<p>Just attended the regional college fair with dd1 - so many bright and shiny faces…takes you back. dd1 kept the death stare going all throughout except for Columbia U., where there was a glimmer, perhaps a smile? So thankful that the kids were all 2 yrs apart. I think I would just cry otherwise.</p>
<p>AK- There, there, there. (Is this the D I can expect any day now? 
)</p>
<p>A friend’s D goes to Barnard- she loves it. But can’t imagine going through this all again so soon. </p>
<p>D called to tell me how much she likes her job in the library- well mostly anyway. And to talk about the paper she is working on (3 weeks in advance!!! That’s gotta be a record). Seems she just checks in once a day to tell me funny stories about what is going on/chit chat nothing major. Kinda nice now that everything has settled down.</p>
<p>Yeah, the fox urine. As I understand it- there was an experiment to find out if it was a deterrent for squirrels. Not so much, in case you were interested to know.</p>
<p>We arrived safely in Israel after 13 hours on two separate flights plus a 6 hour layover in JFK. The older I get, the harder the trip gets. Since my husband’s three daughters and our six grandkids live here, we will be taking these trips for a long time. Maybe we’ll win the lottery so we can buy a private jet.</p>
<p>We skyped with DS today which was exciting. It actually worked better on iPad than does on my PC. He looks and sounds so great. We’re thrilled.</p>
<p>Hope the last of the launches go well this week. Sounds like most kids are settling in. They are on their way…</p>
<p>Things we have been sending in care packages: Pop tarts, energy bars, Ritz bits, P’nut butter pretzel bites, extra toothbrushs, Lucky Charms cereal (big treat as we don’t have sugared cereal in the house), small Lego (moon rover I couldn’t resist for my aero/mech engineering major!), rubberband ball, refills on allergy meds, vitamins (gummy w/ extra C), tissues, emergen-C, the ill-fated brownies :rolleyes: , small framed photos, and a few other random treats/gadgets. He announced today he’s running out of room so I’ll be resorting to only greeting cards for a while. I pointed out that if he removed the recycling from the shipping box, and the trash when he was done he might notice a difference…don’t know if this is a factor or not. :)</p>
<p>@ FLMathMom - Your traveling continues to amaze me!! Although, with children and grandchildren halfway around the world, I would find the motivation as well. So glad you made the trip safely. Hope you get some time to rest before you are on the go again. Aren’t those video chat calls amazing?! I love them. I’ll have to try on the ipad. We were having connection issues with oovoo last night (like skype). Have an amazing visit!! :)</p>
<p>Has anyone sent homemade cookies? DS has severe nut allergy and can’t eat most prepared cookies so I always made cookies for him at home. Trying to figure out how to package so they won’t break and don’t want to send him plastic containers he doesn’t want/need although maybe that’s the way to go. Have to ship 2,000 miles. Thoughts?</p>
<p>I have not sent cookies but a friend of mine has and was so thoughtful in her approach I’ll share her idea. She baked the cookies so they would be done and cool enough to package up, box and get ot the post office to make the 10am shipment time. (This required a very early rise on her part!) The cookies did have about 1000 miles to travel made it in two days are were a big hit with her kiddo. I guess they stayed fresh for a couple more days.</p>
<p>Years ago I sent cookies to my brother 2000 miles away. I used to layer them in a cookie tin and line layers with waxed paper. Then put it in a box to ship. I would either bubble wrap it or use crumpled newspaper to cushion it. Good Luck!</p>
<p>We haven’t sent cookies, but we sent brownies. We baked them late at night and let cool, then put them in a ziploc disposable container, layering saran wrap in between. I put a layer of saran wrap over the top before I put the lid on to ensure the seal was totally air tight. I shipped them two-three day air which is much less expensive then next day air. They were fine. In fact, my stinker son put them in his mini-fridge and didn’t eat them right away, but that’s another story. Point being…after being shipped and put in the mini-fridge they were ‘really yummy’ five days later.</p>
<p>I have some cookies in the freezer, leftovers from dinner with friends on Friday night, waiting shipment to D1. Priority shipping will get them there within 2-3 days, so I’ll ship them on a Monday or Tuesday. They’re in a ziplock bag. I put them in after they’ve cooled, close the zip almost all the way, then suck out any excess air before sealing up the rest of the zip. For cushioning, I’ll tape some bubble wrap around. I’ll toss them in the box right out of the freezer.</p>
<p>Friends in college used to get shipments of choc chip cookies that were fine after spending several days in transit. I wouldn’t ship a pie this way but things like chocolate chip cookies or brownies are pretty resilient. </p>
<p>Years ago we used to send my younger sibs dry salamis, the kind that hung from a string and dried out. Mmmmm. I don’t see those around any more at the kosher butcher’s, more’s the pity.</p>
<p>
MY stinker son looked at the brownies I had lovingly baked from a mix and sent 2-day shipping, decided he wasn’t hungry, and DIDN’T put them in the fridge. He finally dug them up a week later, and said they were a little stale but still fine. I guess I shouldn’t complain; when I was in college we ate leftover pizza for breakfast without a fridge at all.</p>
<p>All this talk about care packages has me feeling guilty. I haven’t sent anything yet to D (except a printer via Amazon, but nothing personal). On the other hand, we just realized that we will be seeing her the last weekend of September because we are all attending the same event, so don’t have to wait until the end of October. I have a small pile of things for her and don’t know whether to send them along now or to take them with me in 2 weeks.</p>
<p>not only haven’t I sent anything, I haven’t even called him! He did call tonight, sounded tired and is fighting a cold but had a great weekend and said the dance last night was lots of fun. </p>
<p>Parents weekend is two weeks away and I also have a pile of things he asked we bring up, some mail (his selective service card <em>eek</em>) plus the gift basket he won in the bank raffle for new student accounts. I think I’ll bring some apples from the apple farm and a dozen of their cider donuts.</p>
<p>Use empty pringles cans for the cookies - we got this tip from a military mom.</p>
<p>When S1 was turning 19, I baked little cutout cookies and, using a cutters that were about 1 1/2 inches tall, cut out the numerals 1 and 9. I lovingly frosted them and decorated them with festive sprinkles. Sent them to him at college in a LARGE tin with some other birthday gifts. His birthday is in March. When I went to pick him up at the end of the year, I picked up the tin to pack it in a box to take home. It felt heavy, so I looked inside. Huh! There were the lovely time-consuming cookies that I had baked…months later. Uneaten. When questioned, he said that a friend had baked him a cake for his birthday and they ate that and forgot about the cookies. Needless to say, I haven’t gone to that much trouble for him since.</p>
<p>Ohiomom - I would have been heartbroken! I’m sure you handled it well. I tend to take that stuff way too personally.</p>
<p>amanda - I am feeling your pain! I am trying to do the college thing with D2 every other weekend. This weekend we didn’t do anything but next weekend we are signed up for an open house at a school 2 hrs away as well as we are signed up for open houses the first two weekends in Oct. I am beyond crying, I am just numb. At this point, I could probably give the info talks…all the college would have to do is hand me the appropriate stats and mission statement for that school and I could step in and give the session…but I feel that what I did for one, I have to do for the other…so, the trek continues.</p>
<p>D1 came home for an overnight visit this weekend - it was so nice to see her. I can already see a difference in her - more confident. She has three courses in her major and really likes them… She finished her first studio project that required about 20 hours of outside work - she said she didn’t even mind because it was “so fun and interesting.” I am so happy because it took alot of work just to get into her major that it would have been awful if she didn’t like it.</p>
<p>It feels weird being out of sync time-wise with the rest of you. Israel is 7 hours later so now I know how our cc friends in Singapore, London and elsewhere feel.</p>
<p>Love the cookie advice. We are an experienced, creative bunch always willing to help. Is there anything we can’t do? Maybe some of us should run for Congress!! I think my DH will save his cookie baking for PW. My suggestion for freshness - nuke cookie for 15 sec before eating if they are a bit stale or add ice cream and chocolate sauce.</p>
<p>Ohiomom - I would have been very upset if that happened to me. Hugs!! I’ sure we’ve all gone over the top doing stuff for our kids that they don’t appreciate. Are we doing it for us or them?</p>
<p>BlueI & FLMM: Hmmmm…not really sure I handled it all that well. After all, I’m probably still holding a grudge since I haven’t baked anything that nice for him since. I’ve learned over the years that sometimes my guys don’t really appreciate the things that take a lot of extra time and effort. He probably would have been happy with rice krispie treats or brownies or chocolate chip cookies --something that would have been far less work. Might have actually eaten them, too!</p>
<p>momofboston: I’ve said more than once that I’m glad I don’t have to start this process again right away. S3 is a sophomore, so there’s a brief reprieve at our house. But I know what you mean about what you do for one… As for your D1 – yay! That’s the way it’s supposed to work – they like their major so much that they don’t even mind the 20 hour projects!</p>
<p>I bought my d’s Christmas airplane tickets yesterday. I wanted her to do it and I guess she tried. She told me there were no layovers in Chicago from New Orleans to Kansas City. I wanted a lay over in Chicago for her, in case we decide to be there then to see H’s family, she can just not fly the leg from Chicago to KC. </p>
<p>I went and looked. waa laa, there was a layover in Chicago at a perfect time, as far as I was concerned. I wanted her to do in it in case she had a different opinion of what a perfect time was. We got the layover on my timing since she couldn’t figure it out. Flying from NOLA to KC with a layover in Chicago ended up being cheaper than ending in Chicago anyway.</p>