<p>good morning all!!! coffee is ready (and a pepsi)</p>
<p>so sorry mommusic!!</p>
<p>woohoo to first day footballmom!</p>
<p>lol laf… agree other people’s dirt is grosser! but i think males just have a different concept…there was a month between visits for me and S2… i swear the same wrapper trash was on the table…and i had to clean the fridge and remove the food i had brought and made the last time…think moldy potato salad, rotting salad in a bag… “you think that is why the fridge smelled funky??” well DUH</p>
<p>Sending more hugs for mommusic. How very sad.</p>
<p>Laf - That sounds like quite a family outing. No one in my family would have come up with such an idea and organized it. We did once do a tour of Radio City Music Hall, though. Glad that your S is getting settled in and that your D had a good conference experience. Sounds like a good weekend overall for the Laf family.</p>
<p>No comments about dirt, especially other people’s. Except I think I’m glad I won’t be there when D moves into her new apartment.</p>
<p>Things are still quiet around here. S started his TA job yesterday, beginning with setting his own alarm and getting up and into the shower without a word from us. Whew - they really do grow up, don’t they?</p>
<p>What a funny week - yesterday was Monday, and today is a pseudo-Friday. I think I like it. Better get some work done, though.</p>
<p>D1 is enjoying her masters program, but is very busy studying. Since it is a masters in education it involves a lot of reading and writing, which is quite a change for her, since she was a math major, and reading and writing is not her strength.</p>
<p>S2 has picked up two part-time gigs at tennis summer camps (one in the morning and one in the afternoon), which is great news. And he has an interview for a retail job this afternoon. So he is happy and I am happy.</p>
<p>I barely see S3. Between his sailing job, cross country practice and his social life, I never see him. I will wait until after the 4th to start nagging him about his summer homework.</p>
<p>tx5, sounds like your family is humming along.</p>
<p>Laf, that actually sounds like fun to me, but, then again, I am easily amused.</p>
<p>alice, enjoy the short week.</p>
<p>Ds starts his three-week house-sitting gig today. He’s going to come home for lunch and gather some stuff up to make it a couple of days, I guess. He goes there straight from work to touch base with the family before they go on vacation this afternoon. I’ll be curious to see how he likes it being on his own. He’s curious, too, he said.</p>
<p>Sending more {hugs} to mommusic to get her through this sad day.</p>
<p>Best wishes to footballmom as she starts her new job today. :)</p>
<p>Laf: wow! 6 hours on a bus is a lot of family togetherness! :eek: You had quite a busy weekend.</p>
<p>colorado_mom: I’ve been following the wildfires despite our own natural disasters. Sending thoughts & prayers to those who have lost so much.</p>
<p>I wish CountingDown would check in - I’ve been worried about her with the lack of power. I believe her area has a lot of damage & power still out.</p>
<p>My area is slowly returning to normal, though there are still a lot of trees & wires down, and utility poles that were snapped & are still dangling from wires. Apart from the power outages, Verizon’s 911 service also went down in our area over the weekend. I noticed that Verizon cell phone coverage in general was not working on Saturday as people tried to call & check on friends & neighbors.</p>
<p>In good news, tomorrow S2 has his first day off since before Memorial Day. The kid has been working hard.</p>
<p>Mommusic: So sorry to hear about your friend’s son. </p>
<p>GSharp: Glad to hear that D2 is keeping busy as usual! </p>
<p>Jbehlend: I wouldn’t pay double either! </p>
<p>Laf: Wow, what a busy weekend. I love the part about a little touch of home! :)</p>
<p>S2 gets his first paycheck today. I went online and saw the auto deposit. It was a little more than I expected. When I called him this morning to tell him he was impressed that I came so close to the net figure. He had given me his hours and OT last week- he had the gross figure exact, but wasn’t sure approx how much taxes would be taken out. I guess that he forgets that one of my many tasks at work is payroll. He’s actually looking forward to getting the paystub to see how the taxes are broken down. </p>
<p>Getting ready to go to my boss’ pool. Since he and his family are away this week I’m taking advantage of his backyard. I have to get there early because the 10 year old boy next door wants to use it too! I just hope that our creepy neighbor doesn’t decide to hang out on his deck like yesterday! :eek: My boss lives around the block from me and if I wanted to I could cut through creepy neighbor’s yard. NOT doing that! Plus it would involve climbing over a fence and I haven’t done that in many, many years!</p>
<p>12rmh18 - Thanks for your concerns. Hope you are doing well. Sorry to say I was not follow the other natural disasters. Last week the CO fires had my full attention. The big ones were far away, but the very small Boulder only a few miles from DD. She declined our offer to come live home a few days, so you can bet I was watching the fire news a lot! </p>
<p>Laf - The apartment sounds neat. Have you given him a flashlight for housewarming gift? I like the ones that charge in the wall socket, always ready for power outage.</p>
<p>12rmh18,
Thanks for the shout-out! Our power went out Friday night and returned Sat. afternoon – we are the only house on our street with electricity. Don’t know how this happened, but we live on a corner and we seem to be on a different node. Comcast (internet and cable) have been out since Friday and was restored this afternoon, which is why I haven’t posted anywhere. </p>
<p>Our synagogue had no power until midway through Saturday am services – we thought the timing was very appropriate. We were prepared to bag out to a hotel and had a reservation in Frederick, since the cardiac folks did not want me in the heat.</p>
<p>Our dog knew there was an approaching storm about 6 pm Friday, but DH and I were utterly unaware. She can sense changes in barometric pressure. Why I didn’t take her seriously, I don’t know. She is ALWAYS right.</p>
<p>Our street is a mess – Out of the ten houses on our block, three had massive trees through the roof, another house had a near miss, and our neighbors across the street had six 80’ trees come down – miraculously missing the house and three cars. We feel darned lucky. We have an 80’ oak seven feet from the front of the house (and leans towards the upstairs bedrooms) that has seen better days – I think it is time to pay the big bucks to the tree guy for the crane to take it out.</p>
<p>Travel notice for intrepid students: MAKE SURE YOU HAVE YOUR PASSPORT WHEN YOU GET OFF THE PLANE – ESPECIALLY IF YOU HAVE A VISA THAT WOULD BE EXTREMELY DIFFICULT TO REPLACE IN SUCH CIRCUMSTANCES. Do not let this happen while your parents are on the other side of the ocean, sans electricity and internet, and therefore can do little to help you.</p>
<p>My poor SIL in the DC suburbs isn’t expected to get power back until Friday. Poor thing. </p>
<p>S2 is back at Tufts working - he seems happy enough. S1 finally answered phone apparently Sunday is no longer a good time to call him - it’s D & D day. He’s such a stereotype!</p>
<p>mathmom, at this point, PEPCO is telling everyone Friday night. Their website lets you zone in on a specific area and you can see if a crew has even been assigned yet.</p>
<p>Our neighborhood always gets hammered in these big storms – it’s an older neighborhood (houses built in 1960s) with .5 acre lots – big enough that the builder was able to leave decent sized trees on the lot. Now those trees are huge and old…</p>
<p>Yes, countingdown, do tell! I gather this wasn’t just a theoretical warning…</p>
<p>Happy 4th! Just put the flag up in front of the house.</p>
<p>It’s going to be a scorcher again today. We have to (DH has to) finish removing the downed tree limbs from the yard. I’m SO glad he’s back in town! </p>
<p>I’d like to go to the pool but it will probably be too crowded to swim. We could cool off other ways…stay indoors with a cool drink containing ingredients such as ice, tea, lemon, ice, watermelon, mint, ice, coffee, ice…</p>
<p>In this weather they should do the parades at about 7 a.m. before it gets too hot! It’s just nuts to be out there any later.</p>
<p>Edit: Thanks for the sympathy, all. It was the saddest funeral I’ve ever been to. So many schoolmates, relatives, and friends. The parents are trying to understand how this could have happened.</p>
He’s actually looking forward to getting the paystub to see how the taxes are broken down. </p>