<p>“Do I need to mail you clean underwear every month?” LOL</p>
<p>Between that and pima’s story, I guess I wasn’t too bad! We’re going to go hang out (her request) this afternoon, and then head for home. sniff!</p>
<p>I didn’t cry, but his poor 9yo sister sure did that first night at bedtime. I told her to just pretend he was still at work or out with friends (he’s often not home yet when she goes to bed), but “it’s not the saaaaaame!”</p>
<p>It’s definitely harder on the siblings. I am already getting the short answers and we’re down to two calls a day; morning and midnight pretty much <sigh>. It seems he may already have a girlfriend. They had kept in touch since orientation. She’s very goal oriented, so that’s a plus, but talk about your Romeo! The girls here still have swollen eyes from all the crying! I already feel like I’m being a nuisance if I call. Something in his tone of voice, I guess. So, I have stopped. I wait for the sporadic, brief, curt, phone calls <sigh>.</sigh></sigh></p>
<p>He’s excited for classes to start. He walked to the buildings and timed himself. No problems. He’s spent a good part of the weekend downloading applications to his i-Phone that are “amazing”. I sent him “one more box” and my back is throbbing along with DD’s and DH’s. I don’t remember how much it weighed, I just remember how much I paid!! I understand he also “needs” a rolling chair for his desk, like home. I thought we had established the difference between a need and a want, but perhaps not.</p>
<p>On the upside, DD is convinced, their bathroom will stay clean from now on. I am in agreement!</p>
<p>2 phone calls a day? WOW, i won’t get 2 phone calls until he needs money :p, and that will be can you and did you deposit money?</p>
<p>Okay, then I consider myself privileged at this point! Pffffft!</p>
<p>Jewels, I was just looking at an office chair on Staples.com, and they have free delivery. Just FYI. :)</p>
<p>The chairs in the rooms are very basic padded straight chairs. No way to adjust height, lean back in them, swivel around or anything.</p>
<p>[Office</a> Star Black Faux Leather Task Chair | Staples®](<a href=“http://www.staples.com/Office-Star-Black-Faux-Leather-Task-Chair/product_728031?cmArea=SC2:CG32:DP2156:CL161515]Office”>http://www.staples.com/Office-Star-Black-Faux-Leather-Task-Chair/product_728031?cmArea=SC2:CG32:DP2156)</p>
<p>Pax,</p>
<p>Thanks, but uhhhh…who’s side are you on? :)</p>
<p>Hey Jewels…IKEA has several chairs (much cheaper than the Staples model), and he could take the bus there (and put it together when he gets back!!) D got a red version (I’m sure he’d probably need to wait a couple of weeks until they get all their UMD-colored items back in stock!). </p>
<p>No outward sobbing, but my eyes were leaking on and off until we got a few miles into Virginia. 
</p>
<p>Jewels_08, we’ve found that TXTing is good. D1 can be pretty snippy if she’s not in the mood to talk to me on the phone, so unless it’s something major, I usually txt her and tell her to call when she gets a chance. D2 is working on getting her phone line working…her new printer is an all-in-one, with a fax machine, so we can send faxes (and goofy cartoons) to each other!</p>
<p>Yeah the sibling thing is hard. My son and stepson are quite close and stepson is the youngest among the four siblings. Stepdaughter started college this year too so he’s the only one left at home and he seems quite lost. But I convinced my DH to take him to the big OSU vs. Navy football game over Labor Day weekend (we gave him the ticket for his birthday in July) so he’s very happy to have some alone-time with his dad. :D</p>
<p>Astro,</p>
<p>Thanks for the chair tip! I will check it out and see what they have in stock and let him know. He hasn’t had his first bus trip yet. I joked that the bus was bigger than his “beast” in the garage, so he should give it a try. That didn’t go over too well. He’s thinking he will take it with him in the winter. Uh huh…we’ll talk about that in the winter.</p>
<p>We do text, but even when HE calls, he’s short, etc. He did his first load of laundry already, so he called about that. We were pleasantly surprised that there is a change machine in the basement for the machines. I just sent him $20.00 in quarters. Oh and on the laundry note, I found something at Target this summer that was a life saver for our DD while she was in NY this summer on her own (dorm) and DS said they were awesome for his laundry too. They are washer/dryer sheets in one by Purex. They look like very thin sponges with laundry detergent absorbed in them. You just toss one little sheet (literally the dimensions of a sponge) in the laundry with your clothes. Then you toss it in the dryer with the clothes. It has a small section of the sponge that releases a Bounce like chemical for static cling and wrinkles once the clothes are in the dryer. It smells heavenly and NO LUGGING BOTTLES to the basement!!!</p>
<p>I can’t wait to hear how his classes go today! He finishes by 1:00.</p>
<p>I got those same laundry sheets for my son. I also put $20 on his Terp Express account for laundry so he can just use his ID card. He may well save his laundry up and just do it on weekends home, though.</p>
<p>I totally forgot about Ikea for the chairs. Great idea. </p>
<p>Weird experience at the grocery store this morning: I kept having to put things back because I realized I’m not feeding him any more! We only need one package of refrigerated biscuits, a small pack of ground beef, etc.</p>
<p>Pax,</p>
<p>We had the same experience at the grocery store Saturday! DD is starting to like the idea of having a neater bathroom and having more room in the hall closet for HER ballet gear!</p>
<p>I know I didn’t miss filling up the “beast” with gas yesterday!!</p>
<p>I had my first mission into D2’s still-mess-of-a-room today…she needs a couple of things, and I had to go in, on my cell phone, and have her give me detailed directions for where/what to look for. Some day, I’ll go in and try to start organizing (probably half the clothes in her closet are too small and can go to Goodwill), picking up the pile of hangars all over the floor, and generally sorting through the piles of crap she left behind. For now, it’s just easier to shut the door. I was amazed, however, that she left the bathroom CLEAN! I had forgotten what the countertop between the sinks looked like in that bathroom!!!</p>
<p>You’re ahead of me on the bedroom thing. His door is closed for now too. It’s not a mess, just a few clothes on the bed that didn’t get hung back up. The bathroom is done, thanks to his little sis who shared it with him 
but it will be a few more days before I organize the room.</p>
<p>I did DS’s room last Wed. when he left. I was so excited to see the bed made after 3 months of not seeing it. Here’s the hilarity, his dog misses him so much that she is now sleeping on it, and I guess to make her feel he is still there, she manages to kick off the throw pillows and pull the comforter into a ball, while she sleeps between the pillows. Everybody laughs as they pass the room. Does anybody know a way to train a dog on how to make a bed, or at least an operation to give her thumbs? :D</p>
<p>Otherwise, I am doomed to making his bed everyday or just coming to terms that it will never be made again. And no she did not sleep on the bed with him, but on the floor.</p>
<p>Awww, poor pup! I don’t think our cats have noticed that he’s gone, but his hermit crab bit his sister HARD this morning and wouldn’t let go of her hand. She ended up with a blister on her palm. I have a feeling the crab may end up living in the dorms.</p>
<p>Well, I got through it with only a few sniffles - but I did tell my husband to “just go” after I shut the car door and I did not look back!
Move In went well - because we had to fly, the ‘stuff’ was kept to a minimum, but we did do a fair amount of shopping once we arrived. Older sister was there to lend a hand, which made things go much smoother.
I did venture into her bedroom last night - but it was so empty, it made me sad so I left quickly.
She phoned me after her first class yesterday and sounded very excited - she is thrilled to be a “Terp”!!
I guess I will just be biding my time until she flies in at Christmas!!!</p>
<p>DO what I did, go online and buy something from the terp site like a flag to put in front of the house. It’s weird, but it makes me feel better…even the neighbors know when DS is home because I fly it when he is gone…kind of like the queen of england and her palaces, but reverse. Don’t know what I will do next yr, guess I will rotate his UMD flag with DD’s school (VaTech is her #1 pick) for home games or something!</p>
<p>Ha! I fly the Terp flag when they come HOME!!!</p>
<p>Pima: Why not just shut the door to his room? </p>
<p>There are some good and bad ways to train a dog to stay off furniture imo. </p>
<p>Bad: shock collar activated by a hand-held, spray her with a water bottle in the face if she climbs up on the bed. </p>
<p>Good: Call her off the bed, then reward her (treat, praise, fun, whatever she prefers). For a while, always reward, then thin out the frequency of the rewards until she doesn’t need a reward. Then start rewarding her for staying down rather than getting down.</p>
<p>If you don’t do anything, I think you will find she stops after a while. She just needs to transfer her need for pack mates to someone else in the family in his absence.</p>