<p>FYI, I’m happy that this thread has become a catchall and “cafe” type repository for the CC BS parents.</p>
<p>Ah CroissantMiser, so new and so naive–the laundry discussion on this board is as inexhaustible as the pile of dirty clothes in my basement.</p>
<p>But, yes, on to a new topic…my kid always gets his comments in MS-Word, which is possible to print with comments. I don’t know how you’d do that with google docs, however, beyond a messy print screen. I think I’d email the admissions office and ask if a link to the document would suffice.</p>
<p>My kids do hand wash their spandex and uni’s in the bathroom sink… does that count? I think boys who can measure a cap of Woolite and hang their fine washables over the back of a chair (or from the rafters) take BS laundry to a whole different level, no?</p>
<p>Just trying to get Photokids some laundry cred. 
You guys are a tough crowd.</p>
<p>Any boy who can handle fine washables is going to be a sterling catch for some young lady down the road. And some dare argue the value of a BS education…you KNOW this would not happen at home. My kid didn’t know what spandex was until BS.</p>
<p>Glad to see we woke up this morning and got right back to the serious work of miscellaneous ramblings. Do none of us have day jobs?</p>
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<p>My DS discovered that if you stuff the aging washers too full at his school they overheat and set off the fire alarm. Whole dorm was evacuated in the middle of evening study hours.</p>
<p>Good job, RuralSon!!! I think we should start sharing the alarming things our kids have done at BS. Give me a moment to think…</p>
<p>Our son told us that he just hung his sport clothes in his locker after practice and they magically appeared washed and folded the next day. We thought (again), “what a school!” … until we got the laundry bill :-)</p>
<p>@ChoatieMom - folks often see self-employment as the path to freedom. But it’s 24/7, not 9-5; and don’t even get me started on the ‘benefits’ package!</p>
<p>Boys aren’t the only ones who don’t change sheets. Just sayin’. </p>
<p>I am also extremely grateful that LondonKid’s school provides uniforms AND takes them back dirty. I can’t only imagine the fees for lost uniforms I would be paying. And I am sure the roommate is happy not to have piles that include dirty uniforms…now if LondonKid could do away with the piles in general… Oh yeah - not my issue anymore. </p>
<p>Ahh, bliss.</p>
<p>CM-Thank God, because everything else about their appearance is in shambles.</p>
<p>I received a text this morning that said DEFCON 5 (in caps) from K2. K1, it seems, broke up with his girlfriend (of three years) from home over the weekend. I don’t really mind being the last to know, but had I known, I would of held off inviting her family over for Thanksgiving last week. Today is Wednesday, right?</p>
<p>Talking about laundry is oddly therapeutic right now… but now that I have some measure of laundry cred, I’m totally fine.</p>
<p>I cant think of any CC-worthy ChoatieKid story at the moment, so I thought I would shamelessly repeat something Dyer Maker posted in 11/11 regarding jackets for boys that I still think is the funniest thing I have ever read on CC (besides the kid who crossed a college off his list because it had too many squirrels):</p>
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<p>I cant top this.</p>
<p>My S and about seven other boys branded themselves with a heated wire hanger in an overenthusiastic bonding experience…</p>
<p>S had chosen a concealable area of skin for this adventure and called us a couple of days later (when infection started to set in) so we were able to get dermatologic treatment to accelerate healing and minimize scarring. One boy, with his brand right in the center of his chest, was not so lucky and had a serious infection with significant scarring.</p>
<p>Update to my last misc rambling post: Just got off the phone with K1 who apologized for forgetting he gave me the green light (back in Sept) to extend the Thanksgiving invite. He said he’s been wanting to break up for awhile and assured me he was respectful and kind.</p>
<p>I countered with: Anyone who breaks up with a girl over the phone is a cad. He said he told her they would get together over break and talk face to face. I replied: How big of you. ( I did hear remorse in his voice… so all may not be lost, but still).</p>
<p>Then I called girlfriend’s mom (who is an old/ great/ dear friend) and we’re going out tomorrow tonight. Her daughter has been crying for almost four days. (OMG, He’s not worth it!!) </p>
<p>I’m going to let this play out (and stay out of the way), but if anyone would like to offer kind advice, or has been in a similar situation- I’m all ears. Sorry for venting - I guess I’m really ticked at K1 right now…</p>
<p>Quenn: your post scared the heck out of me and I thought I had heard it all… </p>
<p>CM: That was funny. I would love to hear the squirrel story sometime. :)</p>
<p>Tried to send you a PM PhotoMom but it won’t let me. But I know how you feel.</p>
<p>PMom, if misery loves company……I came home from work one day during the Fall of my son’s senior year (at the time we lived in DC) to discover my wife and my son’s girlfriend crying together on the couch. (My immediate impulse was to run in the other direction as fast as I could.) We had told our son during his junior year that he had to attend GW in DC where my wife was a nurse and we would get half off tuition. Consequently, his girlfriend, who was a year ahead of him at Thacher and lived in SFO, decided to go to GW so they could be together……you can see how this is going to end. He breaks up with her in the Fall of his senior year and she is devastated – and now marooned in DC. We loved her – a truly wonderful young lady. Because I am the father and also part of the male species, I was, by association with my ratfink son, persona non grata around the house for quite some time. We understood why he wanted to break up with her, that it was his senior year etc, and that the news would have been upsetting no matter what, but it should have waited for a vacation and been done face to face. He has not repeated the error.</p>
<p>Crazy/upsetting things S has done at BS:</p>
<p>The VERY FIRST DAY at school we get a phone call while at the “freshman parents BBQ” (following drop off) - because S is at the health office, and needs to go the emergency room because he’s maybe broken his collarbone. Doing what, you ask? While walking to dinner (with 6 freshmen girls) he runs onto a large rock, jumps off and tucks into a forward roll, and ends up injuring himself. (“But mom, I’ve done the same thing thousands of times, and never hurt myself before! I don’t know what happened!”) </p>
<p>Thanks goodness he didn’t cause any serious damage (just a severe muscle strain, along with a very large dose of embarrassment), but instead of spending his first night at BS in his dorm, he spent his first night with us, whacked out on pain meds. And oh yeah - he had to leave two days later for his Thacher rite-of-passage freshman backpacking trip! (He did fine on the trip - despite not being able to lift his right arm above his waist level.) Not a particularly auspicious start to his BS career, but I expect it will make for a good story at graduation!</p>
<p>This may be the most epic thread ever. Even teenagers at their hormonal peak could not ricochet so rapidly and yet smoothly from frivolous hilarity to soulful sadness to severe Ouch . I find myself checking back expectantly every hour or two: where will it go next?! Write on, homies!</p>
<p>I hear ya, PhotoMom. D’s middle school boyfriend broke up with her last week – via text message! After a few hours of crying, she recovered quickly with the support of her new school ‘sisters’. And said “I’m so glad I’m at a girls’ school!” I think, though, that PhotoKid might have been trying to do the right thing by breaking up now rather than waiting until the holiday break. Remember the good old days, when you could ignore someone’s phone message or letters until you saw them in person to break the bad news? It’s so different now, with all this instant/constant communication. Perhaps he felt that he didn’t want to keep ’ faking it’ if they were in constant (or frequent) contact, and did what he had to in order to be honest. Such painful lessons! I do hope your Thanksgiving dinner works out…</p>
<p>The first load of laundry GMTson ever did at BS was a disaster. He thought the clothes dryer was a front load washer and poured the liquid laundry detergent inside the machine. Sophomore year we sprang for E&R.</p>
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<p>Why am I not surprised? Boys do weird things in front of girls. I think he was lucky to have just sore muscle.</p>
<p>D is in a school that has a long tradition of fear at the thought of a heated object in a dorm. Rumor has it that lighting a match is a “surefire” way to get booted; and no irons, hot hair implements (other than blow dryers), warm light bulbs or heaters are allowed anywhere in the dorm.</p>
<p>So she is wrinkled. Clothes come back from E&R so mashed together in the little bag that it looks like they were used as animal bedding. (Another reason to do your own laundry).</p>
<p>We decided to try a clothing steamer. No exposed heater part, has auto shut-off, and works great for the wrinkles. Steam is not a fire hazard. Unit comes in a compact box; snaps together, and becomes pretty tall with a hangar-like top. Drove it with her to school.</p>
<p>Discussions, discussions with school administration. Not specifically mentioned in rule book. Finally, had to be sent home, school decided not to allow any steamers. </p>
<p>But we discovered it does not completely snap apart, and we had flown in for parent’s weekend and could only take the base home in the box on the plane. So if you visit the dorm and see a puzzling tall hangar like thing standing there, that’s the top - until we can come in June and put it in the car.</p>