@milgymfam Because it was a relative graduation gift, “retro” mini-fridge.
Well, yesterday was an eventful day. Dh was OOT on a business trip and I had taken my younger two kids to Hershey Park two hours away with my neighbor and her kids. Around 4pm, I get a call from D17. S19 had picked her up from work. On the way home, he hydroplaned during a thunderstorm, lost control of the car, spun completely around and went off the side of the highway into some bushes! Thankfully, despite being on a main artery, no other cars happened to be around so they didn’t hit/get hit by any passing cars. Other than a ton of scratches on the car and a very small dent on the hood, they are fine and the car seems to be ok. I got home late last night so haven’t had chance to drive it to make sure it’s ok but S19 drove the rest of way home, about 5 miles, and said there didn’t seem to anything wrong like alignment, etc. Of course, a scary phone call when both dh and I are hours away so I was thankful they didn’t get hurt! Coincidentally I totaled my parents car my senior year of college when I was seven hours from home in a frightening hydroplane accident with a tractor trailer. I always always remind my kids to be careful when there is a load of water/rain on the road and have explained what hydroplaning is. We get a lot of pop up thunderstorms with brief heavy rain where I normally try to make them wait it out if they don’t need to be driving. Of course this time I wasn’t even home and had no idea it had rained. Just so fortunate they are ok!
Following that, last night S19 found out that he got his first preference for dorm. He’s in a suite - three doubles with living room and bathroom. I consider him lucky b/c on the parents’ Facebook page, there are many parents complaining that their kids were placed in forced triples (BTDT w/D17 at a different univ!). When I got home I asked if he had emailed his roommate yet and he said “No, I was playing xBox!” Ugh, boys. So different than girls, who would’ve already been talking coordinated color schemes, etc. He’s working today so unless his roommate contacts him, he probably won’t get in touch until tomorrow.
So eventful day, some good, some bad but all ok in the end!
Yikes @4kids4us glad that they are okay! I am paranoid about the kids getting in accidents, partly because DH gets really wound up about it. I’m hoping DD’s years at college are uneventful, vehicle-wise. Also, yay on the good rooming assignment!
Man, our schedule is so jam-packed between now and move-in day. Mostly lots of fun stuff, plus DH recovering from his rotary cuff surgery yesterday. On a good note, DD got two teeth built up this week which was the final step in an 8 year process to fix her mouth. It looks fantastic and she is thrilled to have a normal smile for the first time in her life, and just in time for college.
@4kids4us Yikes - what a day! So glad the kids are OK. And great news on the suite!
@4kids4us phew! Glad they’re ok. Hydroplaning is scary stuff.
@4kids4us I HATE driving in heavy rain. I live in the Bay Area, so we really don’t have what you describe but when we do have the random torrential storm, I always think about hydroplaning on the road. So glad both are okay and that the car seems to be mostly okay, too. Phew! That’s one of those moments when you just think: “Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!” to the universe.
The suite situation sounds great. I keep reading about most of your kids getting ready to live in doubles next year, but my girl is in triple at UCLA. I cannot wait to see how it all works out, lol. That’s potentially a lot of stuff in a pretty small space. It’s good that we’re pretty clutter free at home. Hopefully that mentality will come in handy next year.
Our relaxing summer continues. S19 is enjoying taking it easy, relative to previous summers. 4 hrs training a day + 2 hrs work and the rest of the day he can relax. He found out his housing for Dartmouth. The dorms are notoriously “old school” (ahem) but he applied for one of the “Learning Living Communities” (basically a theme house) and got in. I can’t believe he didn’t know this, but this puts him in the new swanky dorm complex on campus with a 2-room double, kitchen & leisure rooms on each floor, and private (-ish) bathroom shared with 3 other doubles. His sister, who lived in cramped 2-room doubles for 3 years, is aghast at the injustice. Apparently it is “really far from everything”, aka a 5-10 min walk from frat row. LOL. Given that W, F and Sa are “on” nights (frat parties), not being right next to frat row seemed like a positive to me, but we’ll see what S19 says after he is there a bit. D16, who had to walk 15min in -50F last winter during the cold snap in MN, has warned him that no complaining about walking to class in the cold will be tolerated during the comparatively balmy NH winters (compared to MN).
@4kids4us Wow, scary! Glad to hear the S is ok!
Weighing in on mattress toppers. I was getting kind of stressed out about all the mattress topper talk. Started researching on my own and really got confused (not sure when they invented toppers that smell and need time to rise ??). Finally decided that the egg crate for a dorm bed was perfectly fine. It worked for my son over the last 3 years and I’m sure it will be fine for my daughter too. I found a good 3 inch twin XL egg crate on sale at Macy’s online and ordered it last night. It’s only @ $32 with Macy’s WKND promo code. Thought I would share link:
I will be the first to say that the gel mattress toppers sound awesome and I’m intrigued. But they are pricey. I may save that idea and give a more expensive mattress topper to them when they graduate from college as a present for their first apartment.
Dorm room expenses are adding up so I had to keep the budget reasonable so we can grab all that she needs to get started.
@Stuffedquahog I was getting stressed out too and spending way too much time trying to figure something out as my son is very particular about his bed. We went last week to BBB and he just didn’t think he’d like the memory foam after pressing on it with his hand. We did look at the type you posted but he didn’t think he’d like the grooves. Today I was at Sams Club and happened to see a Serta mattress topper that says it’s memory foam then has sort of a cotton topper on it. However, the foam is not the kind where your hand leaves an impression - it is bouncier, which I think he will prefer. I decided this is it!
https://www.samsclub.com/p/serta-4-inch-twin-xl-mattress-topper/prod21402123?xid=plp_product_1_10
I bought it, will put it on his bed tonight and let him try it out, and if he doesn’t like it, he’s just going to get a puffy mattress pad and have to sleep on the college mattress! His bedding is the only thing he cares about in all this dorm shopping so I was hoping to at least appease him there. He has to go to school early then we go back a week later to move him into his permanent room so if he doesn’t like the topper we will just bring it home then and return it.
I’m glad you found something that will work and for so cheap! I hear you on the expenses adding up though I shouldn’t complain b/c I spent much more on D17!
@4kids4us That is a very cool mattress topper! I didn’t see those. I think your son will love it. It is still more then I’d want to spend, but I really think it will be comfortable. I hear you on questioning the comfort level of the memory foam. My daughter has pillows like that (several) and some she likes and others get thrown to her floor (because they are not comfortable).
The egg crates are actually pretty comfortable. We had them on all of our beds in our camper about 5 years ago when we were seasonal campers in the Berkshires (the best 9 summers with the kids! I sure do miss those young years before the kids turned into teenagers and home friends and summer jobs came into play and we had to give up this family tradition).
Anyways - today I had to correct a mistake I made. I ordered a 4.5 cubic ft Kenmore refrigerator from Sears, which my husband picked up last weekend for me from an hour away. Well when I saw it in person I knew it was too large. Stupid me, I couldn’t remember the size of my son’s refrigerator (which is not home) so I confidently guessed the size (for my daughter’s refrigerator). Wrong guess. I took it back today and was able to trade it in for the 2.5 cubic ft Kenmore. Yup an hour away to find a Sears with a mini fridge. A pain but I am glad I fixed this error before move in day, which is only 17 days from now. Oh my! It really is approaching quickly.
@4kids4us Glad they are okay. That is scary.
S19 got a double (he wanted a single but knew the chances were slim) and his high school friend for his roommate. So all is good.
We are deciding whether to rent or buy the refrigerator/microwave combo. Apparently needed only the first year but renting is pricey.
I took S19 to get a State ID. Only took 3 hours. ugh.
He does not want to learn to drive and thinks driving will become obsolete. lol
Took him for a physical and to the dentist visit. Still missing… the eye exam as I have to drive (!)
All this talk about mattress toppers made me want to see what S19’s current bed is like. He’s been on the same bed since…age 8? He doesn’t really fit on it anymore but he likes the familiarity. Anyhow I laid down on his bed and it’s atrocious. Lumpy like nobodies business. I think maybe the springs broke at some point and feels like they are half poking through. I’m not going to say anything to him. This way the dorm bed will feel like a step up, lol.
That made me chuckle! Thanks for the laugh!
D is enjoying her Europe vacation with her big brother and sister. Brother paid for air tickets. Sister paid for hotel. D uses money from work for other costs.
I have no idea what kind of dorm D will have. She is on temporary dorm assigment. We will figure out on the move-in day, August 20.
We had a plan of dropping S22 at a friend’s place in the suburbs on the way down to New York to move D19 in, but this weekend he complained that he didn’t want to miss out on helping with the move and spending some last quality time as a family. So we’re going to drop him just for a sleepover on Friday 8/19 and then he’ll come down to the city to meet up with us on Saturday. Works out OK because he can take over the cot in our hotel room that D19 will be using Friday night. And it’ll be nice to have S22 at the dinner we’re having that Saturday night with D19’s roommate’s family. Glad he spoke up about it.
D19 and a friend are taking a road trip to SoCal this week to meet up with other friends there already. Then next week is her last week at home… gulp.
@coolweather temporary dorm assignment? What does that mean?
Things are getting serious over here! Yesterday D19 and I packed all of her clothes into vacuum bags to fit into the Ikea Fratka bags. I was pretty sure it was going to be too much, but with those vacuum bags, fit way more clothes than I ever guessed we could fit. We also packed a box that weighed 37 pounds to send to herself via UPS and I dropped it off at UPS this morning. We will take three Fratka bags and one large hard side suitcase on the plane, plus our carry on cases.
Earlier this year I ordered a picture cutout pillow with our cat on it. I hid it, so I have to remember to unearth it and bring it with us to surprise her with it there. D19 is the cat’s favorite person, and I’m a close second. 
I love that idea. May have to borrow it.