Word on the street in our casa is that D24 thinks that bringing her fat orange tabby cat with her to college is a great idea. God help us all. 
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My senior year of college my mom moved overseas and told me that if she took my childhood cat with her, she would then be staying there forever since she wasnât going to send the poor thing back to the US when I graduated. So I ended up sneaking her into my dorm in March of my senior year 
By some miracle, the period from March to May was the first three month period ever that they skipped room inspections. My fiends would rotate who got to hang out in my room in between classes and snuggle with my cat. I was in a small single so did not have to worry about a roommate (though after I got my cat everyone wanted to be my roommate haha). Anyway, it was def nice having her there to decompress from a long day of clinical (I was in nursing school). But I also know many college kids get cats or dogs and have no idea what they are getting themselves into and many end up sadly in shelters. I am a firm believer in the benefits of a pet for emotional comfort though and if I had been in a dorm that allowed it, I likely would have had her all four years.
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Anyone else feel like there has been a sick family member in their home all Fall/Winter long so far?? 
S24 had likely RSV back in October and basically sounds like he has been perpetually congested ever since. D26 has had a cold (her third since August) since last week and woke me up at 4:30 am this morning saying she felt terrible. Temp of 104.3. As soon as she took meds she threw up. Both DH and I are medical and I am especially low key about illness, but she is pretty miserable. DH is home on Wednesdays so he is going to call the ped today since her week-long cold morphed into a cough and fever overnight. I am guessing Flu but we will see. Lungs are clear, but she canât stop coughing. Covid negative at home as well. Anyway, I feel for these kids in school getting sick all the time. Midterms are next week and she is stressed about missing these days leading up to the tests. S24 is just worried he will catch whatever she has. Calgon take me away!!
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yup, it is the winter time nasties time 1000X this year. I am medical too and every kid that walks into my office has a cold, cough, etc. S24 has had two bad ones so far this year and S21 at college is continuously sick, his little pod of actors keeps infecting each other and then complaining that they canât sing, etc. The drama and indignity of it all, literally!
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I think you are also in MA and we have experienced exactly the same. Someone (or ones!) in my house have been sick pretty much constantly since the week after Thanksgiving. Weâve definitely had flu, a really nasty cold, a more mild cold, and a stomach bug. (None of the Covid tests were ever positive but that seems hard to believe.) With 4 kids/teens and 3 adults, I feel like we have had every illness symptom over the past 6 weeks. Including 2 people with broken bones. 
D22âs hall mate has a cat (I believe under an emotional support exemption) and the rest of the floor quickly adopted it as their own.
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AaaaaandâŠnot sure how long this will last. I just got a message that my youngest sonâs therapist who spent 2 hours working closely with him yesterday evening (no mask) had a positive test this morning. 
D24 was sick from September through December. She kept catching virus after virus. Hoping the Winter break turned things around!
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How frustrating! Hope your kiddo feels better soon.
D26 would jump at the chance to have a dog and has already been researching different breeds. Sheâs just in 9th grade, but has been talking about what kind of dog she wants to get when sheâs an adult and out of the house and out of college. When I told the kids about the cat & dog policy at UNM, D26 perked up a lot at that. Sheâs already asked me if DH & I would be willing to dog sit if she were to get a job after college in our state so she could save $$ on boarding fees while on vacation. 
FYI, College Board changed the language I quoted above. Instead of âBigFuture will email invitations on January 18,â it now says âEmail invitations will come from BigFuture.â
I guess they canât meet the deadline they set for themselves.
Thanks! please post when your kids get the email. Anxiously waitingâŠ
Yup, in MA and I work in a school 
itâs so bad right now.
Oh no huge bummer
Back from Ped and every test was negative so likely just a nasty viral illness. Hopefully it passes in another day or so.
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S24 got his first job! He came home so excited, starts tomorrow.
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Bunch of random stuff to share with yâall today:
- D24 said that things w/the new calculus teacher are going well so far. New teacher is basically re-teaching them all of the material that they had to learn themselves between the week of Thanksgiving through Christmas break. She said that she actually is understanding the stuff now.
- all of the 11th graders take their mock AP English Lit exam tomorrow morning at school. Practice run for the real deal in May. Have to drop kiddo at school between 7:30-7:45 am.
- Robotics is winding down. D24 & D26 are not sad that itâs ending. D26 definitely doesnât want to do it again next year. D24 is on the fence.
- Spring clubs starting soon, with sign ups starting online on Monday. Thereâs a new âhealth action clubâ geared towards kids interested in the health professions. D24 is going to want to sign up for that. Of course, everything has a fee. $75.
- Was chatting with a work colleague today. She & I both have 11th graders. Learned that her kid applied for the U of A KEYS internship program, too. But work colleague doesnât know that my kid applied, too. Coworker also has no clue about a lot of stuff about itâŠsaid that her daughter âis gonna be doing chemistry stuff and chemistry experiments at U of A over the summer in this KEYS thing. Ya know, like, they get to do experiments and stuff.â Didnât have the heart to tell her that: (1) the initial app was just due this past Tuesday of this week; (2) letters of rec arenât due until 1/23; (3) itâs not until Feb that you find out if you made the semifinalist cut; and (4) itâs maybe March-April time frame that thereâs actually a final decision made. So yeahâŠdonât count your chickens just yet, lady. She thought that itâs a done deal and her kid is in. Um, ok. Smile and nod. Coworker has no clue, thinks that the students come up with their own âexperiments.â No, the students are research lab assistants in professorsâ biomedical research labs for the summer. You get ASSIGNED to a lab. You donât come up with your own stuff to do.
- got confirmation from school counselor today that the on-site during-the-school-day ACT is on 3/1. So it wonât conflict w/our TX college road trip to visit Austin College & Southwestern Univ.
- Also learned that the senior school counselor LOVES CTCL colleges (Colleges That Change Lives)âŠboth of the TX schools weâre going to see are CTCL schools.
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Mock AP english lit test is done. Kiddo back home and eating lunch. Said that 1 of the essay questions was tricky but she figured it out. All of the AP english language kids were taking their mock exam this morning, too.
D24 apparently also met w/the senior school counselor this week, was asked if she knows what she wants to major in at college and if she had any ideas about what she wanted to do, so D24 told her about the stuff sheâs mentioned to DH & I.
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Finding my way back to College Confidential with kid #2 in the spring of Junior HS year. College visits have begun. First crack at the ACT coming up soon in February. It begins again!
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D24 has vetoâd joining the new âhealth action clubâ thatâs starting at school at the end of this month, said that sheâll be burned out with 4 extracurriculars. thatâs fine. Itâll save us $75.
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