<p>YUM Fogfog! I am printing this one out to try. Thanks.</p>
<p>proudmom-I extend my condolences to you on the loss of your family member. </p>
<p>Fogfog: that brick chicken sounds divine. </p>
<p>D got her roommate & suitemate info yesterday. They all seem “normal” from what one can gather from emails and facebook profiles. Several are from the suburbs of Chicago, so they will try to meet up for lunch sometime this summer. I remember doing that w/ my first college roommate eons ago (LOL) and it lessened the anxiety of meeting for the first time in the room on move-in day. Although, these days w/ facebook etc, kids can get to know each other pretty well without ever meeting.</p>
<p>Was at TJ Maxx earlier today and was happy to find a decent selection of dorm bedding. Including some fluffy looking matress toppers for $9.99. I will have to drag D to TJ’s (or Marshalls) soon to take a look. Their prices are better than BBB, even w/ coupons.</p>
<p>D2 went to HP last night. I had to pick her & friends up at 2:30 (insert yawn here). D1 was into HP in elementary school, but grew out of it and has no interest now. Her BF is an HP fan, though, so she goes w/ him.</p>
<p>Happy weekend all :)</p>
<p>Blueiquana - Good thing I didn’t get those then! I found a different twin “oversized” comforter by Nautica (90" long) which hopefully will be better quality, didn’t have sheets included and not t-shirt material. Then I read about how people bring full so that a lofted/raised bed will have extra coverage for the junk below…why didn’t i know that earlier? That is what he has now, the nice Nautica, and I could have saved the money and hassle? Geez.</p>
<p>Sunday ds and I head out to Pitt for registration, he gets one night in the dorm and I get a night free - I think. So the one singing with a lampshade for a hat at the bar, that will be me!</p>
<p>My deepest sympathies proudmom.</p>
<p>AK please behave yourself. ;)</p>
<p>My son watched all the movies in a marathon at a friends house-along with tons of other kids. They then went to the midnight show. He loved it-he also referred to it as the end of his childhood. I guess a common feeling. I never liked it and my daughter doesn’t like it (the non-reader) so we didn’t pay it much attention. It is her birthday today-14 years old.</p>
<p>Tomorrow we head for the week at the beachhouse we rented with my sister’s family. This should be very relaxing-but no worries, I am bringing my laptop if I need some therapy from my friends. :)</p>
<p>Pepper - enjoy your week at the beach. HB to your daughter.</p>
<p>We leave for our road trip one month from today. We are going shopping Monday. Hope we accomplish.</p>
<p>AK - glad interview went well</p>
<p>DS picked up 2 new tutorees, both meeting with him at the same time and both paying. They want to continue via Skype when he gets to school. One happy guy!</p>
<p>We are all Harry Potter fans here, and the kids grew up with it. I read them the first one or two, then DS started reading them himself, although he still asked me to read them sometimes–it was good bonding time!</p>
<p>For anyone who doesn’t care for the HP movies, did you have to suffer through any of the dreadful Pokemon movies. Those things were the worst torture I can remember in a movie theater! Ackkk! :eek: I’ll take HP any day!</p>
<p>BI–Oh no! Guess which bedding set my DS liked! Same Nautica one. Guess I’ll go read reviews and discuss options. I haven’t tried washing it yet. Bummer!</p>
<p>AP scores arrived and DS is 
He didn’t get the score he thought he would on the Latin AP, so now he will be taking some language classes. He just doesn’t know how many classes he has to take, as the school website is a bit confusing on the issue.</p>
<p>Re-comforters, etc: DD wasn’t seeing any she liked, so we decided to make a cover for a plain one. Went to the fabric store, spent a LOOOONG time looking, and she wasn’t seeing any fabric(s) she liked enough for a whole cover, and it looked like it would get really expensive both time- and money-wise. So after a much frustration, on the way home she got an inspiration. When she was little, she didn’t like to wear jeans/pants, just dresses. Being who she is, there weren’t many dresses around that she liked either, so over a period of years (up until she was 8-9 years old), I made some simple dresses/jumpers for her. Most of them are long gone, but being the packrat I am, I still have bits of leftover fabric from making them. We dug them out, and we’ll be appliqueing them onto some kind of backing to make the cover. What really amazed me was how well she remembered the particular fabrics: “Oh–that’s the one you made for my kindergarten graduation!! This is the one with the big pockets! This is the one-- remember, I tore it when we went to the park with grandma?” So she’ll be taking a bunch of childhood memories with her to the dorm.</p>
<p>^^ Sorry to bring bad news on the Nautica bedding… The comforter may be fine so it may be worth it to see if the sheets work out for your son. It is a nice looking set and Nautica usually holds up well. If you are planning to get a second set of sheets you can always go to the back ups if need be. The price was certainly good!!</p>
<p>On the AP front, Bluejr’s name was spelled wrong on his 2011 scores so his university threw out his scores…after we paid to send them. The 2010 scores showed up on the website and we waited for the 2011 to come along. When the confirmation of scores send showed up and two files were mailed it made sense. I called the university, first explaining that ‘mom’ was calling because Bluejr works full time, secondly explaining what happened and asking for help because he’s going to be there Monday for orientation and to schedule classes. They were lovely and said to just bring the scores, no big deal. There are two wonderful ladies that work at the e’school that literally run that place. They are AMAZING. Whenever Bluejr’s had questions he knows just who to call…they always know who to put him in touch with or what to do. It is such a good feeling that he has that resource, kwim? I then called collegeboard/AP, joy of joys, and had them merge his scores to one file. It’s not really important but I realized that if they didn’t he wouldn’t receive his AP Scholar w/ Distinction or Honor (whichever one he earned). It’s not that big if a deal, but he did earn it and I think he’d like to have it. Hopefully this will be my LAST dealing with them on his behalf. </p>
<p>Pepper - I hope you have a simply wonderful holiday!! :)</p>
<p>dizzycat - I LOVE the quilt out of old jumpers for your daughter!! So sweet!</p>
<p>Oh, parenting moment…we watched Titanic not too long ago, the boys had never seen it. Bluejr plays guitar, both acoustic and electric. He picks up a lot by ear. I’m listening to him play the theme, My hear will go on, on his acoustic right now…so hauntingly beautiful. I am going to miss hearing him play so much.</p>
<p>dizzy - that cover is a great idea. pictures please!</p>
<p>Blue- we had a similar issue with mis-spelled name on last years AP test. Called AP and they are suppose to be merging the scores under the correct name. Been over a week and still waiting for scholl to receive them. </p>
<p>VaMom- oh I still remember sitting through one pokeman movie.</p>
<p>what is it? place for recepies?
Well Come visit Springfield ! Great place, great colleges… welcome all!</p>
<p>dizzycat - have you seen a t-shirt quilt? I had one made for my son and it sounds simliar to what you are doing with your daughters jumpers. While most of it was made of t-shirts, we also added a section of his baby blanket and a favorite tie from band that features lots of trumpets. A friend added the batman pj’s to hers. [T</a> shirt Quilts - recycle your old tee shirts into a beautiful new quilt!](<a href=“http://www.goosetracks.com/TshirtQuilt.html]T”>http://www.goosetracks.com/TshirtQuilt.html) My son loves his but has recently informed me that it’s not going to College with him. :(</p>
<p>I’m going to Washington DC for the weekend with my son and his GF!</p>
<p>kathiep–Yes, a friend made one to sell as a fundraiser for one of the local rowing clubs; from a bunch of local/national regattas.</p>
<p>Dizzycat- That is a WONDERFUL idea and what a treasure for her.</p>
<p>I am recuperating from HP, I didn’t see the movie, I was up for an hour after S got home. And i WORKED all week. z9I am only a temporary employee but at least its something). I tried to get back to sleep and I heard the screech of a mosquito near my head, so that was pretty much it. At least I didn’t have to drive S, he bought tickets online and his friends waited too long and they couldn’t get them. He almost had to go by himself. But every teen around seemed to be going.</p>
<p>Got some good college news, S is an official sophomore- they took all his AP’s and his two summer college credits. Not bad for a kid who only took one AP junior year. </p>
<p>I can’t believe he leaves in less than a month. He has been rather talkative lately, I think he realizes he is going soon and can “afford” to be pleasant.</p>
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<p>Oh, my goodness…“Pikachu’s Vacation”! I remember sitting in the theater and turning my head to look over little DS, who was rapt with attention, to see DH looking like he’d been hit in the head with a two-by-four.</p>
<p>I’m absolutely worn out today–long week at work topped off by a text message from DS last night at 9:30 saying that he couldn’t get a ride home after the HP movie after all and could I pick him up instead? In town, ten miles away? At 2:30 in the morning? Aw, sheesh. And bless my husband’s wonderful heart for getting up to go get the kid at the appointed hour in my stead (although I still didn’t get much sleep–the dog was absolutely baffled at the upset in the household routine and made sure I knew it).</p>
<p>Hi all,
A little late to the game here but I hope it’s not too late to join in! I just read the first 5 pages but will have to try to catch up in phases–so much in the first couple weeks. Thank you Kathiep for starting this great thread!</p>
<p>My D will attend Bucknell. Tough decision as she weighed her choices but she’s very excited. She found out the longshot sleepaway camp counselor position came through (she’s a year younger than required so we didn’t think she’d get it) so it was a shock to have her go two days after graduation at the beginning of June rather than August. She’ll just be home two days at the end of summer before we head off to Pennsylvania.</p>
<p>I have two other daughters, one a junior at Penn and the other a sophmore in high school. The junior stayed at Penn this summer to take organic chemistry (no picnic) and my high schooler is at UCLA in an art program and has another 3 week program away shortly so H and I are testing out a trial ‘empty nest’ period. It’s pretty rough, I have to admit!</p>
<p>We had a graduation party with D’s 7 best friends in attendance and gave them all a copy of The Naked Roommate. At the beginning of this thread, someone mentioned the author wrote a book for parents and several people mentioned they were going to check it out. Sorry if it’s been addressed but did anyone take a look and is it worth pursuing?</p>
<p>I happen to be visiting my D at Penn right now and arrived last night. I went from the airport to the theater and we saw the midnight showing of Harry Potter–very fun to be in an audience full of college students!</p>
<p>Collage - it was me that recommended that happiest kid on campus book - I found it at the library and have found it interesting and a light beach read, haven’t read it all but good tips that being a college parent novice, might be helpful. Welcome to the party!</p>
<p>Pepper - have a great week at the beach!</p>
<p>Collage- I also gave The Naked Roommate as grad gifts. Have gotten alot of positive feedback from the kids. I read The Happiest Kid on campus. Agree with AK that it is a light read. , but very helpful.</p>
<p>**I have taken the first and last move-in dates for this countdown from the list on this thread. To try and list all of them would be overkill to say the least.</p>
<p>First new student move-in is the University of Georgia on August 9th. (Excludes cadet training at West Point)
Move-in day in 23 days.</p>
<p>Last new student move-in is the University of Southern Oregon on September 22nd<br>
Move-in day in 67 days.**</p>
<p>If there are earlier or later move-in dates, please post them so that I can pick them up and adjust the countdown postings.</p>
<p>Morning All</p>
<p>On the comforter front–I have been saving sports T shirts, travel T shirts etc for a comforter after seeing two that a neighbor did for her two kids.
Several months ago I mentioned to my student that we could have one done–and kiddo declined and said it would not go to college…sigh…
So I guess I need to decide about the T shirts so thoughtfully put away…
I guess it was more for me sentimentally than kiddo…
Kiddo is not a saver/keeper. I even had to rescue the graduation cards from the trash (glad I did as the grandfather died a week after graduation)</p>