<p>Parents, hug your children. A friend just lost her son to a bad reaction to Adderall. Don’t know if he took too much or what, but he had a heart attack. So so sad.</p>
<p>That drug has been implicated in heart attacks & strokes even when used as prescribed, and there are college & HS students using it even tho it hasn’t been prescribed for them. Scary.</p>
<p>That must be devastating, Momannoyed. Adderall is a frequently prescribed drug but I had not heard of the risks associated with it. (Hugs) to you and to your friend. </p>
<p>In COLLEGE news, S1 was asked by his undergrad school to return & serve as an alumni rep on a career discussion panel. S2 is back to working 90-100 hrs/week after a brief reprieve of two 80 hr weeks. But he was able to attend his COLLEGE homecoming last weekend. His GF was on the homecoming court, and he enjoyed catching up with friends who graduated & those who have yet to graduate. Alas, he was not able to make the homecoming parade and the precision-marching lawnmowers.</p>
<p>Just dropping in to say hi! My life has been a bit crazy lately - with my nephew’s wedding in Dallas and WAY too much work to do over the last couple of weeks. It is finally calming down.</p>
<p>So sorry to hear about your friend’s son, Momannoyed. That is is very sad. And I, too, was not aware that it carried that kind of risk.</p>
<p>Airport coffee and breakfast is on me this morning. 12rmh18, I saved you some Boston Stoker. I’m catching the early flight back, DW is picking me up at the airport, and we are spending the weekend on the Skyline drive… something we have not done since D1 was a baby. I am not allowed to bring my laptop or set up DW’s new iPhone on the trip.</p>
<p>Coskat – Clearly we must start with congratulations to your DD and the MOB… Better you than me!!! Good thing you came back with all those winnings. 
</p>
<p>Coskat/LIMOMOF2 – Rumor has it that DW was going to drive the car for the first time yesterday. She was going to drive it to work which would put 5 whole miles on it. No wait, that would imply that she took the dirt road which ain’t gonna happen… make that 7 miles for the paved route. And no, it will not be going to those leafy mountains with us this weekend. I used Hertz points for that. ;)</p>
<p>LIMOMOF2 – I am happy to announce that NYC’s ebola victim is not D2’s friend!</p>
<p>Momannoyed – Very sorry to hear about your friends. I try to always keep the things that I worry about my kids in perspective. You would think that CVG = Kentucky would be on the final Delta exam!</p>
<p>Mathmom – The license will arrive all in due time, but priorities first. One of D2’s favorite parts of NYC is no need to drive.</p>
<p>Esobay – Glad to hear that your DS is doing well. Sorry to hear that your DD and her grad student need a little fire lit under them, ergh! Reunions, yuck! I went to one a few years ago and could not wait to leave!</p>
<p>12rmh18 – I’m glad that your S2 was able to make it to homecoming, ‘cuz I sure didn’t. You’ll appreciate this, a few months ago DW met a woman in Williamsburg who was going to her 85th W&M Reunion to which I replied, “No way. That would make her 100 years old.” I was wrong, she was 105 years old and thinks that she may be the oldest alum. She said that she was the only one at her 80th reunion.</p>
<p>Aliceinw – Take the day off, you deserve it.</p>
<p>About the only post-college news from D2 is that she and 2 alumnae (who are “great”) have gotten together to look for an apartment. They looked at on-line options and went to physically see some of them last weekend. She texted how much they liked Brooklyn and are thinking that it would be nicer (and cheaper) to live farther out.</p>
<p>Gsharp - my boss said the same thing! We closed a deal this week that was very stressful, and included two nights past 2 AM - an activity for which I am much too old. </p>
<p>Congrats, coskat! I am glad I have boys. I hope that means I get out of paying for much. :)</p>
<p>Momannoyed, that is so sad. I’m sorry.</p>
<p>12rmh, how did I miss that ds2 had a gf back at school? I guess it’s good they are long distance as it means when he’s working those long weeks that he’s not missing much. And she’s not getting annoyed that he’s not around. ;)</p>
<p>alice, I hope the wedding was lovely.</p>
<p>G#, good luck to dd2 on the apartment hunting.</p>
<p>Been a crazy month around here. Dh’s uncle, his mom’s brother and my favorite, died. Two weeks later, dh’s mom died peacefully in her sleep. 
This happened on the weekend ds2 flew home to break up with his gf of two years. And there’s more, but that’s enough doom and gloom for now. Sad about it all, of course. In good news, the breakup seems to have given ds a renewed sense of possibilities, and he’s finally considering study abroad. That makes me really happy. He’s never been abroad but loves to travel. He has to do an English-language program because he stopped Spanish one semester short of what he needed to do a Spanish-language program, but his school has English-language programs in lots of wonderful, interesting places.</p>
<p>Ds1 just ran out the door to help coach his HS ultimate team. He’s really excited. The head coach is famous in those circles, having played internationally on a world-champion team; I think ds likes the idea of greatness by osmosis. He is starting to give some thought and arranging lunches/meetings around next steps. He likes his AmeriCorps gig, except for the sedentary nature. But he does like the work and wants to continue in that vein. He has pretty much ruled out grad school based on various conversations we’ve had with others so the real decision now is whether to re-up for another year or to pursue a real job in his area of interest. In fun news, next weekend we will have a houseguest – one of ds1’s former teammates who I believe is alice’s ds’s roomie! Small world …</p>
<p>YDS - that should be fun for your DS1. I’m sure he misses his college friends. I know D does, so she’s planning to head to Cambridge for the Harvard-Yale game next month. </p>
<p>GSharp - lol at your DW finally taking her new car out for a ride. I hope she enjoyed it. My car is currently at the body shop since a woman ran a stop sign and took off my front bumper. At least nobody was hurt, but it’s still annoying.</p>
<p>Apartment hunting in NYC is not easy, but Brooklyn has some really nice neighborhoods. Unfortunately, some of them are just as expensive as Manhattan. Good luck to your D and her friends/future roommates! </p>
<p>Mathmom - good luck to you with your renovations - not something I want to go through again!</p>
<p>Coffee for this iPeeps! Just because, y’know, it’s Monday …</p>
<p>G#: I’m stoked for the Boston Stoker! Wow, that’s really impressive about the 105 yr old alumnus. I hope they gave her some kind of special recognition over the homecoming weekend. Good luck to your D2 & her apartment search.</p>
<p>alicew: You’re keeping hours like my S2, which means that you must be 20-something at heart. Congratulations on closing the deal! Will they give you a ‘tombstone?’ (see below)</p>
<p>LIMOM: sorry to hear about the accident. I hope your car is out of the car hospital quickly & looks spiffy with its new bumper.</p>
<p>coskat: congrats on your D’s engagement and your Vegas winnings! Will your windfall go toward the MOB dress? ;)</p>
<p>esobay: sending PVCs for your D as she enters her PhD quals.</p>
<p>Mathmom: sending you calm & soothing vibes as you go through your renovation.</p>
<p>S1 called me Friday night around 9pm with a bad news-good news report. Bad news: he had been in the office for 37-hours straight in the same clothes that he wore to work on Thursday morning. Yuck! Good news: he closed his first big deal and earned a ‘tombstone,’ which is apparently an acrylic plaque that is awarded by the financial industry on the conclusion of a successful business deal. Somehow a ‘tombstone’ seems appropriate for Halloween week. (YDS: S2 is not long-distance from his GF. They are only 45 mins away from each other. The bigger issue is that they are in different life stages.)</p>
<p>Thanks 12rmh18, i needed more coffee and every kid can use more PVC.</p>
<p>Does anyone know any issues with MOVING the quals date? She had a heck of a time setting it up in the first place, then her machine broke so she hasn’t gotten as much data collected as she would like. But she thinks trying to get data while studying for quals is making her completely crazy. She said last night that she talked to one advisor that said OK to change, one that seemed iffy about it, but didn’t tell her not to. She is doing a dual lab kind of research so has two advisors, one in each lab. She gets stressed and really wants time to study. Originally she thought she would be done with data collection and get quals out of the way before Thanksgiving. Now she is trying for data by Thanksgiving and the quals before finals. She only has one class this quarter anyway. She stresses herself always. I am glad she is in her own house doing it this time. I was done with it after HS and what I didn’t know didn’t hurt while shewas in college. I’d rather say “You’ll be fine. What a good plan.” in person than on the phone, but that is as close as I need to get! LOL </p>
<p>DS has THREE new partners, one for each type of dance he does. I’d think that would make it tough in competitions. But year is young and dancing more girls can’t be all bad, right? </p>
<p>No college news, but I have to share that I got tired of the mess that was my sock drawer so I organized it and found SIX (6) mateless, white sox. All different. If any of them show up in your universe, could you send them home? I also found the mate to one of my black socks in DS’s drawer. Win 1, lose 6. :-L </p>
<p>G#–Your DW and her car reminds me of my DH and new clothes. He buys shores or socks or shirts (doesn’t really matter what) and it takes him months (even years, no joke) before he will wear them. I personally don’t get it, but that is who he is. He’s been wearing a “new” shirt this week that one of the boys gave him for Christmas about 4 or 5 years ago!</p>
<p>Momannoyed–maybe we need a website to match up the lone socks. Ours reside in the laundry room hoping for a match. Perhaps “matchsocks.com” or something?</p>
<p>esobay–PVC’s to your DD. I can imagine that my DS will be in a similar boat since he forgot to take some important calibration video off a camera for his senior research then the camera died and of course the video is on the camera memory, not the card. So without the calibration he can’t evaluate all his research video. Hmmm, I’d be freaking out if it was me.</p>
<p>Mathmom–good luck with the renovations. It’s painful but worth it in the end! </p>
<p>Stopping by to say hello. And to bring some coffee. </p>
<p>Things are quiet here - which is an improvement (I think) from the weeks leading up to closing my deal. 12rmh18 - your S2 can have the long hours and late nights; I am way too old for that. And I still have the bags under my eyes to prove it. S seems to be enjoying his job, and on Monday D started a long term temp assignment in a call center. I can’t wait to hear how she likes (doesn’t like?) that. She was craving structure in her days and money in her wallet, so maybe it will be okay.</p>
<p>I am heading “home” this weekend to help my mother sort things as she gets ready to move out of the house she has lived in for 56 years. I hope we don’t have too much drama, and I hope what I want fits in my Subaru Forester.</p>
<p>VAMOM - I love the idea for matchsocks.com I have some candidates now.</p>
<p>Happy Thursday to all.</p>
<p>DW and I thoroughly enjoyed the foliage on Skyline Drive last weekend. Unfortunately, I do not expect to enjoy the foliage as much this weekend as it will be on a rake in my yard. 
Here’s hoping that DW remembers to pick me up at the airport. ;)</p>
<p>YDS – Sorry to hear about your DH’s Uncle and Mother, as well as the break up! But, it sounds like a couple of “windows” may have opened up.</p>
<p>LIMOMOF2 – Glad to hear that you were not hurt! I have a car that has yet to be used if you need to borrow one. DW decided not to drive it to work, so it is our latch-key kid, ergh! She did go out and brush the dead bugs off of the hood. I told her that just because it is a 2015, she doesn’t have to wait until 2015 to actually drive it. Since my truck is at home, I told DW that she could ease into it by driving a different vehicle to work every day this week. We’re making progress, the car now has a name. Maybe this weekend, you never know… ;)</p>
<p>
That is me!!! I have shirts still in the plastic, pants with the tags still on them, etc. Here’s my reasoning… there is no point putting on the new clothes until the old ones are worn out.</p>
<p>Aliceinw – You’re looking well rested after taking last Friday off. It sounds like things are going well for your S and I wish the best for your D in her new endeavors. I also hope that your weekend is relatively drama free. Oh, and DW’s yet-to-be driven new vehicle is a Forester. It wasn’t even on the list, but we went to look at an Outback and she fell in love with the Forester.</p>
<p>12rmh18 – Congratulations to your disheveled S1 on his new “tombstone!”</p>
<p>
I always forget that some guys dance intentionally. ;)</p>
<p>D2 went back to her alma mater for Homecoming last weekend. I’m taking it as a positive sign about both her school and current living situation that she posted on FB, “Best place in the world, after NYC and Washington DC.” Two months ago, I’m not sure that I would have seen NYC in that mix. I can’t believe that Middle-of-Nowhere, VA didn’t make the list. In the meantime, she and 2 alumnae are supposed to be signing their new lease in Brooklyn today. Hopefully that happens and we can get that behind us. The commute is longer, but much cheaper. I will say that I’m impressed with how active her alumni association in NYC is and that she was able to find 2 roommates through it.</p>
<p>Good morning!</p>
<p>Thanks to all about my car. I got my car back on Wednesday, and it seems fine. I’m definitely happy to have it back - driving the rental was pretty stressful for me. Like GSharp’s DW, I don’t like change when it comes to cars.</p>
<p>Eso - good luck to you D! All that stress! I don’t miss having to deal with that.</p>
<p>12rmh18 - hope your S1’s schedule relaxes a little. Still, yay for his good news!</p>
<p>VAmom - yikes about your son’s research project! Hope he was able to retrieve that data somehow.</p>
<p>Alice - congrats to your D on her new job. I hope she likes it. I can’t remember - what was she doing before she had that job?</p>
<p>Momannoyed - too funny about the missing socks.</p>
<p>GSharp - wow about your DW still not driving her new car. I hope that once she gets around to it, she loves it.</p>
<p>Congrats to your D on her new Brooklyn apartment! I’m sure she’ll be very happy there. So nice to know the alumni group is so active and has been helpful to her. I also love that she lists NYC as one of the best places in the world. I know that’s true, but I also know that not everyone agrees.</p>
<p>Cool that she went back to her school for Homecoming. D is going back to hers for the Harvard-Yale game later this month. :)</p>
<p>Got to see DS for a couple of hours last night. DH and I went to an improv show near campus, stopping for Dewey’s pizza first. We thought S would like the show, so texted him to join us if he wasn’t busy. He not only joined us for the show, he snitched a piece of pizza out of the take-home box in the back seat of the car. 
I guess we’re lucky he only took one.</p>
<p>Improv group was GREAT! So many laughs.</p>
<p>Stay warm, everyone! Some areas of Va., North & South Carolinas got snow already!</p>
<p>Coffee for all my friends. </p>
<p>Saw S last night - he has not yet re-registered to vote in his new neighborhood so he stopped in to vote near us after work and came by for dinner. He likes his job and is doing well. </p>
<p>LIMOM - D was a barista, but had quit her job to go gallivanting through Asia. So this is a fresh start. I don’t think it is her dream job, but she is happy to have a routine and a paycheck. </p>
<p>Happy Wednesday to all. </p>
<p>Happy Friday to the iPeeps! I’m offering mid-day coffee just to get you through to the weekend.</p>
<p>GSharp: inquiring minds want to know if your DW has taken her latchkey kid…er…car to work yet. Congrats to your D2 on her Brooklyn apt. Is she settling into her new digs?</p>
<p>LIMOM: speaking of cars, you must be happy to have your vehicle back.</p>
<p>mathmom: how are your renovations going? Is there light at the end of the tunnel?</p>
<p>momannoyed: gotta love those impromptu improvs. It sounds like a lot of fun, especially since your DS could join you to snarf the pizza. ;)</p>
<p>We’re headed to RVA to celebrate S2’s birthday, which is on Sunday. Sunday is the same day that the Berlin Wall fell 25 years ago, although S2 was born 2 years after the Wall collapsed. What a moment in history! It’s hard to believe that there is a younger generation that has no memory of the Berlin Wall or what it represented. I must be old.</p>
<p>I’m sitting in the airport with a cup of coffee to try to keep me awake after going to last night’s Browns vs. Bengals game. My condolences to Bengals fans everywhere… that was painful to watch.</p>
<p>Momannoyed – How dare your thievin’ S steal perfectly good Dewey’s from you. OK, he’s a smart kid. Dewey’s is my favorite Cincy pizza by far, especially this time of year when the seasonal pizza is the “Porky Fig” (“Fig Jam Base with Mozzarella and Fontina, Carmalized Red Onions, Prosciutto, and Gorgonzola”) and they have the harvest salad.</p>
<p>LIMOMOF2 – Congrats on getting your car back! </p>
<p>12rmh18 – Happy B-Day to your S2! Enjoy RVA… Tobacco Company?</p>
<p>12rmh18/LIMOMOF2 - DW has finally driven her new car to work… once! I called her today and she was at the Williamsburg Outlets, so I asked if she drove the new car… “No! These people will run you over and it’s not even Thanksgiving yet.” ;)</p>
<p>Aliceinw – Routine + Paycheck = I hope that it works out well for your D.</p>
<p>D2 now officially has a lease in Brooklyn. We have the pix to prove it. Her roommates are two alumnae who she says all get along great! They found bigger, nicer apartments, but did not feel comfortable in those neighborhoods, so they put safety first and downsized. She says that the apartment is nicer, but smaller than the one she is in now. She is proud of being able to do it without having a Guarantor, happy to no longer feel like an urban nomad, and can save more $. Out of the goodness of our hearts, DW and I are going to NYC next weekend to help D2 move her stuff. As the holidays approach, it’s funny, she thought that we would be upset if she spent Thanksgiving with friends in NYC instead of coming “home.” We made it very clear that we would love for her to come home, but completely understand if she wants to continue to build her new life. We look at it as nothing but positive that she has built enough of a friend base in NYC to not have to worry about being alone on Thanksgiving. She could even go to the Macy’s Day Parade with a few thousand of her closest friends. ;)</p>
<p>Flight is delayed, so apparently I will be sitting here a while longer, ergh!</p>
<p>12rmh18 & GSharp - thanks, I am very happy to have my car back. :)</p>
<p>12rmh18 - happy birthday to your S2! Enjoy your visit!</p>
<p>Alice - that’s right! I’d forgotten!</p>
<p>GSharp - has your D2 made her move to Brooklyn yet? I’ll be curious to hear what she thinks of it. </p>
<p>I’m sorry your D2 won’t be coming home for Thanksgiving, but NYC is amazing during the holidays, so at least she’ll have that experience. I’m happier watching the parade on tv, but I still love to check out all the store windows, Rockefeller Center, and the holiday markets. </p>
<p>Hope your flight went well once it arrived.</p>
<p>12rm18! Your S’s bday is the same day as my S1’s! He will be 24. Hard to imagine. Have a safe & fun trip!</p>