On our first family trip to London the boys ranged in age from 6-12. We rode the bus, underground, and walked everywhere. Quite a few people asked us "are they all from the same parents?" - I guess they assumed we were a blended family. Nope...we had 4 and take them everywhere. I'm sure we were conspicuous as we tried to keep all 4 boys walking nicely down the sidewalk...minding the gap on the underground, and not stepping off the curb into traffic. People seemed surprised to see a family with 4 kids in tow.

I have the same smell with my boxwoods! I do have outdoor cats (farm) and thought they were using the area around the bushes. Thank you, previous posters, for that information.

He thought my mom was doing the breastfeeding while holding the baby. It was asked "oh, are you breastfeeding him"?

My father-in-law often says socially inappropriate things. My niece had just had her 2nd baby and my mom (baby's great grandmother) was holding the baby...FIL asks my mom (age 72) if she was breastfeeding the baby :crying: . Sometimes I think he doesn't get out enough lol. I could totally hear him ask the poster above about vaginally delivering twins. :huh:

Praying for you all, Lizzie. May peace fill you and wisdom guide you. I'm so sorry.

I, too, have a son with lovely curly brown hair - when it's long. He's the only one of the 4 who could pull off a handsome pony tail or a man-bun. He's also my birkenstock wearer. The other 3 are more mainstream. Son #3 will grow his hair out mostly because he's too cheap or busy to go get it cut. So it gets cut about once or twice a year. He looks handsome either way, but I've always had a soft spot for a man with a well groomed pony tail :)

Maybe pertinent to this topic: DS was taking a final yesterday. Apparently it was a "take it when you want to" kind of thing so he was the only one there. Going into the final he had scored 100% or above on all this professor's tests. Once finished, she asked him to stay and tell her about his home education experience because she was considering it for her son! They talked for about 45 minutes. So maybe those stereotypes are being overcome?

We will be leaving our fluffy ones for a week at a local vet/dog spa. This spa offers doggy day care which we've used twice so far with my just-turned-1 year old labradoodle. The first time I took her in, she was happy to trot off with the handler. The second time, when she realized that I was leaving, she tried to come back to me and didn't seem so happy. However, on pick up they told me she had enjoyed playing with the other dogs and had spent a lot of time in the pool (of course) and she was tired out for the rest of the day. I had hoped that by taking her a few times before leaving her for the week that she would be more comfortable. I have a miniature poodle who will be going also, but I think it will be traumatic for her no matter what since she's a clingy one (that's the poodle personality in my experience). So here's the question: am I stressing them more by taking them before leaving them, or will it be better emotionally for them to have been there a few times?

Zippered pockets...I may have to take the fellas shopping. That's a good idea.

This is what I was afraid of as well :huh:

When traveling internationally, do your guys have a particular RFID safety wallet they use? My guys will be traveling this summer and I want something they will actually use rather than put aside as something from mom's paranoia lol. I'm finding some that are bifold that have passport size pockets. But is that too big for a front jean pocket? I would prefer they use the "wear on the neck" holders, but I don't think they will go for that. Nothing trifold will fit a passport. Any suggestions?

Charleston, SC

LOL! Yes, my youngest has made it a point not to mention that he was home educated unless specifically asked. Like another poster said, it's more about the assumptions. But, he proudly displayed his academic prowess to a group of elite private schooled frat bros recently. The exchange went like this: The president of his frat is basically a lazy slug (my son's assessment) and ended up with a 1.7 ish gpa for fall semester. At their weekly meeting this fella was lamenting how hard college is (note that this particular student said he got a 35 on the ACT). My son took him to task saying that if he would pull his lazy a** out of bed, would quit drinking and smoking weed, he might do better. The student made a derogatory comment about being called out by a homeschooler. My son went on to inform him that he had a 3.8 gpa, was just invited to be president of an exclusive investment club, etc. etc. Apparently there was silence in the room. After the meeting quite a few of the kids spoke to him about not realizing he was doing so well...they just assumed that since he was home educated he wouldn't be doing as well as they were when in fact he seems to be outscoring them all. I will say, though, that this son has finally come to see that being home educated was perhaps a better choice than sending him to the expensive private school nearby. He always thought he would have been better educated and would score better if he had gone there and seemed to be a bit resentful. I think he's over that now. Oh, and just a bit of excitement: He was asked to chauffeur the Afghanistan Ambassador all over town a couple weeks ago. He was able to sit in on a working meeting and he attended a banquet in the evening with the ambassador, mayor, supreme court justice and other dignitaries. I had called him to see where he wanted to go for his birthday dinner...he told me he didn't know if he would be able to go because of his duties that day. I was taken aback. My first response was, "I hope you cleaned out your car" to which he replied that he was driving a brand new Yukon haha!. Then I asked if he had nice shoes on lol. I knew he would wear a suit, but the shoes were a possible problem. And he even got a picture with the ambassador :)

If there isn't, and if he's a computer geek, that would be a fabulous Eagle Scout project :) ...Just an idea....

We are looking at traveling to Israel in May with 2 of our boys (ages 21 and 24). The plan is to base out of Tel Aviv for part of the time with day trips and spend a few days in Jerusalem. I'm booking accommodations right now and would love some recommendations for Jerusalem. Tel Aviv hotels seem to have better recommendations than those in Jerusalem. Is there a part of Jerusalem that would be best for us? Are there other options than hotels? We wouldn't mind an apartment/flat/B&B setting. We don't require luxury; rather we'd love an "experience". However, comfortable and clean is a must. I'd love any recommendations you can give :)

Haha! It's true :) While we are all finished in the home, I'm keeping an eye on the college board since I still have 3 there. I love to keep up with all of you on here.

I was proud of the restraint I showed at TJMaxx a few days ago. But I have been drooling over the Hanna Andersson, Mini-Boden, and Garnet Hill catalogs. I did break down and get some cute pink pig felted wool slippers that were on sale at GH.

Well, I'm just going to do it anyway :) Seems that all the folks who might remember me are on this board. You know those four boys of mine??? Well, it appears that I'm going to have a granddaughter in July!!! :hurray: Everyone is a bit stunned lol. OK, that's all, now back to the usual postings.

Just throwing this out there...3 of my 4 sons have majored/are majoring in engineering fields, specifically petroleum, chemical, and mechanical. I would suggest that you not limit your pick of school to geographical area if you can avoid it. The school a student attends, particularly in petroleum, will make a difference in the student's ability to gain internships and later, jobs. Chemical is similar, although not as affected. If you are going to pay the bucks, make sure you get your money's worth. Check out the success of the graduates in obtaining jobs. In Petroleum, it really does matter if you go to one of the top schools.

From what I'm reading, he should be covered by the same plan the school's employees have. He is telling me that he was told that GRAs get the insurance free, essentially as part of their compensation plan. Hopefully that will kick in before our own insurance.

Thanks for the reminder! I'll have to educate him about HIPPA... :glare:

Thank you all! Joules, it is especially comforting to know that your experience there was great. I'm so impressed with the school and hope that the health clinic is impressive as well. It will be so much easier for him to do everything on campus. I think the hardest part will be getting him to actually do the paperwork to get things going. I'll have to keep nagging lol. He's such a bright fella, but we often tell him that he needs a "handler"- someone to handle all the mundane life tasks.

I perused the schools website and after going through several layers lol, I found some interesting stuff. Apparently since he is a GRA, he is enrolled in the health insurance offered to employees (but it is paid for by the school for him). It looks really nice, offering dental, prescriptions, and eye coverage. Apparently GT has a clinic on campus that is fully staffed by physicians including internal medicine and psychiatry. Either of those would be fine for ds to visit. I spoke with ds this morning about my concerns and I think he will be compliant. I stressed the importance of follow up as the doses must be increased slowly and he may or may not respond to the first medication prescribed. Now I need to talk to the school and find out just how this all works for ds...he just assumed that he's covered and that's all he needs to know. Life has been easy (medically speaking) for him growing up with us being in the medical community. He's going to find it's a whole different ballgame out there. Mom and dad can't just call up Doc. friend to see kiddo after hours lol. I think this means we can drop him off our insurance... but I'm still not sure about all that.

If you are a renter, do you pay by the month or biweekly? Do you have a preference? Is that preference based on the way you get your income (weekly, biweekly, monthly)? I'm a landlord and would like to offer flexible payment options. A particular tenant of mine seems to have trouble getting the full payment in during the first week of the month. I'm thinking about offering her an alternative. If you are a landlord, have you offered arrangements for payment other than the usual (or what seems usual around here) 'first of the month' payment?

How do you go about finding a physician for a student (adult male) who is attending a university out of state and you have no contacts there? My son needs to be started on a medication that would require periodic monitoring and prescription refills (antidepressant for OCD). Both dh and myself are healthcare affiliated (physician/pharmacist) so we are very comfortable with the decision and the medication of choice. However, he is only home for another week. Is the school health clinic the best place to start? I'm at a complete loss about what to do. He is, as is often the case, resistant to discussing the issue but will take the medication. He had a previous bout in his mid teens and medication proved very effective. Since he has been home it is obvious that the OCD is once again impacting his day to day activities. But I cannot rely on him to find himself a physician. Any advice? He is at Georgia Tech if you have specific advice for the school or Atlanta.