<p>Hurrah! DS13 reports being alive and well. I’m assuming he is in his hotel room. I am breathing again normally. Sort of. </p>
<p>Tx5: S2 must have been a cutie to have successfully pulled that off!</p>
<p>Keep a weather eye out, ifriends in St Louis (now) and TN/KY, etc tonight.</p>
<p>Some great tips. I actually started taking notes! Thank you, everyone.</p>
<p>I have heard that one thing college students need but rarely buy is a stapler. It becomes a problem when your paper is due and the only kid with a stapler on the hall is at lunch. </p>
<p>Re: power strips, there are some really cool ones that have USB chargers (etc.) integrated as well, and they sell for very reasonable prices. We got one of those for DS and put it in his stocking. I also have one that I take when I travel. Very convenient for charging. </p>
<p>I also heard a funny story about how a mom couldn’t charge her phone after her daughter left for college–she had taken the regular charger and the car charger! 
Make sure you have a set of these items for your student.</p>
<p>Thanks SteveMA!</p>
<p>I second those who said printers ! This is probably the best spend $50.</p>
<p>I might need to sober up soon…DS has narrowed his choices to three and is beginning to talk more and more about one school…
…but until he pushes that button (or whatever it is) I will gladly accept some chardonnay :)</p>
<p>Ok, I have been away two days so… I hope y’all mean it when you “like” my long posts :).</p>
<p>Notre Dame college visit on Monday – I’ve drunk the koolaid, but S13 still not sure. That’s a college that is seriously involved with their students! The parts of his decision process that he’s sharing are much more insightful and mature than I was aware of, so I’m less stressed about it (how about a light reisling tonight??)</p>
<p>And, last night awesome seats at the Cubs game 
Cold as all heck, but lots of fun, me and my best friend, and S13 and one of his friends who’d never been to Wrigley! Yay for forgetting about college for a night!</p>
<p>Now to catch up…</p>
<p>89wahoo - you mentioned that your S14 barely talks about college - my D15 is actually signing up for mailing lists… and she likes every college better than the one before! And she’s <em>not</em> running the NPCs, I’m pretty sure <sigh>.</sigh></p>
<p>muf123 - I didn’t get the memo either – but didnt do housework on Monday ;)</p>
<p>GreekMana - C O N G R A T S!!! :D!</p>
<p>Kelowna - you got it right. How much have the kids learned, and how much have WE learned during the process? That will last longer than the thrill or sting of the letters!</p>
<p>Amazhon - go Tarheels!</p>
<p>psblstnr - perhaps just as well she’s not visiting this week? Given the thundersnow and all…</p>
<p>DDHM - I bow before you. Your child has woken.</p>
<p>Also, I love parchment. And I always have paper on me. When I leave my purse in the car, like for a football game? Post-its in the pocket.</p>
<p>DDHM - Cuban coffee is served in thimbles so you always remember that it’s good enough to be worth getting one thimble at a time.</p>
<p>I weigh in that kids have to pick their own course of study. If you’re a lucky parent, you can find a way to make that course of study marketable (read: technical writing). If you’re really lucky, you get a kid that either really wants to double-major in something practical or loves a field that’s in high demand… S13 wants to be an actuary. D15 wants to double-major in marine biology and philosophy. I may just stay on the boat for two years…</p>
<p>mamabear and DDHM - I hear it’s all in the internships… and I have known a couple of game designers who were well-employed indeed. Sadly, I haven’t kept in touch with them. But they’re out there.</p>
<p>megp - sorry about the local Tonys. It’s frustrating to see things like that. Fingers crossed that your niece sees the light.</p>
<p>Someone at work this week was surprised when I told him about the NPC on college websites - his D is a Junior just starting to look at colleges and he was talking about how you can’t tell how much any school is gonna be for any one kid. She’s his YOUNGEST kid of 4 and they’ve all gone to (or are in) college!</p>
<p>Kat2013 - how wonderful that he handed the trip himself, and still was “together” enough to get a good feel! Obviously it wasn’t meant to be.</p>
<p>LOL on the Cornell shirt crittermom - I’m about to acquire a couple of UChicago shirts!</p>
<p>Apollo6 - congrats on Stamps at Ole Miss!! Awesome program</p>
<p>pouncecat - LOL on numbing the tongue!</p>
<p>GreekMana - I cannot assist you, because we have no need to think about move-in, since it’s AGES AND AGES before S13 has to go… actually, at one school we’ll go home at night and at the other they already told us they kick parents out around 1:30 pm on the Sunday of Orientation. Of course, S13 would move in early for band, so we’d be there forever… best advice I have is find out if you only need 24 hours to cancel - hopefully you’ll have a better idea as the time gets closer.</p>
<p>We will be packing most everything, since S13 is getting mainly hand-me-downs.</p>
<p>Walking Tessie - great idea on the local gift cards - thanks!</p>
<p>tx5 - congrats to the tennis co-champs!</p>
<p>DDHM - great quote - I’m gonna shamelessly commandeer it.</p>
<p>Awww, Triplet. We’ll have to have tearjerker movies on the midden deck all through August and September. What is a midden deck anyway? It sounds so romantic, it’s probably where the garbage goes…</p>
<p>tougis - I know what you mean about the drive. Somehow a long drive is more significant than a flight.</p>
<p>Kat2013 - I think there was a discussion on what to pack for a boy sometime around early decisions. If it’s cold weather, he’ll need flip-flops, a swimsuit, gloves, chinos-not-khakis, one dress shirt that never needs ironing, a large towel, a bottom sheet (no top) and a tank top. He will never, ever wear his boots. ;)</p>
<p>Seriously, S13 packed for himself for his last two summer camps and this will just be a bigger version of the same, I think. Although I’m going to add a “health” kit that includes labelled medicine. In big marker. “COLDS WITH NO COUGH” “FOR BEDTIME WHEN YOU HAVE BAD ALLERGIES” - like that. As though he will never learn what the different ingredients are for…</p>
<p>Feel better RobD - and thanks for the laundry backpack idea! I should dig out my old army duffel that I used for laundry in college… but I have no idea where it is.</p>
<p>Ack tx5 - jogging? Can we get an excuse if we toured a college this week?</p>
<p>DDHM - glad the flight went well.</p>
<p>Re: printers - some schools are networked so you can print to the classroom wing where you’re going.</p>
<p>Kat2013 - check if you get better service at the school for one you buy there - if it’s “we’ll fix anything” that can be worth quite a bit.</p>
<p>EastGrad - … flip-flops… a tank top, and a stapler! Thanks for the note about power strips, and chargers, too.</p>
<p>Here’s to one day closer to a decision :)!</p>
<p>confetti, today ds and I ran into a neighbor girl who will likely end up at ND. She’s a looker, so if that would be persuasive with ds I can arrange a meeting. ;)</p>
<p>Confetti … love the med labelling idea. i’ll definitely be using that</p>
<p>DDHM … D13 is heading up tomorrow … hopefully they’ll run into each other again!! And btw, some serve cafe cubano in thimbles … you can always get the colada, but unless you want to bounce off the walls for a few hours … I told D13 she’s going to have to learn how to make it well before she leaves. Cafe con leche is her morning staple!!</p>
<p>tx5athome - that laundry story is TOO FUNNY!!! I had to tell D about it :)</p>
<p>D has visits for her final three scheduled this month. One down, one this weekend, and one more after. Thank goodness I have been taking notes on the “must send w/D to college” list … and obsessing over grad announcements. It’s keeping me busy.</p>
<p>You all have been busy!!! I’m still catching up!!</p>
<p>Unicam … my D leaves tomorrow around the same time. Have a great trip!!! I hope you two meet each other … :)</p>
<p>So, these questions are for those of you who are trying to stay busy planning grad parties and picking out announcements.</p>
<ol>
<li> Who is putting their child’s college choice on the announcement?</li>
<li> For the party, are you decorating with your child’s HS school colors or new college colors??<br></li>
<li> What about the cake? College or HS?? </li>
</ol>
<p>I make cakes myself, so I’ll be making D13’s cake … but I’m not really sure about color scheme. I have had customers ask for both in the past. </p>
<p>THANKS in advance!! I need to keep my mind occupied while D is off at CPW. :)</p>
<p>Carimama - Tried to discuss whether or not to have a grad party with DD13 at dinner tonight…no straight answer. I have a cake idea that is the HS colors but topped with two crossed flags or rather pennants - one the HS, the other the college. (Ala those lapel pens that are two country flags) If we do a party it will be in the HS colors - unless it turns out to be a beach bonfire grad party / bon voyage which requires pretty much no decorating and will be in August just before leaving for Germany.</p>
<p>Looks like we have a decision on prom… DD13 will not be going due to a conflict with an orientation weekend for her Germany program. Sure glad we didn’t spend a bunch on a dress she won’t use. She seems relieved by the decision. I think she didn’t want to go to prom but didn’t want to miss a traditional milestone either.</p>
<p>Thanks Pounce … We spent a few years in germany and D would love to do a summer or semester there. She doesn’t speak German anymore, but she’s willing to learn! Glad the prom pressure is off for your D. My D is on court and has to be there. She finally had a friend ask her to go his last weekend, but if not, she was going with a group of girls anyway, so she wasn’t stressing … Hope your D has fun at her event!</p>
<p>Cute idea for the cake … :)</p>
<p>DDHM: Are there any greenways at MIT? Just curious, as S’13 is on his way there right now as well. As far as air travel goes, S does fine, but I have managed to sabotage him a couple of times. He will be flying to three of his top four this week, so we will see if he has any good stories to add to his collection. Glad to hear your S arrived just fine. </p>
<p>Uni: That is really exciting! Such good news about the financial aid. Now you can relax and have fun at CPW. Maybe you and S will cross paths this weekend or in a couple of weeks. Have a great time.</p>
<p>I hope you all have your kids signed up for frequent flyer miles!!! We finally did it when D went to Qatar for the UN climate change conference last fall. That trip was so far that she almost has a free ticket already. I hope everyone has productive visits and that the parents can start line dancing sometime soon!</p>
<p>carimama–the cakes we have had in the past were a mix of HS colors and school colors. We had a cake and cupcakes at the last one. The cake had something like from x High School on to x College written on it and half the cupcakes had a pennant from the HS and half with the pennant from the college.</p>
<p>If space allows we will put the college info on the announcement/open house invite.</p>
<p>Last year we held off on our “grad” party until very close to the end of the summer (mainly due to scheduling conflicts) and made it into more of a “going off to college” party. We still celebrated (bragged about?) HS accomplishments, but for us, it was college theme all the way.</p>
<p>Well, S made it to the MIT shuttle anyway. Now I can sleep. (Never can do that when they are traveling!) I know, going by the times of my posts it looks like I’m a nocturnal critter. Well, sometimes lately it feels that way too. Not enough hours in the day.</p>
<p>Apollo: No frequent flyer miles. They keep booking him on different airlines! Wow, Qatar-that’s a lot of miles. Your D is in the International program (Stamps Scholarship) at Ole Miss, right? That makes sense. Congratulations…very impressive!</p>
<p>As far as cakes- oldest two had HS colors…D’10 's was a reference to where she was going to college. If I remember right, it was “California, here I come!” (That was her sentiment then and every time still when she goes back to school. Hope S’13 finds a place he feels that way about very soon. (No pressure, right?!)</p>
<p>On that note…good morning-and good night!</p>
<p>Tuesday Eve: </p>
<p>DH to DS: “Your Wednesday night hotel is right next to Fenway Park. Too bad those games are always sold out. It isn’t even worth the time to look to buy a ticket.”</p>
<p>Thursday Morning News:</p>
<p>“After 794 consecutive sellouts — 820 if you include the postseason — the venerable venue failed to fill the first time since May 15, 2003.” :eek:</p>
<p>Good luck to CariDD, critterDS, and Unic. Cari and Critter, I expect that the next three days will be like those excruciating 6 minutes of blacked-out communication during Apollo 13’s re-entry. We will hear from Dkids on Sunday. BTW, you can’t get lost on MIT’s campus. It is skinny and over a mile long. If you go astray, you end up in the Charles (not a problem unless you are sailing or drunk or both) or wandering across Cambridge to the bad side of town (aka Harvard). Accepted MIT students are too smart to do the latter.</p>
<p>DDHM Graduation Announcements will consist of emails. Black and white, maybe I’ll add one of those free animated emoticons. DDHM Grad Party will consist of attending a friend’s party. Heh, heh. Life is good.</p>
<p>I’m heading to my yard’s midden deck to begin pulling the springtime weeds.</p>
<p>This morning on the USS Indecision we’re featuring a guided marine life tour narrated by noted biologist Fred Schneider. </p>
<p>[The</a> B-52’s - Rock Lobster (official) - YouTube](<a href=“- YouTube”>- YouTube)</p>
<p>Safe travels to all heading out to admitted students events, and enjoy the day.</p>
<p>Carimama-</p>
<p>College choice will be on announcement.</p>
<p>I just realized that HS and college colors are the same!! How cool! But I think we would do HS colors.</p>
<p>Can you make the cake for us???</p>
<p>I just realized that two months from today D will graduate. We have to get through prom, AP tests, and finals before then.</p>
<p>At our school, parents plan an elaborate post prom party for the kids. Among other things, each parent makes a 22" X 26" memory board to display. That section is open prior to the party, and community residents can come in to view the display. In other words, there is pressure for this arts and crafts challenged mom to make the memory board look at least half as good as all the other boards.</p>
<p>It’s actually quite a bit of work. So far I’ve chosen the pictures, scanned and sized them, printed them on paper, and taped them on the mock up board. Now my husband has to print the pictures on photo paper, I’ll cut them, and then glue then on the poster board.</p>
<p>Do any of you do something like this at your school?</p>