<p>D2 finally finished writing thank yous and headed out to mail them and deposit checks. She certainly modeled the slow but steady pace getting them done! She also stays up late but is up around 9 to get work outs in. She continues to be in denial about leaving in four weeks! Refuses to talk about shopping or packing. She just hates change! Knew this would happen so we are trying to stay positive. Hope I have the strength to get through this stage. Once she arrives on campus she will be fine…she just hates the unknown!</p>
<p>Husband has announced the we don’t need to buy a single new thing for Son to take to school…all bedding, towels, etc. can come from the house. So I guess we’ll just “appear” with them some day.</p>
<p>My husband take a similar stance around Christmas. I swear the guy still believes in Santa because its as if Christmas just “appears” around here.</p>
<p>Unless you have extra long sheets, a regular set of twin sheets on a dorm bed will be 5 inches too short. Same with mattress pad. Towels? Considering ours are on their last legs, I think I would be slightly embarrassed to give him our current non-guest towels.</p>
<p>LOL, Modadunn – same here re: Christmas. I’ve been saying for years that as far as H is concerned, Santa is alive and well since Christmas just happens. And, he is constantly saying how Christmas is his least favorite holiday since there’s so much work involved. Huh??? He does absolutely zip, so where’s the work?</p>
<p>Thanks for all the well wishes. Still not totally sure of father in laws state. Haven’t heard from husbands family since Friday and they were supposed to call back later in the evening and never did. I’ve got to assume that all is well. H doesn’t want to call because he doesn’t know when his mother is sleeping. With them in their 90’s it can be a bit crazy and yes they still live in their own. </p>
<p>Graduation was great. D is good friends with both the sal and val so that was nice to see both young men up there. The class always votes a teacher to be the speaker and I really enjoyed this years speaker - he did a great job. Not a teacher either one of my kids had though.</p>
<p>Grad party is over with except for the cleanup. Several hitches in that where we were supposed to get the tables from they loaned them out to someone else even though are name was in several months ago. All worked out in the long run. D had a lot of friends stop by. I had way too much food and today need to figure out what we are eating this week and what I’m freezing. Still need to pick up the lawn and put everything away. That is today’s chore. Then I’M DONE!!!</p>
<p>I also spent many days making her school scrapbook. That is also DONE!!! Well worth it too. All the kids loved looking at it as well as the adults. </p>
<p>Well better get some work done.</p>
<p>Hopefully later today I’ll hear more about my FIL – we have been indicating to them that they should think about either moving into a staged home where there are people available if something like this happens or having someone come in to their house several times a day. Maybe this will prove our point???</p>
<p>Rochmom: Glad to hear that no news is good news concerning your FIL and happy that the party was a success. Clean it up, then sit in the sun with a nice glass of something. You deserve it. </p>
<p>NJM: Since we live in a college town I can relate to the “fun” of seeing all the freshman parents at Target, etc. The full carts, fresh young faces, and slightly confused older faces are a giveaway. </p>
<p>DD’s two day orientation was this past week. She didn’t get one class she wanted, but has ended up with some very interesting classes. She was happy to test into the Spanish level she wanted. Despite the fact that she’ll be at a large university only one of her classes is a large lecture–about 200 people. It’s a very popular history class though, and she is excited by it. She was so joyful after she registered. She came out saying I want to major in x and y plus try to minor in z and do program a. I was just happy she was happy. She finished early so her dorm wasn’t open yet. It was extremely hot and humid so we decided not to wait around an extra hour to see it. She’s seen it, but I have not so am still a bit concerned about closet/storage organization. I think I have a plan though. Buy some stuff and return what she can’t use or use it at home. Loved the double hanger though! </p>
<p>We’re debating whether or not to purchase her bedding now if we see something or wait until she finds out her roommate in August. I’m leaning towards a purchase now.</p>
<p>FIL came home from the hospital and they are looking at having some help come in. He seems okay just bruised from what we can gather. </p>
<p>Everything has been put away and now have a bunch of D’s friends over.</p>
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<p>It gets funnier (I’m the one with the Husband who thinks Son doesn’t need to buy a thing for college.) Today a sweet lady at church gave Son a grad gift…a set of white, 300 count twin sheets - extra long…only the beds in Son’s dorm are regular twin…but Husband said, “Oh, he can still use them!” He could use the top sheet and pillow cases but the fitted?!</p>
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<p>That’s good news. Too bad the timing added to your stress, however.</p>
<p>Son and I got back late Friday night from orientation. Had a great time. Learned a lot. Met some great people. Son has changed his schedule twice, but now seems very happy with his choices. He stayed in the dorm that he will live in this fall – it’s lovely. He leaves me with the chore of finding things he needs for college, and that’s fine. He already had two sets of XL sheets, two pillowcases and a mattress pad. I have been buying all along – as in, I started around March when I saw some XL cotton blankets on sale. With the gift cards he got for graduation, we can get some plastic storage drawers for his room.</p>
<p>I did come away from orientation with two pieces of advice that I can share. One, set up a local bank account for your son/daughter. We have accounts with a big banking firm that has an office just outside of the campus, but I wanted him to establish credit with a local place. Second, rent the post office box during orientation, if possible, rather than on move-in weekend. They will be slammed with kids that weekend, so anything to make life a little better during move-in time is good. And one more thing … if your child is going south where temps will be in the high 90s in August, buy dry-weave fabric shirts. They do up well, and they wear well in high temps.</p>
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You have to rent the on campus PO box??? At both D & S’s schools they just assign you one.</p>
<p>Also, I know the whole drill about XL sheets, but several years ago when D was attending a summer program at a college, the list said the beds were all XL. She was a last-minute attendee, and we had no time to buy the XL stuff. She took the sheets off her bed at home, which were regular length, and they worked just fine. I think it worked because the sheets these days are made for the huge, thick mattresses – which gives them extra room. And let’s face it – no college dorm mattress will ever be 12"+ thick!</p>
<p>That’s true. We purchased Twin XL sheet sets for D’s dorm room bed and when we put them on Wednesday they were not as fitted to the mattress as we had thought, even with the egg-foam thingy and the mattress pad underneath, so don’t go too crazy with XL!</p>
<p>Nothing worse than the corners of sheets pulling off whether they be too tight or too loose. I am thinking my son won’t be changing his sheets as often as he should, however he is pretty picky about his pillows and so we bought two extra sets of those so he’ll have four extra. Tip: Friend told me she has gone through several mattress pads over the years because the kids strip their beds at year end (although hopefully not for the first time as well) and leave it behind. Kind of wants me to make a label that says take this with you when you leave to put on it dead center so there is no mistake. :)</p>
<p>Another friend bought her daughter a feather bed for her mattress and said it made a huge improvement to the “quality” of the mattress. So, I think I might start looking for one of those as well if I can find them cheap. Twin or XL works equally well apparently.</p>
<p>She didn’t get one class she wanted and she was still excited and happy after registration? This girl will have a great time at college! Love the positive attitude.</p>
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<p>I’m going to have to totally keep my mouth shut when I hear what classes Son gets. As I have posted here before, they do their final schedule during the week after move in and before the rest of the student body arrives. Son put down his preferences but we could see from the computer the classes he wants are already full. Of course, the consumer in me rears its head…The school is so expensive and we get to pay that much for the privilege of our son taking classes he doesn’t want. So, I’ll try to keep quiet about the classes and hopefully Son will be happy with what he gets, even if I’m not.</p>
<p>I hear you, missypie – but when your son is an upperclassman and his class choices make the difference between four years and five years of tuition, I bet you’ll be glad that freshmen don’t get first pick. ;)</p>
<p>Never thought about this before, but I think it’s going to be a big adjustment for us parents watching our kids go back to the bottom of the heap!</p>
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<p>It’s another interesting wrinkle on the concept of AP or dual enrollment credit. So there are many wide open sections of the freshman class…if the student has placed out of the entry level class but all of the sections of the next class are already full, what then?</p>
<p>Chintzy, are you from CT? We may have been at the same graduation!</p>
<p>So far it looks like S got all the courses he requested. I am sure he will be questioned about some of them at advising, but I think he has good answers.</p>
<p>Opened his bank account today - a student account that I can add and subtract from through my account - no fees for 5 years. And a photo debit/check card. We aren’t going to go the Credit Card route since he is not 18. Maybe next year. Meanwhile, he will have to learn how to keep his account balanced and not over-draw it (at $35 a pop after one get of jail free cards) since as someone without income, <em>I</em> would be paying the OD charges!</p>
<p>Needs to get a menegitis inocultaion tomorrow, eye appointment too. Next day a haircut and the next the dentist, and we are gone in a week! EEK!</p>
<p>I’ll be bringing along my WPI parent cohorts numbers and hoping to meet up at some point. </p>
<p>If I am not back on CC before I go - so busy!!! - please everyone, have a safe and sane summer and enjoy your graduates before they go</p>
<p>Glad to hear that all is going well, #theorymom. Massachusetts weather has been dismal this last week and it is supposed to continue.</p>