Our D is talking summer job but we haven’t seen a lot of movement. She has visited some of the local retailers where she worked part-time in high school but I think her heart is set on babysitting her nieces and nephews. If all else fails she can work for me but she will be put in the maintenance department and will be painting or servicing pools and driving an old utility truck. I know she doesn’t want that job so I am using it as motivation to find something more to her liking.
D has been home about 3 weeks now. Her waitressing job and babysitting are keeping her busy. She isn’t bored, but she really misses her college friends. She was off work yesterday and today so she went to visit her boyfriend about 5 hours away.
@ordinarylives - you’re not alone. After 3 weeks, D’s room is also still piled high with bags of clothing and stuff from her dorm room. She seems to be unpacking on an “as need” basis.
My son never landed a paid job before, so earning big boy money this summer has been quite exciting for him. (The prospect of overtime has him over the moon!) The permanent employees have already given him a nickname and he loves that he gets to rub shoulders with all kinds of people, from plant workers to management, and that everyone seems to treat each other with respect.
He needed steel-toe boots for his co-op job, so I convinced him that this was not the shoe to scrimp on, and he picked out some nice ones. This morning, at 6:45 am his time, I got this text message: “I would just like to say that I love my boots. They motivate me to get ready in the morning”
And apparently a group of his college friends met up in Chicago to see Second City last week and afterwards the gang actually called (not texted!) him to tell him one of the performers totally reminded them of him. Made his day, LOL.
DS has been home a month now and his “stuff” from college pours out of his room and eats up half the hallway and his bathroom. It’s getting on my nerves and we aren’t even particularly neat! He is working the 5:00 am shift, stocking at the grocery store. He doesn’t mind the job, but HATES the hours. He is also impinge as much as possible, but it needs to stop raining! He has been chosen to be a mentor/counselor at a camp for a week (with pay!) back at school in mid-July, so that will be the end of the grocery store - we will head on a family vacation after that!
My son is in his second week of two, online, gen ed classes. One is music appreciation. His biggest problem with the class is the requirement to attend two concerts. Oh, we’re not talking rock and roll or country. Not even musicals! He has to attend a choral or band event, but only one that the professor will approve. So he checks the “approved” list on the professor’s page. There is none! Many facilities in the DC area are dark parts of the summer. So we are having to scramble to find events. Of course, we may find them, but still, they may not be approved. Needless to say, there is some frustration there.
As for the college stuff all over the place, same problem here. In this case, shoes. All over his room. Need to weed out again.
DS moved out of his dorm today, and into his new place - a room in a house with a couple of grad students (for the summer). Handled getting boxes, packing and moving all by himself (with help from a friend with a car)! Car-friend was almost ‘awol’ but showed up at the last minute after being incommunicado for the past week, and I havent heard anything else about the move yet, so I’m assuming it went well.
DS has a 35-hr/wk work schedule for summer so he’s getting his first taste of (almost) full-time work. I bet he’ll be glad to go back to school in September!
@Sweetbeet, you never know. He may really enjoy working full time. I texted my son last night to remind him of the return of one of his favorite television shows later in the evening, and he told me he was out at dinner with the entire engineering department of his company. Steak and hot fudge cake on somebody else’s dime. Doesn’t get any better than that for some kids! I had my first real job the summer after my freshman year, too, and I loved being able to form relationships with people of all ages and backgrounds.
@momreads I just saw an ad for the DC jazz festival June 10-16. Perhaps that would qualify and since it’s long running your DS could knock out several requirements. Assuming jazz bands qualify.
@2014novamom, Thanks so much for the suggestion! My son said he finally got an answer as to what events he can attend. Fortunately, the professor approved a local symphony performance, which is good since I had already bought the tickets! I’ll keep the jazz festival in mind, too, and have him check and see if that’s all right.
Meanwhile, he has seven, youth soccer games to referee today, and five more tomorrow. He’ll be so looking forward to seeing his bed afterwards!
Good point @LucieTheLakie, but my son is working in the same campus department he worked in all year. It’s not a “real job” in the sense of a first career step, and he’s mostly with the same students he’s been working with. Though it’s still good, he’s in the IT dept and he’s a CS major, and he’s made some friends there and learned a lot. I type-chatted with him today and he’s ok with the schedule, wants to make money and thinks he’ll get back in shape biking back and forth to campus from his summer sublet.
His biggest concerns seem to revolve around learning to cook and figuring out what to buy and eat. So, I sent him some recipes for easy, cheap dinners, and suggested that he get a cookbook. Anyone have any suggestions?
Sweetbeat: Get him a George Foreman grill. My older son is in law school, and he loves his Foreman! Does hamburgers and chicken breasts on it. Toss together a salad, and you have a meal. Also, a crock pot is great. My son does stuffed peppers in his – he loves ground turkey, so that’s what he uses to stuff the peppers. He also makes lasagna in the crock pot – something I showed him how to do.
I have all kinds of different recipes for things. Let me know if you’d like them. I’m getting together a cookbook of some of my guys’ faves. Then, I’ll give it to them. That way, they have access to what they need for what dinner.
@momreads, great ideas! His birthday is coming up, so maybe I’ll just send him an early present. He has to go back to the dorm next year, but they have a kitchen on each floor, so he could still use the grill there. I don’t want to get him too many kitchen things, so I’ll ask him what he feels would be most helpful.
@sweetbeet I’m not @momreads but it’s basically the same as you would as if you were to cook in the oven. You assemble the layers in the crockpot and it just cooks there all day instead of being baked in the oven. One word of caution – do not use the no boil noodles in the crockpot. They get super mushy.
There are several cookbooks out there for the clueless college student. AvonMom gave one to our DS - 2011 and he did quite well and didn’t lose weight when overseas junior year and this past senior year in his off-campus house. Here is a link to one of many options. http://www.amazon.com/Starving-Students-Cookbook-Dede-Hall/dp/0446679615
@sweetbeet No, you put them in dry. They will absorb moisture from the sauce, which should be a little wetter than normal to account for that. Same principle as if you were to use dry noodles in the oven version (which I’ve done in the past when feeling lazy).
Popping in to say hello! Love the crockpot recipe! Glad to hear everyone is doing well and enjoying summer. It’s the last week of freshman year of high school for go2boy so I’m in the throes of monitoring his study habits for finals. Go2girl has been a HUGE help, tutoring him in French and making sure he gets his last minute projects completed. She definitely has a lot more patience than me! She has a summer internship 3 days a week. She could potentially add a summer job but I am paying her to tutor her brother and she may be able to get some similar work with other neighborhood kids. It will give her a bit more flexibility. First year of college was a roaring success academically and socially. It’s so lovely to have her home.
No internship for my daughter this summer. She’s taking a Math class at the local community college and also found a job at a nearby mall. Like @go2mom, it’s so lovely to have her home.
We’ll see if my son does some cooking while I’m out of town in a week or so. I’m going to visit my parents who live out of state. My son will be home alone. I’ll probably ask him what he wants me to cook and leave before I go. I figure that he will be happy if I do a pan of lasagna, some sloppy joes (those are really easy to make on the stovetop), maybe some BBQ (I do that in the crock pot) or some sort of chicken dish. Maybe a ham and cheese pie, too. I do not want him to starve, but he does not need to be spending money on fast food during the time I’m gone. If he’s smart, he’ll do some cooking for himself. Nothing fancy, but it does not need to be fancy.
Meanwhile, he really enjoyed himself the other day working a school carnival. A teacher friend needed help, and it is good money. My friend told him that he could have some more jobs this summer, which would be great. A nice break from soccer refereeing and his two classes.