son won’t do anything about it as “they’ll just give me even worse jobs to do if I report it”. </p>
<p>Here’s my other gripe of the day- when the students return in the fall, there will be banners galore welcoming them back and offering them all kinds of discounts! Where are the discounts for the loyal townsfolk who keep them in business the rest of the time?</p>
<p>Good Morning! I HAVE to read the exercise/wellness/diet thread or I would be a BIG slacker! Everyone keeps me accountable and motivated! Have missed you eddie! Missypie I read you here and I forget which thread you posted on! But you are in pretty good shape anyway…I am way too heavy and need to rehab my knee and try to lose weight for upcoming wedding festivities!</p>
<p>D2 still waiting for 2 of her 5 final grades to be posted. She is anxious to find out what the verdict is! She still hasn’t started working yet but is busy with going to the beach, pleasure reading and visiting with friends. I told her she needs to get her stuff put away that is piled in the living room. She moved a few things, has a load of laundry in and is now out in the sun reading another new book. Hmmmm…</p>
<p>One summer I worked at Waldenbooks, which I loved because we got all kinds of discounts and when we weren’t busy we could just sit at the register and read. BUT, they also violated the law on a regular basis. We were required to clock out at 9 pm but still had to vaccuum, straighten, etc. They got 10-15 minutes of unpaid overtime out of every employee every night. About 10 years later there was a big lawsuit where the Waldenbooks hourly employees sued the company over this practice.</p>
<p>S has been on Craigslist for a few days, about a dozen calls/applications, went by and dropped off two, and not a nibble. Being in L.A., for every college kid looking for a summer job there are ten people looking for something long term. Sigh…</p>
<p>That is why I was hoping Son would have an edge…he needs a summer job, but he’s staying at community college next year, so he could work for over a year.</p>
<p>I’m off to the airport shortly to pick up out of town relatives. The house is spotless, thanks to being up since 5:00 am to do all that last minute stuff which had gotten dirty since I deep cleaned over the week-end. I just finished mowing the lawn. Cookies are in the oven and dinner is in the crock pot. So when they arrive, we will sit in the backyard with white wine and light appetizers, just visiting. The weather is perfect today. I’m not going to even attempt to diet or exercise for the next four days.</p>
<p>S1 should get back from his GMATs about 3:00. He took a practice test on-line last night and said it was more difficult than he expected. Since he won’t go to grad school for three to five years, there is plenty of time to retake so no big deal. It will be a learning experience however he does. I was able to take him shopping yesterday and bought him some new dress shoes, among other things. They are perfect (Cole Haan) and I knew we picked the right pair when H promptly confiscated them to wear today for an interview he has up in DC (keeping fingers crossed there). I had to drive H to the train station because S2 has one car, S1 needed a car to go to his test, and I needed one to go to the airport. It was a good thing they didn’t all just drive off and forget about me!</p>
<p>Busy, busy, busy but I am determined to relax and enjoy as much as I can. S2 said he has applied for two jobs. Yahoo.</p>
<p>D’s first day home from her first year of college was yesterday. It was also high school son’s first day after school was out. They slept in, I went to work. After work, I came home, made dinner, cleaned up dishes, etc. We all sat down in the living room, TV was on, lots of discussion. Around 8 pm they asked “So what are we doing tonight? We’re bored!”</p>
<p>woody, stop and pick me up on the way to TheAnalyst’s, okay? </p>
<p>Son HAS a job and yet every night it’s what are we doing? Last night he was so bored he rode along with me while I put payments in drop boxes. I am not complaining though. In bed by midnight, up at 6:45 to be at work by 7:30. We’ll see if his behavior changes once he has money in his pocket.</p>
<p>H just called and there is dead stop traffic this side of Madison where there are no huge towns and so… who knows. He sounds exhausted this is true!! But he meandered to get there and power drove to get home. I am surely going to get the sour mood at this end of the trip.</p>
<p>D2 has now gone to pick up BF who left school early so they could play frisbee golf! I guess senior slide has set in for him! </p>
<p>I am disappointed as D1 just texted that she doesn’t think fiance’s parents will contribute anything to wedding. Really??? Not even the traditional groom’s family responsibilities??? Like another thread states…just smile and nod, smile and nod! (This could force me off of my stict diet as I want some chocalate and wine…RIGHT NOW!)</p>
<p>Do you have any idea whether they are unable, or simply unwilling?</p>
<p>Our rehearsal dinner was ultra-casual - it was in the Chicago suburbs so we had multiple types of pizza (deep dish and thin) in the inlaws’ back yard. The out of town crowd really appreciated the pizza.</p>
<p>I agree. Son’s bedding is still in neat piles on my bedroom floor, where I put it after washing it about 11 days ago. I really truly think that unless I move it, it would stay there until Son is ready to go away again in august 2011.</p>
<p>D ecstatic over getting her grades and ending up (happily) with a 3.96 for the year (Linear Algebra and Differential Equations was the class she was worrying about; the final exam, for which the prof allotted 2 hours, took most students 3 1/2 hours and even then there were problems no one could do; she walked away from the course with an A- and was hugely relieved).</p>
<p>And now it seems that she has indeed completed paperwork for her internship and starts next week. Still, I’ll exhale when she comes home after the first day …</p>
<p>NM – I empathize with you on the issue of who pays for what in the wedding. I’m still not sure why the bride’s family picks up so much. </p>
<p>In our case, the groom’s family is paying for the rehearsal dinner. Also, apparently it is “traditional” that the groom’s family pays for the flowers for the bride and the corsages/boutonnieres for the wedding; and also the clergy/officiant’s fee. I hadn’t known about this custom, and it was nice to get an email from the groom’s mom noting they wanted to contribute in this way. It’s not a lot in terms of cost, but it helps.</p>
<p>I had been married before, so … H&I paid for our wedding. But the rehearsal dinner (casual or otherwise) has always fallen to the groom. D25 keeps talking about friends getting engaged etc and apparently their friends thought her BF was going to propose a few weeks ago when they were in san francisco (which they absolutely loved). All I can say is… I am hoping for a VERY long engagement if there is the prospect of an engagement on the horizon. I would imagine, however, that we will be paying for the wedding when and if there is one. Both his parents are retired school teachers and while I suspect they would do a dinner after the rehearsal, I doubt they are of the thinking of my inlaws that felt that every out of town person would be included - especially because where she would get married it would be that everyone is from out of town!</p>