<p>CHS, gotta laugh, I am on my way to post office with a huge box of stuff D could not stuff into her suitcase (including stuff in the dryer). It weighs a ton, can’t imagine what it will cost!</p>
<p>CHS–me too. Add me to the list that will be making a trip to the post office. DS left his retainer at home, again! I also have to send him his gloves and an envelope (addressed and postage paid) so he can return his brother’s gloves. Too funny!</p>
<p>Snow is actually still on the ground from yesterday but it’s melting and will probably be gone.</p>
<p>Of course, the question I asked my daughter (who also left clothes in the dryer?) is:</p>
<p>“Why did you leave your laundry to do the last day you were home if you were here for three weeks?”</p>
<p>She also left various other items that will be heading into a box later this week…</p>
<p>I thought it was just her; based on this thread, we could probably start another thread titled “what did you child leave home after winter break?”</p>
<p>
It looks like we will buy the Post Office another week of business. We have to pack and mail one large or two medium boxes of “stuff” back to school that wouldn’t fit into his duffle bag and backpack. It’s like the stuff multiplied over the holidays! :eek:</p>
<p>Getting ready to drive D1 back to school. Luckily, she is only 45 minutes away, so if she leaves something (and I know she will), we can take a drive out there on the weekend.</p>
<p>I just finished making her a privacy curtain to put along her bed to block out the overhead room light. One of the issues with her room mate is that one of the girl insists on using the blaring overhead light all the time- even at 2AM when the other girls are trying to sleep. D1 has asked her several times to turn it off, use her desk light or go to the common room. Roomie refuses- stating “I like to work on my bed with the light on and I don’t want to move to my desk.” If the ‘talk’ does not go well. she will at least have a curtain to block the light.</p>
<p>I had to send two packages already, one after Oct break (he left his computer’s power adapter) and one after Thanksgiving (he left his pillow.) This time he only left the enormous package of cheese sticks he bought - which I am not going to send. I think we’re turning a corner. </p>
<p>I am pleased to say that even though he started his laundry at 11pm the night before he left he didn’t forget to take them out of the dryer. :)</p>
<p>I got some guilt over break because ds claims other kids got more care packages and he only got one. Well, got my regional flat rate boxes so maybe I will fill one up before he gets too far into the semester. Actually, it’s Chinese new year 1/23 so that gives me a great theme - year of the dragon (dh and I are dragons) whoot whoot!</p>
<p>When I was gathering clothes for my son to pack he told me that one of the new pairs of jeans his sister and I had bought for him was too small and too short. I was surprised to hear that since we didn’t get them any shorter then what he had been wearing, just an inch smaller at the waist because he lost weight. I look closer at the jeans and they’re his sisters Banana Republic, size 4! She’s 7 inches shorter and about 15 lbs lighter! No wonder the jeans didn’t fit!</p>
<p>I love all the left-it-in-the-dryer stories! Around here, I am still responsible for last minute packing. D went on a tour with her A Capella group the last week of the break and then directly back to school, so could only take a small suitcase that would fit in the overhead bin. I am driving down later today to deliver the Christmas presents and things she didn’t need on tour, which have somehow grown to fill 3 large plastic tubs. That is in addition to the duffel bag which came home and is now going back and some bolster pillow so she can turn her bed into a day bed/couch. Thank goodness she and her suite mates have already planned to rent a self-storage unit for the summer; there is no way we could get all this stuff home again in the car.</p>
<p>gsmomma, I’d be getting a new roommate if she kept that light on! How many girls? If it is more than 2 then they should vote on it, and force her to respect their decision. She is being selfish.</p>
<p>^^^I agree with njfootballmom: gsmomma your DD needs to explain to the roommate that there are these cool contraptions called bedlights!!!</p>
<p>Well, it has been a whirlwind period for us. Before ShawD went back to school, she had to respond at the last moment to the school which is going to evaluate her for entry this winter term. To do that, she had to get in a common app prior to her leaving (including writing 2 essays), requesting transcripts from Canada, FedEx the transcript to an independent company that the school uses to evaluate foreign transcripts (even though she only has one course with a grade as the 4 other courses are full year courses with no mid-year grades), get her ACT scores sent with priority, ask each of the 4 profs to write a letter describing her performance (with or without a semester grade) and email that letter to the admissions office, and get her guidance counselor (who just went on maternity leave) to send over her high school transcript, her recommendations, and just in case the ACT score doesn’t come in by the required date, a confirmation of the ACT scores they received. All of this is almost done – two profs have changed so one is having a TA from last term write something to look at. Whew. And I have to get a money order to FedEx to the company that vets transcripts so that they will do a rush evaluation. So, I’m off to the bank. I sure hopes after all this that she gets in. I had to do a lot of shepherding on the details of this or she never would have been able to make it all happen in a short period of time.</p>
<p>She’s not a kid who transitions easily, so this will be a very abrupt shift, but she will be enthused to be studying something that feels much more like her (nursing rather than science). So far she is handling it pretty well. Moreover, her great skills in life are people skills and while she has a high IQ, she just doesn’t like academics that much. The good news is that this school, if it accepts her, has a compressed BS/MS that she could enter if she a B average. This would enable here to complete school all at once, which I think she will greatly appreciate.</p>
<p>gsmomma - I hope the talk goes well; roomie sounds quite self absorbed to me!</p>
<p>So, new topic - how do you all handle spring breaks? D’s break is different than ours. D is looking at a “budget” trip to Florida with roomies. She will use her own money of which she has enough, but not too much (we pay room, board, tuition, and expenses to travel home)! Grades are fine and she is a responsible 18 year old (as far as we know, lol). My instict is to support the decision rather than suggest she come home instead. D recognizes that our love is unconditional, but that the financial support comes with certain expectations (go to class, study hard, be responsible, be respectful, etc.) </p>
<p>For those of you with older kids, do most students travel somewhere fun for break or head home?</p>
<p>Spring break - DS has chosen to remain at school and “hang” with friends. Fine with us. There are some local community service activities planned, and he will likely do some of these. If he wanted to go to FL or Mex or wherever, that would be on his dime. We pay for all transportation related to coming home and all other school-related costs, but the “fun stuff” is on him. That said, he is very conservative and rather shy so don’t imagine this being an issue - at least for another year!!</p>
<p>Box cost 25.89, not too bad considering how heavy it was, I was pleasantly surprised!</p>
<p>Not bad EAO!</p>
<p>Boychild is staying at school over Feb break which is good because I was in no mood to spend $1000 to fly him to Florida to sleep all day at his grandparents house. He can sleep at school for free! </p>
<p>I’d have no problem if he and a bunch of friends decided to drive down to someplace warm - my problem is that the week of his break every school district in the Northeast is on vacation and airlines charge megabucks that week to go anywhere. March is much cheaper to fly down south. </p>
<p>I went every spring break to Mexico when I was a student. My parents seemed to have no worries about letting me traipse around. If they only knew. ;)</p>
<p>Hi All</p>
<p>Funny dryer stories. </p>
<p>We too shipped a box–prior to kiddo leaving. Should have arrived yesterday.</p>
<p>As for the new year, cleaning and new projects, I have a few here too. Diet is one (the holidays were not helpful), exercise, cleaning the closets and cabinets, etc. Am going on a womens retreat in early Feb. and might dive into some more intense volunteer work or look for a new career path. idk.</p>
<p>Spring break–kiddo will be w team training. 
so no “break”
My big concern re travel would be if for example it was in areas in Mexico experiencing issues.</p>
<p>mnmom, we have made traveling our family activity and our kids love to travel with us. ShawSon is now a junior and in his freshman year, we went to Akumal. Last spring break, we went to Athens. This spring, ShawD’s vacation schedule and ShawSon’s will be different (if she hasn’t already transferred). Assuming she’s hasn’t already transferred, we’ll take her to Florida to visit grandma and get tan. ShawSon will probably need to use the time for job interviews and I’ve schedule some work-related travel that week.</p>
<p>We will take girlfriends or boyfriends with us if they pay their own airfare. This is what ShawWife’s father did, and the trips were so exciting that we always came. It helped maintain a strong bond between kids and parents.</p>
<p>fogfog, I think most of the places in Mexico are having no issue. We just came back from a delightful, completely safe week in Baja California Sur. There were no problems two years ago in Akumal. I suspect I’ve been to Mexico City a few times since then, again without any inkling of a problem. I think the problems are likely in the North of the country. But, I would check specifically as I think they did have a problem in Guadalajara or Veracruz.</p>
<p>I’ll be shipping two boxes tomorrow - DD asked for and received a lot of clothing for Christmas plus we restocked shamppo, conditioner and other tolietries. Luckily, we receive the same UPS rate that our large, international company does so it will be super cheap (less than $10-$15 for two decent-sized boxes, both pretty heavy).</p>
<p>For younger DD’s spring break, I think DH and I will end up flying down to Texas and renting a car so that we can pick DD up and drive down to the Austin area to spend a few days with my family. Not the most exotic of vacations but it will be fun all the same and it will have been a year since we saw my folks and siblings by then. Older DD has a completely different spring break and thinks she’ll probably (hopefully!) be interviewing for graduate assistant positions around then so she will probably spend hers that way. If not, she’ll come home and spend a few days here I would assume. </p>
<p>I handled DD’s departure pretty well today; she’s so matter-of-fact about leaving that I tend to be the same. It truly does help that I know she’s really happy at school and I do speak to her frequently while she’s away.</p>
<p>DS has two weeks left of winter break. Top priority - finding a fabulous summer internship. Next - figuring out what to do for Spring Break. Possibilities - Habitat for Humanity or another community service project, vacation with a friend or classmate, stay at school or come home. I put thim in order of my preference. As much as I want to see him, there will be little for him to do here. Lastly…working on scholarships. None of his friends are home so he has less distractions now. We may need to rethink this five week winter break for next year. It is nice for him to be able to recharge and spend time with us and his friends.</p>
<p>I’m having a busy week with my tax class. I’m volunteering for AARP starting in February doing tax returns at our local library. First I have to finish a one week class then pass a test. Hmmm. We’ll see.</p>