<p>You picked a great weekend to visit the Northeast-the weather has been spectacular! I can’t wait to read all about it.</p>
<p>FL Math good ideas-I will pass them on.</p>
<p>It’s kinda sad though that kids can’t write their own essay without having to go to a camp.</p>
<p>What is the point of them anyway? To see if the kids can write I was told. I was told these were put in because colleges were graduating engineering students who couldn’t write-I don’t know if that is true but I do remember working with many accountants who were very smart about those numbers but couldn’t write a coherent sentence-so there may be truth to that.</p>
<p>It’s kinda sad though that kids can’t write their own essay without having to go to a camp.</p>
<p>What is the point of them anyway? To see if the kids can write I was told. I was told these were put in because colleges were graduating engineering students who couldn’t write-I don’t know if that is true but I do remember working with many accountants who were very smart about those numbers but couldn’t write a coherent sentence-so there may be truth to that.</p>
<p>fogfog- Thanks. Great site</p>
<p>Keylime - Welcome home.</p>
<p>New topic - Has anyone given any thought to this summer? Are your kids working? Starting school early? Traveling on their own? With friends? With family? I’ll go first since I raised the topic. </p>
<p>I’d LOVE for my S to get a paying job. We are also planning on taking a long family vacation. No destination selected yet. Possible ideas Montreal and eastern Canada or Seattle, Vancouver and western Canada. </p>
<p>We are open to suggestions. We have already done NYC, Boston, Philly, DC, Phoenix/Sedona. We are not very outdoorsy. I use a wheelchair to get around. My men don’t like art museums but any type of science or historical areas are a big YES.</p>
<p>My D would love a trip to Europe - specifically the Netherlands. We used to take terrific vacations. My kids have been to Paris, Germany, Barcelona, Italy, Costa Rica. But the economy has caused my income to go down, and we already have one in college. I feel pretty darned poor these days. But the Netherlands would be a great trip. </p>
<p>Yes, a job for my very expensive D would be fantastic!</p>
<p>FIMathMom, so kind of you to check on my mom. Happy news! She’s not needed pain patches since last Thursday (they were a godsend), and is slowly regaining her strength. She says the severe pain is gone…all that’s left is some residual “soreness” that Ibuprofen takes care on. We are so lucky to have dodged that bullet that some people get with Shingles: post-herpetic neuralgia, in which the severe pain can last months and even years. Thanks for all your good wishes for my mom!</p>
<p>O-mom, congrats!!! That’s awesome news for your older son. (And we sure can use some great news right about now!) Very happy for you.</p>
<p>
Wanna come over to my house??? I will bake chocolate brownies, mix you martinis, anything. I am in serious dread-land, and no h to offload it on. It’s me or bust. Yuck.</p>
<p>Gotta love rolling admissions. DS’s acceptance came through today at Auburn. 
It takes a bit of pressure off.</p>
<p>Songbird’s audition was fantastic! Won’t bore you with the details (well, EmmyBet, I might pm you since our girls are in similar situations and I know you’ll indulge me).</p>
<p>Suffice it to say that we both knew she nailed it. Yes, I was hovering outside the closed door because the hallway was empty…I wouldn’t have done it otherwise. We both left campus walking about a foot off the ground.</p>
<p>One down, five to go, but we are so grateful this first one was a home-run.</p>
<p>High fives to Songbird and Son of BlueIguana. Happy to hear Grandma of Songbird is getting better quickly.</p>
<p>Oh how awesome MOSB! What a great feeling that must have been!</p>
<p>Where do you live-and how did you know I will work for chocolate brownies!</p>
<p>Seriously though if you are struggling with that form PM me when it’s time and we’ll figure it out, OK? No worries. :)</p>
<p>MOSB - So, so happy to hear about the great audition!! I can just picture you at that doorway, willing songbird along!! So glad to hear your mum is doing well.
Peace.</p>
<p>Good news for Blueiguana’s son and momofsongbird’s daughter!</p>
<p>This summer my daughter would love to go on a big vacation, maybe to Greece. But unfortunately, I cannot take that much time off work. We might do a weeklong trip to Hawaii. That wouldn’t be so bad ;)</p>
<p>Otherwise, she will continue volunteering at the hospital. Probably no paying job for her.</p>
<p>Whoo hoo
to Blue I and Mom of Songbird!!
this group is rolling along.</p>
<p>Such nice news!</p>
<p>Kind wish we had a way to host a meet-n-greet w/ martinis and brownies …
and we could tell all of the Srs…
Call me at the xyz hotel…I am on break til you finish YOUR APPS!</p>
<p>JK</p>
<p>My ds is sweet, considerate, kind. The one who looks adults in the eye, is always a “darling boy who participates in class”. I am trying to remember this as his makes me crazy. “He is considerate, he is kind.” It’s a mantra of sorts. He takes my input, talks to me about essay topics, agrees on which colleges to apply to. It’s the blankety-blank actually DOING THE APPS that I swear he will never bother to do! I know I am not alone. With his big fall EC in full swing, a car with gas and a sweet girl hanging on his every word…when will he focus?? He has 5 apps due Nov 1. I keep vacillating between “you are killing me, do you want me to take away the car?” to “well, it is his life, there’s always the CC down the street.”</p>
<p>Is there a bar on this thread, because I could use a margherita, no salt, frozen. Thanks!</p>
<p>mosb - great news all around! Congrats! Good luck with the other five auditions.</p>
<p>I am in the same boat with the FinAid applications; it’s me or no one. I worked quite a bit of the Profile before we left for NYC. I think, I was done with 2009 and 2010 income and all I had to do was to estimate 2011, which I think is the hardest. But I will be done by next Monday. And our finances are not that complicated. The problem is, I am not sure it will result in any FinAid. For most schools we will be a full pay, unless there is merit aid. For the high endowment schools, we are at the high end of the income range of the families getting any need based aid, and I have no idea if we will qualify or not. We’ll have to see.</p>
<p>AKayak - Welcome to the Land of the Procrastinating Teens and their Exasperated Parents. Is your Nov 1 deadline self-imposed or real? Can anything be pushed? Can any EAs become RDs?</p>
<p>AmandaK - Where do you live? Maybe we can crush a Mexican bar together? I have a golden boy here too. It’s hard to find any flows in him, except when it comes to the college application process. Here how he drives me crazy. He writes his first draft of an essay and it’s pretty good, but needs a little work. We discuss it and he agrees with me. He rewrites it and fixes what we discussed, but also changes it in other places and makes it worse overall. We discuss again and he agrees again and changes it now to the point that it’s now no good what so ever. And that’s where I lose it.</p>
<p>Me: Do you do this to annoy me!!!</p>
<p>S: Mom, do you think, I will jeopardize my future just to annoy you?</p>
<p>Me (deep inside): Hmmm? Will he? </p>
<p>;)</p>
<p>I have a Procrastinating Teen, too! Saturday my D had SAT IIs in the morning, homecoming dance in the evening. We always go to church on Sundays, but son and I didn’t get home from his tennis tournament until 1:30 pm, when my D woke up. I didn’t say anything on Sunday, but now is the time to work on applications (and D has some real November 1 deadlines).</p>
<p>Our guidance counselor encourages everyone to complete applications before Thanksgiving so kids can relax over the break. We will see how that goes!</p>