<p>**25 days to Thanksgiving break **</p>
<p>(Based on kids touching down at home on the Wednesday before TG. Some kids may get the full week and will land at home sooner.)</p>
<p>Looks like the storm has stayed to the east of us here in northern Ohio. Its a sunny but very chilly morning. Hopefully I can clean out some of the beds and cut the grass this afternoon. DS responded to a text last night and said it was beginning to rain in DC but no snow. He said today could be interesting.</p>
<p>NOAA storm totals says we will get around 8" but I tell you, the snow is heavy wet packing slurpee variety! Uggs won’t cut the slipperyness of this stuff. Almost wiped out getting back to the car from the supermarket. (yes, it is tradition to join your neighbors in the milk-n-bread run - saw about 3 people I knew in a matter of 5 minutes). Silver lining is homecoming game is postponed to day after Thanksgiving which Ds was absolutely thrilled about - now he can come back for the game to hand over the crown to the new homecoming king - who will hopefully be his friend, the current drum major.</p>
<p>Shaw - sorry to hear about your dd, sounds like she’s taken steps and handling it, just doesn’t want you to be concerned. </p>
<p>I am jealous of the changing of trick-of-treat to a weekend. Makes sense, but hopefully by Monday the temps will be back up, the snow will have melted and it would be a good night.</p>
<p>Posted some snow pics on shutterfly for anyone curious. It’s not over yet, but sure is pretty.</p>
<p>Hi All </p>
<p>Popping in…</p>
<p>Well for our student’s move in–we had a hurricane and now snow for parents weekend.
Quite the year to remember. </p>
<p>Haven’t been here all week (had a procedure so taking some good meds) so forgive me for not going back and reading…I dont nearly have the stamina and attention span right now to catch up.</p>
<p>Wishing all well.</p>
<p>Snow on the pumpkins should be pretty.
Be safe.</p>
<p>Fogfog - wishing you a speedy recovery. Relax and indulge yourself and let others take care of YOU.</p>
<p>Hi everyone…I have spent the last hour reading about 50 pages back. We are a bit of mixed bag of what everyone has been reporting…ups and downs, and more ups than downs…so that is a good thing. The reader’s digest of D’s freshman year goes, move in…good, sorority recruitment…very good and continues to be that way, roommate situation…I would say excellent…they are not best buds, but get along, have mutal respect and no issues, I call that success. Academics…crazy challanging…she is in a “reading and writing intensive major” (this is how the “course catalog” lists it) and they were not kidding. She feels like she is on a treadmill. The good part of this…she says she can now knock out a 500 word essay in under 30 minutes, outlined, written, proofread and uploaded. </p>
<p>Looking foward to Thanksgiving, (we are only about 45 minutes away so see her at least every two weeks if not more) although she doesn’t get out until Wednesday and is going back to school Thanksgiving day for a big football game and then coming back. So a bit disjointed…but oh well. She is bringing about 6 girls to our house Monday to go trick or treating. They say they want to be kids again and are going with our 9 year old…guess they needed to justify it…lol.</p>
<p>Good to catch up with everyone. Would love to see the pictures that are referenced on Shutterfly, but know nothing about that…can anyone give me the scoop on that?</p>
<p>We gave my parents the best anniversary (61) gift tonite…a virtual visit with our son via Skype. What more could they want than to see their youngest grandson (almost) in person? I loved watching them and seeing their smiles. Priceless.</p>
<p>blueiggy- no, no plans for next year yet. Someone WILL have to leave because she’s in a triple and only freshmen have triples. There is one girl that maybe she will ask, but the girl is so shy, so much more shy than D is, which is saying a lot, so she wants to try and spend some more time with this other girl and get to know her better before she brings it up. </p>
<p>I told D to keep her side of the room clean, and if they get fined, she really should tell the roommies that they should split it between the two of them. She doesn’t want to make a big issue out of it, she says the fine isn’t that much money. At least the livingroom and kitchen passed, as did the other two girls rooms.</p>
<p>She says they had a big heart to heart talk the other night and things have been slightly better. All of her suitemates are in the process of getting plastered in the livingroom right now, she’s upstairs in the study lounge working. She hates being around them when they are all drunk, or hyped up on Adderall.</p>
<p>Hi all,</p>
<p>I have been reading the last few posts and glad to hear that everyone is doing well and kids seem to be happy. I am envious - this one’s S or that one’s D has a b.f./ g.f… My S has turned into a dirt-dog, I think. Not only that, he came home for fall break a couple of weeks ago, turned into Mick Jagger and walked in the house at 3:00 a.m. He did not even make it to his bedroom - passed out on the couch by the side door which is where I thankfully found him.<br>
CANNOT WAIT TIL HE COMES HOME FOR THANKSGIVING!<br>
On the flip side, grades seem to be good, says he’s got his priorities straight - who knows? :(</p>
<p>Lefty and Shaw- sorry your Ds are dealing with roommate issues; I do think the RM relationship has such an impact on a student’s transition. Hopefully, both situations will continue to improve!</p>
<p>“The snow is snowing everywhere, kittens to shelter fly; but human folk wear overshoes, to keep their hind paws dry.” unfortunately, my boots (which I felt very clever about remembering to pack) haven’t been re-waterproofed yet this season, and they finally gave out in the icy slushy puddles of New Haven. I hope they dry by morning.
@fog. Yes, first a hurricane, now a messy winter storm. We’re still having fun with D, went to her first a Capella performance tonight, nice lunch out, time to hang out and talk, but the weather makes everything harder. Good to know she will be home in 3 weeks for Thanksgiving and we can chill. I’m glad we are here, but am worrying about S alone at home and not looking forward to nagging him long distance about shoveling snow tomorrow.</p>
<p>When H was at Tulane for parents weekend a week ago, D asked if she could come home for Thanksgiving. We had told her there was money for just one plane ticket and that was for Christmas. She had a plan, several people within the state of Louisiana that she could hang out with for Thanksgiving weekend. I think she misses her boyfriend and realized he would already be gone out of state to grandparents house when she got home for Christmas.</p>
<p>Anyway, I was able to find an almost last minute cheaper ticket for about $300 for Thansgiving weekend. She has to fly back way too early in the morning on Sunday, but even an hour later flight more than doubled the price. So, I guess that is what makes it cheap, no one wanted to get up that early to fly back. Well, she is otherwise she wasn’t coming home so she accepted it.</p>
<p>It will be good to see her, and she has said she will be home with us all day Thanksgiving day. I am not expecting much from her the rest of the weekend, as I think her family is not the real reason she is coming home.</p>
<p>@ bajamm - So glad you were able to find a relatively inexpensive ticket for your DD at Thanksgiving! My heart really goes out to those that are having to deal with high $$ airfare. It can really be a stressor. 
</p>
<p>@ fog - I hope your recovery is steady and you are able to pamper and take care of YOU!! {{hugs}} Sorry your visit again included bad weather. I hope your travel plans were not impacted.</p>
<p>@ DorisFiona - I’m sorry your son is giving you a run for your money when he visits home. Have you discussed with him house rules/expectations now that he is a college student? All adults living in the home should be expected to display common courtesy IMO. Yes, he is an adult and you may want to adjust from high school expectations, but what he does at school may not fly at home. That’s okay to express to him. I would be very upfront and talk with him. In our home our adult kids give us an idea of when they will be home (even where they will be), are not late on our work nights, do NOT drink and drive (or ride with those who have…we will provide a ride at any time with no questions), and let us know if plans change. They also let us know if they won’t be home for dinner. Our kids don’t ‘party’ a lot, and not at home, but we talk about expectations so we all can be comfortable. Just as from my husband and myself, there is respect of comings and goings of those that live in our home. When your son visits, you can expect these types of things from him. We had a discussion earlier in this thread a month or so ago and most members had guidelines around this thought process. Every family is different and your comfort level is going to be different, but it’s all about respect.</p>
<p>Final total 15" of snow, lost some big limbs on my huge pear trees which is sad but no time for that, my Dad doesn’t have power so we are clearing ourselves out and then going over the get him out and hopefully get back to my house because we luckily still have power. The TV keeps talking about Central Park and their 2.9" (geez) and I want you to know that it’s because they probably can’t get a crew out this way! Can’t wait to see if school is cancelled tommorow or if the public works people actually come back to clear the other 1/2 of the road that they missed. Errrrrrrrrghhhh!</p>
<p>Ohmigosh! 15 inches?! May I ask what state you live in?</p>
<p>We got about 2, maybe 3, very heavy wet slushy. Lost some branches, nothing too bad. Had no power for about 5 or 6 hours. Had hoagies delivered, watched a MASH dvd on the laptop while eating hoagies by candlelight. (We are introducing our 12 year old to the series.)</p>
<p>Amanda - WOW!!! I hope that you can safely get to your father and you keep your power. Sending you extra warm hugs!!!</p>
<p>Lefty - That actually sounds like a lovely evening! (as long as you were warm…) Glad your power is back on.</p>
<p>**24 days to Thanksgiving break **</p>
<p>(Based on kids touching down at home on the Wednesday before TG. Some kids may get the full week and will land at home sooner.)</p>
<p>**15 inches of snow before Halloween in NY and MA?
OMG!!! That’s some trick!
**</p>
<p>lefty - The “upper elevations” of northern NJ which they sometimes mention, we usually get a extra helping of whatever is predicted. Good news is when there’s flooding, we don’t have to worry, but when it’s snow…it’s a whole 'nother story.</p>
<p>Oh amanda, here I was feeling sorry for my tree loss and you really got hammered. We got about five inches of white concrete, and we lost two trees that are precious to me but if I start to describe them I will probably get teary eyed again.</p>
<p>I cannot imagine 15 inches of this stuff-take care of yourself and your dad.</p>
<p>You would think the world revolves around NYC, huh? :(</p>
<p>I hope emilybee didn’t get hit too hard-I think that area of NY got hammered too-and she hates snow.</p>
<p>AvonDad yes-this is a trick-not a hint of a treat about it.</p>
<p>To the Northeastern parents…yikes! I am dumbfounded at the amounts of snow we are seeing on TV down here in Texas. D’s warm blooded southern friends are burning up Facebook with tails of the snow…full of excitement. H and I bet that joy woundn’t last too long when the reality of continous heavy snow sets in. I have an extra bedroom down here if there are any takers!</p>