<p>re: snow – I had to work Saturday – went to see Margin Call first – came out – SNOW! And wind – hard to walk to the subway. But didn’t lose power – worse thing is – heard someone come out of the grocery store complaining “they’re out of cilantro!”</p>
<p>Call FEMA!</p>
<p>ohiomom24- sounds familiar. My D is in a suite, so at least most of the food mess is in the kitchen or living room, but yeah, there is a lot of mess in the bedroom too. So many clothes all over the place, D can’t get into the closet due to the pile on the floor.</p>
<p>Ohiomom – Wow, that must have been hard to leave the food lying around! You are a strong woman! I have no problem ignoring my DS’s messy self, but he doesn’t leave food or dishes around anywhere–luckily his roomies don’t see to either!</p>
<p>EAO – Sorry about the homesickness. I’m sure it will get better as the year goes on!</p>
<p>Kinderny – Super Sleepover! Sounds like fun (except the food issues) I’m sure they can find enough to eat, and I know they are happy to be there!</p>
<p>Shawbridge – I’m sure your DD can come to some arrangement, even if it’s informal. Sounds like she’s finding a solution to her problem!</p>
<p>Arisamp – sorry about the JRA diagnosis and I’m glad the meds are working.</p>
<p>My DS and his roommates have “rigged” their door so it isn’t locked. It’s closed so it looks locked (all the doors automatically lock when closed) but it isn’t. This was an engineering feat that one of the roomies came up with after he returned from the frosh trip with the GI trots. Bathroom is in basement–he ran out in middle of night, then couldn’t get anyone to wake up to let him back in. Poor guy was sick as a dog and had to sleep in the basement. So he came up with this solution. The door to building is always locked, but their room isn’t. Doesn’t seem to bother any of them, and since they live on the 1st floor and anyone could climb in window, I don’t think it makes the room any less secure!</p>
<p>DS is home for the week for fall break. He came home on Amtrak and got here around noon on Saturday. Good thing, since the weather shut down Amtrak in some parts on NJ and PA (which he traveled through to get home)! Glad for the good timing on his travels! We had snow but it didn’t stick, and no power outages. Warm thoughts going out to all of you who are still without power. Hope it comes back on soon!</p>
<p>Yalemom–DS was talking with friends about how they could be walking by someone famous on campus and not even realize it. So he looked up the professor who had a movie made about him who still comes to campus regularly. Sure enough just the other day DS found himself in an elevator with this person. He thought it was pretty cool! (Think Russel Crowe movie).</p>
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<p>I think we can come up with something. 
The key will be picking a target date as every school has a slightly different schedule for the holidays and end of semester.</p>
<p>It is great to have all the kids there- although I have to be careful not to manage them too much (I have been successful so far). One poor girl had staked out the downstairs library with another girl as the “quiet room” but for the last two nights it has turned into the all night party area. Felt sorry for the poor dear as we found her on the couch in the living room- looks like the noise got to her. I am going to “hook her up” with a mattress pad on the floor of D’s room- which is at the other end of the house and the other kids have not been going in. </p>
<p>D apparently has “hit the wall” with the socializing. Friday was Hampshire Halloween, the biggest party of the year. Sat. the school lost power so students were up all night from novelty and D had trouble getting to sleep. Sunday was the first night of the sleepover at our house and it was not a restful night. This a.m. I went in her room to straighten the bedcovers so I could transfer the girl on the couch to her unused room. There was my “angel” sleeping in her own bed, all by herself. So I just covered her and tiptoed out. While it is going fine, I imagine everyone will be glad to be in their own place. There is not much to do in our little village, but at least today the library and bookstore are open.</p>
<p>We had a power up day at our library yesterday. I put out power cords on tables all over the place and all day people came in use our wifi on their laptops, our public computers and to charge their phones. I got a bit of sneaky pleasure knowing that the nearby Barnes and Noble had no wifi, so our main competition was out of the picture! I tell you, until you are without basic heat and electricity you don’t know how wonderful it is. In the summer it’s a bummer, but when it’s in the low thirties outside and it’s dark at 5:30, the nights just seem endless. </p>
<p>Our public schools opened up today, but one of the elementary’s is still without power as are many of the students homes that attend it. The plan, according to the school website, is to bus those children to one of the other elementary schools for the day. My guess is that they just don’t want to have another day to make up in June and since winter hasn’t really begun, it’s really bad to start off with minus one day already.</p>
<p>**22 days to Thanksgiving break **</p>
<p>Happy November!!!</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>Arisamp: Sorry to hear about your S’s diagnosis. I’m glad he’s responding to the meds.</p>
<p>I hope those of you without power get it back soon. I hadn’t thought about how much worse it would be this time of year.</p>
<p>Re: countdown. How about we make it simple - such as “X days until Xmas?”</p>
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<p>Hey, I’m digging the Thanksgiving countdown. My D’s quarter is done then and she’s home until Jan 2.</p>
<p>Quick question for all you helpful parents! A friend’s son is having a lot of difficulty as a freshman in college, not doing well in classes, especially the early morning ones. He apparently has missed a lot of classes due to oversleeping. He sleeps right through his alarm. I so sympathize with this kid because my own son as a teenager could sleep through an alarm at full blast for hours on end. Heck, he slept through a tornado one time! I seem to recall some talk on this thread about alarm clocks for heavy sleepers. Does anyone have any suggestions I can pass along? Thanks!</p>
<p>@ fishymom, Look at clocky, the alarm clock with wheels, or tocky the alarm clock that rolls.</p>
<p>[Amazon.com:</a> Clocky Alarm Clock on Wheels, Almond: Home & Garden](<a href=“http://www.amazon.com/Clocky-Alarm-Clock-Wheels-Almond/dp/B000PWLTNA]Amazon.com:”>http://www.amazon.com/Clocky-Alarm-Clock-Wheels-Almond/dp/B000PWLTNA)</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.amazon.com/Tocky-Runaway-Alarm-Clock-MP3/dp/B0040HWSJU/ref=sr_1_1?s=home-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1320157723&sr=1-1[/url]”>http://www.amazon.com/Tocky-Runaway-Alarm-Clock-MP3/dp/B0040HWSJU/ref=sr_1_1?s=home-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1320157723&sr=1-1</a></p>
<p>Still without power here …going on 72 hours. Thank goodness for the hoss of a generator we purchased several outages ago…and the resumed cable/internet service after 24 hours. </p>
<p>T-o-T went on as scheduled last evening, at the discretion of parents - in spite of dangling limbs and downed lines (reportedly, none live). Only in NH :rolleyes:</p>
<p>My three youngest kiddos had no school yesterday, but are back at it today. I hope that’s a sign that we are close to being back on the grid. This is getting old.</p>
<p>arisamp - I am sorry to ear about the JRA - hopefully the meds with help.</p>
<p>Eoa - Ugh! I can certainly understand the feeling of homelessness…Transitioning to college is hard but no coming home to the house that you knew is also difficult. Home is where the heart is…she will end up getting that same loved feeling when she returns even if it is to a new house.</p>
<p>AK - Spiced Pumpkin Lattes are delicious! </p>
<p>We still have no power and it is cold in our house. In fact, when I go outside I have to take layers off! I have traveled from Panera to Panera the last couple of days looking for an Internet connection and a place to work. D2 has had school so that has been helpful to know that she is warm and busy. Some peole have been crazy looking for an electrical outlet to the point where they were disconnecting people…I made friends when I pulled out my power strip!</p>
<p>++++ all of you w/o power get it back today. </p>
<p>We had maybe 15 kids come by last night even with Halloween House next door! I have bags of candy left. :)</p>
<p>Weirdest Halloween ever! Around 8:30 a gang (10+) of high school kids came trick or treating. I opened the door and was immediately hit by a wall of sound coming from a saxophone (Kenny G, of course). He serenaded us for the length of that cliche saxophone riff (you all have heard it a million times, but he WAS quite good) while the rest of them stood there waiting for him to be done so they could reach their enormous high school aged hands into the candy bowl! I kind of felt bad for the lone musician if he had to do that at every house while his buddies reaped the benefits of his talents! And fortunately it took care of my surplus candy problem as well, :D</p>
<p>I have to confess something, and I might as well do it here:</p>
<p>Yesterday I bought 3 electric jack-o-lanterns, and it was a wonderful stress reliever! For the past few years my H has burned out on carving pumpkins, and I’ve never enjoyed it (icky innards and afraid of cutting myself). But I didn’t like it that we didn’t have any of them on the porch. So I took advantage of the big last minute sales, and now I never have to worry about jack-o-lanterns again! Hurray!</p>
<p>I do believe we may have an artificial Christmas tree in our future, too. Ds love going to cut one, but it’s hard on H (bad back) and very hard scheduling. We managed through 4 years of D1’s college to find a time for all 4 of us to go (twice on Thanksgiving weekend, which felt too early, and twice when the college semester was over, which felt too late). Now we have both girls living far away, and might not have them here until after 12/22. And last year our wonderful fresh tree dropped needles like rain starting the day we got it, plus it was so painful to touch that the needles might as well have been actual needles.</p>
<p>I love the aroma - and growing up Jewish I have to say that having a tree is really very fun, something I always liked, and my Jewish girls love it, too. But the smell of freshly-cut evergreen for a couple of days just might not be worth the stress any more … I looked at fake ones at a store the other day and have to admit they’re quite attractive nowadays.</p>
<p>In the meantime I’ll put my fake pumpkins away, happy in the knowledge I’m all set for 10/31/12!</p>
<p>We actually got a pack of about 10 teeny trick or treaters, first time in years. It’s gotten to the point that we no longer buy candy, but just dig into the box of leftover extra party favors. Last night just about cleaned us out. Our whoopie cushion supply is now at dangerously low levels. :)</p>
<p>Going on over 60 hours without power. This is getting tiring. I seem to have somehow pulled something in my neck and my thigh at the same time - very talented 
Would love to go home, curl under the comforter and go to sleep, but unfortunately it would be cold! Ugh - hoping we get power back tonight.</p>
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<p>This is very true for D. She was very homesick when we left, when H visited her and then again last weekend when she came back after visiting friends for fall break. She says that if the same is true for thanksgiving break, she is <em>NOT</em> looking forward to the break! </p>
<p>Sorry to hear of all the roommate issues. D hasn’t mentioned anything - I get the feeling she and her roommate get along ok, but are not best buds. Probably the best.</p>
<p>Going on the 2nd snow day here, apparently power was almost fully restored to the schools but we still have roads closed and one is right next to our elem (and my Dad’s house). My dad (powerless 70 hrs now) is camped out here - his house smells like an old campfire from end to end, there was either some wet wood that he put on in the middle of the night on Sat. or a chimney in need of tending to, we don’t know. The entire place is not liveable right now so happily he is here with us. We went back today and opened all the windows to try to air it out. Now, here’s the good tidbits - he left two candles burning in the bathroom for the last 2 days before he remembered this am - not in jars, just big fat candles on the countertop, he also took the batts out of the CO2 and smoke alarms in the middle of the night on Sat. because they were beeping. :0 Do you see why I am now quite relieved he is with us here, safe and warm?</p>
<p>I’m hosting a bunch of teenage asian wifi-seekers for the day again. About 7700 households still out in my town alone. They say 95% will be up by Thurs pm, but nothing more detailed than that. Dd2 went trick-or-treating (against town “recommendations”) last night and I drove one of the girls home who didn’t have power. We drove up her block and she was soo happy to see the lights were back on. It’s amazing though how dark the dark can be. We really are so lucky to have our power.</p>
<p>Emmybet - You can find really good sprays to replicate that aroma, just spray it on the fake tree and voila! </p>
<p>Fishymom - My ds has multiple layers of alarm and has slept through so he’s got a classbuddy who is pounding on his door now in case they fail.</p>
<p>Yalemom - That actually is a “thing” to do, there’s a viral youtube of the guy playing that, ds did that to all his teachers on the last day of school, with a black long shag hair wig and all. And yes, he took that wig to college. [Sexy</a> Sax Man Careless Whisper Prank feat. Sergio Flores (directors cut) - YouTube](<a href=“Sexy Sax Man Careless Whisper Prank feat. Sergio Flores (directors cut) - YouTube”>Sexy Sax Man Careless Whisper Prank feat. Sergio Flores (directors cut) - YouTube)</p>
<p>Kinderny - You are a good good person, and I’m glad dd found her bed.</p>