Parents of the HS Class of 2010 and college years beyond (Part 1)

Parents Forum Class of 20xx Community
1961

<p>As I mentioned before, I’m in the midst of cleaning…so far, I’ve done the shelves above my desk, my armoire, my bookshelf, a good part of my closet, and some other things. I need to do the rest of my closet and my dresser (so most of those two are clothes). I just want to get this done now, while I have time! </p>

<p>I’m actually pretty neat on the surface, so it’s not as though my room looks that messy; it’s dealing with stuff that’s been put away (not so neatly) in boxes. But I haven’t always been this neat - when I was younger, my room was so, so messy that my mom starting refusing to come in :o I actually developed the need to keep my room neat much later, like in high school - now I have all these weird tendencies like not being able to do homework if there’s too much stuff on the floor. I think it’s actually some odd form of stress management - if I’ve left a few things on the floor, it usually means I’m feeling more relaxed! </p>

<p>Anyway, I’m currently uploading pictures of all my old pointe shoes so that I can give them away to people who want to do things like art projects with them, versus selling them to people on eBay with foot fetishes. It might cost me more, but it’s better than throwing them away, and less creepy than selling them to the kind of people who actually would buy used pointe shoes!</p>

1962

<p>I loved the video also!</p>

<p>We moved (houses) four years ago, so much of the cleanout was done then. We gave each girl an underbed box that they could fill with [crap] D1 is pretty neat although the closet does need some work. She got rid of a bag of stuffed animals a few weeks ago.</p>

1963

<p>CaliD, that’s funny. I would never have thought about thwarting pointe-shoe pervs!</p>

<p>Hmmm, how did we get our ds to start cleaning out his room? Well, I laid the groundwork early (months ago), telling ds the couple of things I planned to do with his room when he was gone (minimal), so he knew he’d have to clean out his desk. When I finally told him this week was the week, he relented pretty quickly. We put out four boxes – keepsake, take to college, garage sale, dad’s classroom (where perfectly fine, little things could have a second life – think the day care in TS3!). OF course, there was trash and recycling. He got through the desk amazingly quickly, probably about 60-90 minutes. We would dip in and out to offer suggestions and to make sure he hadn’t gotten too distracted with some toy he found. </p>

<p>The other thing I did with the closet is explain why this is a good thing for him – more room for his work clothes, which he hates to have squished in his closet and now are hanging, literally, all over his room. It was ridiculous. But to make room where the clothes are hanging we have to get rid of the shelves that hold the games, which means moving them to the top of the closet, which means going through several years of school notebooks he has thrown at the top of the closet. I have dh working on moving everything around right now. When ds gets home from work, he’ll go through the stacks and stacks and stacks of schoolwork. </p>

<p>And the third thing I told him is what I wouldn’t make him do – go through his dresser and wardrobe (though it does get looked at without him realizing it because he has to move the keepsake stuff somewhere!)</p>

1964

<p>Does anyone know of any good charities that donate books to underprivileged schools, libraries, stuff like that? The last big thing I have to clean out is my bookshelves, and I’d really like my stuff to go to a good cause.</p>

<p>I’ve been making tentative schedules for weeks, but I came up with one today that looks both realistic and wonderful! All classes that are really interesting (no requirements, yay! open curriculums are the best thing ever), a schedule that fits my learning preferences (mostly in the morning) and lets me sleep in sometimes!:
M: classes from 9 to noon
T: classes from 8 to 9 (gym class), from 10:30 to noon and then 1 to 3
W: classes from 9 to noon
R: classes from 8 to 9 (gym class), from 10:30 to noon and then 1 to 3
F: (the real gem) class from 10:30 to noon :D</p>

<p>The classes are Intro to Sociology, Intro to Microeconomics, Intermediate Russian, my First Year Seminar (which involves historical roleplay, cool!) and Pilates.</p>

1965

<p>t_c:</p>

<p>You might consider a battered women and children’s shelter in your area if there is one. Having some good books to read may be of some comfort to these people while they are in transition. This is where I donated babt and toddler items we no longer had use for.</p>

<p>:cool: :cool:</p>

1966

<p>@parent56 - Thank you for sharing the wedding video - What a beautiful couple! every little thing looked wonderful…May their life together be a blessing…</p>

1967

<p>TC, I bring books to our local library. They have a twice-yearly book sale, and the proceeds go to help the under-funded library buy more books. I think the librarians go thru the donated books first, to see if there are any the library wants.</p>

<p>GSharpM7, thanks for the hookah health link. I think I’ll forward it to my mother-in-law. She doesn’t do it very often - I think she bought it more for show than for anything. But perhaps she shouldn’t be encouraging the elementary school grandkids to try it!</p>

1968

<p> :sunny::sunny::sunny::sunny::sunny::sunny::sunny::sunny::sunny::sunny:
It’s Wonderful Wednesday! </p>

<p>sewemma - Continuing prayers for you and your family.</p>

<p>KYParent - Also sending prayers for you and your family and friends.</p>

<p>lilmom - Sending prayers for your dad and hoping the surgery goes smoothly and the recovery is fast.</p>

<p>Welcome back, teenage_cliche! Good news about the housing assignment. I am glad that you have your own closet. :slight_smile: I saw that fridge at Tar-zhay and it looks great! Just saw your schedule - your Friday looks especially wonderful. </p>

<p>BUandBC82 - I received my class list, too. I can’t believe that I only have one month left… Yikes!</p>

<p>FindAPlace - I’m glad you were able to go to the NU mixer. Re: USC… The #1 football prospect (2009 Offensive Player of the Year) was released from his scholarship at USC and is now going to the University of Miami. This kid is HUGE! He’s 6’8" and 330+ pounds. Our son knows first-hand what it feels like to be flattened by him. :(</p>

<p>Fingers crossed, GSharpM7, for the scholarship to be awarded to your daughter. Re: Framingham - I think we outfitted our daughter’s dorm room from the shopping mecca there. If I recall correctly, there is a place called Shoppers World…</p>

<p>cecil - Good luck! LOL re: the box in the attic…</p>

<p>parent56 - Dittoing kindredspirit’s ditto of zoosermom’s sentiments about your daughter-in-law and you. :slight_smile: Beautiful video!</p>

<p>

Ditto! Our son called last night to tell us he was near a gas station, the car had died, and he needed to be home in fifteen minutes to get first crack at open registration to change his schedule… It was 11:45 pm. So, my dear husband raced to get him. The good news: he was able to get the one spot left in the class he wanted. The bad news: My husband thinks the car probably needs a new alternator. Do we fix the car, when he will only be here another month? The answer is YES, because I do not want to share my car with him… </p>

<p>About the thank you notes - We have received several lovely notes from our son’s classmates and others. I have to give our son several gentle reminders (and then I just start nagging) to get this done. And count me in the walk-away-from-the-mess group, although I still can’t walk away from a wet towel on my hardwood floors. :eek:</p>

<p>Youdon’tsay - There is no hookahing around here… LOL, RobD, re: the hookah establishment near the Vanderbilt campus. I can’t imagine that our son would go there as he hates smoke. </p>

<p>Welcome back, CheckersMidwest. I like that name. Congratulations to you and your talented son. </p>

<p> :heart::heart: Happy Anniversary, vballmom and vballspouse! :heart::heart: </p>

<p>CaliforniaDancer - You are so sweet. Would you be able to donate your shoes? I found a young man in California collecting books and dance shoes for his Mitzvah Project. I will PM you the link. (I don’t think we’re allowed to post links here?) We have donated many pairs of skates, athletic shoes/cleats, and pieces of sports equipment to local parks for distribution to under-privileged kids. They are always enthusiastic in their thanks. One adorable young man even sent a picture of himself (through the park director) in the almost brand new football cleats with a note claiming that they helped him score three touchdowns!
:cool: :cool:</p>

1969

<p>t_c, I have heard very good things about Reader to Reader.
[Reader</a> to Reader](<a href=“http://www.readertoreader.org/]Reader”>http://www.readertoreader.org/)</p>

1970

<p>P56, thanks for sharing that video! Too bad your DIL is in Seattle… maybe in 10 years or so we could use her here in New England for D…</p>

<p>And Vballmom, loved your pics on the Shutterfly Prom Pic site as well. Thanks for sharing!!</p>

1971

<p>BT - thank you so much for the great idea! Unfortunately, as much as I would love to donate old pointe shoes, I can’t, because unlike ballet shoes, they aren’t reusable. Pointe shoes are made up of layers of paste and other materials, and as you use them, they become softer and softer until they are eventually considered “dead.” When pointe shoes are dead, that means they are too soft to provide sufficient support for the dancer, and it is extremely dangerous to dance in them, especially if they are another persons shoes (because they were thus broken in for that person’s feet specifically). Hence why I have so many pairs, and why professional companies have such large shoe budgets - it’s quite sad in some ways, because you figure they just get rid of them all, and pros can go through something like a pair a week! Sorry for the long pointe shoe lesson, but thank you so much again for the great idea - I will definitely look into donating old ballet slippers, which can certainly be reused :slight_smile: </p>

<p>t_c: Your schedule sounds great! Agree with others about checking with libraries and different types of shelters…what really annoys me is that several times a year, there were people who ran test prep book drives (like SAT books, etc.), and I never donated because I was still using mine…now I would love to do that, but I’m not sure where. Anyone know about test prep books in particular?</p>

1972

<p>CD: wanted to let you know that you gave me an “ewww” moment earlier today when you mentioned the foot fetish thing & used pointe shoes. I had heard that about other used garments. That’s just one of those things that makes you wonder about people…</p>

<p>For used test prep books: could you contact a local high school? One that might have some students who couldn’t afford to buy them? Or Boys & Girls Club type organizations?</p>

1973

<p>did you guys see this in the news today… good thing son has a debit card, or starbucks would go out of business… never has cash on him (and now wouldnt be able to use credit card…i would probably kill him if he used the credit card for a coffee anyway)</p>

<p>"The change by Congress is great news to those small businesses. The new legislation will allow stores and restaurants to require a ten dollar minimum in order to use a credit card, so get ready to see more of those signs popping up.</p>

<p>Regardless of the new changes, cardholders will still be able to use their debit cards. In fact, the legislation will also allow stores to give a discount when customers use cash or debit cards. So while it may mean you wont be able to rack up quite as many points or frequent flier miles using your credit card, it could actually be saving you some money and help the bottom line for small business owners.</p>

<p>Not all stores and restaurants will be setting credit card minimums because some can stand to lose business if they wont take plastic. But if you consistently go to small mom-and-pop establishments, look for more and more minimum signs to pop up at the cash register.</p>

1974

<p>Here’s what worked with PMKjr’s room. My sister was visiting and she is an organizing maniac. Nearly everyone has a friend like that, ask them to help out. And don’t be shy about someone seeing it. Believe me, it’s not the worst they’ve seen.</p>

<p>My sisters method is easy but brutal. We took everything except the furniture out of PMKjrs room (he was helping.) We had cleared off kitchen counters, the dining room table, coffee table and sofa to make room for all of it. Then you are allowed to touch everything once; just once! Whatever you just touched must go into pre-arranged “take to college”, “store at home”, “donate” or “trash” container/pile/box/whatever you are most comfortable with. Oh, we also had a laundry pile going.</p>

<p>Once we finished that, the next day we did the hall closet. In that case I had some items I really struggled over, so we added a “cannot decide” box. That kept the process moving along and I was able to make my final decision about those items at the end. PMK jr is a clear-cut kid, if your kid is more like me, a “cannot decide” box will keep them on track.</p>

<p>It’s also super easy to clean a room or closet when it’s empty, so it made that part of it a lot less painful than I had feared it would be. </p>

<p>Other tips: Have upbeat music playing. Have water and snacks easily available. Keep a camera ready as somethings can be “saved” in a photograph while the item itself goes onto a new home. PMK jr really did not want to do it but I helped him make the right decision by telling him that not helping us meant no car for his last week at home. It’s hard to believe but he’s been gone a month already.</p>

1975

<p>Whoo hoo! I found an auto inspection place that is pretty lenient, and they passed our 2001 Tahoe the first time! I love those people.</p>

<p>I just got DS’s tuition bill. We don’t have to pay as much right now as I thought - the dorm bill comes later. Whew.</p>

<p>DS also got the official copy of his schedule. 17 hours of credit, but 24 hours of class time. Yikes! I never took that many hours. I hope he’s up to it. Multivariable calculus sounds rough to me - are there any kids represented here who have had that class in HS? If so, how was it? I didn’t have to take it for my engineering major.</p>

<p>He keeps getting e-mails about additional requirements he needs to fulfill. Today’s notice was for alcohol counseling online. It was in the spam folder of his secondary e-mail account! The deadline to complete it is August 19. I wonder how some of these kids from poorer areas of Texas are even going to find out about this requirement, much less complete it.</p>

1976

<p>here’s another story…may affect those planning to use credit cards for tuition payments (or tax bills)</p>

<p>[Financial</a> Reform: Four Credit Card Changes You’ll Want to Know - ABC News](<a href=“Financial Reform: Four Credit Card Changes You'll Want to Understand - ABC News”>Financial Reform: Four Credit Card Changes You'll Want to Understand - ABC News)</p>

1977

<p>@parent56 - I LOVED that wedding video! I love putting together videos with music for events like birthdays, graduations, etc. but mine are definitely in the amateur department. I would love to be able to do one like this. A beautiful couple…congratulations!</p>

1978

<p>Re: my dad’s surgery. I think I’m over the “shock”. I’ve got time to work with my family on getting his house ready. He will need much of his bedroom furniture moved downstairs! This is one time I wish my house there wasn’t occupied by a renter! Time to get the troops into action!!</p>

<p>California Dancer: my 16 yr old D danced ballet for many years. Some of the older girls at the studio were so admired by the younger girls that at every public performance where there were lobby sales they sold decorated and autographed ballet shoes. The older girls would stuff their old ballet shoes with potpourri (you know why I’m smiling :slight_smile: ), decorate them with ribbon, rhinestones, etc. and then they autographed them. The young girls loved them! Each went for $5-20 depending on how decorated they were. Proceeds went to the ballet school.</p>

1979

<p>Well, S’s elementary school “graduating” class of 2003 is busy planning their last hurrah in August before everyone scatters off to college. They are working hard to find students that went out of the district, too. This was a pretty tight knit group. As for the ones who remained in the district, they made up a disproportional amount of the val/sals of the class of 2010 (five feeder elementary schools, and their lanuage immersion school made up more than 50% of the val/sals (13 students total.)</p>

<p>:cool: :cool:</p>

1980

<p>Just got back from the beach - so much to catch up on…</p>

<p>Sewemma - so sorry about your sister - you are in my thoughts and prayers.</p>

<p>Hookah bars - timely discussion! We were walking around Charleston over the weekend and someone said to us, “Go past the Hookah bar and turn left…” Of course, I go “What’s a Hookah Bar?” Son rolls eyes and gives me the ‘You’re clueless, Mom’ look." </p>

<p>Regarding looking in the bag of thrown away possessions - for some reason, I decided to look in the big bag of trash that son had on his bedroom floor. Lo and behold -his EASTER BASKET that I bought when he was a year old was in there. I have used that Easter basket every year for the past 18 years! He looked shocked that it was in there and claims he doesn’t know how it ended up in the trash bag. I would have spend numerous hours looking for that thing if I hadn’t discovered it in the trash. naturally, it has been restored to it’s rightful place. Geez! Moral of the story - make sure you check the trash. :)</p>