<p>Prom pics were beautiful tonight. :)</p>
<p>tx5-Some of my girlfriends are at Cal now! Berkeley weather is clear and amazing today! So glad DS is having a great time! I too bought my first decal and Tshirts at USC this week! 
BTW- I have no stickers, license place holders, not even UCLA stuff~ for my happy girl…I have a Trojan sticker on my car! </p>
<p>pkd- Thanks and Fight On ;)! Why do I feel you reaching for those keys and dollar bills? :)<br>
Also, thanks for the backpack update.</p>
<p>pouncecat- I like your comments! :)</p>
<p>It’s strangely quiet on the Indecision this morning. Everybody hungover? S-s-s-sh… Bloody Marys please.</p>
<p>I’ve been quiet cause DD and I have been working on her housing request application which is due May 1. It includes writing essays (ARGH! More Essays!!! :eek: ) explaining why she is a good choice to be accepted into some of the dorms’ residential living groups. Parents - make sure DD/S are checking deadlines and getting stuff submitted on time!</p>
<p>It never ends…</p>
<p>Pounce, here is your Bloody Mary. I used a single shot only cause it is Sunday morning.</p>
<p>Congratulations and “Fight ON!” to wherenext!</p>
<p>I’m a little groggy this morning so serving some nice, strong blue mountain coffee with a traditional Jamaican breakfast. Try it!</p>
<p>Yesterday, I took my DD shopping for college at bed, bath and beyond. Did the whole Pack and Ship thing. Enjoyed the time with her and we are done! We will pick everything up in early June at the other end!</p>
<p>Kennedy, remind me why she starts so early?</p>
<p>Stayed up talking to ds about prom when he got home so that’s my excuse for sleeping in. Apparently, he was nominated for prom king and had no idea. Thank goodness he didn’t win as he hadn’t prepared a speech. ;)</p>
<p>I’m hoping that tonight we’ll push the button so my last day to enjoy my lounge chair.</p>
<p>Youdon’tsay - she applied to and was accepted into a fellowship at her college. It involves 7 weeks of bio and biomed research on campus in June and July. Then only home for a couple weeks before turning around and heading right back to campus for pre-o and frosh-o in August. Have to finish college prep early and we still have a long list of to-dos to look forward to over the next few weeks…</p>
<p>She chose this even though she will miss prom, senior luncheon, post grad camping trip. I have to fly her back home for literally half a day to attend her graduation. Had a separate thread up about this and most everyone disapproved of the idea. But it was her decision, so I am vindicated, haha.</p>
<p>I think that sounds like a great opportunity. A mature choice for her to make. So will she move into her eventual dorm, or will she have to move again before school starts?</p>
<p>DDHM - Essay to get a dorm space? What the? I thought it was an ‘open checkbook policy’…you know, I write a check…she gets a room. DOES THIS EVER END?!</p>
<p>Kennedy -Jamaican breakfast sounds fun. I support you and your D in her choice to forgo some HS moments in exchange for other opportunities. It’s a very personal choice. My DD13 does not seem bothered one bit by missing the prom to go to orientation for her year in Germany. She’s eager to go, I bet she’d skip graduation if they asked her to go early. I will admit that I have some pangs of I don’t know what that she’s not going…but in the end I know the opportunity she chose instead is wonderful and so is your D’s.</p>
<p>Kennedy - How did you do the pack and ship thing? Did you pick stuff at the store and have them ship it to school?</p>
<p>YDS- “It’s nice to be nominated.” I’m sure he was so flattered! What a great memory for him!</p>
<p>Youdon’tsay - good question - not sure if she will have to move again and oddly enough she has not pressed for an answer to it. They promised to mail out all the detailed information we need after May 1 and she is content to wait patiently (teenagers - gotta love 'em).</p>
<p>DDHM - Wow - that is interesting. I had no idea that dorms were awarded based on merit-type criteria. Good luck - hope she gets the pick of the crop.</p>
<p>pounce - Yep your DD has a very similar situation and I agree that it is a very personal choice. Congratulations again to your daughter on such an exciting opportunity in Germany! On the other thread, people were asking wouldn’t extended family be disappointed, etc. But it came down to her choice and she couldn’t be happier. Her graduation is on a Monday evening so she will attend the research program on Monday morning - flying home Monday afternoon - and fly out to get back to campus on a 6AM flight the next morning.</p>
<p>Also, the Pack and Ship works like this: you are signed up for something similar to a bridal registry, given a hand-held scanner and you go around the store and scan everything you want to purchase with quantities and it gets added to your registry. You select your pick-up date on the other end and when you arrive there is a special Pack and Ship area at the store where everything is waiting in a huge pile with your daughter’s name on it. You get a chance to go through everything and remove anything if you changed your mind. Then just pay (don’t forget your BB&B coupons - they never expire) and your done! We did this for my S and it took all of 30 minutes to complete the entire transaction!</p>
<p>Re: Dorm essays. Devil Child wants to apply to a first-year seminar sequence with a residential component, and that requires an essay. But has he started said essay? Nope.</p>
<p>For the next five or six years, there will always be an essay for something. We had better get used to it.</p>
<p>Someoldguy - Hiissssssssssssssss… I refuse to get used to it… or maybe I’m just exhausted. DD13 now has tonsillitis … just when she was about to declare victory over the grade hole…it’s too late in this year for another lap around the drain… this can’t be happening. She used to be straight As now 1 or 2 As and all other Bs looks like a best case scenario. It’s sad but should not cost her the placement - sure hope they accept that deferral before they do a grade check…so they don’t change their minds. Oh fine, something else to worry about.</p>
<p>Whose leading the yoga class?</p>
<p>We went to the VEISHEA celebration at Iowa State University yesterday, without the kid, and had a great time. It is a week long all campus celebration.</p>
<p>There is the unofficial VEISHEA where 30,000 students from all over the Midwest invade Ames and join the 30,000 students already there for 3 days of wild parties and concerts.</p>
<p>The official VEISHEA is a week long celebration with concerts, free food for the students, etc. Saturday is family day with a great parade and family activities and food attracting another 20,000 or so people.</p>
<p>The hotel and restaurant mgt students bake 12,000 cherry pies that are always sold out by Saturday afternoon.</p>
<p>The parade is a celebration of all things Iowa State. The parade is a great microcosm of the diversity found at a land grant school. One entry was a group of chic young women representing the fashion design major and their fashion show, which sells out the 2500 seat auditorium each year. The next entry was the student club that modifies lawn tractors for tractor pull competitions. </p>
<p>Son is considering Forestry as a major so we talked to them and watched them do tree chopping and sawing competitions.</p>
<p>Everyone was dressed in cardinal and gold. The school spirit there is awesome.</p>
<p>Great day after sme crap weather.</p>
<p>Kennedy - Thanks for the BB&B details. That sounds like a fun way to shop! Kudos to BB&B that’s just good business making our lives easier.</p>
<p>Sounds like a great time. You had me at “12,000 cherry pies.”</p>
<p>Haystack - Chainsaws, cherry pie, and live music…Wow! Iowa knows how to party!</p>
<p>Mmm, Haystack, cherry pie. I’ll take a slice with some mashed potatoes and butter on top. What a wonderful weekend–easy to be excited about Iowa!</p>
<p>Wherenext, thank you for your concern. DS is having a great time on his unofficial visit (since official weekend was cancelled!). College keeps gently encouraging the pre-frosh to go home. He is coming back around 9 tonight–a day earlier than planned. The 200 or so students who did attend (down from maybe 1000-1200) have had a great time.<br>
Your trip to Cal sounds great…what a great location to visit…whenever you need a reason.</p>
<p>Kennedy, such organization! Inspiring! I read through your “what should D do” thread and think this is a great decision. </p>
<p>Pouncekitty, tonsillitis! Oh no. Hope this is something that can be licked easily by antibiotics. And a little TLC.</p>
<p>DDHM, more essays, sigh. Well, at least the kids are experts now. Moreover, I am sure they both inherited a lot of literary talent. </p>
<p>SOG, interested in your strategy for this nonessential but life-enhancing essay. Are you sitting back or have you imposed some deadlines on Devil Child?</p>
<p>YDS, wish we could see those prom pictures. Maybe you’ll need to give us a visual.</p>
<p>Are we on page 1600 yet? Wahoo!</p>
<p>Seems like a slow day following proms for some. S’13 was at prom last night. Home sometime after 2 last night. Back up and out to the beach before noon. Now at work. Studying tonight. I would collapse. Guess this high school stuff really is for the young.</p>
<p>Haystack - sounds like a blast.</p>
<p>SomeOldGuy - hope Devil Child does that essay soon. My understanding is that slots fill up as essays role in. I suppose the more popular ones fill up faster, but don’t really know. S’13 has been admitted to the cluster he wanted. No idea which dorm that might end up being.</p>
<p>Quiet here for 2 reasons. </p>
<ol>
<li><p>Just returned from math competition weekend and am exhausted!! They did well, but it makes for a long extended weekend with very little sleep.</p></li>
<li><p>Stress over D and the student loans she is so willing to take to attend the dream school. Not happy. At all. </p></li>
</ol>
<p>3 weeks until prom. Last college visit is still 1 week a day. Lord help me because I’m a nervous wreck. What day is it until D-Day & where are we on the song? I’m not big on bloody marys. Can I sub for a mojito maybe?</p>