<p>Happy New Year to all my peeps :)</p>
<p>Quiet New Year’s Eve here! Dinner as a family then the boys went off to their usual affair. </p>
<p>Picked up S2 at 6:30 am to put him on a plane for his training trip. S1 drove home early to share our traditional New Year’s Day breakfast. Going to a friend’s open house today, she is an outstanding chef so looking forward to that. Neighborhood brunch tomorrow…
Diet will start on Tuesday :p</p>
<p>Cheers!</p>
<p>Happy 2012!</p>
<p>Boy I am jealous of all the good food being mentioned here. Cooking not my thing, and it shows in what I serve. :(</p>
<p>11yo D, H & I stayed home, had chinese food, played board games and watched tv. H &D stayed up til about 2, I went to bed after the ball dropped. S went into Boston with friends for first night. We told him we would be happy to drive him and his friends to the train station and pick them up whatever time they got home so they didn’t have to worry about parking. They knew better though and decided to go on their own. Didn’t park in garage at train station to save $8 and ended up with 2 cars towed @ $130 each. Ironic thing is parking was free last night. …sigh, I could see myself doing the same at that age. Unfortunately for S, H & I have decided that S will have to pay for the tow himself. Good thing he is working FT the next two weeks.</p>
<p>^^interesting they towed the cars…D parked at a train station here in Nj overnight as well; we called the local police to make sure it was ok and they specifically said that they don’t use overnight parking rules on NYE…</p>
<p>Happy New Year</p>
<p>H is “very sick” which means he has a bad cold. So I know what I’ll be doing today. I’ve already made him waffles & I have a pot of soup on. He has been working 120 hour weeks & I don’t exaggerate, he got home at 10 pm last night & that was early, It’s his busy season. Lucky I didn’t imbibe last night as I have a lot of energy today. Although the list of things I wanted to do today is not going to happen, too ambitious. I did get the tree & most of the indoor decorations & clean up done yesterday. It’s the leftover food that is everywhere, in the garage, the extra frig, etc. Ugh.</p>
<p>I was hoping to get a lot of paperwork organization done. Our office is open tomorrow, we had friday off instead. I could really use tomorrow off too. S leaves Friday for school & I’m sure there will be a lot of running around.</p>
<p>fyi- God punished me for insisting my MIL not come Christmas Eve so we could have the time alone with our kids, as S1 didn’t make it either. I’ve let him become distant over the last 2 years while I’ve been concentrating on S2. I will try not to make that mistake again, as he needs more looking after than S2.</p>
<p>pmbcts-S1-Rensselaer</p>
<p>rodney - S parked outside the train station thinking it would cost him $8 to park in it. He had no way of knowing it was free unless he entered the garage. Signs are everywhere outside the station that no parking is allowed or only parking for customers of local businesses. He parked in a private lot. S and his friends ignored the signs. I thought they might tow because they towed during a Bruins Parade thing last winter and it made the papers. oh well.</p>
<p>Happy New Year everyone! I hope that 2012 brings good health, prosperity, and happiness to all. I too am happy that 2011 has ended…it was a rough one.</p>
<p>fogfog - I really want to come to your house for dinner! I was thinking about your truffle pasta and old Italian wine while we ere eating Chinese food with our neighbors last evening. Even all the condiments for your burgers sounded great…I will have pepperjack on mine. </p>
<p>I have a pot of soup on the stove and my house smells wonderful…and our grass is still green in New England and some of my perennials are sprouting! What is up with that?</p>
<p>Happy New Years to all!! </p>
<p>Today’s menu consists of biscuits and gravy for breakfast with red beans and rice later in the day. We always have some sort of beans on New Year’s Day for good luck…our tip to black-eyed peas.</p>
<p>Happy, happy New Year to all, and many thanks for sharing this journey!</p>
<p>Happy New Year to you all! </p>
<p>As much as we’ve enjoyed having DS here over break (it will be a full month by the time he goes back) we got the very best gift from him the other day when he said that he was looking forward to returning to school “because I want to get back to work!”</p>
<p>Happy New Year everyone! Last night, I told H that I was pretending that we moved to Nova Scotia so that we could ring in the New Year early. I fell asleep on the couch at 10:30, and went to bed at 11. What a wimp.</p>
<p>Today, D1 and I attempted to purchase a white dress for her sorority initiation ceremony. Rules are: pure white, no sparkles, knee length. We went to the largest mall in Mass, and found nothing at all. It is nearly impossible to find a white dress in January in Mass. We even went to Joann fabric, and picked out a pattern and fabric. D1 was concerned that I wouldn’t have the time to make it once I went back to work on Tuesday. We ended up not buying the fabric. Her plan is to buy a few dresses online, and return the ones she doesn’t like.</p>
<p>We are having some friends over for dinner later on this evening. Making a very simple poached salmon meal.</p>
<p>Idinct, your DH has the dreaded mancold!</p>
<p>1) man cold:</p>
<p>The name ‘man cold’ disguises the true terrible, debilitating disease that is the man cold. Nearly all men will die from man colds unless they are administered immediately with large amounts of mindless TV such as daytime TV, or childrens’ cartoons. It is essential that they not move from bed or a comfy sofa to allow for rehabilitation, and must have tissues and man cold medicine (such as chocolate biscuits, McDonalds, or a nice cup of tea) brought to them constantly by a nearby female.</p>
<p>‘Either i have meningitus, end stage brain cancer, or a man cold’ </p>
<p>2) 2. man cold:</p>
<p>Only men get man colds. They are the worst colds you can get. They are near-fatal. Your man will not be able to lift a finger for two weeks, if you are lucky.
“Hey S, wanna come bowling?”
“Nah, I need to look after M, he’s got a cold.”
“Psshhht. That’s daft, we’ve all got the sniffles, I mean, it is November!”
“No, I mean he’s got a man cold. He’s dying, the usual, blaha blaha…”
“Ah. Then he’d be miserable company anyway! So how about you come on your own?”</p>
<p>Ha - my H freely admits he is the “man cold” type. Honestly, so is D1. She so rarely gets sick that she acts like it’s the end of the world when she is.</p>
<p>Hello and Happy New Year to everyone. I have been gone all week and am glad to hear good news, sorry to hear of frustrations. </p>
<p>Our family and relations are having ups and downs, too. One thing I am proud of in my girls is how hard they are working to grow up and take responsibility for their lives. In all, D2 had a very rewarding first semester and really feels like a “college kid.” I guess since she had a bumpy start and worked hard to get to a comfort level, she’s unlikely to have a “bubble bursting” experience this semester. I think she’s really starting to hit her stride.</p>
<p>We, too, have a long break with no job or formal activities. I’m glad we have a vacation planned in a week to break up the time off. I predict next year she’ll want to do the Jan term, since we don’t plan to take them on a nice trip again (this is a grad present that we’ve planned for a long time).</p>
<p>Just popping in to wish everyone a happy new year. Hope everyone’s enjoying their time with the kids. It’s wonderful to have D1 and D2 back in the house. Had a lovely mother/daughter brunch with D1 and her friends from high school and then had a dinner for D2’s good friends and their parents. So nice to see all the girls, hear about their new lives, catch up with all the parents, etc.</p>
<p>Last night we rang in the new year with friends with whom we’ve spent the last 24 new years while D2 and D3 each had friends over. Got home at 1:30 a.m. to a filled, rather trashed house but it warmed my heart to see all the college freshman girls together upstairs and my high school sophmore with all of her friends downstairs. </p>
<p>D2 has to leave this week to head to a training camp for her sport–we all have mixed feelings as she’ll only have been home just over 2 weeks, leaving almost 2 weeks before classes start. She has to stay at school for spring break so knows she won’t be home until May…she’s very happy at school but definitely has some mixed feelings about playing a sport at a D1 school.</p>
<p>Enjoy the first day of 2012! We’re off to a singalong version of Westside Story with the 5 of us…may this new year be filled with happiness, success and adventure for all of us and our kids.</p>
<p>Ah yes D1 sports are a big commitment. D gave it up for senior year as she had to many other things to do plus was getting little playing time as the new recruits who played competitively over the summer. </p>
<p>Can’t believe I have to work tomorrow. I’m not looking forward to this long week, with S & H leaving Sat. Which day will I have the man cold. I’ve been trying to wash my hands constantly but I don’t think there is any way I’m not going to catch it. He is all over the house.</p>
<p>Gsmomma: if you are anywhere near a BCBG outlet store, they stock plain white dresses all yearlong…last year’s styles at discounted prices!</p>
<p>Gsmomma - do you have any White House/Black Market near you? Or bridal stores?</p>
<p>Busy day. Had our annual NYDay party. Loved it. All our friends, neighbors, relatives, my parents and their friends, son and his friends. About 60 in total. Everyone loved seeing my formerly shy child now a confident college guy. Priceless…a great way to start the year.</p>
<p>Idinct, you will come down with the man cold on whichever day this week your work schedule is the busiest and you are indispensable. </p>
<p>Made a home cooked meal tonight - first time since Xmas day - and then we played Scrabble. I won, naturally. :)</p>
<p>Happy New Year, all!</p>
<p>Like FlMathMom, we also had a New Year’s Day party. We too had the pleasure of having friends comment on how much D1 has grown in one semester of college. Seeing some of D1’s friends who she’s known since she was 5, now confident young women…well, our cup runneth over. </p>
<p>We made <a href=“http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/27/magazine/gooey-wild-mushroom-lasagna.html[/url]”>http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/27/magazine/gooey-wild-mushroom-lasagna.html</a> for NY eve. I’m tempted to go grab some of the leftovers out of the fridge…</p>
<p>Thanks for the tips on the stores for white dresses. We do not have a BCGB outlet within 100 miles, but we do have a BCGB store, and they didn’t have any plain white dresses. We also went to White House / Black Market also had no luck. Alos, Macys, Nordstroms, Lord and Taylor and any other mall store that you could think of. Holiday dresses are still in the stores, and they all have sparkles or splashes of color. She found a few online, and we will just have to order and see what happens. A friend suggested “discount-dresses.com” which had a faboulous selection of dresses in every imaginable color. Luckily, we looked at the return policy, and found out that they had t a 3 day turn around for all returns and an $85 restocking fee, so we passed on ordering from them.</p>
<p>Today is D2’s 15th birthday. She wants to go to dinner to Harvard Square, so we will be making a trip to Cambridge. Maybe we will be able to find a dress there? :)</p>