<p>jym, these jokes are great! They have a real Steven Wright quality to them.</p>
<p>kat, your sons are the type of young men I think of when my “Don’t diss the military hair trigger” is set off. Congratulations.</p>
<p>
<em>ROFL!!!</em> The indignities foisted upon us when we’re preggo! I can relate to the bedrest thang…did that with S1 for 8 weeks, and he still suffered IUGR–he was only 5 lbs. 6 oz. at full term, but healthy as can be! 
Glad you eventually got the apologies from your dh and the complex manager. I was actually much more sane when I was preggo than I am now with six kids (and tens of adopteds!)!!! :eek: Thanks for the laugh!!</p>
<p>~berurah
p.s. There <em>IS</em> no such thing as “off topic” on this thread! ;)</p>
<p>berurah: Did I mention that the house we lived in when I was pregnant with #1 had BATS??? LOL True story. I attribute his bright red hair to all the adrenalin rushes I had.</p>
<p>This is really OT, but how many of us had difficult pregnancies with these smartie pants kids? I also had bedrest for pre-eclampsia with S1 --it really messed up his sleep schedule as a baby, but fortunately he’s making up for lost time.</p>
<p>
ahhh…big roaches 
That was my introduction to Texas. The first night I ever slept in Texas, I woke up as waterbug (a nice name for a huge roach) ran across my face. ICK!
And CATHYMEE, where did your kids end up at school???<br>
I want to hear more from people whose kids took the less expensive path - something lower down the spectrum than Harvard vs. Emory!!! How about UT-Austin vs Rice or Texas Tech???</p>
<p>
{{{{{{{{{major hugs, sweetie!}}}}}}}}} I can only imagine your angst at this decision of your son’s. I have often attempted to “try this scenario on” with my own sons, and frankly, I can’t even get that far. I have true admiration for your son, 1sm’s son, and your entire families. Courageous doesn’t even begin to cover it. I wish your and 1sm’s sons all the best for successful and <em>SAFE</em> futures always! love, ~berurah</p>
<p>anxiousmom:
</p>
<p>Maybe that should be a thread! :D</p>
<p>Hmmm. Do we take the 98th ranked school or the 110th ranked school???</p>
<p>Seriously. </p>
<p>That is one of my kid’s choices. Ha. (I’m secretly hoping he goes for the 110th. It’s 20K/year less!!!)</p>
<p>
Uh, weenie?? I think I’ll take my roaches and count my blessings, thank you very much! :eek: <em>ROFL!!!</em> </p>
<p>Dh comes from an ung-dly long line of redheads and do you think I could get <strong><em>ONE</em></strong><em>??? I gave up after four…</em>sigh* Brunettes all over here! I am a bit jealous, though! ;)</p>
<p>~b.</p>
<p>I lived in roach heaven when I attended Columbia. But since I was at an elite that made it okay. Right? ;)</p>
<p>Berurah, neither my brother nor his wife are redheads, but all four kids are. It was quite funny. There were redheads up a generation (her side) or two (my side).</p>
<p>lafalum , I sent you a p.m.</p>
<p>
OY VEY!!! :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek:</p>
<p>I never had your experience, but one day, after the babe I had been preggo with was born and sitting up, I found her on the kitchen floor (as I was cooking) HOLDING ONE OF THE CRITTERS in her little chubster hand and guiding it toward her mouth!!! My scream could have woken the dead, but she just smiled a huge toothless grin. She did, however, drop the wretched little creature… :)</p>
<p>~b.</p>
<p>Having contributed our own little decision dilemma between two schools three days and over 1000 posts ago, I am so glad this thread appears to be back in friendlier territory. I’ve been grossed out by the roach stories, having grown up in a city, I need no reminders. but much preferable to the sniping. My own nutty preggo story revolves around a tree – I came home from the hospital with kid #3 to find a crew sawing away the uppper canopy of our beautiful 100 year old oak to make way for yet another cable company line – I held my newborn baby, stood in front of the tree, and told them there was really no point in continuing their work as I was way too hormonal for it to be safe for anyone. My husband knew enough to just take the suitcase inside. They chuckled, most of damage already done and scurried away like the roaches they were! Anyway, thanks to curm, calmom, padad, toneranger, marite and others who gave us food for thought and questions to ask in making the Penn State w/ $$ v. MIT decision. Kid is definitely leaning to MIT, but “doesnt like to spend $$” if not necessary. Will go overnight at both to make sure of fit. Thanks again, and glad humor is back!</p>
<p><em>shudders</em> roaches! We had a ton of those at home. Thankfully, not a problem with them here at school. I can do most bugs. Even spiders are fine, as long as they don’t startle me. But roaches creep me out!</p>
<p>And berurah, apparently my parents found me licking one of them when I was really little. Ew…</p>
<p>Anyway, since I feel weird about posting off topic without including something in topic (probably because my first message board really cracked down on spam):</p>
<p>anxiousmom: I’ve already posted, so you’ve probably read my story, but if you haven’t, I guess I fit that category. Though my choices were all over the board ranking-wise (though no HYPS, etc.). I ended up choosing a university on the lower third of my list (applied to 12 schools, received 12 acceptances), ranked 81 according USNWR. However, not all of the reason I’m here is due to money, though that was a large part of it.</p>
<p>anxiousmom - interested in Rice vs Carnegie Melon vs Clemson?</p>
<p>I’ll jump back in the pool (as long as ther are no critters in it) ;)</p>
<p>One of our dilemmas with the merit $$ vs. top school debate is developing a list in the first place. We are lucky to have a state school that is very strong in DS’s intended majors and does a heckuva job recruiting and loving on these kids. Merit $$$, early access to upper div classes, substantive research. But DS is not a big school kind of kid. Could care less about sports teams. DS wants to apply to some of the upper tier (though probably not Ivy). For the right fit and opportunity, we would make it happen, albeit we’ll sputter and gasp as we write home equity loan checks. That state school sure makes it hard to look at other excellent schools that would cost us more money (with or without a merit package at the state u.).</p>
<p>The trend has been that his list looks very top-heavy. I want to make sure he has choices next spring.</p>
<p>Yepper! I just checked you other posts to find out your decisions. :)</p>
<p>
<em>NOW</em> you get it!!! ;)</p>
<p>
I don’t get it! 
Dh is one of 85 granchildren on his mom’s side. There were 15 kids (plus two legally adopted ones) in his mom’s family. <em>TONS</em> of them are redheads, and my hubster’s hair, though not <em>red</em> red definitely has some highlights. My niece has BRIGHT red hair. But our kids?? Not a redhead in the bunch, though D2’s hair has very subtle highlights. Genetics is interesting. Guess I am as dominant genetically as I am as a wife! <em>ROFL</em> ;)</p>
<p>~b.</p>
<p>
And you lived to tell (and LAUGH) about it!! But yeah, EWWWWWW!!! :eek:</p>
<p>
CD~</p>
<p>This sounds like my son’s list two years ago. It’s not that we were totally ignorant (albeit close) <em>lol</em>, but his game plan at the time was simply that if he did not get into (and get $ from) one of his very top choices, he’d rather stay in state and attend the flagship U in the Honors Program, thereby saving the $ for grad school. Sometime mid-journey he got very cold feet about this. We threw in a couple of extra schools, one with a good possibility of merit aid. It ended up being a very positive thing. He received a 3/4 tuition scholarship at UMiami, giving him an option other than the state school…and not only did it give him another choice, but it bolstered his confidence and made him feel appreciated as an applicant. Though he didn’t select this option, I still remain VERY grateful to UMiami (my alma mater) and give a bit more generously when they come soliciting donations <em>lol</em>. </p>
<p>I would suggest that if your son’s list is top heavy, you encourage him to consider adding some appealing schools which have merit opportunties. That will give him more choices and added security.</p>
<p>~berurah</p>
<p>I made the mistake of letting toddler S1 get out of the cart in WalMart one day while I looked for something on a shelf. Looked down to check on hin to find him sitting on the floor with a cigarette butt in his mouth…uggghhh.</p>
<p>Same S1 is on NROTC scholarship and will deploy for a month this summer. He could list 3 choices and one of them is the Middle East…“why?”, I ask. “Because I’ve seen all I want to see of the eastern U.S”, he says.<br>
aghhh…boys</p>