<p>Wow Laf, the finality of that must have been heart-rending. </p>
<p>Actually lima, I was thinking of me, never your dear mother. I wheeze quite a bit on hills these days. Positive thoughts for moms progress!</p>
<p>Hooray for Lily P56!</p>
<p>Lima, I discovered Magic Cup - a dietary supplement that has nearly 300 calories in it and lots of protein. My mom ate them with relish in the hospital. I am also pureeing fresh peaches with Hagen Daas vanilla ice cream which she seems to like a lot. I think your mom will do better out of the hospital. Hope she perks right up with your love and care.</p>
<p>Bonnie - are you kidding me? Seriously, why is all of this happening to your family at once? Riots in your D and GDs neighborhood while your sweet baby GD is still recovering, a typhoon in N.Korea where your other D is, and your mother slowly recovering… you have truly had the summer from - well, I guess from North Korea!</p>
<p>LOL, Laf! It has been a very difficult summer. I always thought that the elderly get sick in the winter - so far, not my experience! I was very blessed to have dd2 home with me this summer and am really missing her right now.
Can hardly wait till Wednesday when she’ll be back in touch. What an incredible experience this must be for her! Too funny watching her pack for this trip. She needed modest dress up clothes for visiting Kim Il Sung’s mausoleum, hiking boots for climbing parts of the great wall yet to be restored, and hipster outfits for clubbing in South Korea! All to be packed into a small carry on suitcase. This is a girl who does not travel light so it was quite a challenge!
P56, so happy that Lily is doing well.</p>
<p>Oh Bonnie, so sorry that you’re going through all that at once. I am going to look up that Magic Cup product. My mom had yet another oral surgery procedure done today, that was a little more involved than expected so she’s back to really soft foods (can’t even have eggs till next week.) And she had a change in her cardiac rhythm during the procedure so they went to the land of CYA uber caution. So she’s in my guest room for the night which neither of us expected.</p>
<p>I felt like garbage all day and figured it was fatigue & stress. Turns out I’m running a fever. Boo. I have to present at orientation tomorrow so definitely not good timing.</p>
<p>good morning all!!! coffee is ready! 24 hours before dorm mountan is gone??? under threat of death…“it better be done before you leave!!!”…“ok mumsy”…who wants to place bets???</p>
<p>.JC40’s D; prayinglady’s D – 8/6</p>
<p>)xoxoxox> Parent56’s S; SWTCAT’s D – 8/10
somewhereinga D…8/11
CheckersMidwest’ S – 8/14
Tx5’s D—8/15
BUandBC’s S - 8/17
Lafalum84’s D – 8/18
2education’s S1 --8/19
MaineLonghorn’s S, Twinmama D2, Shillyshally’s D – 8/20
RobD’s D; AL34’s S – 8/21
Twinmama D1-- 8/23
BonnieNewJersey D- 8/25
CaliforniaDancer – 8/26
Coskat’s D-- 8/27
mdemvizi, PinotNoir’s S – 8/27
DougBetsy’s S – 8/28
limabeans’s BB3, SLUMOM’s S – 8/28
zoosermom’s D2 – 8/28
jbehlend’s S – 8/29
psychmom’s D – 8/30
showmom858 D --8/31
Yds’ ds – 9/4 (we leave the day before)
CountingDown’s S2, Mathmom’s S2 – 9/4
jackief’s D – 9/6
pugmadkate’s S – 9/7
aliceinw’s S – 9/9
ProudNJMoms S; G#s D2 – 9/10
Tx5’s S – 9/14
FindAPlace’s S – 9/18
2leashes’ D --9/19
psychmomma’s S – 9/20
mommusic’s S – 9/21
esobay’s S – 9/22</p>
<p>Good morning. :)</p>
<p>Laf - you really put me in a reflective mood…until I remembered how much I hated our Taurus wagon. 8 years with that lemon was too much. ;)</p>
<p>Bonnie and lima - Peace to you and your families. </p>
<p>G# - sorry about the truck. I must have missed that news over the weekend.<br>
I love that!</p>
<p>I have good news to report. Remember Son’s drinking citation :rolleyes:? And 25 hours of community service? Well, yesterday the mail brought a letter from the NC Dept of Correction. It said he is in full compliance with his sentence, no further action is necessary, and his final court appearance is waived. Hip hip hurray. And with it arriving on Son’s bday, I told him it was great timing and actually felt like a gift for me! (I’m so glad he finished those hours before leaving campus in May. It was a semester from hell, but getting them out of the way made the summer so sweet. :)</p>
<p>Have a great Tuesday.</p>
<p>Great news DB! Dd2 will be 21 in 5 months. I will be so happy to not have to worry about underage drinking. She pretty much is a non-drinker but would be at parties where there was drinking.
Just read that the Congressional page program is ending. I have no experience with it but always thought it sounded neat. Sad to see it ending.</p>
<p>woohooo DB!!!</p>
<p>Yes, I’m sad to see the Congressional page program ending, too. :(</p>
<p>Great News DB. A few years ago, S was involved in an accident. A dually truck pulling a cattle trailer sideswiped him on the highway - going 60 - literally ran over the driver’s side of his car. The metal was ripped by the hub of the truck - up & over the driver’s window. Tore open the car door & bent it. The truck left the scene. S called the highway patrol & did as he was always told. (HAVE to get a police report so your insurance will cover it !) They found the owner of the truck who claimed he did stop & that S was yelling & out of control. (NO way). S got the ticket ?! The other guy got nothing. I drove to the scene when S called, you could see ALL of his brake marks were on his side, etc. Even the officer commented that to me. After discussing it with a friend - who is also a highway patrolman (and agreed that no way S would have yelled at the man ) - we got a lawyer. I told the lawyer, the only thing S learned from all this was if he’d kept his mouth shut, he wouldn’t be in trouble. But because HE did the right thing, he gets the ticket. The judge ‘threw it out’, kind of. He commended S for doing the right thing, but because there was an accident involved couldn’t just let him go. They gave him 6 months probation and fairly cheap court costs. The lawyer cost us $100. He didn’t get any points on his license or any record. On the very day the 6 months was over, I told him, “Mr. _____, congratulatons - your probation is officially over”. He was so relieved. I must say, I was relieved too. Our insurance paid to fix the other guy’s truck. Well, I’ve seen the truck…he kept the cash and didn’t fix his truck. :mad:</p>
<p>P56: Great news about Lilly ! Glad she is moving about. Good luck on the dorm mountain.</p>
<p>We leave with S Sunday morning about 7:00. We have not packed a single thing. Technically, we didn’t unpack either though, so I guess that’s better. Everything needs sorted and I need to get a ‘refill’ of things like deodorant, Tide, cold medicine, soap, etc.
Today is S’ last day of work. I told him tomorrow to start bringing down things & reorganizing them in the diningroom. That worked well last year, it was easy to load the car, etc.</p>
<p>D15 out delivering popsicles again to the football & softball team. School starts a week from tomorrow. 
- mixed feelings there…</p>
<p>:) Happy launching tomorrow to Parent56 and SWTCAT 
Hope today is a good day !</p>
<p>oh geez checkers…that’s awful!!!</p>
<p>good luck to you with your launch too!!</p>
<p>JC40’s D; prayinglady’s D – 8/6</p>
<p>)xoxoxox> Parent56’s S; SWTCAT’s D – 8/10
somewhereinga D…8/11
CheckersMidwest’ S – 8/14
Tx5’s D—8/15
BUandBC’s S - 8/17
Lafalum84’s D – 8/18
2education’s S1 --8/19
MaineLonghorn’s S, Twinmama D2, Shillyshally’s D – 8/20
RobD’s D; AL34’s S – 8/21
Twinmama D1-- 8/23
BonnieNewJersey D- 8/25
CaliforniaDancer – 8/26
Coskat’s D-- 8/27
mdemvizi, PinotNoir’s S – 8/27
DougBetsy’s S – 8/28
limabeans’s BB3, SLUMOM’s S – 8/28
zoosermom’s D2 – 8/28
jbehlend’s S – 8/29
psychmom’s D – 8/30
showmom858 D --8/31
sewemma’s S – 9/3
Yds’ ds – 9/4 (we leave the day before)
CountingDown’s S2, Mathmom’s S2 – 9/4
jackief’s D – 9/6
pugmadkate’s S – 9/7
aliceinw’s S – 9/9
ProudNJMom’s S; G#’s D2 – 9/10
Tx5’s S – 9/14
FindAPlace’s S – 9/18
2leashes’ D --9/19
psychmomma’s S – 9/20
mommusic’s S – 9/21
esobay’s S – 9/22 </p>
<p>Just adding my son in…</p>
<p>G# and everyone else, thanks for the Williamsburg advise. We leave in the morning. We will be stopping in Annapolis for lunch and just walking around. I have never been there. Then we are off to Williamsburg. We got the Bounce tickets for Busch Gardens, Water Park and Colonial Williamsburg. We are staying in one of the Colonial Williamsburg Hotels. I spent all my college years in western VA and never went east. BF has been there once, but this is my first visit! We will be those hot, sweaty people with child in tow. And what a sight we will be! BF is 57, I am 47, and D is 7. I should buy a lottery tickets with all those 7s! Sons have no interest in traveling with us! I will let you know how it goes!! And I will wave to all those who are vacationing and living nearby!!</p>
<p>jc40 - so glad your D made it safely to campus and tell her to have no fear on the car’s doppleganger - she’ll look much better in hers :)</p>
<p>G# - congrats on the first official email! And yes, most places around here are much more conservative to start off but I bet once she gets comfortable she’ll find a good mix of types. </p>
<p>Checkers - what a crap lesson for your S to learn, doing the right thing and still getting the brunt of it I’m so glad though he was ok!</p>
<p>DB - woohoo, great news on the record being good now!</p>
<p>Dang, Checkers, that stinks. It sure is nice when these things end.</p>
<p>Morning everyone!</p>
<p>DB - Glad to hear your son finished his community service hours before leaving campus. He made a good decision there</p>
<p>Bonnie - I saw that the Page program was ending One of my friends was a page junior year and she really enjoyed the program and it influenced her to go into health policy. It was costing the government a lot of money though : / Also, hope both your daughters are well.</p>
<p>I am on my 2nd to last day of my internship. I am sad to see it being over but I am excited to think of the opportunities I might have next year. I went to a movie and then to dinner with one of my friends and we were talking about how both of us don’t plan on coming back to MD next summer. She will hopefully get a paid job in a lab in Pittsburgh while I am hoping to intern somewhere in NYC. It’s a year away but we’ll see what happens… My friend did get her tattoo - the word ‘survivor’ in spanish on her left shoulder/back area. She’s been cancer free for 15 years :D</p>
<p>I leave for London a week from today. I’ve been keeping track of the riots through different outlets and I am hoping that things calm down. The riots are horrible and there are reports of different areas closing down before whatever is going to happen tonight. I hope all of London is safe tonight - a man was confirmed dead early this morning :(</p>
<p>x-posted with DB</p>
<p>So much going on!</p>
<p>Good News: Yay for A’a and recovering puppies! Happy Trails to the travelers! Sighs of relief for probations ending. Happy Birthday, cha cha cha to those celebrating. I no longer celebrate birthdays! (and yet I want presents, it’s a conundrum), Anniversary wishes to all the marital survivors, I am including myself in this one, we celebrated 23 years last month. </p>
<p>Less then Good News: RIP GSharp’s truck. I am not sentimental but Laf and G got me a liitle with their imagery.</p>
<p>Even Worse News, Lima I am sorry your mom is in the hospital again. Bonnie I hope your mom continues to improve.</p>
<p>Huge Congratulations to Laf’s son on employment in his field in a great city, how wonderful for him.</p>
<p>Tuition is paid here and S will return next week, a little early for Rugby practice. He’s ready, we’re ready. He has been great, just 19. He has a visa tied to our account and charges food, doctor’s visits, if he thinks something needs to be fixed in the house he charges materials at Lowe’s. Well visa use has been temporarily suspended. I informed him he needs to start learning to live within his means, not ours. He goes to Whole Foods and charges shrimp and steak. He cooks too, but I think he needs to learn how to make pasta and chicken now.</p>
<p>I was thinking about jc’s question from a few nights ago regarding our kids and whether they I guess, are realistic? H and I have struggled with this, if you can give your kids “stuff” and you have “stuff” do you not do for your kid because someday he or she will need to be self supporting on a much lower income? In short, do you eat steak while your kid eats chicken because when they are on their own steak is out of the budget? S is spoiled with material goods, no question. We have expected that he work hard in school and be helpful at home, he is a good person, not perfect, but good; BUT he is spoiled. It will be interesting to see how he manages in 3 years. </p>
<p>Well, I am having 50 people for crazydad’s 50th this weekend, time to do some work!</p>
<p>Have a great party, ACM! Look forward to hearing all about it.</p>
<p>Good luck tomorrow to P56 and Swtcat! Hope all goes smoothly – please let us know if it’s less sad in year two.</p>
<p>DB, I’m very glad to hear thing things are getting better and better for the Darling Boy. That was a heckuva nice birthday present.</p>
<p>Laf, a job for you son!!! Woot woot! That’s something special.</p>
<p>D2 finishes her internship on Monday. She said it was a great experience and she learned a lot about the nuts-and-bolts of her chosen field. It’s a small field, too, so the connections she’s made will be very valuable.</p>
<p>My beloved niece’s husband comes back from Afghanistan this week! We are all praying that nothing happens between now and Saturday. Pins and needles here, but if all goes well, they will be coming to visit the last week of August and I can’t wait to see them!</p>
<p>Adding date for BB2 (he’s 2013; is this okay?) and new date for BB3 (he’s road tripping across the country after all):</p>
<p>JC40’s D; prayinglady’s D – 8/6</p>
<p>Parent56’s S; SWTCAT’s D – 8/10
somewhereinga D…8/11
CheckersMidwest’ S – 8/14
Tx5’s D—8/15
BUandBC’s S - 8/17
Lafalum84’s D – 8/18
2education’s S1 --8/19
MaineLonghorn’s S, Twinmama D2, Shillyshally’s D – 8/20
RobD’s D; AL34’s S – 8/21
Limabeans’s BB3 – 8/22
Twinmama D1-- 8/23
BonnieNewJersey D- 8/25
CaliforniaDancer – 8/26
Coskat’s D-- 8/27
mdemvizi, PinotNoir’s S – 8/27
DougBetsy’s S – 8/28
SLUMOM’s S – 8/28
zoosermom’s D2 – 8/28
jbehlend’s S – 8/29
psychmom’s D – 8/30
showmom858 D --8/31
sewemma’s S – 9/3
Yds’ ds – 9/4 (we leave the day before)
CountingDown’s S2, Mathmom’s S2 – 9/4
jackief’s D – 9/6
pugmadkate’s S – 9/7
aliceinw’s S – 9/9
ProudNJMom’s S; G#’s D2 – 9/10
Tx5’s S – 9/14
limabeans BB2; FindAPlace’s S – 9/18
2leashes’ D --9/19
psychmomma’s S – 9/20
mommusic’s S – 9/21
esobay’s S – 9/22</p>
<p>
Why not if it clearly wasn’t his fault? I’ve been a couple of accidents, where only the other guys got tickets. I’d really be mad. Did that truck driver get a ticket for leaving the scene? Even if your son* had *been yelling, he’s still supposed to stick around and call the police! There are times when it really sucks to be a teen. My son and his friends are always getting hassled by the police. All it’s done is make him convinced they are the bad guys.</p>