Please don't quote. DD will be home today. There are 7 *known* cases at her school. They were attending classes, but dd, nor her friends, are in classes with those kids. However, thee are also cases in the very populous county where dds school is located. We figure we need to quarantine her to her own room/bathroom when she gets home? But my mama heart is miserable. I want to give my girl a huge hug and console her for how much this all sucks!! DH is unhappy. Her siblings aren't happy. Is that what we need to do for now? Is it even gonna do any good? Gah!!! 🤬

So, dds school is "making the move to online classes" sometime over the next few weeks. 🙄 WTH does that even mean? She's a senior, which sucks. They don't seem to be intending to close campus and many of her friends want to stay on campus. She does too because she NEEDS study groups to get through her classes this semester. But I want her home! lol She is very far away from us and if she gets sick... what do we do then? (If the world were normal and she got sick, I'd just hop on the first plane outta here... but this is different and I might not be able to just come back home when she's better and we also have grandparents here to worry about and the rest of the family!) What a crazy, insane time to be alive! Who let this virus loose?!? Geez!!

My dd's college hasn't yet, but I can't see it being far off. I already booked an airline ticket for her for next week, but if they pull the plug any earlier, I'll change her flight to get her home ASAP. She's in an area with a few cases of the virus, so I'm not exactly sure what to do when she gets home? Do we all hole up for a while? I don't even know! 😕

Well, we're not full-on social-distancing yet, but I'll tell you what - the stress has me cleaning and organizing like a wild woman! So, there's that! 😁

thank you all! 🙂

Very logical, yes. I think I need to have DD repeat this over and over until it really sinks in. It sounds SO obvious until she starts thinking of all the details! And thank you for the congratulations!! Our minds are blown with her good fortune!

Please don't quote. 🙂 thank you all!! 😊

The biggest one they have. And sometimes two of those. lol Seriously, I like to essentially cover my entire tabletop with a cutting mat(s). Makes pinning and rotary cutting sooooo easy.

whoo-boy, the stories I could tell (not just my own personal stories - but friends as well). 😂 Kids can - and do - anywhere and everywhere (and they don't have to get nekkid to get it on). Based on my own personal life experience - if my kids were "watching a movie on their phone in a parking lot," I'd assume there was a lot more activity to the afternoon than that. 😁 But it's lovely that most parents here would take that at face value and lovely that they are probably correct in their own kids' cases. 🙂

Oh, her wee baby feetsies and her wee baby fists! (I NEVER baby-talked to my own children, but somehow feel that I'm gonna be a goner when it comes to grandbabies...)

I was out on Saturday and people were going wild. Someone was shouting across the store, "They're out of rubbing alcohol!", which was followed by a general rumble of stress through the accumulated population. I was confused about wth was going on til after I left that store empty-handed because of the lines and the general anxiety of everyone there. Once it dawned on me WHY people were freaking out, I joined in and went out to another store and grabbed an additional case of water bottles (we always keep on case on hand). There was plenty to be found here. I also stocked up on cold/flu meds because it's now on my mind and I realized we were out. And chicken soup because same. And Sprite. And Kleenex. And hand soap because, why not? And, while I had looked through the cabinets to see what we were out of, I realized we were low on BandAids and Neosporin. And Advil. And.... So, it was really just that I happened to be out of a lot of stuff and hadn't realized until all the coronavirus stuff started becoming prevalent. But, I never fought anyone over hand sanitizer or toilet paper. I swear. ... ...But... I did buy some rubbing alcohol that I didn't know I needed til some stranger was panicked that he couldn't find any. 😀 It helped a lot with my anxiety over this (over any virus, really). I can't do much, but I sure feel better with chicken noodle, cough drops, and hand sanitizer in the house. Then, I told my oldest DD (who is away at college) to go stock up her flu-prep stuff and she came up empty at the first store. Second store - she easily found everything she needed. (She had a bad case of the flu last year and only by the grace of God did she have stuff on hand to eat - I had JUST nagged her about it two days before she got sick.) So, for her, coronavirus or flu - I wanted her to have stuff on hand because I don't trust any of her friends to drop it by her dorm if she's very ill.

Yes, of course you are right. 👍 I just don't want to see it from the colleges' perspectives right now because I'm tired and pouting. 🤣 And, I'll admit, DD used one of her fall admissions recommendations for a recent scholarship one. It was a situation where she had to upload the letter herself (seriously, what even is the point of that??), so she pulled one from the fall that the recommender had sent to her (without DD asking for it). It's even addressed to "Admissions Committee," but DD just didn't care at that point. It's a great letter, so she re-used it without asking the LoR writer to update it for specifics. lol We are actually looking ahead to DS next year and this jolted us a little bit. We knew this already, of course, but we went through this 4+ years ago with DD1, so a few things had gotten faded in memory. He has online academic recommenders, but I don't trust those as much as I do face-to-face sorts of recommendations. However, due to his insane schedule, he's not taken any recent IRL classes. So - we're in already in a pickle and it's not even his senior year yet! lol (he has TONS of non-academic LoR-writer potential!) Luckily, DD2 had plenty to choose from, but it still felt naggy to ask them months after they'd originally written a letter.

Congrats to everyone on all the wonderful news! A good friend of mine's daughter is graduating this year from FSU and she has loved. every. single. minute. She's had the most amazing opportunities for research (her "thing") that have paved the way for her to enter grad school with a lot of experience behind her. Seems to be a school with unlimited options for those kids who take advantage of those opportunities. DD has been accepted to all her schools now, officially, except for one conservatory (her last audition, so it's an outlier on the timeline). Deep breaths are happening now as her last scholarship deadlines are today and then she will have a nice, mini-brain-break. She sure deserves it!!! This has sure been a lot of work and she's super happy to have been in a gap year juggling all of this instead of a senior year! We honestly had zero idea going in to this that she would be invited to apply for as many scholarships and amazing programs as she was. She cast a wide net and, so far, that appears to have been a very wise decision for her. (and, like DD1 before her, her current Top 2 are polar opposites... lol!) We'll see if the $$$ holds up in the end... DD2 is in the middle of proofing her final essays before her deadlines today and DD1 was chuckling over the phone with me because she flat-out refused to write even one more essay sometime in late December/early January of her senior year. So she left honors colleges unapplied to, additional scholarship dollars on the table, etc. She was just DONE. They are the tortoise and the hare - DD2 is one to just keep chugging along, slow and steady - it's been a masterful performance to watch. If she can handle college with half as much grace and grit, she will rule the world someday. lol

So, dd applied to what now feels like a thousand schools. Some of them required a LoR right off the bat. Easy peasy. Done and done. Then, after sending in the apps, some school portals magically opened up to reveal certain scholarships and/or programs she was eligible for. Those all required, minimum, two LoRs. OK, fine. DD re-contacted her LoR writers and they sent those in. Okay. Done and donnnnnne. Thennnn, months later, she was emailed by several schools inviting her to apply for certain, specific competitive scholarships and/or programs. Fan-tastic. And, guess what? Those need MORE LoRs. Of course they do! AND, some of them want her to have the letter in her own wee little hands and upload it herself (which is, actually, more of a PITA, tbh and DD finds it embarrassing to ask). So, dd is approaching the deadlines for the scholarships and having to wrangle more LoR writers. She actually invited two brand-new LoR writers for this last batch because we were worried that the others were going to get annoyed. So, my thoughts: Why doesn't the FIRST application state that, if you are in any way considering or interested in any of their competitive scholarships or programs that you can go ahead and upload two/three LoRs RIGHT THERE WITH THE ORIGINAL APPLICATION?? And then the other programs/scholarship departments can ACCESS those letters when/if they need them? It would be SO much easier if DD knew right up-front how many letters MAXIMUM she would need at each school and could have asked these folks back in the fall/before December and just had to wrangle them ONE TIME. grumble grumble grumble. She has amazing LoR writing people. They are happy to do this for her, but she still has to remind, encourage, etc. It's exhausting and we cannot ever be DONE with this process until all this is finished. And it's MARCH already. ARGH! (although, YAY at the opportunities she's being presented with... of course... but UGH!)

Aaaahhh!! That is awesome!!!!! Congrats to your dd!

Thanks for the responses! Scenario #1 has happened twice (generally same situations). I mentor DDs friend and saw the back-and-forth email discussion myself because DDs friend was asking for guidance in how to reply. The family member - same scenario - I was able to read their email discussions. Both scenarios happened with the entire class, however not just that student singled-out. It's just that most everyone else had some major editing to do, and these students had minor, nit-picky things that the professor had docked a lot of points for - and both students would have been perfectly ok accepting their "B," but NOT ok accepting a Zero. But, in their cases, it was an "A" or nothing (other students wound up with Cs and Bs on the exam after revisions). There was no rubric for either essay assignment (two different colleges, two different professors, two different states) - just an "overall points value" assigned to the assignment and a general outline of expectations given. The due dates were in the first half of finals week and the professors each gave the students until the end of finals weekend to edit their papers or receive a zero. First time, I thought - "wow! What a weird, crappy situation." Second time, I thought, "Huh. Maybe I'm the one missing the mark here?" Good to know my instincts were in line. lol Scenario #2 was discussed right there during a prestigious scholarship interview session with the parents - with the student and the professor themselves as a positive/caring illustration of professor/student relationships. Maybe it's different, however, because the student/professor wound up collaborating and expanding the student's project and it was eventually published in some prestigious journal somewhere. So maybe that's why they were all rainbows and sunshine while discussing it? (it only just occurred to me that this might be the case... d'oh!)

I'm curious. Let's say a Student has done tip-top work all semester - surpassing the professor's requirements on each writing assignment and achieving very high scores on each. Finals Week arrives and the final project includes an in-depth paper for this class. Easy for this student. However, finals week also brings major exams in other subjects where student isn't so rock-solid. Student needs to study for those exams in order to achieve a good/passing grade. So, student "does the math." Realizes that he only needs to achieve a "C" on the final paper and would still maintain an "A" in the class. So, student (for whom writing comes easy) sits down and writes out a paper and decides to turn in what is, essentially, a step-above a rough draft. However, student has seen/read other students' papers in that class and feels that this paper is STILL better-written than others' in that class. Student feels good about it and turns it in and turns his mind toward prepping and studying for the tough exams headed his way. One of two things happens: 1) The professor marks the paper and insists that the student edit it before the end of finals week to turn in a paper that is, essentially, "perfect." The edits are super nit-picky and time-consuming, but the professor will give the paper a "0" if not fully edited before the deadline. 2) The professor reads the paper, decides this is not student's best work and gives the student an overall grade of "I" for the class. When student inquires (after grades are back after the semester has ended), professor states that she knows this paper wasn't up to Student's Best Work and that they will work on revisions together the following semester so that student can turn in a paper he is "proud of." Either professor would have given the paper a grade of "B," most likely - thus, high enough for the student to get his overall "A" in that class. I'm asking because these scenarios have happened and one was discussed during a parents' meeting at a university my dd is considering. I'm unsure how I feel about either situation. The dominant part of me thinks the lower grade should've been given and the student walk away with his overall "A," because he obviously made an educated decision and weighed the pros/cons before turning in a less-than-ideal paper (which likely allowed him to focus on other classes and hopefully maintain a good grade there too) and making those types of decisions is a HUGE part of "adulting," while the other part of me respects the professors for possibly seeing this student's potential and wanting to ensure that he worked to his very best abilities (but not sure this is the best way to illustrate that!). Also - this class is part of the student's major. So... a social sciences paper written in APA format or a history paper in Chicago, etc. Not just a Gen Ed class. So - curious what others would think of either of these scenarios and if they feel the same about both? Especially Scenario B when the student now has to fit in this project/paper/tutoring alongside his new schedule of classes!!

Agreeing with everyone else. Super common issue. So common, in fact, that it seems professors wait until the reminder is sent before doing anything about it. My dd has, thankfully, one tried-and-true recommender. DS emails this person and they have the recommendation sent and a reply to dd within 12 hours. Every other LOR? Multiple reminders. Every time. Same for my son. And their LOR-writers LOVE each of them and know them well. And still... it's almost a part-time job just keeping track of the needed LORs and their deadlines! (As of keeping up with the student's own deadlines weren't enough!) my kids keep it short and sweet. Similar to katilac's suggestion above. We always include the link (if applicable) or any other pertinent info so the writer doesn't have to go digging through their emails to find it. best of luck to your dd!!

I dated guys who were way older than me when I was in high school (oldest was 22/23 when I was 15/16). Honestly, they were the LEAST pushy guys I ever dated. They were super respectful and mindful of the age gap and never once did I feel pressured. (and, bonus, they weren't broke like most of the high school aged boys I knew! lol) The younger, high school aged boys, though? Holy cow! lololololol Constant one-track-mindedness! 🤪

Congratulations! Wow - what a beautiful baby she is!! Hope all is well with your SIL and baby!

Not yet. CC overwhelms me. 😵 I'll give it a whirl right now, though!

What a beautiful sweater! She did an amazing job!

DD has a competitive scholarship interview coming up. She's passed the first couple of rounds and is now approaching the final one, which includes two days on-campus. They are flying her (and I) out and will have two days of "activities and interviews." I'm wondering if anyone has any words of wisdom or personal experience with this sort of thing? DD1 was almost to this point for a similar scholarship interview at a different university, but opted to go to another school beforehand, so she withdrew her name. Now I'm wishing she'd have gone just for fun and experience! 🤣 For instance, the letter insinuates long days. We are guessing there will be individual/personal interviews, group interviews... and that everything in-between is basically a test. lol There is a big dinner as well where, again, she's being tested. 😂 But - what about sleep? Like.... if they are officially "Finished' with the assigned activities, but some of the current students of this program are going to hang out together with the applicants... should she go? Or get some sleep? lol Sleep is important to this kid, but she isn't sure what the best thing to do would be... hang out and risk not being as sharp the next day, or possibly appear anti-social and get some shut-eye? She's currently hoping there's another early-to-bed amongst the candidates and if she can just outlast that one person, she'll be free to make a run for it! lol (it's like running from zombies! lol) (eta: she'll be staying on campus) And what about me? It sounds like (she doesn't have a true schedule yet) there are parent-involved events and QAs, etc while we are there. I am not sure, but parents might be at the dinner as well. Am I being judged too? Do I need to break out the heels and earrings and practice the chitchat (my least-favorite thing in the world)? Her people skills are stellar, she'll be "herself" easily, and she's actually got a real shot at winning this thing... but we are afraid we're missing some obvious competitive component that will stump her at some unfortunate moment. lol What should she be aware of that we aren't thinking of? Read our minds!! 😀

Ew. That would have devastated me when I was a kid - even throughout high school. Heck, college too! (I was a stellar student, and teachers using my work as a GOOD example mortified me. I cannot imagine if they'd have made an example off something I'd done wrong) I've seen teachers use examples from previous classes/years before and I think that is okay but really think the teacher should have pre-made examples (her own, perhaps using the same "types" of mistakes the class was repeatedly making) to show the class herself. To use examples from the class itself seems needlessly cruel to a sensitive child. This is why kids like that stop even trying. If their hard efforts are going to wind up the joke of the classroom... why bother trying? Then, at least, you could tell your friends that you didn't "bother."

My friend's daughter did the program and was a lifeguard for a semester. She LOVED it. She got to visit the parks after hours and a few other interns-only sort of experiences.