Wow, it’s great to see old friends stopping by with updates.
jbehlend - it’s great to “see” you again. Yikes! That’s quite a dramatic altercation with the housing administrators! I’m glad to know that DS was reinstated & graduated. The “school of hard knocks” is certainly one tough teacher. Congrats to your DS on finding his dream job & to your new SIL!
artloversplus: no door buster stories here either. I cannot handle the Black Friday crowds, so I let my fingers do the shopping on Cyber Monday. I spent Black Friday with friends & adult kids in one of our excellent Virginia vineyards sampling wine - but not too much because I was the DD, which in this context means Designated Driver.
LIMOM: congratulations on your D’s grad school acceptance! Here’s hoping there are more in the future.
alicew: wishing you a Happy Hanukkah! Here’s hoping you survive construction, both physically & psychologically. A hotel is an excellent idea to survive the vapors.
GSharp: congratulations on NYC still standing after the G# Girls’ Weekend! So, inquiring minds want to know if D2 will be home in time for the annual battle between the nutcrackers and the snowmen …
As for my update, S1 graduates with his Master’s degree next weekend. I just finished proofreading his last paper and being the Comma Police. I’m so proud of this young man, who worked full time and put himself through grad school at night. He’s got a 3.9 gpa going into this semester - which is a far cry from the kid who couldn’t manage his time & graduated HS with a 2.9 gpa. He also ran the Marine Corps Marathon in 3:40 this fall - which is a far cry from the kid who finished dead last in his HS cross country meets. He’s come such a long way in the past 10 years.
I learned from CC to always, ALWAYS, love the kid on the couch …
Posting from home this week. Technically, I am on vacation which just means keeping up with email and a little work here and there.
LIMOMOF2 – Are your kids home together yet? Enjoy having them around for Christmas! D2 is truly becoming a citizen of your fine city as she can’t wait for the holiday tourists to go home and stop impeding her progress toward getting to work.
AliceinW – I trust that you have not asphyxiated yet? Be sure to check in and let us know that you are OK and how many hotel points that you have amassed.
Jbehlend – Just Wow! What a way to get inducted into the CC Hall of Fame! At least all has ended well. Also glad to hear that all has ended well for your DD also! I believe that your “sins” are forgiven.
12rmh18 – Congrats to S1 on both the physical and mental marathons! Will you get to see S2 for the holidays? About those snowmen and nutcrackers… when we brought the decorations down from the attic DW was feeling a little down about not having the girls around, so she decided to scale back this year. Unknown to her, I later brought down the remaining 30 or so snowmen and nutcrackers and buckled them in DW’s “new” car. Snowmen in the backseat and nutcrackers in the front seat, cup holders, doors, etc. holding signs that read “Takin’ the Snowmen for a Joy! (with Holly Leaves) Ride.” Four days later, she noticed. To my knowledge, I’m still married, so she must have taken it well. However, she did mention that maybe I had too much free time and my honey-do list should have been longer.
D2 flew in today. Her office closed a day earlier than planned, but by the time they let her know I had already booked today’s flights and as I told her, I could send her back to England for what Delta wanted to change, ergh!
GSharp - so nice that your D2 made it home for Christmas! I’m sure you love having her at home for the holiday. Did you get to see D1 and her H? I hope so.
Love what you did with the snowmen and nutcrackers, and I’m sure it made your DW smile.
To answer your question, S has been home since 12/17 and D arrived home last Sunday. It’s been really great having them both at home. The only issue is that S always wants to use my car. Other than that, I love having them here.
Not surprised to hear that your D2 can’t wait for the tourists to go home. It’s much harder and more time consuming to get around the city when the people walking in front of you are constantly coming to a full stop.
So, when will D2 be returning to NY? My D will be leaving a day or two before NYE to visit friends in Boston before she heads back to work. S and his friends will be taking a road trip to Florida right after the new year. I am not excited about that as it’s a long trip for 4 or 5 19-year old guys to take on their own.
In case I don’t have the opportunity to post here again during the week, let me wish everyone here a happy and healthy New Year!
It’s been awhile, so I wanted to pop in and say “hello!”
I am green with envy for those of you have retired. Only 18 years to go until retirement for me! (that is what happens when you start a second career at 45!) Speaking of, I’m in my second year of teaching high school English. Oddly, this year is proving to be more difficult than my first year but I’m just riding it out and, of course, learning a lot from the experience. My husband’s job remains steady and he enjoys it. Very grateful to both be employed.
DS graduated from Northeastern a year ago this month (hard to believe!) He was a music industry major and is working in the music industry! A combination of his hard work plus, of course, luck landed him his “dream job” straight away out of college. We are all so thankful. He works long hours in NYC and loves it. We miss him like crazy down here in Texas but know that he is in the right place for this time in his career.
Speaking of Texas, the summers finally got to me and we bought a house with a pool! Isn’t that a crazy thing to do after your kid moves out? Well, we did it and this summer was so much better for it.
Jbehlend – So great that you stopped by. Sounds like you have had lots of exciting news – a gainfully employed S in a job he loves and a wedding for D, to an approved guy no less. I’m glad that you have all had a chance to spend time together.
12rmh18 – Congrats on your S1’s graduation from grad school.
Gsharp – That tableau of snowmen and nutcrackers ready for a joy ride must have been quite a sight. Hope your W enjoyed it.
LImom – Glad you had a chance to have your two kids home together.
PMK – Great to see you again! It’s wonderful that your S has a job that he loves in the field that he chose. And a house with a pool sounds nice.
Around here, D spent a week visiting with us, and S spent more time than usual at our house while she was here. I loved it. Now she is back in MN – I miss her but it is clear that she loves it there. And S will likely continue dropping by to be fed once a week.
I hope everyone has gotten a chance to spend time with family over this holiday season. Happy New Year to all!
Alice - nice that you had both of your kids home too. D left two nights ago - she went to Boston to visit with college friends who stayed in the area and she’ll be heading back to TN tonight.
PMK - so great to hear from you! Thanks for the update - it was nice to hear that you’re all doing so well.
Jbehlend - great to hear from you too. Yay for happy updates!
LIMOMOF2 – Thanks to D2, I have a replenished stash of Max Brenner’s chocolates and book from the Math and Physics section of The Strand bookstore near Union Square. She continues to try to fit into your city. This year she volunteered at a church somewhere in midtown that had a toy drive for underprivileged kids. She showed me a picture of the “Crown of Tinsel” that she put on their Jesus statue.
PMK – Welcome Back! Wow, 18 years. You get to retire before me! It sounds like your DS has really found his groove. We did not go quite the pool route, but they did deliver our new post-tuition hot tub this week.
AliceinW – Maybe you and DW could start a “Missing our D’s Club,” see below. Glad that you were able to have your youngins’ around for the holidays.
We had D1 and D2 “home” for Christmas. Unfortunately, D1’s H ended up sick at the urgent care on Christmas day, so D1 did not stay long as she wanted.
Having a History major at home always “livens” the Christmas discussion. This year’s Christmas topic was Witchcraft in America and how “Salem” is ironically a derivative of “Shalom,” the Hebrew word for “Peace.” D2 is back in NYC and had this week off, so her plan was to visit some museums. DW had a much harder time after taking D2 back to the airport this year. She said that last year it felt more like taking her back to school, but this year she realizes that this is the way that it is now. The cat keeps wandering back to D2’s room looking for her playmate too.
In college-ish news, D2 has submitted all of her applications and is waiting to see if anyone is remotely interested… her confidence level is not very high.
GSharp - that was so thought of your D2 to replenish your stash of Max Brenner’s chocolates. Although I’ve eaten at Max Brenner’s many times, I can’t remember ever buying their chocolates. I have, however, had some of their chocolatey breakfast dishes. I’m sure you’ll love the book she chose for you too. I love that your D2 has gotten involved in the community. I don’t think my D has gotten all that involved in her new community - mainly because she spends so much time working, and then she has a built-in community through her job.
So sorry to hear about your D1’s H. I hope he’s recovered from whatever he was sick with on Christmas. It’s too bad you and your DW didn’t have them there for as long as planned.
I’ll be thinking good thoughts for your D2 and for my D and hoping for positive results for both of them.
I haven’t checked out those links you shared - but I will.
Happy New Year everyone and congratulations and condolences as required. I think I had six months of catching up to do. Ack. Totally forgot about this thread, I have been posting elsewhere on CC.
S1 is still at Google and happy there. Best story from last year was his dinner at The French Laundry (sought after reservations, three Michelin stars). He is not a foodie. The list of food he dislikes is a mile long. His report. “Oysters are disgusting. The lamb was okay for lamb. Dinner took too long. The bread was good.”
S2 is still living at home. He has had two internships in NYC. The first unpaid, the other with a stipend that covered lunch and commuting plus a little extra. Internship number two ended up with him organizing most of the logistics of a trip to Kiev and Moscow for donors to meet the analysts and other bigwigs who do work in those areas for the organisation. Unfortunately he decided he really didn’t like working there and that in general NGO work is just not his cup of tea. He’s going in an entirely new direction and thinks he’d like to be a Naval Officer. He’s spent the last few months studying madly for the Officers Training School exam. We are all relearning logarithms and how pulleys work and other things that may or may not be on the exam. He should be taking it any day now. The recruiter isn’t answering his phone.
Good news is that his girlfriend (who we like very much) is getting her PhD at Columbia, so he’s got plenty of incentive to come back to our area when he can. But for right now we see a lot of both of them and have been enjoying not having an empty nest.
I have no plans to retire any time soon. I’m self-employed and will keep doing architecture as long as it keeps being (mostly) fun. I don’t see DH retiring sooner than he has to either.
After a very long sabbatical from CC I thought I’d check in and see how everyone is doing. It’s so great to read how everyone’s kids have gone on to fulfill their dreams! Way to go proud moms and dads!
Belated Happy New Year, peeps.
I still hate this location, the suburbs just are not as welcoming or easily found.
Plus, I suppose, with less college news I don’t hunt for support of people in this same trench as much. For a while, we were all on a similar road, now there are lots of branches, but I should remember, STILL INTERESTING branches.
Both “kids” are doing OK. DS decided not to accept permanent job offer from summer job, but is doing “time available” consulting back with them. So far (since New Years) seems to be going in on Fridays when he doesn’t have class. Keeps him busy and gives him $$ to buy a new bike (old stolen over the holidays) and new phone (cracked and old). And he took a summer internship (paid) with Google in the city. Threw me for a loop when he decided to live there although I think it is a golden opportunity to be there for a defined time, I didn’t think he’d bite. He still might not, depending on finding housing to his liking (He is not sharing a kitchen again he says).
DD wasn’t excited about the year, but got a lift when she got a compliment on the lecture she delivered as a TA for her prof. And she may have been selected to attend a conference in Japan in May. That might energize her!
Greetings all. Working from home this week, see below…
This has nothing to do with college, but I saw a license plate frame at W&M recently that said, “Driver carries no cash… He has 2 daughters.”
LIMOMOF2 – I’m holding out good thoughts for your D’s results too! I allow myself 1 square of Max Brenner per day so that it will last a while.
Mathmom – I see a bright future for S1 on the Food Network, “Reviews for the Picky Show.” That would be great! “Today on RPS we are visiting the McFrench Laundry where they work wonders with otherwise inedible critters…” In small world news, D2’s roommate is also a PhD candidate at Columbia. No retirement here either.
Jc40 – Welcome back! I think of you every now and then… could it be that I live in the land of Wahoos?
Esobay – Glad to see that you made the drive out to the ‘burbs for a visit.
If I ask really nicely, can I get some PVC for tomorrow? I am having some minor, outpatient surgery in the morning. My plan is to be back to work in the afternoon, but DW thinks that since they are putting me under, that’s not going to happen. Oh well, that’s better than my pre-op visit to the cardiologist last week where he pointed to a “blip” and said, “That’s where you had your heart attack.” To which I replied, “Huh?” To make a long story short, they re-did my EKG / stress test and declared me “perfectly normal” (little do they know ) and I’m good to go for tomorrow.
In post-college news, I helped D2 with her 401k set up since she became eligible. I don’t know if it is because she works in NYC and it is expected, but she had a bazillion options.
PVCs to you G# glad to know there were no heart attacks in your past. I’m distressed by how many celebrities have died this month who are not enough older than me.
Thanx everyone for the PVCs. The bad news is that they worked and you’re stuck with me. I am still in recovery mode / pain as what was supposed to be a 15 minute procedure turned into 2+ hours.
In post-college news, the PVCs must have worked overtime, D2 has been accepted into one of the PhD programs to which she applied. She has other outstanding applications, but is ecstatic that at least someone has shown interest in her.
GSharp - sorry I didn’t see your post earlier, but I’m glad your procedure went well and very happy to hear that you haven’t had a heart attack.
Big congrats to your D2! I’m sure she’ll receive some more good news in the near future. It could be fun if our Ds end up at the same school. My D is not applying for PhD programs, however - just regular masters programs.
Regarding the 401K, I’m guessing that has more to do with options offered by her company than the fact that the company is in NY.
Do you still have any of that Max Brenner’s chocolate left? My mom brought me back from France, and I’ve been doing the 1 rectangle per day thing…lol. A square would be too much - it’s very rich. That’s saying a lot because I love chocolate.
Continued PVCs for your D2! Can’t wait to hear her results. My D’s too!
So S2 took the test for going into Officer Training School and did very, very well. (They show the results on a bell curve and it was way, way over on the right.) He also did surprisingly well on the aviation aptitude test which he (along with everyone else who takes it apparently experiences as a nightmare.) It’s basically a test of how well you can multitask so they have speakers telling you different instructions in different ears while your left hand and your right hand are supposed to follow those instructions as directed. Obviously all that time playing video games payed off! He’d actually like to go into intelligence, but STEM grads are preferred these days, so that may not pan out. We will see he still has to pass the physical and the background checks.
It could be fun if our Ds end up at the same school. My D is not applying for PhD programs, however - just regular masters programs.