On no @Booajo . Not a good time for that to happen for many reasons . Hope things work out soon.
Iām assuming we will get furnace today. We are out of Arctic cold snap, but canāt be furnace-less in Wisconsin
All this talk of freezing weatherā¦ I hope the greens arenāt too hard when S and I play golf today. Itās only going to be 58 in my city today. Jk. S has applied to several cold weather schools and I have read on other sites how unprepared California kids are when winter comes. As of right now S only wears shorts so he will be in for a cold awakening if he goes to school back east. Sorry to hear about the furnace @Booajo
As for interview, S was asked to bring a resume
@EastGrad: thank you for noticing, it is relatively new! I figured that I am going to be here a few more years with my D18 maybe I should put a picture in my profile!
@palm715: I have been avoiding the official number crunching, I think what appears now on the surface to be very similar numbers wise will, upon closer investigation, reveal larger discrepancies. Fortunately for us I think D16 has cut one of the more expensive schools from the list on her own, āI donāt think I can justify the cost, even though I REALLY like the school.ā
I want to own up to having a hard time accepting D16 taking one of the more well known schools off her list simply because that one has such name recognition and is well ranked.
as far as cost estimatingā¦ I found with my D12 that there was some found āpocket changeā in savings that helped tooā¦ think about the costs of any team sports, music lessons, school lunch money that will no longer be needed. Also- water bill and grocery savings. I still donāt get how my grocery bill almost doubles when she comes home in the summer-- she only weighs 100 lbs soaking wetā¦ and speaking of wet-- she also adds another $15ish to our water bill! Also, in years when she didnāt have her car, we had the car insurance changed to a much lower amount. Weāve also been able to save quite a bit on text books with some creative shopping.
Sorry about your furnace @Booajo. Thatās my worst fear. Iām living in a rental house - sold our house last spring - while Iām waiting for D16 to finish high school. Weāve just been here 6 months. Every morning I turn up the heat. After reading about your furnace, I put my toes to the radiator, which should have been real hot at that point - and - nothing. The furnace isnāt turning on. Itās 25 degrees outside. My feet are blocks of ice. Iāve always had bad circulation which is part of the reason Iām moving to warmer climes this summer. The property manager is coming at noon, but I have no idea when Iāll have heat again. Iāve got a space heater, but it doesnāt seem to be helping much. Brrrr.
We finally got our weather back here with 75F today.
I hope you get a new furnace soon @Booajo
DD will have another try on interviewing with the same person that didnāt show up last week tomorrow. Letās see what will happen. He said he had work emergency last week.
āI just spent some quality time crunching numbers for the four schools D has acceptances to so far. I personalized the COA (room type and meal plan she would want, average plane flight cost four times, used same book cost for all and made it on the high side for an engineering major, and used the same amount for extra stuff - food beyond cafeteria, local transportation, personal items, clothes, gifts, etc). Then I subtracted out what we agreed to contribute, school merit aid, Stafford loan, and work study.ā
Really, really like.
@Mysonsdad: Good one.
@bouders Have you checked the water level for the furnace? I have a 100+ year old house with steam radiators. When the water level goes down, the furnace shuts off.
Whew, itās getting harder to keep up with all the news! Over 800 pagesā¦
Well, itās finals week here, aka Emotional Rollercoaster week. Good timesā¦
D came home Tuesday afternoon and broke down sobbing, told me her AP Lit essay was awful, she couldnāt turn it in that way, I should expect her to get an F in the class, etc. Really, she sobbed for like an hour. It didnāt help that sheād had no sleep the night beforeā¦
She finally pulled herself together, ate something, had a soda, then sat down and gave her essays final editing before turning it in, then studied for her AP Gov final (I was informed she would be failing that, too, btwā¦)
Yesterday afternoon, she had her metacognitive conference with the Lit teacher and a review of her supposedly really terrible essay. When I picked her up, she was smiling. She got an A on her essay and is getting a B+ in the class.
GOOD LORD.
Oh and she said the Gov final was āsuspiciously easyā. Maybe you just actually know the material? I asked her. Oh no, no, itās a trickā¦ smh.
Same thing was said about todayās Stats finalā¦ Donāt be shocked when you see the F, Mom. Ok.
She also had to miss a jazz band rehearsal - because the director scheduled it the same time as her Lit conference. She tried to reschedule but could not. Apparently, several other members missed the rehearsal, and this was the THIRD rehearsal this week - during finals week. Iām not surprised so many could not make it, or did not want to.
Two performances are also scheduled for this weekend, and those have been on the calendar all semester, but the rehearsals were just sprung on them at the end of last week.
D was considering quitting this next semester because itās just been too time-consuming; starting this past semester, itās been twice a week, on weeknights, between 6 and 9 pm. Itās contributed a lot to Dās lack of sleep. Sheās really enjoyed being in ti, but something has to give in her scheduleā¦ She also agreed to be the sole trumpet player in the pit orchestra for the spring musical, but those rehearsals are right after school and end by 5. Much more reasonableā¦
After this latest, D said she is definitely going to drop jazz band next semester. I told her she could say I insisted. And I kind of do. It would be nice to see her get some more sleep, for oneā¦
Sheās also in Pep Band, solo and Ensemble groups and has her weekly private lesson, in addition to her Wind Ensemble class in school, so sheās getting plenty of play timeā¦
We are considering driving to lovely Muncie Indiana, :), on Sunday so we can walk around Ball Stateās campus on Monday, when classes are in session. (D has Monday off.) She doesnāt want to meet with an advisor just yet as sheās still undecided, and we may do that over spring break, when we also go back to Ohio U in Athens to visit (Ball is on the way to Ohio).
Weāre just planning to walk around, eat in the cafeteria (apparently open to the public), library, etc. and go hang out in the neighborhood adjacent to the campus. My friend form college works in the library, so I may see if he and his wife are free for dinner or lunchā¦
Sounds like a great plan @BeeDAre !
I think your DD needs some time to just hang out on a campus and enjoy herself.
I hope all furnace issues are resolved soon!
Oh no-good luck with your heating, @Booajo and @bouders ! NOT a good time for heating problems!
Right now I would give my left arm to be someplace warm and dry. Itās raining hard all day here in Seattle and it just took me 45 minutes to make what is normally a 20 minute drive home after dropping D off at school. And itās still dark enough out that people need to use their headlights-itās after 9 a.m.
As for true cost of schools, I went in assuming we would get nothing in FA from any school, and gave D the number that weāre willing/able to finance. Various merit $$ has made some of her options affordable enough that she wonāt need loans. Others will work IF she does a Stafford loan and a TEACH grant. She knows how much travel weāre willing to pay for, and we looked at those books on our tours-Iām already researching ways to make that cost go way down. What a racket textbooks are!
At this point weāre waiting on the slim possibility of FA coming through and final scholarship offers, but I think D has made her decision unless something dramatic happens in the next few weeks.
@BeeDAre , D is so booked up this week that she will be out of the house until bedtime or way past it from now until sometime Sunday, except for a brief respite on Saturday morning. I expect a full-on meltdown Monday afternoonā¦
@Mysonsdad: I graduated from high school in California and went to college in Michigan. My two freshman roommates, one from Michigan and one from Iowa, watched in disbelief as I unpacked.
āDonāt you have a coat?ā one finally said.
āSureā I said, holding up my light jacket.
āThat is not a coatā she said.
āWhere are all your sweaters?ā the other one asked.
āThis is the only one I own,ā I said holding up the sweater my Michigan grad brother gave me.
āYou forgot to bring socksā they pointed out helpfully.
āOh, I donāt have any socks. I donāt like them so I never wear themā
They looked at each other in horror. āWe need to take you shopping SOONā
LOL @mom23travelers!
I hope all heat issues are resolved quickly and that upcoming interviews go smoothly.
@Booajo
Sorry to hear about your furnace.
Our 18 year old furnace went out in November. We decided to replace air conditioner at same time since we saw some fogging of the windows this summer which can be a symptom of the air conditioner losing its ability to pull the humidity from the air. I did all the calculations for the more efficient furnaces and found that there is no cost savings that would be great enough to cover price increase of the more efficient units due to the low cost of gas. However, we will save about $90/ month on electricity with our new air conditioner (16 seer).
Angieās list was very helpful in determining trustworthiness of the installation companies. I picked three from their list for estimates. Interestingly, each estimate gave a different configuration or combination for the heating and cooling. The company that priced out the basic units for the size of our house did not offer much savings over more upgraded units.
@BeeDAre if you do go to Athens may I suggest a local restaurant you might find interesting:
https://www.zomato.com/athens-oh/casa-nueva-restaurant-cantina-athens-athens
They have a bit of everything. Itās a coop so everyone makes money fairly. If you choose to tip they give the money to the local food pantry.
@BeeDAre I am sorry your D is experience a high stress load at the moment, I know she really challenges herself and the stress must be overwhelming at times.
I swear I could have written your post right down to the getting ropped into the pit orchestra for the spring musical. D16 texted me last night at 5:30 at the end of regular symphonic band rehearsal telling me she was playing piano and oboe for the Spring Musical (in 2 weeks) because the according to the Director, the principal pianist is struggling with the music. Ummmā¦dear you have a LAX tournament 4 hours away the second weekend of the musical, how is that going to work? Her final AP Eng Lit grade B-, Micro Econ - B. I think she has thrown in the towel with the grades and has decided to kill herself with extra curriculars instead. She has been invited to a the JROTC Military Ball, has UIL Solo Contest and Latin Regionals all on the last weekend of February and is competing at State for BPA the following weekend. LAX season starts in February. UUUGGGGHHHH, seriously what is she thinking?
thanks, @kandcsmom - i think Iāve already been there, though - Casa Nueva? Yeah, that place was great. I try to eat vegan as much as possible, and it was super easy to do so there, while still having lots of options and the food was great.
@labegg - Thanks! I hope both our kids can find some balance AND peace of mind in the coming monthsā¦
Iāve also encouraged D to stick with AP Stats (she was thinking of dropping) if she gets a C or betterā¦ She wants to study Anthropology or History and it will be useful for both - and I know, as a former Humanities major sheāll have to take it in college. Turns out the colleges sheās applied to will let her get course credit for it if she gets a 4ā¦ She got a 4 on AP Calculus exam last year, despite getting a C (i.e., B on exams but only turned in half the homeworkā¦ same thing here in Stats.) Also, I think dropping Jazz Band will give her a few more hours every week toā¦ oh I donāt knowā¦ do Stats homework? 
Stranger things have happened.
Iāve also insisted she āeaseā into college - take only 12 hours the first year, at least. We thought about her double-majoring but I was going to suggest she start to rethink this - and she beat me to saying that out loud, by saying it to me first - that she thinks a major with maybe a minor is enoughā¦ Time will tell.
Btw, love that your D plays oboe! An underrated instrument, we need more kids to play oboe and bassoon!
Furnace update (for those following along!): getting installed tomorrow at 730 am. Of course, the one day that Iām not working and kids are off schoolāguess we wonāt be sleeping in after all.