<p>Thanks all! DD is on cloud nine. And I am one proud mom!</p>
<p>You guys all have such healthy options!!! A dear colleague of mine, now retired, would announce to everyone on the floor that I was having a stressful day when I showed up for lunch with seasoned curly fries. I had an extra large at Arbys the other day (and paid for it later lol)…</p>
<p>As curmudgeon knows, I am hoping for four years of good BBQ, since there was nothing in the mailbox today I have to wait, sip wine, and watch basketball, at least until the last performance of the musical tonight.</p>
<p>Hey, sabaray, I am so glad for your D and you!</p>
<p>My vigil is, once again, for FA. Since S is a continuing student on the quarter system, we won’t know until August 1. We are pretty sure we will get even more this year, but won’t know for sure until then. So my vigil is a happy one, I think. 
At least I know where my S will be next year, unlike some of you.</p>
<p>My sympathies to those of you who are on pins and needles for the next couple of weeks.</p>
<p>My contribution to the welcoming/calming effect of the vigil room has to do with beads again. I have made half a dozen strings of gorgeous cobalt blue crystal beads and am hanging them in the window. The sun is streaming through and blue highlights are dancing all over the walls.</p>
<p>I am grabbing an almond croissant and a pineapple chunk. Thanks, Owlice! And good luck with that decision about your S!</p>
<p>I thought I smelled owlice’s cooking!! </p>
<p>And LOL binx (hi, btw!) about the “D”-- I read it wrong after sseing your posts and going back. Had to think about what a “D” meant… Ohhhhhh a DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD. I get it. Oops.</p>
<p>Ironically, I have a real life batch of brownies in the oven for DS and GF who are here. Happy to share. Good luck to everyone!!!</p>
<p>Congrats to sabaray and her DD! Wonderful news.</p>
<p>Thanks for the snacks everyone - my own house is pretty much goody-free at the moment. :(</p>
<p>I have a few boxes of Girl Scout cookies I can put out. Thin mints anyone??</p>
<p>It looks like Thursday will be a big day around here…</p>
<p>Oh gosh, I am so nervous for all of you. Oh yeah, and your college-bound children.</p>
<p>Crashing the vigil for some of the strawberries. Thanks! and good luck to everyone waiting.</p>
<p>Hope to be in your shoes next year, if we get that far. D is balking at ‘playing the game’, doesn’t want to brag on the GC’s information sheet. She figures he knows her well enought to write a good rec. Won’t want to brag on the applications, either. I’m hoping she will wow them on the interviews…</p>
<p>Did I hear someone offer up Girl Scouts Thin Mints??? Comin’ thru-- pardon me… excuse me… Step A-W-A-Y from the thin mints…</p>
<p>No fair, jym - you have a S in town! That’s my vigil - wondering if I will ever see my kids again…</p>
<p>Gladmom, your beads sound beautiful; cobalt is my very favorite color ever! Okay, not the same stress level of you guys, but I’m vigiling while DS works out the whole apartment/roommate/subleasers/ issues. I’d like to see him set and secure and deposited etc. before May, when he needs to move in. Not a major vigil - but I’m not called “anxiousmom” for nothing!
Oh… and I’ll take a thin mint if there’s one to spare, Crm86!</p>
<p>Sorry, binx… but in all fairness, his being “here” is a relative term. He slept here Fri and Sat night, but has spent most of his time with his friends and gf, and is off to her m’s lakehouse with her for most of the rest of the week. Well, good news-- he and a friend did walk with us to/from dinner at a nearby restaurant Fri night, and he did do his own laundry. I’ll take what I can get.</p>
<p>BTw-- there are always enough thin mints for my vigil buds!</p>
<p>Offering up some of those wonderful little “champagne” grapes. No, they aren’t in the stores yet, but in virtual time I have a big plate full. Good with the Pepperidge Farm Bordeaux cookies. Have several, they’re very thin.</p>
<p>Had a lovely afternoon (finally) with DD home on break today. Walked our feet off at the botanic gardens. Actually got a “How do you know all this?” over my fairly basic knowledge of latin names for trees. Quercus, Cornus, Prunus, Acer, not exactly advanced botany but I guess she doesn’t think I know about anything but rocks…</p>
<p>You know the stress level is up when nothing on the buffet table appeals to me! So, I made a drug store run for Tums, Prilosec, Zantac, Alka-Seltzer, Advil, Tylenol and a good multi-vitamin. Is there a pharmacist in the house?</p>
<p>chintzy, how about something from the bar? :-)</p>
<p>It’s late here in the Vigil Lounge, and the buffet table reflects that. For those whose dinner is long past, we have eggs scrambled with asparagus, chedder, chives, and orange peppers with toast and various juices. In addition to the champagne grapes (which I love; thanks for bringing them, dragonmom!) and the Thin Mints (thanks crm, and I’m sorry, everyone else; there were more before I got here…), we have peppermint, jasmine, chamomile, and decaf Constant Comment teas, cocoa, and a few light desserts (strawberries, chocolate-dipped of course, but also plain and sliced for spooning over angel food cake, mini lemon raspberry tarts, and orange sorbet). A bowl of whole fruits – temple oranges, apples, and pears – is in the center of the table.</p>
<p>My weekend has been spent prodding S to fill out financial aid forms, prodding S to write thank you notes to those who wrote his recommendations, prodding S to get into the car so we could buy small gifties for those getting thank you notes, and sending emails to exH to prod him to fill out financial aid forms. S may not be ready for college, given all the prodding, but then again, neither might exH! :)</p>
<p>(Oh, as if I’m a good one to talk…I can procrastinate with the best of them!)</p>
<p>owlice–you are the consummate hostess! I missed your spreads since last March. I brought homemade cranberry bread, and cinnamon buns, mmm, still warm from the oven. for any early morning arrivals, we’ll call it breakfast.</p>
<p>I will be joining the vigil again this year. My s is freshman at W & L, (the one I sat vigil for last year) and my d will start college this fall. (must admit, no vigil really needed as she received several early acceptances ~ she’s got another one coming but has pretty much already decided on New College of Florida. woah, how could this year have been so much earlier and simpler. well my separation anxiety anticipating her leaving kind of makes up for it. good luck and I’ll bring the champagne on April 1st.</p>
<p>:: munches on a cinnamon bun ::</p>
<p>Thanks, lindz! And congratulations to your D!! I’m glad this year was much easier on you!</p>
<p>cheddar</p>
<p>:: should not type at night, obviously! ::</p>
<p>Wow, has it been a year? Good thoughts to all who are waiting for decisions. None on the table for us this year as eldest has already been accepted to law school and urban planning school (joint degree) for next fall. Middle S will graduate in May and I suppose we sit the vigil for a job, but I don’t think there’s anything on the table yet. D is our consummate go-getter and has already been admitted to a sponsored internship program for the sumer and her first choice study abroad program for the fall. Oh, did I say say no vigil? Eldest (the one going to law school) is currently hiking the Appalachian Trail and will get as close to Mt. Kahtadin in Maine as possible before he has to be at school in August. For those who were with us last year, at least it’s not Uzbekistan! </p>
<p>Owlice, you are the hostess with the mostest! I am perusing this thread with much interest as I am having a real life dinner party in April. Friends and I decided that in this recession it would be much more fun and cost effective to entertain at home, with all attending contributing. A change from the usual “lets go to a restaurant” Saturday night!</p>