Life update - college covid style

 She has been at school for 7 days now.  We left her 6 days ago.  She had a rough patch with trying to do band and not feeling like she fit in but she has overcome that.  She is still in constant communication with us.  Not sure how much of that is being homesick, how much is because she has the time and how much is just habit.  I have been trying to take her lead and not nag her too much.  

There has been a lot of communication this week just with changes to her schedule and class formats.  Her school does this cool thing where books are $9.95/credit hour and included in the tuition.  However, with many classes moving to an online or hybrid format she has had to purchase books.  The most expensive being $110 so far.  Totaling $200 so far for three books.  

Going to school during a pandemic is different.  However, I think her school has done an excellent job of trying to maintain some normalcy (responsibly).  I know they seem to be getting a lot of flack from their community but the students seem to be responsible (for now).  They did grab and go craft kits, movies under the stars and glow bingo.  All socially distanced.  

Serena has met some new friends and put herself out there.  I was worried with going to school with her grade school bestie she would navigate to the known to avoid the unknown.  However, tonight her bestie was not up for the movie and she put herself out there and found people to go with.  Even though they restarted the moving about half a dozen times to get the closed captioning to work she seemed to enjoy it.  She learned some valuable lessons -- use the bathroom first and bring bug spray (which she has in her room).  

She has ventured to her new bank twice, done laundry and dishes and walmart twice (once for groceries and once for a necessary cord to get her printer to connect).  She seems to be figuring things out and I am super proud of her for that.  

Subscription Boxes

 The amount of subscription boxes available is outrageous.  I always see Fatfitfun which is about $40-50 a month and Causebox always floats on my feed.  Those are not in my price range of what I would want to spend every month.  

I have considered sending her Ipsy, Birchbox, Casely or Succulent Studio.  Those are all under $20 a month.  

Someone recommended boxycharm which is midline between FFF and the cheaper boxes.  

I have not decided on one yet and I do not plan on doing 12 months.  I might do 3 months - September, October and November then maybe February, March, April.  I am leaning towards succulents and I kind of like the case one.  or succulents and Ipsy.  

Looking for suggestions.  I really do not want to spend more than $20 a month.  Not looking to break the bank but ways for her to get fun and functional mail while away.  She loves succulents and has joked about becoming the crazy plant lady from tik tok.  I guess this is a set up from the crazy unmarried cat lady she has aspired to be.  A husband and kids do not fit in her plan (for now).  

Care Packages

 So I sent off my first care package to her in college.  I cannot wait to send more but will be trying to limit them to once a quarter.  I sent her a 3/4 zip shirt with her school logo on it.  She knew she was getting this.  Just it was received after she left.  I sent her some pistachios in honor of grandpa Jim whose birthday is on the 22nd.  I sent her some Mio drops for her water.  Some stamps because she brought note cards to send people thank yous, notes, etc.  Some colored pencils for the coloring book she brought.  3 small decorative pumpkins.  Some gel clings for Halloween.  She already had some fall ones but couldn't resist the Halloween ones.  Some Halloween garland and fall and Halloween string lights.  I also sent several inspirational cards that she can open on days that she needs a pick me up or misses home or just wants to for fun.  

I cannot wait to send her more.  What do you recommend sending in a care package?  I do not want to send a bunch of candy.  She is trying to not eat a lot of that.  

Finding their own way

Probably one of my biggest struggles as a parent is figuring out when to step up and help and when to let them fall.  Even with an 18 year old there is an overwhelming urge to want to fix things or make decisions for her.  I am learning that is not helping her and learning to take a step back.  

This first week has proven to challenge my ability to do this.  Serena was so excited when we left her on Monday.  She had a "free" day before starting band on Tuesday.  I talked to her Tuesday night she seemed a little off.  Wednesday night she was in a mood but also busy and mentioned she wanted to video chat her brother.  She was over band.  I could tell.  I told her to give it more time because it was new.  She was also having issues with her shin.  This is an ongoing issue she had in high school band too with shin splints.  It was throbbing.  I encouraged her to keep up with it.  Thursday morning things kind of came to a head that she was most definitely done.  I wanted to encourage her to keep with it two weeks.  She didn't think she had that long to decide and ultimately her heart was not in it.  The band director tried talking to her but I think it was too late.  I cannot compliment this band director enough on how he handled the situation.  He talked to me (with her permission) and even though she dropped band he noticed her anxiety seemed to be at an all-time high and arranged for various people to check on her from the band.  Maybe she will join again one day but right now it is not for her.  I know it is important for her to be involved not only to keep her occupied and reduce her homesick feeling but also important for med school applications but I also do not want her to be miserable.  Starting next week she is going to have a pretty full schedule with 16 credit hours plus working.  however, within a few hours of dropping band, with the help of one of the people the band director connected her with, she found her way to the yearbook club and the newspaper. That made this mom heart happy.  

Talking to her since then I have noticed a difference in her demeanor and she seems happy and not as stressed.  Band is great but if it is not for her right now that is fine and I need to learn to let her make those decisions.  I was stuck between how much do I push or encourage her and how much do I let her make her own decision and learn from that.  I took a step back on this and realized she is so very capable to making her decisions and truly thinking things through.  

First Week

 The first week of what you probably ask.  This is the first week of our new routine and adventure.  We sent our oldest off to college on Sunday.  My husband and I took her, helped unload all of her belongings, and set up a few things for her before she decided she was ready to finish her room on her own because she wanted to know where everything is.  The logical part of me knew that was probably best but the sentimental part of me wished that I could have stayed to help or have gone back to see how it looks.  Although we have come a long way with technology and we can do video chat and do instant messages to each other.  

I thought ending my daughter's senior year during a pandemic was going to be the weirdest thing to go through but turns out sending her out into the world during one is scarier.  

Sending your kid to college during a pandemic means (for us) fewer visits to avoid carrying COVID back and forth between households.  It means not seeing her dorm room or other areas of the campus.  It means likely no parent weekend.  It means scheduled move-in times with smaller crowds.  That would seem like a benefit but it was odd.  Kind of a ghost town and just not what we imagined.  It means wearing a mask to move in.  It means not moving freely around the campus.  It meant once we left campus we could not come back.  It was weird.  

For her, it means wearing a mask whenever she is not in her room, and when she is in her room or another room with more than 1 person.  It means distanced dining.  It means hybrid, online, and very few in-person classes.  It means altered schedules, social distanced mixers and fun things being planned.  It means signing up for covid testing.  It means moving back home for 2 weeks if you are positive.  

But silver lining she is she is ON campus.  She has the opportunity to have a somewhat normal college experience.  She is making friendships and finding her way. 

My Travel Accessories

Well ever since I got the travel bug and I like to plan, I get asked a lot about the products that I use/bought for travel.  I did not make these purchases all at once but here are the ones that make my fav list.

I have linked my ideas list at Amazon here.

A pill organizer!
I use this for Disney, cruise or even traveling for work so that I have several types of meds with me.  Benadryl, Immodium, Ibuprofen, Acetominophen, etc.  Especially on a cruise ship where access to a Walgreens is not an option and the ship store is expensive.

I have also used this for work trips for my jewelry.

Infinity Scarf. 
I know what is so special about an infinity scarf.  This one is magical.  Like seriously, the best infinity scarf I have ever owned.  It has a pocket.  AND I just saw they make some with TWO pockets.  I have not tried that one yet because the 1 pocket scart is sufficient.  I use this for traveling (especially airport travel).  Throw my phone, id, debit, boarding pass and earbuds in it and essentially once I get through security I am not going in and out of my bag for stuff.  I have what I need and while on the plane it is all very much reachable.  I even wear it often when we go shopping.  Nobody has any clue until I go to pay.   This scarf comes complete with a funny airport story about a man, his wife and his fascination of my secret pocket scarf.  That's a story for another time.  :)

 Small backpack.
I have a few that I really like and maybe this should be a post all on its own.  I love this sling bag by Thirty One.  If you don't have a 31 lady, I can hook you up with mine...I like that I can have it towards the front if I am not as trusting or swing it to the back.  It has pockets.  And my stuff stays dry.  I have been in some pretty heavy rain with this and the contents stay dry.  May not be good for long periods of time in a torrential downpour but I did get caught in some rain going from a building to a car with my daughter's senior pics and they survived so there's that.

My next purse is another Thirty One item but sadly it is discontinued.  However you can sometimes find it on Amazon, Mercari, ebay, or maybe a thirty one consultant who has cash and carry.  This is the Vary You Backpack Purse.  This is not my image  You can use it for crossbody or backpack.  That large zipper you see is big enough to slide a normal size notebook or planner in it.

I do not personally use this one much but my husband does.  This is his go to travel backpack.  It is sturdy.  It cleans well and holds a lot.

I LOVE this one.  We have two of these.  It is perfect size for a kid or just a mom who doesn't have as much to carry.

This next item is more purely Disney related.  The Magic Bands are your key to everything at Disney, especially if staying on resort and while it does not happen often they can fall off if you pop it just right.  You can buy little slides to put on it to keep the band on even if it pops "apart"

Packing Cubes.  I am still learning the science behind this.  Although we did this for our last cruise and it made it so much easier to pack but not sure it saved us a ton of room.  It did save us some room, helped with organization and kept some of the arguments at bay.  We have 4 prints of these and I packed each of us in a different print then in the suitcases I crossed packed.  This way if 1 suit case went missing not 1 person was without clothes.  We got a little bit of everything in one suitcase.  Having the cubes kept made it easy so that we did not have to rummage through other people's clothes to find our own.  Xander wasn't rummaging through Serena's, etc.  

I use these tags.  I know they are see through, but I like the way they attach (almost impossible to fall off) because you loop them through and do not "buckle" them. 

So last year my husband got me a new samsonite luggage set.  Seriously watch their site for deals, but that is a post of its own.  I had the option of dark gray, purple or white.  We went with dark gray but dark gray is generic and used by so many so I attached these poms.  Yes I think my husband thought I was a little nuts at first but on our cruise it was beneficial.  Between the airport carousel and luggage lined in the hallways of the cruise ship...it was nice. 

Straws!  So yes I am a straw snob and I prefer to drink out of a straw.  However, many companies like Carnival and Disney are starting to get rid of straws (environmentally friendly) and moving to paper straws that disintegrate easily after sitting in a drink for a while or edible (again -- gets wet and soggy) so I brought my own on the cruise ship and it was nice.  Just pay attention when they are clearing drinks...or your straws may disappear.  

I bought better water shoes this year for our cruise.  They were nice.  They were comfortable like tennis shoes but could get wet and drained the excess water.  I did not trust them for our Mayan ruins hike (wore tennis shoes) but did wear them around the ship a couple times on the lido deck.  and had every intention of wearing on our beach day to Cozumel but that was canceled. 

Cooling towels!  

Cruise?  Disney?  Band camp?  summer theater?  

You get the gist.  These are nice.  Each one comes in their own pouch and carabiner clip.  It was equally nice because we had four different colors that happened to match the colors of our waterproof phone pouches, toothbrushes and loufas.  I actually did that by accident. I evidently really liked blue, green, teal and pink.  

My final product that I use frequently at home too and not just on vacation is this phone charger.  You can charge up to 2 phones at once.  And it is solar powered!  Perfect for on a cruise ship, theme park, ball game, etc.  

I am not that high maintenance when I travel but these are things that I find easier when I travel or just nice to have.  Again I accumulated most of this since 2015 and some of it I use beyond vacationing.  

What's your favorite go to travel item?

83

She is 83!
She has been my grandma for almost 38 years!

These are some of my favorite memories!

1) road trips - she used to travel to my dad's

2) Random Sleepovers - my sister and I used to call grandma and grandpa and tell them to call mom and dad and ask if we could sleepover.  Never sure why we didn't just ask mom and dad for a sleepover there but it became a game.  Then dad caught up and busted us.  lol

3) picnic lunches at rest stops on our roadtrips

4) her being a chaperone for our Math Team competition at SWIC

5) being chaperone at a CYO Six Flags day

6)driving us to the hospital to meet our brothers

7) her telling grandpa to quit spoiling me with ice cream

8) her and grandpa visiting us in Florida and going to the beach

9)  camping!  Lots of camping.

10)  decorating for Christmas 

11)  buying Christmas gifts for the grandkids

12)  she was at the birth of my daughter (in the hallway)

13)  being her plus 1 to weddings and baby showers, bridal showers, etc. 

14)  cutting her gas/dinner afterwards

15) late night walmart trips

16) random mall trips

17) living together

18) watching gilmore girls

19) watching big brother

20) moving her - so many times

21) ice cream sundaes from DQ on Grandpa's birthdays

22) walking to the dam

23)   her hugs

24) cutting her grass and dinner at Wayside afterwards

25)  driving to the lake to sit -- she felt closer to grandpa there

26)  pushing her in the wheelchair at nursing home -- she never trusted my driving

27)  making her grandkid sweatshirts with puff paint

28)  playing hair shop and doing her hair

29)  playing grocery store and emptying her cabinets

20)  going to Guth picnics

21)  playing with her ceramic tree rearranging lights

22)  putting flowers on grandpa's grave

23)  talking about grandpa -- a lot

24)  cooking her dinner after her surgeries