<p>When I was in college back in the dark ages when we were perfectly legal we used to go to a bar that had placemats with pictures and recipes of all the drinks. We’d all order different things and share. Back in those days my preferences ran to disgusting sweet drinks. I had a white russian at my reunion and could barely get it down!</p>
<p>Yep, one night of having a few too many of those disgustingly sweet drinks can cure you for a lifetime, tho… can anyone say “Sloe Screw” or “Apricot Stone Sour”??? More of those college stories that don’t necessarily get retold to the little kidlets heading off to school…</p>
<p>I’ve been around CC for a long time, I can’t believe I just read this thread for the first time! OK, I read the first 4 pages before realizing it was 2 years old, but at some point I’ll read thru the other 400 pages when I should be doing something else (like cleaning, or paying bills…)</p>
<p>Here’s my funny story of when my kids were little. S was 4 years old when President Nixon died. I’m not a Nixon fan, but on the day of his funeral I decided the appropriate thing to do was to put out our US flag. As we were pulling out of the driveway to head off to preschool, S asked, “Why is the flag out?” I said, “Well, the man who was president when I was a girl died, so I thought I should put out the flag to honor the office of the President.” S got very concerned: “President Bush died?” I reassured him, “No honey, the man who was president when I was a little girl.” “Oh,” said S, “You must mean George Washington.”</p>
<p>(rim-shot)</p>
<p>Lafalum84, welcome!</p>
<p>Belly up to the bar and order the drink of your choice. You need to know our mascot is the marmot (they can do any impossible task) and our waiters tend to be Italian soccer players or…I always forget what the other choices are. 
:)</p>
<p>Welcome Lafalum84. There’s an open mic every night—rim shots included.</p>
<p>Yay, I just found out that S is coming home for three days over Mother’s Day weekend! Drinks are on me tonight! (Okay, so he didn’t exactly realize it was Mother’s Day weekend when he made arrangements to get off work. It was just the most convenient weekend in his schedule. But, what the heck. I’ll take it as a compliment and a sign of love anyhow.) :)</p>
<p>Let’s all drink, virtually, taking our signs of love whereever we so choose! And I always think of gyring and gimbling in the wabe when I hear the word gimlet…</p>
<p>I rather think that borogroves are large, large, marmots, what say all?</p>
<p>Welcome 4giggles. I still go back and read this thread sometimes. I recommend you search for sluggbugg…</p>
<p>[Enter not a parent]
</p>
<p>A sword holds more connotations as a piece of art but even the most beautiful guns are functional for some fun at the range.</p>
<p>[Exit not a parent]</p>
<p>Hi Alu, so glad you still stop by! I have read the WHOLE thread, how could I not? The insight, advice and well the down right good old antics are priceless! I keep telling myself, the more I can laugh thru the teenage years, I may just survive it! That with the many varieties of cocktails can cure just about anything.</p>
<p>4gig - Oh, no worries. I am actually always here. In the corner. Under the table. It’s a question of whether I raise my sorry head up off the floor and mutter anything or not:).</p>
<p>So much for fanciful thinking, off to another day working at a conference where they serve us fried food of questionable ethnicity and bad bad bad red wine…</p>
<p>I love your borogroves; </p>
<p>“and the mome wraths outgrabe” – not sure what the mome wraths are; maybe a smaller sea creature? Maybe a calamari? But “outgrabe” sure sounds like they procreated until there were multitudes of them.</p>
<p>OK I just have to hand around some Matcha Green Tea shots from Jamba Juice to everyone this morning: TSFH went to school WEARING HIS COLLEGE POLO SHIRT today. (Dress code: no t-shirts allowed.) I am so happy, I almost cried. (This goes along with mentioning that he pulled an 82 on his last English test, and has handed in – sufficiently long and on-time – two of the final 4 English papers he needs to hand in sufficiently long and on-time in order to pass English and graduate. (The head of school contacted me to moan that this was the first time they’d ever had a student in actual danger of not graduating: passing English is a requirement.) I think the school may be glad to see him go, but they’ll miss his cheerful drama when he’s gone, mark my words. 
)</p>
<p>So yeah – everyone step up for some caffeine this morning and smile with me. TSFH really, truly is going to go to college! 
Take heart, parents of seriously smart slacker boys.</p>
<p>Congrats mootmom!</p>
<p>“Take heart, parents of seriously smart slacker boys.”</p>
<p>Duly noted. ;)</p>
<p>Do I have any Green Tea Leaves stuck in my teeth ? </p>
<p>My ‘bright but march to his own drummer’ boy came in from the garden this morning bright eyed and full of glee “Did you hear it”? “No”, I answered cautiously, - apparently he had discovered how to emit a big sound from his souvenir conch shell…“It was amazing the whole valley echoed with the sound”…(7 am…I’m sure the neighbors loved it too ) Of course he was supposed to be studying for upcoming SAT tests… HA HA HA</p>
<p>Congrats Mootmom - there is hope! Light at the end of the tunnel!</p>
<p>Hooray for TSFH! and his mootmommie!</p>
<p>Speaking of green tea, I just discovered Trader Joe’s Green Tea Yogurt. Ooh, it’s awesome! :)</p>
<p>Yay Mootmom and son! Hey, you know what I am finding out? Girls have their moments. Without getting into specifics, let’s just say it has been quite a week! Girls can be buttheads too. Give me a Pina Colada please.</p>
<p>4giggles - belated hello from me. Just to let 'ya know, Sinners Alley is a great place to spill the beans if it will be good for your mental health. That is to say, a mom who hints that the body formerly inhabited by D1 has been taken over by a stranger - and that said stranger may not be leaving any time soon - may have a story to tell.</p>
<p>WHAT HAPPENS IN SINNERS ALLEY STAYS IN SINNERS ALLEY.</p>
<p>Right, guys?</p>
<p>So if you need to get it off your chest, you can change the names to protect the guilty. We often find that acronyms work for this purpose… Might I suggest TDLAFAP (The Daughter-Look-Alike-From-Another-Planet)? OTOH, if spilling the beans would be a sorry reminder of what you’re trying to forget; which is why you wafted into Sinners Alley in the first place… well, in that case, “Federico, pour 4giggles a tall one on me.” :D</p>
<p>Federico, pour mstee a tall one on me. Moms of daughters have their rows to hoe, too.</p>
<p>Haha mootie and mstee. Recently a prospective family went to son’s headmaster and asked if any other Americans attended the school. </p>
<p>“Yes, but none are quite as ‘colorful’ as cheersS2.” (Now graduated)</p>
<p>Yeah, right–who is populating Saturday night detention? Who is doing four hours of hard labor for faculty on Sundays? I know those two programs miss him, LOL.</p>
<p>Mstee, I am SO with you. S sailed through high school, and I wondered what all the fuss of “its so hard to raise a teenager” was about. Slacker parents, obviously - look how good my S came out! I must be a great parent! Then D hit high school… don’t get me wrong, she’s a good kid, hasn’t been in any serious trouble KNOCK ON WOOD. But life with her is never boring.</p>
<p>Will I look back on all this one day and laugh? Oh what the heck, I’ll have a Cosmopolitan with you guys and laugh now!</p>