<p>kinder- almost over, almost over… hope her college experience is much, much better.</p>
<p>mathmomvt, Thanks for the CSI link. I’ve got to admit that while I’ve heard of it before I never paid attention because I knew the kids were covered under our homeowners insurance. But, tonight I thought, I’d look and wow- what a good deal! </p>
<p>Son’s graduation is tomorrow night!</p>
<p>blueiguana: I love the nerf gun story. Whoever lives in our house 50 years from now will find nerf gun darts in hidden places.</p>
<p>I have a “reverse” thank you note question for the group. I have three brothers; my husband has three brothers and two sisters. None of them live near us; closest are 300 miles way.</p>
<p>Our son has received graduation gifts from one of his sisters and two of his brothers. He has received nothing from my brothers. They collectively have six daughters and one son. I have sent HS graduation presents to them all and now four college graduation gifts (two this year). When DS was writing his thank you notes, he mentioned that he had not received anything from my brothers. Should I mention this to my brothers?</p>
<p>THanks for the info about CSI. I will talk to h about this. With d being severely adhd, I think this may be something we should really consider. Actually, I am probably even more the clutz and likely to spill or break something accidently but then I am not in college. I am just mildly adhd but with added arthritis, spills come very easily.</p>
<p>So I talk about d1 and sometimes about d2 who is 14.5. I rarely talk about my oldest who got me started on CC. He stopped attending college last fall and spent time on and off looking for jobs this spring. We gave him a deadline of July 1 to move or to decide to move with us (but only temporarily). Nothing was happening. (He is slowly recovering from another bout of major depression). When we came back from vacation, he had made up his mind and I thik has made a fairly good decision. He is selling and giving away most of his belonging here. He will move with us to Alabama but only for a few weeks. We will help him get a cheap car. He has arranged to room with a friend of his from our time in Belgium and so he will be moving out probably the second week of August. His new plan is to move to Indianapolis and room with his friend, get a job, save money and then go to trucking school next spring. He seems to finally being more reasonable though his fixation on one specific car he thought he should get wasn’t flying with us. We are already giving my 04 SOnata to d1 for transportation back and from school and so she has means to get to medical specialists and maybe a job off campus. We informed him that while we understand he wants a reliable used car, we are not getting him anything more expensive than his sister is getting so maximum price we will pay is about 3500. We also told him he can buy a more expensive used car, get a loan, and use the 3500 to pay off the loan slowly and when he has a job, take over the payments himself. What he really wants is probably a car that is around 6000 or 7000. But you can’t understand how relieved I am that he has a living situation starting in mid August, it is with a friend that I know and know his family too, and I think that by moving back into a college aged environment with a friend who has similar interests to what he used to be passionate about (military history) should give him the social support he needs. I am so relieved that he is shying away from borrowing and is acting much more reasonably.</p>
<p>OWM - I wouldn’t say anything to your brothers. You would think they could at least acknowledge the graduation, who knows why they didn’t. </p>
<p>MM- Sounds like your S has a plan. College isn’t for everyone, I hope trucking school works out for him. </p>
<p>congrats to recent graduates and those graduating this weekend.
6/17-19: kinderny’s D, kathieP’s Son; Classof2015’s D
6/21 : VaMom2015’s S
6/23: SlitheyTove’s D
6/24-26: Holliesue’s D
6/27: aria2000’s S</p>
<p>Hi, RenMom, nice to see you back!</p>
<p>OWM, no need to mention anything about who’s ponied up with a gift to those who have not. But you may want to adjust your future gift-giving accordingly. ;)</p>
<p>MilMom, happy to hear the good news about your s1. Sounds like a good plan and one that’s practical and workable.</p>
<p>OWM: I wouldn’t mention it. I have a brother who never acknowledges birthdays, holidays, graduations, etc. I continue to give to his daughter because I give to the daughters of my other brother – who does reciprocate. As long as my niece writes thank you notes, I’ll continue to give.</p>
<p>MM: It must be such a relief for you to know that your son has a workable plan. Good for him! And good for you!!</p>
<p>MM -it does sound like your S has a pretty good plan worked out; I’m sure you are relieved! OWM - the whole gift-giving thing sometimes makes for hurt feelings, which is sad. I’ve seen this same scenarior play out this year between friends - one receives a gift or gift card from her friend but doesn’t reciprocate. The child who doesn’t get anything then wonders “what did I do? are we not as close as I thought we were?” Sad…</p>
<p>Quick question for those of you whose S or D is going to Orientation at their far-away school. D’s tells her to bring a sleeping bad and pillow (since the dorms don’t have their own linens). I’m obviously not going to fly across the country with a sleeping bag so am trying to figure out an alternative. Anyone dealt with this already?</p>
<p>MilitaryMom- Thanks for sharing your oldest son story. I have a similar one with my last year’s college grad who (to us) seems to be half-heartedly looking for a job. We’ve been encouraging him to apply for civil service positions in-state or look into federal jobs. He majored in English so that seems like it would cover several desk jobs, but he (and he actually said this out loud!) said that since he had filled out an application at a temp agency, he would see how that worked out first. Of course, I explained (again) that looking for a job meant applying to numerous places at the same time and hoping that you get one call back from somewhere. Thank goodness he is going to his Grandparents this week to paint their deck and do some house repairs.</p>
<p>OWM - I think I would mention it to your brothers individually if you already have a good relationship with them. I think husband’s in general are clueless about gifts and they may not realize what the norm is. My husband knows I send out grad $ for our nieces and nephews but I don’t know if he would think to do it on his own.</p>
<p>Proudmomof2, We have sent our kids on a plane with sleeping bags and camping pillows many times. They make sleeping bags that squish up really small. Check them out on Amazon - [Amazon.com:</a> cheap backpacking sleeping bag](<a href=“http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=cheap+backpacking+sleeping+bag&x=11&y=19]Amazon.com:”>http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=cheap+backpacking+sleeping+bag&x=11&y=19) The key is to look for lightweight, small.</p>
<p>Good morning all. We are in count down mode with graduation on Saturday. Then Sunday is Father’s Day celebration and dismantling and moving the furnishings of the living room and office and moving contents to the back part of the house or garage in preparation for our hardwood floors to be refinished (they have needed it since we moved in 16+ years ago). And Mon-Thurs D and I are off to revel in NYC. The only thing I know for sure on her to do list is the Goodwill Store on the Upper East Side as she loves the quality and classiness of the clothes she finds there. D would also like to do some food/baking related shopping (rye flour? rosewater?) but 1) I have no idea where to go and 2) not sure how we will schlep it home on the train. I would like to go to a show, but prefer to use TKTS. D would love to see a show, but does not want to wait in TKTS line for discount tickets. So we will see. Instead of scheduling this trip out, we are bringing her I phone and my blackberry and we will look places up on an as needed basis. I am perfectly happy just wandering around. </p>
<p>Cheers to all who are also in the homestretch. See you on the other side. And maybe for the very last time:</p>
<p>D still hasn’t graduated. And I still hate her school. (But now maybe not so much, because it is over and holding on to hate is so limiting. la la la fairies unicorns rainbows puppies kitties bunnies.)</p>
<p>Don’t want to miss out being counted:</p>
<p>6/17-19: kinderny’s D, kathieP’s Son; Classof2015’s D
6/21 : VaMom2015’s S
6/22: Amandakayak’s S
6/23: SlitheyTove’s D
6/24-26: Holliesue’s D
6/27: aria2000’s S </p>
<p>Keep thinking about those rainbows and unicorns and fluffy bunnies Kinderny! 8th grade dance tonight which is actually a precursor to HS clique drama - it all starts here people, at the nail place with the catty girls staring down my neighbor’s girl to tears. Ah, the dresses, the pre-parties, the post-parties, overheard last night “my daughter is going to be sooooo popular in HS, we have a beach house.”</p>
<p>Unicorns, bunnies, rainbows, little puppies…</p>
<p>Mamom – thanks for remembering all of us who have graduations coming up!</p>
<p>KinderNY – good luck this weekend. I’ll be thinking of you as D graduates also</p>
<p>re: your D’s school – I think you now have critical masse – I want to see the Facebook group “we hate kinderny’s D’s school”. I bet you’d get thousands of people to join. :)</p>
<p>MilitaryMom ~ Congrats on your D’s graduation! And best of luck to your S with his new plans!</p>
<p>Kinderny ~ So sorry to hear all the bad news. </p>
<p>
^ LOL, VAMom2015 & mnmomof2, I missed that one!</p>
<p>SeattleMom ~ Congrats on your D’s graduation!</p>
<p>
^ LOL, Holliesue!</p>
<p>OWM ~ Glad to hear your S’s bite is healing well… If it were me, I wouldn’t mention anything to your brothers.</p>
<p>RenaissanceMom ~ Congrats on your S’s graduation!</p>
<p>Mathmomvt ~ Thanks for the insurance link!</p>
<p>
^ Good point, kinderny!</p>
<p>So DS is working on dorm lottery selection, pre-orientation programs selection, ID picture, advising choices options, all of which are due today.</p>
<p>So, it’s tomorrow afternoon that we all have a drink to celebrate kinderny’s release from THAT school, correct?</p>
<p>Thanks for your input on the no-gifts-from-brothers situation. What’s weird is that they all sent graduation gifts in 2008 to DS1, plus wedding gifts in 2009 and baby gifts in 2010. I do all the gift buying here–just sent off a gift to DH’s nephew who got his PhD. DS2 feels sort of hurt by it all.</p>
<p>OWM in the situation you describe, I would mention it. You can kind of play confused, like “did you send something for DS2 because she doesn’t have anything on her list from you, but I know you sent something for DS1 and I just want to make sure it didn’t get lost in the mail or anything…” My guess is that it wasn’t intentional at all and they just spaced, and would feel badly about it if they heard some years later that DS2 felt bad that they neglected to acknowledge his graduation.</p>
<p>Ohiomom–thanks for reminding me to go charge my camera–prom and 8th grade dance tonight. So I’ll have Proma and Tween Dance Drama (tdd?) all in one night. Luckily I have boys, so it’s won’t be too bad, right?</p>
<p>ProudMom–check out the fleece bags. They are lightweight and since they will be in a dorm room, shouldn’t need much warmth:
[Amazon.com:</a> fleece bag liner](<a href=“http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_0_16?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=fleece+bag+liner&sprefix=fleece+bag+liner]Amazon.com:”>http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_0_16?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=fleece+bag+liner&sprefix=fleece+bag+liner)</p>
<p>So Graduation is Tuesday. Monday my father and brother fly in at 9:30am. My DS has to be at grad practice at 9:30am, my DH has to be in court at 9:30am, I have the window installers at the house at 9am and I have to get the truck window fixed Monday AM. Anyone have a timeturner around they can lend me so I can be three places at once?</p>
<p>Congrats to Renmom’s son on his graduation.</p>
<p>Amanda: Good luck with the 8th grade dance drama. In my experience, there’s nothing worse than middle school girls (except Kinder’s D’s school).</p>
<p>OWM: I wouldn’t say anything about the missing gifts. Maybe they are just procrastinating.</p>
<p>Good luck to this weekend’s grads and parents!</p>
<p>Couldn’t get on here in the last few days and boy, did I have to do a lot of fast reading :)</p>
<p>cooker - awful about the tree on your house. Glad no one was hurt and there was no major damage.<br>
MM - collapsed lung? Do take it easy…let someone else do the hard work. Hope you feel better soon.</p>
<p>Good luck to all the graduates this weekend. It feels like so long ago for us !! My parents left yesterday after having been here for five weeks - the house feels too quiet. It will be nice to get everything back in order (I fear I have a touch of OCD), but it was really nice having my mom take care of so many tiny details over the past few weeks, especially since we were so busy!</p>
<p>In other news, S’s team won the baseball championship in their league!! I didn’t need three consecutive nights of baseball games given our schedule, but it sure was nice to see them win against a previously undefeated team! And S got named to the all star team! [ drat - that’s one more game tonight!].</p>
<p>D is still working on her thank you notes. I told her that there was no more grad party hopping until the notes were done - now, I just have to enforce it tomorrow! Not sure if I mentioned it, but D does not have a middle name - her diploma read <firstname> NMI <lastname>. NMI - for “no middle initial”. She thought it was funny - I guess it was, but I had to email the principal and get it fixed! She picked up the new fixed diploma and also a “corrected” plaque for scholar athlete of the year today (they had the wrong year on the athlete award!). </lastname></firstname></p>
<p>OWM - I would mention something about the missing gifts only if you had a good relationship with your brothers and know it is not going to cause an issue. We had our 20th anniversary a couple of days ago and my brother did call to wish us. SIL didn’t even come on the phone to wish us - huh?</p>
<p>Any Macy’s online shoppers out there? They are having a huge ONE DAY sale online today. I got a wedding gift at half price plus free shipping plus an extra $20 off coupon. I also bought DS some shirts.</p>
<p>congrats to recent graduates and those graduating this weekend.
6/17-19: kinderny’s D, kathieP’s Son; Classof2015’s D
6/21 : VaMom2015’s S
6/23: SlitheyTove’s D
6/24-26: Holliesue’s D
6/27: aria2000’s S
and to any one else I missed</p>
<p>MM - happy to hear your son is finding his way.</p>
<p>Happy Father’s Day to those who have fathers, hugs to those missing their’s.</p>