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mlktwins

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Posts posted by mlktwins

  1. On 2/22/2024 at 8:02 AM, catz said:

    My son was invited to Phi Beta Kappa on his campus last year.  The legit ones had web pages linked on the university’s website and had active membership and an office on campus and had membership waivers for low income students.  There were only like 3 on his campus that seemed legit and worthwhile and this was one of them. I believe you had to be in the top 5% and have certain academic thresholds to be invited and maybe involved on campus in some way.  

    I agree this is one of the more worthwhile ones. I believe this is usually offered to juniors/seniors?

    • Like 1
  2. My son has started receiving some emails for academic honor societies. We researched one of them and decided it wasn't worth it (NSCS). He went to an info session for Eta Sigma Phi today so we will see. I don't know anything about the particular one you are asking about though. I am new to all of this too. 

    I have told my guy to see what is involved/requirements of the chapter. I added that participation in the honor society is probably as/more important than just having it to note on a resume. I want him to look at clubs and honor societies related to his major and to see what else comes down the road for him as an upperclassman. 

    I also searched on his school's FB parent groups to see what was said about the particular honor societies he received emails from.

  3. My boys are using Earth Breeze laundry sheets at college - figured it was easier not to have liquid running all down the sides of the Tide bottle in their dorm rooms -- LOL. They work fine on my stinky boys. They don't get dirty - like working in the yard dirty - but they are certainly stinky boys (especially the one that works out hard at the gym at school). I tried them at home first and I thought they worked fine.

    • Like 1
  4. Why do you put yourself and your family through this experience 😳? You know how it turns out every time. I guess I am getting old and crotchety 🤪, but I would not continue to ruin my family holidays if this is what happens every time. 

    • Like 7
  5. My washing machine just died. I am literally looking at many loads of dirty clothes as both of my boys came home from college yesterday. One brought me a gift of 3 weeks of dirty clothes 😆. I am heading to the laundromat tomorrow morning to get caught up. 
     

    DH and I are looking for a top load that doesn’t have an electronic programming board (we are going to for knobs and dials this time). We don’t want a Whirlpool again. Need a good size drum to do larger loads. 
     

    Any recs (or ones not to buy) very welcome!

    • Like 1
    • Sad 1
  6. I still old school reconcile too - to the penny 😁. I am the bill payer in the family and I am the one who checks the accounts and makes sure everything is as it should be.

    But it is ok to stop for sure!!!! 

    • Like 1
  7. I think you should just take your assigned dish and the sides your family likes. People don't have to eat them🤷‍♀️. I'm glad you mom is being flexible though!

    We had an issue for several years when we were having Thanksgiving at my BIL's (they took over Thanksgiving at their house when my in-laws got older). My FIL LOVES turkey and mashed potatoes, but my BIL said we weren't having mashed potatoes. I said I'll bring them. He said they aren't on his diet (he was dieting at the time) and not to bring them. I told him not to eat them then. Let's tell an 85+ year old man he can't have mashed potatoes for Thanksgiving. Good grief. I brought them anyway. 

    • Like 11
  8. 5 hours ago, Grace Hopper said:

    @mlktwins I hope that’s your dad’s money with wings, and isn’t your own savings that are being drained.  

     

    It is for now thank goodness! But it is a ton of money and won't last forever! My DH is no longer working and my boys are both in college (we are cash pay) so we won't be paying if the money runs out to be honest. And my sibling cannot afford to help. I was told a year and 8 months ago he likely wouldn't make it a year. 8 months later, he is still going, but in the steep decline. I just signed another lease term for his apartment 🤪. It is cheaper than him in a nursing home with 24/7 care (he would be dead already if he was in a nursing home with out hiring care in there too) and he refused assisted living when it was a possibility. So...here were are.

    I've been doing this for 5 years and 2 months with my dad. And we went through this with my in-laws during covid who both died (not covid related). They refused to leave their house until a month before they died saying they think it's now time for that assisted living. Well...that assisted living ship had sailed a long time ago. It has been a nightmare and really opened our eyes to how we want things to be going forward. And now one of DH's dad's best friends - his son is dealing with it too and he is saying he doesn't want this for himself either. Nothing can prepare you for this experience until you go through it.

    • Sad 13
  9. DS1 at college finally got the freshman funk. He was really sick, with all the things except for stomach issues, and I went and got him to urgent care this weekend. Negative for strep, flu, covid, and mono (all stuff going around at his school). A script for Doxy has really turned things around for him - along with a script for his coughing. I hope you feel better soon!

    • Like 3
  10. Both of my boys are doing good so far.

    There has been A LOT of sickness at DS1's school (mono, flu, covid, strep). He managed to avoid it for 6 weeks, but was just a minor cold and cough. Both he and his roommate have air purifiers that run 24/7 so I think that has helped. Plus this kid takes daily vitamins and gets 8 hours of sleep per night. Mr. Party Animal he is 😁. He loves his school and isn't homesick at all. I went to visit him overnight a few weekends ago and he looks good. At JMU, kids have to decide in early October if they want to live on campus next year or move off campus (there isn't a lot of upper classman housing) - that was stressful. He decided to live on campus one more year and plans to room with his current roommate. They have 2 friends who live across the hall who are doing the same thing - same dorm. They all plan to get an apartment off campus for junior year. This kid is doing good in his classes so far (mostly A's and a couple of B's on assignments), but has a dreaded art history exam on Monday. My boys are not into art and art history and both are taking it. Their least favorite class this semester. He is coming home Tuesday for his fall break. His girlfriend is on break now and is visiting him at school this weekend 😬. Not even going to say anymore about that -- LOL - but we love her.

    DS2 does not love the college experience at all and wants to come home every weekend, which he has most of them. He wouldn't love being away at any college. His grades are stellar and I just want to keep his spirits up so home he comes (we are about an hour away). He is trying out for the esports team for spring so I think he will want to stay there more often on the weekends and will have some people to hang with. He is home now for fall break and will have one evening to hang with his brother before I have to take him back.

    So far no plans for changes to their majors. I'm trying to get them to think about a minor, but they are there yet. DS1 applied to the Honors College and should find out about that sometime this month. DS2 declined Honors College sometime this summer. It was good decision as he would be even more miserable than he already is 🤪.

    Will be doing a lot of driving this weekend picking people up and taking them back -- LOL. All worth it though.

     

    • Like 12
  11. On 10/9/2023 at 12:55 PM, gstharr said:

    I had to look this up.  I don't think I could get him to join.  Maybe, i might really not want to know.

    If you are paying for the phone and service, he will join 😁. Both of mine are on it with no issues - we pay for their phone service for now. I think they check up more on us empty nesters than we check up on them. One of my boys has a friend group on life 360 too - separate from the 4 of us.

    • Like 3
  12. 40 minutes ago, Pawz4me said:

    When is your insurance ending?

    If it continues through the end of this year -- Open enrollment for the ACA starts on November 1. That's for signing up for coverage beginning January 1. On November 1 you should be able to go on their website (or your state's site, if they have one) and see all the available plans in your area for next year. You can also start an account, answer lots of questions, and get a ball park estimate about how much, if any, subsidy you may qualify for.

    If your coverage is ending prior to the first of the year then you can start enrollment as soon as it ends, since losing your coverage counts as a special qualifying event.

    You can also talk to an insurance broker. We didn't have a very good experience with that. We saw a very highly recommended person (recommended by multiple people who didn't know each other) but she seemed to be less knowledgeable than we were. Granted, we'd done a LOT of self education before consulting her, but still . . . she definitely didn't inspire confidence, and even told us some things that were flat out wrong. So I guess my point there is educate yourself as much as you can before consulting someone.

    We have through the end of this year. A little longer actually, but we won't wait that long. We want to have things in place at least a month ahead of the end of our plan. Even if we sign up for something for just a year and plan to have more time to prepare and research for next year.

  13. Our health insurance plan is being discontinued. Back in the day, I was a Federal employee with BCBS and when I stayed home with my boys, I continued with COBRA for 18 months. After that, we continued with a different plan at BCBS. My DH was considered self-employed and we have stayed on our plan for about 18 years. When all the ACA stuff came out, we paid a higher premium, but our plan was grandfathered in. Now it is being eliminated and I have not dealt with finding insurance in forever.

    I will say that over the years, when ACA came into place, we did research other plans to see if we could lower our premiums (they are high, but it is a good plan). At that time, we found all our favored doctors were not included in the plan options, etc. so we never made the jump. Now we have no choice.

    So where do we start? We can contact BCBS to see what alternate plans they are offering? We can get a broker? We want to keep our doctors as we have been with them for a long time and we don't prefer to change. Should I call the various doctors and see what plans they recommend or participate with?

    Are there still issues with pre-existing conditions, etc.?

    Any advice is very welcome. We live in VA if that helps.

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