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KarenNC

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  1. We're in NC. My daughter wanted a smaller to mid-size school, within driving distance of home, shooting for one where her stats put her in the top 10-20%. She investigated a ton of schools and we made visits to many of them (several more than once), but she narrowed the list for applications to: Roanoke College, Catawba College, Lenoir Rhyne University, Appalachian State University, UNC-Greensboro, UNC-Wilmington, UNC-Charlotte. She applied to the honors colleges at all but Roanoke.
  2. Well, for a party last night, I took a summer sausage, cracker cut cheese, box of assorted crackers, container of spinach dip, container of caramelized onion dip, and some chips. We have to travel an hour to get to the party and had a couple of errands to run first, so I stuck the cheese, sausage, and dips in a small cooler bag with an ice pack. Trader Joes had out frozen mini-meatballs cooked in apple cider jam and sriracha sauce out for tasting yesterday and it was quite good, though I might lessen the sriracha a bit for a party with kids. For fall, mixing their pumpkin butter with softened cream cheese and serving with the ginger cats cookies, ginger snaps, or apple slices is tasty. Costco's mini brownie bites are really good, or bake your brownies in a mini muffin pan. I like smaller servings of desserts for a potluck since folks like to try several. I've even bought inexpensive pizza and cut it up into small squares a couple of times. Unfortunately it's past watermelon season, as that is one of my go-to for potlucks when they're available. Makes a ton, cheap, and easy.
  3. Mug cake mixes. You can make your own, but they also now sell packs that only require water while most of the homemade ones I've seen need egg and oil. We taste-tested a couple and preferred Duncan Hines over the Betty Crocker or Dr. Oetker. Haven't tried the Ghiradelli yet, but bet it's good. I'm planning on getting some for my college-age daughter's stocking, but may do some for us as well. Beats having a whole cake around to tempt us or if we want different desserts. https://duncanhines.com/products/perfect-size-for-one/ If you have a camper, REI had a nice camping/backpacking spice holder https://www.rei.com/product/784120/gsi-outdoors-spice-rack. We also saw the Don't Die Out There pack of playing cards with safety information https://www.rei.com/product/128520/mountaineers-books-dont-die-out-there-card-deck.
  4. The thing that jumped out at me was "convert." The vast majority of new converts to anything, religion or otherwise, don't have a mature understanding of what precepts actually look like when the rubber hits the road over the long term and tend to a very literal and sometimes extreme interpretation. I'd also be curious about whether spouse A is part of an established, mature community with a guidance structure for new converts by more mature community members or is doing this solo, which makes the extreme and literal more likely.
  5. When my mother died suddenly, my father (in his early 40s) started dating two weeks later (as in dyed his hair and started going to a singles group), was engaged in 3.5 months to a woman whose husband had died of cancer about 7 months before my mother, and was re-married by 8 months. When my step-mother died last year after a long illness, he was in his mid-70s. He told me repeatedly that a man will remarry within a year or not at all, and certainly seemed bent on accomplishing that, as he has expressed an intention or at least strong willingness to marry just about every woman he's gone out with since, but they haven't been willing, so he's now extending that timeline ? . Most have been widowed for a number of years (he won't date anyone who has ever been divorced). In several cases they've told him they have no intention of remarrying because they don't want to lose their benefits from their husbands' pensions, but are willing to go out and do things together.
  6. I'm really glad she isn't doing a science or math course this semester, as those would be particularly difficult to condense and cover adequately. I think her most difficult one will be technical theatre in order to get lab hours in. Perhaps it's a silver lining that she wasn't able to find a job on campus this semester.
  7. And now the UNCW start date for everyone has been pushed to Oct. 8........a full month of no classes, as evac started on Sept. 10. It's going to be an interesting scramble when they get back.
  8. Thanks. Yes, we are very grateful they aren't cancelling the semester and that she is not in one of the two dorms that are still being repaired. Those students will not be able to come back to campus until the week after school re-opens! The school is planning to work with them to try to get alternative instruction options, but it's still going to be a big disruption. They tried to find alternative housing but there is just nothing to be had in Wilmington due to the widespread problems. Her honors college trip to DC has been cancelled, which was not a huge surprise as it was to be over fall break. She's heard from several of her professors about adjustments that are currently planned and it will all be good. I do dread trying to get her back on campus along with the majority of the other 17,000 students on Saturday!
  9. Update on UNC-Wilmington and Coastal Carolina University: Don't have a student there, but, based on their FB page, Coastal Carolina itself did not suffer any flooding or major damage, but can't get in staff and supplies to fully re-open campus due to rising flooding in the surrounding areas. They are hoping to reopen for classes on Oct. 1 and are able to provide alternative instruction options for at least some classes in the meantime, which I assume means online assignments. I didn't see info on how or if they will need to adjust their scheduling. My daughter's at UNCW, which has not fared as well in terms of damage, but is currently planning to reopen the dorms on Sept. 29th and start classes again on Monday, Oct. 1. They are supposed to give confirmation or change to that today (9/25). We're currently looking at alternative routes to get down there, as large portions of many of the major roads between here and there are still closed. The chemistry building was severely damaged (lost its roof), lots of downed trees, and some water damage to some other buildings, including at least a couple of dorms. From what we've heard so far, only one dorm was really badly impacted. So far, they have said they are not planning to change December graduation, which would appear to limit any ability to extend the semester, and have cancelled the following days off--fall break (2 days), the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, and reading day before exams. She's heard from a couple of her professors about some upcoming syllabus changes, but not the majority. I imagine the professors are still scrambling to figure out how to best deal with the situation, as well as dealing with any damage to their personal properties. It appears that the shelter never actually opened on campus after all, as it was not mentioned again after that one news conference. With 2.5 weeks of classes immediately followed by 3 weeks at home, it's been quite an introduction to campus life!
  10. UNC-W does not have any timeline yet for reopening, which is not surprising since Wilmington is currently effectively an island as all roads in are impassable and the mayor said it could take a couple of weeks to get power restored. My daughter just got an email that they are definitely closed through this Friday, and have committed to giving 72 hours minimum notice before reopening. We have been told there was extensive but repairable damage to the chemistry building, with no word on the rest of the campus. They currently have no plans to cancel the semester. They've taken the school website offline and have an emergency alert page up instead https://sites.google.com/site/uncwalert/ I am presuming that the students evacuated last week to UNC-Asheville will remain there until the school reopens. I'm very grateful that the school started voluntary evacuations when it did (Monday at noon--mandatory started Tues at 8 am with all students off campus by 12 ). We were able to get in and out without any problems with bad traffic, leaving the way open for others later on. Since we are four hours away, I was worried that it would be a last minute scramble. Their stated policy is to give at least 6-8 hours of daylight driving time before high winds are forecast to hit the area. New Hanover County announced yesterday (Sunday) that they were going to be setting up a shelter on the campus for area residents as part of the plan to consolidate their pre-storm shelters and better use resources, which tells me parts of the campus, at least, are functional.
  11. Looks like we were very lucky and made it through with minimal issues in our area near Charlotte. We have kept power so far, but there's a lot of flooding in our area, including one of the two ways out of our immediate area. It also looks like we will have our daughter home from UNC-Wilmington for a good bit longer. There are literally no passable roads into Wilmington at the moment (supplies are being air-lifted in), the mayor has said it may take two weeks to get power restored to the area, and the school has said they haven't been able to fully assess the damage yet. They are hoping to be able to tell us something by mid-week about plans for re-opening and the impacts it might have on the academic calendar, but I don't anticipate she'll be going back until at least next week. The county just announced today that they are setting up a shelter on the campus for area residents starting hopefully tomorrow to help consolidate some of the pre-storm shelters, which tells me at least part of the campus is still functional.
  12. Well, it looks like we are through with the worst of the rain here in the Charlotte area, though flood waters are still going to be an issue for a while. We were extremely fortunate. Lots of rain, but we haven't lost power, and no flooding at our house, though one of the two ways out of our area is flooded. We've at least now laid in some supplies that we can keep back in case of power outages from ice storms this winter! ? Looks like we will likely have our daughter home from UNC-Wilmington for a while yet. The mayor said that it could take two weeks to get power restored to the area, so we'll see. There is literally no access via road to Wilmington at the moment, and the school hasn't been able to assess the damage yet. They are hoping to be able to let us know by mid-week what the plan will be. They've said they'll give a minimum of 72 hours notice of campus re-opening, so that tells me it will be after next weekend at minimum, which would mean two full weeks out of school. The only thing we've heard from the "grapevine" so far is that there was severe flooding damage to the chemistry building due to a roof membrane being ripped off during the storm, but the county today announced plans to open up a shelter on campus for local residents, possibly tomorrow, so parts of the campus must still be functional. I feel really sorry for all the students who were evacuated up to UNC-Asheville and now are stuck there for an indeterminate period of time.
  13. I've sent gifts from Penzey's spices www.penzeys.com and Godiva www.godiva.com multiple times. I wish I could remember the place that my friend uses to send us cheese.
  14. Two dish drainers (our dishwasher broke a few years ago and we've not gotten around to replacing it because my husband actually enjoys handwashing dishes---most of the time! ? ), toaster oven, bowl of apples, crock with large kitchen tools like spatulas/ladles, salt and pepper shakers, spoon rest, dish soap, paper towel holder, and a small dish for the scrubby. We have a separate cart that holds the instant pot, slow cooker, and lids for several pots. I've managed to get the spice rack and the knives off the counter, but the kitchen is small to medium-sized and storage is not optimal. The microwave is one of those combos with the range hood, so mounted under the cabinet. Now, that's what's supposed to be there. What actually also ends up there too frequently--mail, spices that haven't been put back in the spice drawer, small things on their way to the garage, things that do have cupboard homes like the blender or the cooling racks.
  15. I swear by my Swing-Away! I've already gotten one to put in my daughter's "hope chest" for when she moves out.
  16. We're windy here (near Charlotte), but rain isn't expected to start until tomorrow. We've prepped for possible prolonged power outage from flooding. Our town declared a state of emergency today and will be limiting access to roads known to flood (including one of the two ways out of our immediate area). Our house is on high ground and should be fine and the other way out is not likely to flood, so we should be good. We evacuated my daughter from UNC Wilmington (freshman) on Monday, and we're expecting she will likely be home through next week. We're hoping her dorm doesn't flood. We brought a lot of stuff home, but she's on the first floor. At least we did get the NSSI dorm insurance that includes flood coverage!
  17. Got a suggestion from our HVAC company to make sure gutters and storm drains are clear, something I hadn't thought of. My husband's going to try to get the two areas that are usually the first to clog cleared out when he gets home. Luckily they are fairly accessible. We have our canned goods stocked up, meds, cat food, litter, a case of shelf stable milk, summer sausage, crackers, peanut butter, some cash in small denominations, cars gassed up, extra propane tank, a bit of firewood if that runs out, that sort of thing. I picked up some things like easy mac that, if we don't need, can go back to school with my daughter after all this. I do need to go out to pick up some paper plates and such just in case, probably at the dollar store, and some extra toilet paper. I'm also looking for mayo packets, so that we'd have some without having to keep a jar cold. I wish I had thought about this in time to order some Duke's packets from Amazon, but not an option to get delivery before next week. Well, we all have to expect to make sacrifices in an emergency, and some of the stores say they stock Hellmans. ? I'll get some Dukes packets after the storm to keep in my emergency stash, since our usual big power outage threats come from ice storms in Jan/Feb. We have plenty of muffins, sandwich bread, and the like that I can pull out of the freezer before the storm hits (we keep it there to keep it fresher and to keep the bread-loving cat from trying to eat it!). Thinking of making some pepperoni cheese bread a little closer to time to clear out some of the shredded cheese in the freezer, since it can sit at room temp. Anyone have favorite higher protein recipes that don't need refrigeration after cooking that we could make in advance?
  18. From what I've seen, State and Chapel Hill have already announced closing and encouraged students to leave campus https://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/education/article218155640.html The others appear to still be monitoring as of the latest info I have seen.
  19. We went and evacuated our daughter from UNC Wilmington today. They had a voluntary evac starting at noon, and on the way home we saw them announce a mandatory evac starting at 8am tomorrow, with all students having to be off campus by noon. They were having students who didn't have a place to go call the Dean of Students' office to be taken up to UNC Asheville to shelter. Really glad we were able to go today as there wasn't any abnormal traffic yet, though there was a lot more business at the gas station just outside Wilmington where we usually gas up to go home. She is in a first floor dorm room, so we packed up and brought a lot of her dorm stuff with us. We had her put pretty much everything else up on her bed (lofted 3 ft) or desk. I have no idea when she'll be able to go back, given the likelihood of widespread flooding and power outages, but told her to be prepared to be home through next week. At least the dorm insurance covers flooding if that happens, and we rented the microfridge (with their insurance), so if anything happens to that they should bring her another one. At home (near Charlotte), we're topping up the gas in the cars and bringing the trash cans/grill/etc into the garage. I'm going out tomorrow to stock up a bit on foods that don't need refrigeration, get another propane tank, and get some cash in small bills from the bank. I've already stocked up on cat food and cat litter, meds, and we have a bunch of bottled water left over from a planned park party that didn't happen. We're on city water and have a gas water heater, so that part should stay reasonably okay. I just don't look forward to possible loss of power and therefore of a/c, remembering how hot and humid things were after Hugo (1989), when we were without power for a week in September (and we were part of the lucky ones, some went without for close to a month!). That was still a Cat 1 hurricane by the time it got to us, though, and this shouldn't be that bad 4 hours inland in our direction. We're on the western edge of our electric provider's range, however, so they may be more impacted than the other provider in the area.
  20. You could message the UUA Church of the Larger Fellowship and see what they recommend for families who don't live near an OWL program. It's the outreach for UUs who don't have a congregation, usually due to location. https://www.uua.org/beliefs/get-involved/where/clf
  21. Yep, we brought ours home as well and it's been great. We did do some work together as well in thinking about what to consider for next semester's schedule, as she will have her planning meeting with her advisor before she comes home again in late September. She's already had a "get to know you" meeting with him last week, which went well.
  22. It really helped my daughter that she had spent a week on campus last year as part of a creative writing camp, even in the same dorm she lives in now. She also had the option to attend a two-day orientation earlier this summer where she made a friend she was able to connect with after move-in. I met two of my best friends in college (who later became my roommates sophomore year and after) at a freshman retreat before move-in. Sometimes honors colleges or specific living-learning communities have early move-in and/or retreats, and I've seen some listed for first-generation students as well. There's usually a fee involved, but may be worth it depending on your student's circumstances. It would be worth asking your admissions rep if there are any such opportunities when investigating colleges.
  23. In my area (southeast US), frosting and icing are usually used interchangeably. There's even one recipe that is called both boiled icing and seven minute frosting. There's also glaze--a thin sugary coating, often poured over bundt cakes and doughnuts, not hard like a shell but not fluffy. The exception might be royal icing for cookies, like gingerbread men, which dries very hard and is more opaque and I don't think I've heard that called frosting. It's thicker than a glaze. Most of the cakes/cupcakes I've had that have decoration use piped buttercream for the decoration as well, though you can buy really hard little decorations out of royal icing at the grocery store to stick on top. I don't see them used really regularly, however.
  24. Moved mine in 4 hours away on Saturday. She seems to be settling in, has attended her first aikido club practice, gone to some of the activities available, and is meeting people. She likes her RA and her roommate seems fine. When we got there, she was very excited to see she was in a corner room, which is about 40 or so sf larger than the usual rooms. Classes start tomorrow, which will help give her some structure. There's also a job fair tomorrow for campus and part-time jobs, so keeping fingers crossed she's able to find something on-campus (no car).
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