<p>@ fog - Bluedog is a godendoodle as well. You are right about Bluejrjr missing Bluejrā¦he does terribly.</p>
<p>@ HighHead - I hear you!! Bluedad took Bluejrjr on holiday this week so it was just me and Bluedog (our 20yo still lives at home but works and goes to school so he is never here and when he is heās sleeping). Thatās when I got into all the trouble with emilybee! They just got back last night. My mantraā¦finding the new normal. I donāt think I like it yet. Come hang out here, weāre all kinds of fun. (certainly much more fun then house cleaningā¦cough<em>amanda</em>cough :rolleyes:)</p>
<p>hahaha BI
You are too much fun
Can I join because I have no clue what new normal isā¦</p>
<p>I worked on cover letters for a resume todayā¦
and
you might be shocked at my reinventing planā¦ :D</p>
<p>HighHeadā¦
right now:
8.30ā10.30 CONSENT & COMMUNICATION MEETING with masters, deans, and freshman counselors in residential colleges. Freshmen are required to attend.
So your dear student is busy. Promiseā¦</p>
<p>This weekend after classes, and the long breakāyou will porbably hear from your dear student about how great it all isā¦</p>
<p>Missypie - I found āquick dryingā āgreenā towels at The Company Store - they are on sale now also! Tried them out at home and they really worked - drying quickly while hanging on a hook. DS in Portland, OR and I was worried about damp towels turning into moldy towels.</p>
<p>Sent first care package today - a copy of Wired that came to the house and a couple little things. Have not heard from DS since Sunday but not expecting to - no news is good news I guess. </p>
<p>You will not believe the fun Iām having right now. I went to the website for the hotel we have booked for move-in to check amenities (pool for DS2, free wi-fi, you know the important stuff ). Hereās the message on the website:</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Well since we are supposed to check in tomorrow, Iām freaking out! I call the hotel and no answer, which confirms in my mind that the hotel is closed. I booked using Hotels.com so I call customer service and get cut off three times before talking to a real person. Arghhhh!</p>
<p>Finally call a reservation number, get hold of real person, explain problem. She says no problem, weāll find you another hotel. She does, books it and then tells me she will transfer me to get refund on original reservation. </p>
<p>I get transferred and explain the situation. Person puts me on hold, then comes back and tells me he called hotel and they are open. :eek: Now I have two non-refundable reservations. So I politely tell the person on the phone that they need to fix this problem since they are the ones who double booked me. Took me about 30 minutes (during which time I had DH call original hotel to confirm that they are really open) but luckily this person was on the ball, called the second hotel who hadnāt received the reservation yet, cancelled it then processed my refund. <strong><em>Huge sigh of relief</em></strong></p>
<p>Might I just add that I did NOT need this ball of stress thrown at me the night before we are supposed to launch DS. </p>
<p>Headed to the fridge for a large glass of wine. Wish me smooth sailing and calm winds for the rest of the weekend. :rolleyes:</p>
<p>VAMom: Wishing you blue skies and smooth sailing tomorrow!</p>
<p>AmandaK/Fogfog: I am REALLY into the cleaning this week. Not so much surface cleaning, but cleaning out. I need to be in the mood to dig in and throw things away, and this is the week! Homeschool starts for us next week, so my time will be limited, but Iām taking advantage of getting rid of things before that. DH is complaining that the garbage cans are already full and itās not garbage day yet. Ha ha! He doesnāt know that I have more bags waiting in the wings. It feels so good to me to purge this junk! Now I need to decide whether to have a garage sale or just drop stuff off at Goodwill.</p>
<p>Congrats to all who have successfully launched during hurricane week! </p>
<p>We are far from empty nesters here ā still 2 more to go ā but I love the term that my friend is using to describe herself now that her youngest son has launched. She doesnāt like the term āempty nesterā so sheās calling herself a āFree Birdā. So, to all of you āFree Birdsā, best wishes!</p>
<p>VAMom - Oh my (censored verbage here)! Just wow! So glad you were able to get this worked out. Iām hoping that you got all the bad ju-ju out of the way before the trip and it will indeed be smooth sailing from here on out!</p>
<p>My DS was just sick too. It was the first time I really cried since before we dropped him off. He called health services on Saturday night, and they told him it sounded like it could be flu, and they wanted him to go to urgent care to get checked out. Even after urgent care determined that it was not flu, not strep, nothing serious, and just some random viral thing, I didnāt really relax until Tuesday, when he said he was doing much better and had clearly turned the corner. Letās just say heās very familiar with the contents of the meds box I sent. :-/ He ended up having to buy himself a new thermometer because the one I sent was defective. Meanwhile he was dragging himself to classes sick because they were either first classes or he didnāt want to miss anything. I hope he came out of the experience with more confidence in his ability to handle āsituationsā.</p>
<p>I like the term āFree Bird.ā Iām pretty sure there is a rock song with that title.</p>
<p>This has been the week to settle into the new normal. DHās new job is 70 miles from here so from 5:30 a.m to 7:30 p.m. I am all alone in the house. DS2ās room is so pristine is looks awkward. No clutter in the family room, no dirty dishes in the sink, not as much laundry and fewer snacks in the pantry. I even swept the front porch this morning.</p>
<p>Got to spend some time with the grandson this afternoon so DIL could get some rest. Sheās got some viral respiratory thing. I had a āGo to Meetingā while he was here and he was weired out by the speaker phone. He couldnāt figure out where the other voices were coming from. Pretty cute.</p>
<p>Sort of hate to mention this, but we will see DS2 tomorrow night. Mizzouās first football game is Saturday morning at 11 a.m. so we will head out tomorrow afternoon. His roommateās parents are using our other two tickets and joining us for tailgating. My tailgating buddies made a Facebook group with the time, location and menu and I got to add DS and his friends. Pretty cute idea. When I added DSās roommate, he posted āTime to straighten up the dorm room. Parents headed our way!ā </p>
<p>Iāve baked my coffee cakes for the tailgate tonight because it will be 100 degrees here tomorrow. Hugs to everyone who is struggling with the adjustment.</p>
<p>emilybee
Yes we are staying at Golden Arrow mirror lake inn and we drove down from New York. It took us about 6 hours. Keene is about half an hour from here. I believe a lot of damage happened last week due to Irene. They are on their way to recovery now. Although while on our way down to this place about 30 miles short of Lake Placid the road was closed for repairs. Luckily our car had GPS and we managed out way. This is beautiful place and everybody is nice and warm and friendly. Everybody is surprised when they find out that we have come all the way from India to visit.</p>
<p>Yes Free Bird is a VERY famous song from a very famous bandā¦</p>
<p>Anialways, your trip sounds lovely! Enjoy and take lots of pics. Are the leaves turning yet?</p>
<p>Congrats to all the move insāand best wishes to those launching.</p>
<p>VAMomāWOW! glad it was takne care of--Hotels.com SHOULD have contacted You about the hotel issues and also since their website info was incorrect (likley the hotel failed to correct it)ā¦someone other than you needed to fix it. Glad you didnāt have two rooms. Best advise, watch the credit card statementā¦;)</p>
<p>This time last week we were eating breakfast and our student was ready to pick up keys and ID to move on/move inā¦we were wondering how the move in would go, and what did the room look like, what the roommate would be like, and the parents etcā¦how weād get out of CT with Irene coming and whether Delta was going to get itās act togetherā¦</p>
<p>A week laterā¦ kiddo is settling in, happy, has a great roommate (and parents), room is set up and comfy, has selected courses, ordered books, done laundrey, made lots of friendsā¦</p>
<p>Just think, last year we were thinking about ACT and SAT scores, essays and LORs etc.</p>
<p>I spoke with Scoutson last night. Heās starting to feel settled in, likes most of his suitemates, and is already feeling stressed by the amount of work he has to do. He decided on a class thatās a series of intense seminars, knowing itās famous for its workload - āI know I can do it, Mom, thereās just so much of it!ā. He ended the call when he got company āThere are some people coming in, I gotta goā¦ā</p>
<p>So I told him to make sure he was getting enough sleep, wished him luck on his orchestra auditions, and felt content that he was making his own way. But I also felt so very extraneous. This empty nest thing is not as terrible as I was dreading, but still a dull ache. (not feeling free bird-ish)</p>
<p>Iām going to my first family function without him this weekend and hoping not to tear up when asked how heās doing. Ok, Iāve got lots of cleaning to do to get over this pity party!</p>
<p>Latest text from son: Do I have a pencil sharpener?</p>
<p>my reply: I think so but Iām not sure.</p>
<p>My reply before I edited it: Are you kidding me? Look in the green tub under your bed and see if you see one. If not, take a two minute walk to the bookstore and buy one for a buck. </p>
<p>I find myself doing okay without son. The basement flooding has been doing a good job in distracting me. Iām also glad I started working again (outside the home) several years ago. I work part time with all women at a library and most of them are āfree birdsā (I like that term!) who understand the ups and downs of letting the youngest go.</p>
<p>Thanks to everyone for your support! I know this will take a while - especially the professional development piece- but we can only do it one day at a time. I agree with whoever said that theyāre not sure they like the new normal. On the other hand, the idea of having D back home for whatever reason sounds worse! Weāll get there.</p>
<p>VAMom: good luck with the launch and the hotel!</p>
<p>Anialways: enjoy Lake Placid. How beautiful, and the weather has been lovely after Irene.</p>
<p>Fogfog: Thanks for your updates on the Uās schedule. I am truly glad that D is settling in and not calling with insecure questions, but itās nice to know that they are being kept busy. The next thing is A Capella rush!</p>
<p>My kiddo wishes had singing talent since there are so many A Capella groupsā¦
I hear that during that time it is great around campus with all of the groups vying for the studentsā¦</p>
<p>Please share with me/us about itā¦wish there was a way to see YouTube of all of those momentsā¦ cannot imagine how much fun it all is for everyone on campus to hear all of those great groups :D</p>
<p>I skimmed several pages of here, trying to catch up ā¦ </p>
<p>Congrats to all with happy stories of successful launches, and sympathies to all those who encountered some kind of detour, snafu, illness, etcā¦ or are now having withdrawals.</p>
<p>My son moved-in on Tueday morning with the rest of Trinityās fall athletes. Iām happy to report it was effortless; pretty slick with the reduced numbers of bodies on campus. Parents and student-athletes had a full day of meetings and activities - together and separately, culminating with a family/team BBQ. By the end of the day, S1 was beaming from ear-to-ear, which gave DH and me a great sense of comfort. Iām very proud of myself for not getting emotional when it came time for goodbyes. He seemed so happy and excited to be thereā¦ DH and I couldnāt help but feel great about this transition.</p>
<p>I did ask him to call once a week - mentioned Sunday as a good time, and asked that he text me occasionally just to check in. I also sent him an email titled, āStuffā when we got homeā¦ based on discussions here regarding parental advice for freshmen.</p>
<p>His roommate should have arrived yesterday morning, and the day was full of convocation and orientation activitiesā¦ as well as team and positional practices for him. I have no doubt he is straight outā¦ and loving itā¦ or I would have heard from him by now!</p>
<p>I sent him a text yesterday, reminding him to transfer $$ to his checking account so he could purchase books before classes start on Tuesday. The transfer occurred, but I havenāt received a reply or acknowledgement. He had better call on Sundayā¦ or else!</p>
You are right about Bluejrjr missing Bluejrā¦he does terribly.</p>
(our 20yo still lives at home but works and goes to school so he is never here and when he is heās sleeping). Thatās when I got into all the trouble with emilybee! They just got back last night. My mantraā¦finding the new normal. I donāt think I like it yet. Come hang out here, weāre all kinds of fun. 
(certainly much more fun then house cleaningā¦cough<em>amanda</em>cough :rolleyes:)</p>
). Hereās the message on the website:</p>