<p>No one in my family ever puts anything in the hamper, period. It functions more as a basketball hoop than a place for dirty clothes. Progress, in my...um, ears...is hearing my ds say, </p>
<p>"I really need to pick up the clothes from my floor."</p>
<p>The clothes are still consuming his bedroom, but at least, he acknowledged that a problem (albeit small and insignificant) exists. I consider that a parenting success story.</p>
<p>I'm putting on the beer goggles and going in. :D</p>
<p>^^^ Two and a half days ago? Wha'? Has everyone gone on the wagon? </p>
<p>First night as empty nesters here; took an extra week, 2 colleges and one hurricane to get us to this point. I'll have something totally debilitating. Suggestions needed.</p>
<p>Southern Comfort.</p>
<p>I always did fancy myself as Janis Joplin.....</p>
<p>
[quote]
I'll have something totally debilitating. Suggestions needed.
[/quote]
May I suggest our virtual tequila? Aside from its well known benefit of being virtually hallucinogenic, it is also the only liquor I'm aware of that will physically ward off demons. Even demons with a mission. The first round is on the house.</p>
<p>That's it, mootmom. Southern Comfort all around.</p>
<p>Tequila chaser, virtually.</p>
<p>(don't anyone tell mootmom I wanted to be Linda Ronstadt, myself. She's already quite suspicious of my musical leanings).</p>
<p>Good to see y'all.</p>
<p>Make mine a double.</p>
<p>Ahhh, yes. (((crawling into a glass of SC on the rocks))) </p>
<p>Here's to jmmom's fantastic launch, a job well done! :) </p>
<p>October is just around the corner. SluggS will fill out his first college app in a couple of weeks (applying to San Francisco State University). Apps open up on Oct. 1. We'll know in a couple of weeks (after he applies) if he's been accepted. Then, the UC's start accepting apps on Nov. 1st.</p>
<p>SluggD is in Barcelona for another few days. She and the b/f are staying at a nice student hostel just outside of the city. She's proficient in Spanish and kept wondering why she couldn't understand the language. Then, she realized that everyone was speaking Catalan. Barcelona is a hit, while last week in Paris was less so. Jet lag, plus outward hostility from Parisians, made it difficile. Her favorite place, however, was Espace Dali Montmartre, the Dali museum. Being 21 and in love, touring France and Spain with her b/f...gee, I was hoping they'd break up after this trip. :p</p>
<p>I'll have an Irish coffee please...up late last night working.</p>
<p>Hey, Sluggbugg--is that the same b/f of SluggD that she had at high school graduation? I loved your stories about them. My college junior D finally dropped the HTH (hometown honey) and now has a new b/f that she acquired at camp this summer, who is now visiting her at her out-of-state college. We have some issues with him. He's a bartender, though, so maybe we should let him into the fold? Age is a factor as well--27! Make that Irish coffee a large one...</p>
<p>:) Yes, same one, Bookiemom...It's enough to drive a slugg to drink, so I'll have an Irish coffee, as well. I'm still holding out some hope that the omnipotent hand of grad school admissions will plunk him down on another continent, that is, if he applies. He keeps talking about a Senior gap year in Paris. Let's hope that his parents like the idea and send him, because he still does EVERYTHING they tell him to do. Individuate? Heck, why bother? </p>
<p>He lies like a rug, keeps secrets, has no ambition, and my crusty mother would like to run over him with her fire engine! :D</p>
<p>^^Too harsh? Well, at least, I'm keeping it among drinking buddies. ;)</p>
<p>I was half asleep last night watching Animal Planet when H mentioned that men are more similar genetically to chimpanzees than they are to women, because of sequencing variations on the second X chromosome. </p>
<p>I don't know why he talks to me when I'm asleep (I'm less talkative when I'm in a dormant state), but despite being semi-conscious, my response was something like, "Man, you got THAT right!" :D</p>
<p>Can we put up links? Here's an article about the research:<br>
<a href="http://www.rense.com/general63/galaxyofgeneticdifferences.htm%5B/url%5D">http://www.rense.com/general63/galaxyofgeneticdifferences.htm</a></p>
<p>Bookiemom,</p>
<p>Hang on to the bartender for just a short moment (at least until we've all mastered making the perfect martini :grin: . Until that happens, I will gladly sit back and through back a few with you. </p>
<p>Better make it a strong one because I have a house guest coming. She was only suppose to stay 3 days and she's now staying a week. I just found this out when she sent the mass e-mail out stating that she would be in NYC from the 10th until the 18th and staying at my house. Imagine my suprise when I read this. I know that I was not drunk and missed the conversation. </p>
<p>My D is back in NH amongst her people and for the moment is very happy. I am back to my station in life -walking the dog and picking up poop. Could I request that the house guest walk the dog?</p>
<p>sybbie - if you leave the pooper scooper and several plastic bags in the guest room, she just might shorten up her stay :p</p>
<p>sybbie~</p>
<p>If it would help, I'd gladly donate my cat litter boxes to your cause! ~b.</p>
<p>Sybbie: My sympathies. All house guests make me nervous. I just am not cut out for guests. And I am completely sympathetic about your station in life re walking the dog and scooping up. I walk TWO dogs multiple times per day, the equivalent of two puppies! (One is 15 months (full of highjinks) and one is 12 weeks. I am 52 and exhausted.)</p>
<p>Berurah: howdy. You've been missed.</p>
<p>How about a round of kahlua and cream? Mmmmmm... (The 27-year-old bartender b/f is deciding whether to hang around and look for a job.)</p>
<p>Bookiemom,</p>
<p>Stand your ground regarding the house guest, as you do not even remotely want to have the B/f think he is welcome to hang around. What ever you do don't feed him. Tell him your d is really high maintenance (even if she's not). Maybe he will go get that job far, far, away :)</p>
<p>
[quote]
All house guests make me nervous. I just am not cut out for guests.
[/quote]
bookie~</p>
<p><em>lol</em> I am just like you. I get nervous because our house is very "lived in" and kid friendly (read: messy!). My solution is to have the people I like over often enough that they cross over the guest barrier into "family". Then, they don't make me nervous anymore!</p>
<p>Thanks for the "howdy"! And I'll take one of those kahlua and creams....I love kahlua!!!!!!!!!!! ~b.</p>
<p>Well, the last Back-to-School Night has come and gone...and, we missed it. :p</p>
<p>~RIP to fighting and clawing our way down narrow hallways in abbreviated 10-minute blocks that are supposed to be like our S's class schedule. Always fun to do on a week night. Must be in our seats by the time the bell rings! One of these years, some poor, bedraggled parent is going to have a fatal heart attack from that buzzer contraption they call a bell! </p>
<p>~RIP to seeing old friends, who are looking older by the minute. At some point, it hit us that we really don't have to dress up or socialize at this event. Whatever we had on at the end of the day was good enough. And, other parents of our son's classmates were coming to the same conclusion. I saw more than one parent last year who came to school looking like he/she just got back from working in Middle Earth all day. :)</p>
<p>~RIP to the handouts with teachers' expectations and the extra handouts that aren't on paper. We learned a couple of years ago not to introduce ourselves by our real names. John and Mary Doe, here.</p>
<p>~RIP to running the gauntlet of volunteer sign-up tables. I have chaired a $75,000 fundraiser. I was a Girl Scout leader of girls at the ages when most parents would just as soon send them to Abu Dhabi for extracurricular activities. H and I taught computers for three years, not helped in the classroom, we taught. I organized a disaster plan and collected a jillion food kits, year after year. We've worked the Junior Prom and Grad Night. I've done my thing, and I can't take orders from pushy broads, anymore. I've gone over to Martha Stewart's dark side. ;)</p>
<p>So, that's it. Whatever we missed, we'll hear several times more during the year. I love being the parent of a Last Senior. :)</p>
<p>sluggbugg, are you me?</p>
<p>-chaired big bucks fundraiser? check! check! (idiotically did two)
-taught (in my case, literature/writing)? check!
-disaster preparedness/EQ committee chair? check! (all the kits + water in barrells, medical supplies, stretchers, portapotties, crowbars... etc in shed on campus. Also organized my neighborhood for same.)
-DH coached virtually every team? check!
-room parent? check!</p>
<p>NO WONDER WE HAVE BEEN DRIVEN TO DRINK :eek:</p>
<p>Gave myself the ultimate satisfaction the last semester of my son's senior year - The "Pushy Broad" came muscling up to me, typically spouting her list of "to-do's". "So, " she said, "what is it that YOU want to do?" I blissfully replied, "Absolutely NOTHING!" It honestly left her speechless. Of course, she hasn't spoken to me since, but I consider that a plus.</p>
<p>Good afternoon...I'll have a mimosa with my brunch today, please. Large...made with your best champagne.</p>
<p>Now I have been up since 7:30 AM when I took the dear puppies out in the pouring rain for the first of their many walks. Then breakfast for puppies, another walk in the rain, play with puppies, then laundry, then dishes, with puppies underfoot in the kitchen, where they must be incarcerated to save the house. Then at 9:40 dear H finally appeared. "Oh, dear, can I get a quick cup of coffee? Have to run--I have an appointment at 10." Let's see...if I had an all-woman jury, would they vote to convict or would it be justifiable homicide?</p>