174.6! Yay! Bet it was all the stair climbing at college. And that I basically had breakfast and then nothing much else yesterday.
This morning was a good walk in the woods with dogs plus Seneca and her mom. Lots of mud and sweat. I've had a 90 calorie Clearly Canadian, a banana (100 cal?) and a Picky Bar (200 cal). Working on 4-cal Spindrifts now. And I have a 180-cal microwaveable dinner for lunch. There. That's out of the way.
Saturday was committed to final getting ready and packing D for college. Went to the dump. Dropped John's cassock at the dry cleaners. Took D to the bank to sort out his online access. Only 50% successful as I think the system was just totally confused with all the trying. Even the customer service person at the bank finally gave up and suggested we just give it a day and try again. Meanwhile, at least we got his ATM card activated and tested. Took him to buy a back-up pair of shoes. Loaded the car. To the roof. We didn't have to jam it TOO full, but it was completely full. Locked it up and called it done.
Over the last few days we watched the entirety of the brand new Netflix series "One Piece"...
It was lighthearted and fun and D was even able to "tolerate" it so we all watched it together. A really special way to spend our last entertainment hours. We started the final episode in the car, on my phone, while we waited in line for our turn to unload D's stuff, and then later, after getting him pizza for lunch, we watched the end of the episode, while parked in the car. There was a feeling of "okay, there, now we can head off to our separate adventures the way these guys were heading off to theirs."
The college was AMAZINGLY efficient. We were also lucky to have a 9 AM assigned time for drop off and we were early. So the wait in line was not long, and then when we pulled up for our allotted five minutes to unload, older students swarmed the car and put everything into three giant wheelie bins. John drove the car to the assigned parking and took the free shuttle back. Meanwhile, the students helped us push the bins to the next line and then into elevators and then into the room. All lines were short and quick. (Later in the day we observed the line wrapping around the building, but by then we were done, done, done!)
Once we emptied a bin, we just put it in the hall and students came and took them away. They also staggered the arrival time of the roommate, so by the time he showed up an hour later, we were able to get out of their way and let him and his parents have the room to set up his side.
Here's the car, loaded up... D drove, so John has to sit in the backseat.
His co-piloting is NOT appreciated! 🤣
Here he is, taking advantage of his last chance to drive for a while.
Closest area... Could use a tension rod and a curtain, maybe.
Desk and bed with pod installed.
Space between the two might just fit a little shelf/table I saw at Target,
if it turns out to be desired.
View from his window.
D relaxing. He doesn't do this at home! This is downstairs in a lounge area.
There were twice as many drawers provided as I expected, which worked out well. Storage for towels and pants. And then there's space behind the drawers, which pull out, for his sea chest (which contains his extra sheets and towels) and his suitcase. FYI, we don't recommend buying the "room in a bag" sets for which they bombard you with advertisements. Stuff is cheap and a lot of stuff you don't need. The "underbed storage bags" were good for packing and transporting but not needed afterwards. The over-the-door shoe bags which ARE good for organizing toiletries, etc. were useless because NO door (other than the main one into the room). Fabric cubbies for attaching to the closet rod weren't needed because 1) no rod and 2) no space after clothes hung and fridge installed. So that stuff all came home. And the sheets are polyester. Ick.
We spent about six hours with him from arrival to departure on Sunday. After sorting his room, we left so the roommate could do his thing, went to Target and got a few things (the only thing forgotten was the shampoo bottle he left in the shower at home), and then got lunch. Finished the "One Piece" episode in the car. Lugged his fizzy water supply up five flights of stairs (elevators were for wheelie bins only on this day). Then went looking for classrooms which we unfortunately in locked buildings. Climbed the stairs one more time so I could grab a couple of pictures. And then it felt like it was okay to leave.
We had a room in New Bedford for the night. It just felt right to me that we stay in case there was something needed that we could supply. We went to the
Glass Museum which was located in the basement of an old mansion that had been converted to special occasion uses, an eating club and many apartments. Both the gentleman who told us about the mansion and the one who gave us a detailed tour of the glass in the basement were phenomenal. I love when someone will explain what is interesting about what I'm looking at. When New Bedford was done with whales, they did glass. Nowadays, the city is pretty rundown. Not ALL bad, by any means.
Yesterday morning we had to really hunt to find somewhere for breakfast. We and the entire world found the one place open on Labor Day...
Mirasol's Cafe. My breakfast tortilla was yummy and filling enough to last all day. The only problem with John's was it was filled with molten hot lava (aka cheese).
While we were waiting, we finally heard from D to learn that we could go see him now that whatever rah-rah-sis-boom-bah activity he had been at was done. Amazing! He hadn't been sleeping! He wasn't a fan, of course, but he DID get up and go! Once classes begin, this whole experience has the possibility of improving 1000-fold. So, we went and hung out (as above) for an hour and then we left.
(Meanwhile, I have eaten my lunch plus a handful of almonds.)
At home, John's mom had been busy cleaning and sorting in D's room. MORE bottles of juice and fizzy water were unearthed. I had taken a dozen to the transfer station on Saturday. I went through antique art examples, some going back to 5-6th grades, and stored them away in a container D uses for historical art. I retired one piece and used the frame for a new piece I found:
The plan is for D to be able to settle down into his room when he returns to work on his painted figures with all the equipment organized and at hand. The exciting bit for me is that I great a break from it being all over my kitchen. I miss him desperately, but there are a FEW benefits! ;-)
When I got done satisfying SOME of Mary's requests for aid, I went and sorted out D's schedule. He had asked me to put it together for him in a neat and understandable format. Based on my experience with three different colleges and their systems, I do not blame him in the slightest or feel like I'm helicoptering by providing this support. And I'm glad I did as the beginning research I had done while there was not 100% correct. The last thing D needs is to show up at the wrong place at the wrong time. So I prepared a very clear schedule of classes, times, locations and professor websites. It's still on him to find those locations. Then I put together a list of student resources plus a list of links to clubs that might interest him.
My next plan is to possibly see him a week from Thursday while trying to coordinate visiting Kepler's breeder while we plan ahead for a possible future show.
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