working out for Disney

[StarWarsGirl]

but it would be a significant savings for her to go to school here and live at home.

I lived at home and have absolutely no regrets about it.

I have asthma, and at the time I was looking at colleges, it was much, much worse. I would have had to have a single dorm room because roommates and their habits would be an issue (spraying perfume, cleaning up after themselves, etc.). It's one of the reasons I still live with my parents now actually; I would need a roommate to afford to live on my own and I have to have a lot of ground rules for my living space. And even getting another asthmatic to live with isn't always an option because stuff that doesn't bother me might bother someone else (the big one is cats; I have two but a lot of asthmatics are allergic to cats). And then also the building would have been an issue; I would have needed to ensure the building were free from mold and dust and such. Only one of the colleges I applied to I would have actually been living in dorms; I otherwise would have lived at home or with relatives.

Anyway, I picked a small private school about 30 minutes from home. There were a lot of commuters, so I didn't feel like I was the only one not living there. I made friends with people who lived there so if there had been an emergency, I could have stayed overnight with them if need be; fortunately that never happened. I pretty much was on campus during the week and at home on the weekends, so I didn't feel like I was missing out by not living there because I was there all the time. I worked on campus so I got to know people and had summers off to go on vacation or do internships.

Most importantly, now, I don't have student loans. I had enough scholarship money that my parents covered the remainder, and I've never had a student loan payment. Less than two years out of school, I bought a new car, which desperately needed to be done, and now it's paid off, and I shouldn't have to worry about buying another one for several more years. I have a credit score over 800, a significant savings account, and I'm saving up to buy a house. I'm finishing up my second degree and looking to get my CPA, and my first degree gave me the foundational education I needed in my career.

My advice to commuters is to just treat college as if you live there. Spend more time there than you do at home. Work there, eat there...do everything but shower and sleep there (except find a good napping couch, lol). Hang out and do homework in between clases. Go to sporting events. And then you'll still have the college experience but be able to come home to your own bed, your pets, and your mother's cooking because let's face it, campus food gets real old, real fast.

 

[Lilofan]

I lived at home and have absolutely no regrets about it.

I have asthma, and at the time I was looking at colleges, it was much, much worse. I would have had to have a single dorm room because roommates and their habits would be an issue (spraying perfume, cleaning up after themselves, etc.). It's one of the reasons I still live with my parents now actually; I would need a roommate to afford to live on my own and I have to have a lot of ground rules for my living space. And even getting another asthmatic to live with isn't always an option because stuff that doesn't bother me might bother someone else (the big one is cats; I have two but a lot of asthmatics are allergic to cats). And then also the building would have been an issue; I would have needed to ensure the building were free from mold and dust and such. Only one of the colleges I applied to I would have actually been living in dorms; I otherwise would have lived at home or with relatives.

Anyway, I picked a small private school about 30 minutes from home. There were a lot of commuters, so I didn't feel like I was the only one not living there. I made friends with people who lived there so if there had been an emergency, I could have stayed overnight with them if need be; fortunately that never happened. I pretty much was on campus during the week and at home on the weekends, so I didn't feel like I was missing out by not living there because I was there all the time. I worked on campus so I got to know people and had summers off to go on vacation or do internships.

Most importantly, now, I don't have student loans. I had enough scholarship money that my parents covered the remainder, and I've never had a student loan payment. Less than two years out of school, I bought a new car, which desperately needed to be done, and now it's paid off, and I shouldn't have to worry about buying another one for several more years. I have a credit score over 800, a significant savings account, and I'm saving up to buy a house. I'm finishing up my second degree and looking to get my CPA, and my first degree gave me the foundational education I needed in my career.

My advice to commuters is to just treat college as if you live there. Spend more time there than you do at home. Work there, eat there...do everything but shower and sleep there (except find a good napping couch, lol). Hang out and do homework in between clases. Go to sporting events. And then you'll still have the college experience but be able to come home to your own bed, your pets, and your mother's cooking because let's face it, campus food gets real old, real fast.

Food was bland and boring when I lived on campus back in the day. I was on work / study so I worked in the cafeteria . Now with my school moving to Division 1 athletics the sports facilities and campus food have been upgraded tremendously with more variety and much more healthy options since the student athletes on full scholarship in all sports eat in the cafeteria. Also to mention tuition room and board is $65K annually

 

[Sans Souci]

It's really frustrating. I'm the one who makes it happen, and then he takes credit. When my mom died, she had expressed her wish that we would be together for the first Christmas after her death...she didn't want us to be alone. Of course, I had just gotten married the year before, and once mom died, there was no reason for us to stay in the states where my husband couldn't find a job in his field. He had a masters degree in engineering and we were working at Wal-mart stocking shelves. So since it was MY fault we wouldn't be there for Christmas, I decided I should be responsible for carrying out mom's last wish. And since it was cheaper to pay for only ONE plane ticket, and my brother had always wanted to go to Europe, I bought his plane ticket to come here, and he could stay with my in-laws so he didn't have to pay for a hotel. The only thing he had to pay for was food when we went out, and admission to museums and such. But since he was the one traveling, he told everyone that HE was the one who made sure mom's final wish was carried out. Everyone kept saying what a great brother I had to travel all the way to make sure we followed her wishes. I was like....there's no way he would have done it if he had to pay for it. He gets a free trip to Europe on my dime...-I- made it happen, not him. And just before I moved, I ran into one of his friends who said he had heard I was moving to Europe, was I nervous, bla bla bla. And then he said, "Yeah, I said to him that it must be hard for him and he was going to miss you a lot, and he told me it would actually be nice to have some distance." OUCH.
And his family went to Disney with us in 2019....because I planned it and made all the payments. He authorized all of it, but never paid me back a penny. Not that I really expected him to. He can't be trusted with money. But I never would have done it if we didn't have the inheritance from dad, which was all in my account, but was supposed to be for both of us. But then he opened up a new account of his own to put the money from the sale of the cattle, the house, etc in...and I didn't have access to that account, and THAT was supposed to be for both of us. So basically, he just kept all that, and I kept everything from the mineral rights, knowing I'd never see any of the money from the cattle. So I guess it all kind of evens out, but I ended up paying for Disney.

He even got a free trip to Germany to speak at some conference one year, and when I said we should get together, he told me he "wasn't allowed to leave the conference premesis" so he couldn't meet me halfway. We'd have to make the trip, with 2 small children, so he didn't have to take a train for 2 hours. There is NO way he wasn't allowed to leave the conference premesis. He just didn't want to pay for a train ticket and it wasn't important enough to spend time with us.

I don't give him a choice when we go there...I just tell him we're coming, and I book a hotel, and whenever we get to see them, we get to see them. And I talk to his husband instead, because his husband is awesome and much more accommodating. He's a real family guy and considers that important, so HE will make time for us even if my brother doesn't.

That's insane about not paying you back for the Disney trip. You have to pay more money in air fare than he does and then you get eat his portion of the vacation. My brother is cheap. We once went to his place for New Year's Eve and I brought a cake. OMG, I think he cut it with a laser because you could practically see through the slice of cake he portioned out, then he put it in the fridge and we never saw it again. I never wanted to bring it home, it was for him to keep, but maybe you should keep it out in case someone wanted another piece of cake that could not have passed for Kleenex. My husband and I still laugh about it and it was over 20 years ago.

He lied to my mom about me using drugs, just for giggles. He told her I was using Special K(Ketamine). I absolutely was not, but she believed him and she threatened to put me into a drug treatment facility. I don't even know why she believed him. He thought it was hilarious. I was the most boring teen/young adult. My brother, on the hand, was smoking weed like it was going out of style and nobody cared. My grandmother financed a Mustang for him and he kitted it out with a nitrous oxide tank to drag race it in the city on the weekends. Then when I met my husband, my family was shocked that I went to live with him in England and not the other way around. Why would I want to be near such dysfunction when I could leave it behind?

 

[StarWarsGirl]

Updates:

I finally went back to the doctor on Thursday of last week. They put me on Doxycycline, which is the antibiotic that basically kills everything. I was getting to the point where I was like "yeah, I need this." They recommended I go see an ENT. I went to urgent care, and I had an ENT years ago confirm that I do not have a deviated septum, and my last sinus infection was a year ago, so I will run it by my primary care doctor when I see her early next month. I am on the mend from the sinus infection. My parents got home last night late, so I'm exhausted because I was at the airport getting them at around midnight. My mother brought home a cold and I am doing my darndest to make sure she doesn't give it to me.

I still have been doing so much housework that I am counting it as a workout. Apparently so is my Fitbit because it told me this today:


Two of the four pieces of IKEA furniture are together. I made a dump run on Saturday and a dump run on Monday with old furniture and some old broken lamps. It's one of those things that's better to do when Dad's not home because he's such a pack rat that convincing him to throw anything away is a chore. One of the lamps was outright dangerous, and he even said so himself. We had it in a room that we don't really use for anything except storage and a litter box. I found a lamp at IKEA that was $8 to replace it for that room and took the old one to the dump so that I don't accidentally leave it on and cause a fire since I'm the one who goes back there to scoop that litter box. The next project that I'm going to very nicely insist that he do (and my mother is on my side about this one) is cleaning out his stuff from the utility room and the back room so that the back room can be accessed to be vacuumed more frequently given that my cat Ella brought me a mouse while they were gone. Thankfully that seems to have been the only one, but I'd rather not repeat it.

My mother is going to help me put together the remaining two pieces of furniture. We have banned my father from "helping." We won't stop him if he offers to clean up trash or vacuum afterward, but he's not allowed to touch any pieces or pick up any tools. Yes, he really is that terrible.

On Saturday, I went to the Maryland Zoo in Baltimore. It was in the 60s and I was looking for something to do. I'd been wanting to go, but my dad was extremely nervous about it, and every time I would ask my mom to go with me, he would say he didn't want us going there. You get off the expressway, you drive past Loyola University and then Kennedy KreigerThe zoo itself is located deep in Druid Hill Park, which again, might be different at night, but felt absolutely safe during the day. At the zoo, I felt just as safe as if I were walking around WDW or Hersheypark. But it's better to just do the thing I want to do and tell my dad later that it was fine.

Then on Sunday, I steam cleaned my office. The entire basement could really use it, but that's a project for another day. Actually, the basement could use entirely new flooring since the carpet is original to the house, but that will take some talking to Dad about...

 

[Sans Souci]

For the good amount of effort that you put into this charitable endeavor, I think she should respond a bit more graciously.

Yeah, I had to put my phone down and do something else for a bit before I responded. I used to be a case manger linking older adults with state-funded social services and people can get rude when they find out they are not eligible for some of the services, so I have experience with people getting a little "attitudinal" when you're trying to help as best as you can. But she got her lasagna and I likely won't have to make one for her again.

 

[Sans Souci]

Both schools she's looking at would mean dorm living with a meal plan, at least for freshman year. I know most US dorms prohibit things like toasters and hot plates, but i get the logic. Microwaves are at least usually permitted. I know K wants the traditional college dorm experience and I can't blame her, but it would be a significant savings for her to go to school here and live at home.

My 2 years in the dorms involved fixed closets and desk/dresser set ups. The bed was really the only thing you could shift. Still people would add in cute rugs, tables, window treatments, and lighting...among other things. Now, so many kids are trying to keep up with these kids and their expertly designed rooms. I know K isn't planning on this much, but I think she'd like it more dressy than what was the norm back in my day.

View attachment 767999



Option 2 has excellent city transportation. In fact, some of the light rail routes run right along parts of campus. Option 1 is about 30 minutes from the closest city and is the more traditional college town set up. There is town bus service for option 1 and there is direct bus service into the city. These days, with Uber and Lyft, there are additional options. I'm also hoping delivery services are reliable to campus addresses. As we're finding with a lot of schools, some of the best eating options frequented by the students are just across the street from campus and are usually designed more for foot traffic than people with cars. I know my school was like this too. Of course, we're going back 30 years, but we had late night options in all of our dining halls and food courts, each dorm had at least one food truck that would camp outside overnight, and there were several blocks of bars, restaurants and shops just across the street from the edge of campus. I think I was a junior when our second food court opened and being able to get Burger King, Taco Bell, KFC, Pizza Hut, Chinese food, and Dunkin at all hours in a 5-10 minute walk was life changing. I'm seeing similar configurations at most schools. In fact, K's rejected several schools because they didn't have that sort of a set up. Yeah...I don't think I'd be giving anyone a ride back then or today unless I knew them.

Very cute, but if my roommate in college wanted to do this, I'd have to decline, because I could not afford to purchase all these things. I'd hate it if someone resented me because I could not do this.

 

[Lilofan]

Both schools she's looking at would mean dorm living with a meal plan, at least for freshman year. I know most US dorms prohibit things like toasters and hot plates, but i get the logic. Microwaves are at least usually permitted. I know K wants the traditional college dorm experience and I can't blame her, but it would be a significant savings for her to go to school here and live at home.

My 2 years in the dorms involved fixed closets and desk/dresser set ups. The bed was really the only thing you could shift. Still people would add in cute rugs, tables, window treatments, and lighting...among other things. Now, so many kids are trying to keep up with these kids and their expertly designed rooms. I know K isn't planning on this much, but I think she'd like it more dressy than what was the norm back in my day.

View attachment 767999



Option 2 has excellent city transportation. In fact, some of the light rail routes run right along parts of campus. Option 1 is about 30 minutes from the closest city and is the more traditional college town set up. There is town bus service for option 1 and there is direct bus service into the city. These days, with Uber and Lyft, there are additional options. I'm also hoping delivery services are reliable to campus addresses. As we're finding with a lot of schools, some of the best eating options frequented by the students are just across the street from campus and are usually designed more for foot traffic than people with cars. I know my school was like this too. Of course, we're going back 30 years, but we had late night options in all of our dining halls and food courts, each dorm had at least one food truck that would camp outside overnight, and there were several blocks of bars, restaurants and shops just across the street from the edge of campus. I think I was a junior when our second food court opened and being able to get Burger King, Taco Bell, KFC, Pizza Hut, Chinese food, and Dunkin at all hours in a 5-10 minute walk was life changing. I'm seeing similar configurations at most schools. In fact, K's rejected several schools because they didn't have that sort of a set up. Yeah...I don't think I'd be giving anyone a ride back then or today unless I knew them.

I remember back in the day when I was told about the " freshman 15 ". I did not know what that meant. I was told living away from home , eating in the college cafeterias, fast food options, freshman gain an average of 15 more pounds ". Didn't effect me , I was slim throughout my four years.

 

[StarWarsGirl]

That's insane about not paying you back for the Disney trip. You have to pay more money in air fare than he does and then you get eat his portion of the vacation. My brother is cheap. We once went to his place for New Year's Eve and I brought a cake. OMG, I think he cut it with a laser because you could practically see through the slice of cake he portioned out, then he put it in the fridge and we never saw it again. I never wanted to bring it home, it was for him to keep, but maybe you should keep it out in case someone wanted another piece of cake that could not have passed for Kleenex. My husband and I still laugh about it and it was over 20 years ago.

He lied to my mom about me using drugs, just for giggles. He told her I was using Special K(Ketamine). I absolutely was not, but she believed him and she threatened to put me into a drug treatment facility. I don't even know why she believed him. He thought it was hilarious. I was the most boring teen/young adult. My brother, on the hand, was smoking weed like it was going out of style and nobody cared. My grandmother financed a Mustang for him and he kitted it out with a nitrous oxide tank to drag race it in the city on the weekends. Then when I met my husband, my family was shocked that I went to live with him in England and not the other way around. Why would I want to be near such dysfunction when I could leave it behind?

This makes me grateful for my own parents, especially my dad as crazy as he makes me. My brother has been a gigantic pain in the rear for months now. I won't go into details, but mind you, he is autistic and disabled. My parents still aren't allowing him to use that as an excuse for his poor treatment of others, particularly me. It was getting so bad that I finally told my parents that I would have to find someplace else to live if it didn't get better. My dad put his foot down and said I absolutely was not going to be the one who had to move out, and he warned my brother that either things needed to improve or they'd start looking into a group home for him. My brother really, really does not want to move out. My parents are working with a therapist for him along with other services from the state, but it's nice to know my dad will 100% back me if needed.

I don't understand how, when my parents are this way when there's neurodivergence involved, how parents don't recognize it when one kid is just being a jerk to their other kid and doesn't even have that "excuse".

 

[Sans Souci]

Hello-

Checking in with my workouts, yesterday was back and biceps and today was full body circuits.

I am in Jersey City, because my husband asked me to come up this week for Valentine's Day. I was looking around his apartment, and I saw another brand of the item I got him for a gift. Nice one. It's an older model, so maybe I didn't mess up too badly. He can always return it.

It looks like the snow is already melting and it seemed like it moved through more quickly than they said it would.

 

[Figgy1]

Hello-

Checking in with my workouts, yesterday was back and biceps and today was full body circuits.

I am in Jersey City, because my husband asked me to come up this week for Valentine's Day. I was looking around his apartment, and I saw another brand of the item I got him for a gift. Nice one. It's an older model, so maybe I didn't mess up too badly. He can always return it.

It looks like the snow is already melting and it seemed like it moved through more quickly than they said it would.

YEA! We're not so lucky in the far NW just shy of a foot. Walking inside and yoga for the rest of the week.

 

[HouCuseChickie]

Very cute, but if my roommate in college wanted to do this, I'd have to decline, because I could not afford to purchase all these things. I'd hate it if someone resented me because I could not do this.

I am guessing that most of these girls knew each other before going off to school. I recall seeing a few where the moms knew each other and coordinated everything. So, it's likely this was in the planning well before confirmed roommate assignments. Most universities now also offer matching services, so you probably could be paired with someone else wanting over the top decor if it's on the digital forms.

 

[HouCuseChickie]

I remember back in the day when I was told about the " freshman 15 ". I did not know what that meant. I was told living away from home , eating in the college cafeterias, fast food options, freshman gain an average of 15 more pounds ". Didn't effect me , I was slim throughout my four years.

Most of the people I knew gained at least some. The amount of walking and hill/stair climbing helped burn some of it off, but we just had so many yummy food options at most hours of the day that everyone put on more than expected. I think it was my sophomore year when Good Morning America came in as part of a weeklong segment showcasing schools with the best rated dining halls. So, I guess it was due in part to us having good food. We all definitely trimmed down sophomore year and even more in junior year when we all moved out of the dorms.

 

[StarWarsGirl]

Most of the people I knew gained at least some. The amount of walking and hill/stair climbing helped burn some of it off, but we just had so many yummy food options at most hours of the day that everyone put on more than expected. I think it was my sophomore year when Good Morning America came in as part of a weeklong segment showcasing schools with the best rated dining halls. So, I guess it was due in part to us having good food. We all definitely trimmed down sophomore year and even more in junior year when we all moved out of the dorms.

That was the good thing about living at home. There was a commuter meal plan, but my parents opted not to have me buy that. I brought my own food a lot of times. I figured out pretty quickly that the food at the main campus eatery was BAD. I did eat a lot of food on campus/Subway, but I also was bringing my own food and just getting snacks as needed. On nights when I was just working and not in class late, I just would snack late and then my mom would save me dinner from that night when I got home. I really didn't gain weight because although I was eating more, it was offset by the walking, so between bringing my own food and still eating at home, I didn't have the extreme weight gain problem that a lot of freshmen get. Which is a good thing because I have always struggled with my weight, so no need to make it harder for me.

 

[HouCuseChickie]

Food was bland and boring when I lived on campus back in the day. I was on work / study so I worked in the cafeteria . Now with my school moving to Division 1 athletics the sports facilities and campus food have been upgraded tremendously with more variety and much more healthy options since the student athletes on full scholarship in all sports eat in the cafeteria. Also to mention tuition room and board is $65K annually

Supposedly, there is a strong correlation between food quality/offerings and athletic divisions. There's also another improvement jump when a school goes from mid-major to power 5, at least at the public level. School size can also be a factor. Our D1 mid-major state schools aren't reputed to have the greatest food options, but the larger schools generally have lots of options and better quality.

 

[StarWarsGirl]

Supposedly, there is a strong correlation between food quality/offerings and athletic divisions. There's also another improvement jump when a school goes from mid-major to power 5, at least at the public level. School size can also be a factor. Our D1 mid-major state schools aren't reputed to have the greatest food options, but the larger schools generally have lots of options and better quality.

Yeah, my tiny D3 private school did not outdo itself on the food. I took Spanish at one of the state schools and the food was definitely better over there.

It was okay though. We had other perks. One of my classmates did a project with me and came over to campus to work on it. She was in major shock. "Your campus is gorgeous!" "Your parking is free?" "You can print stuff for free?" "They're just handing out free fruit because you have to study for finals?"

 

[HouCuseChickie]

I lived at home and have absolutely no regrets about it.

I have asthma, and at the time I was looking at colleges, it was much, much worse. I would have had to have a single dorm room because roommates and their habits would be an issue (spraying perfume, cleaning up after themselves, etc.). It's one of the reasons I still live with my parents now actually; I would need a roommate to afford to live on my own and I have to have a lot of ground rules for my living space. And even getting another asthmatic to live with isn't always an option because stuff that doesn't bother me might bother someone else (the big one is cats; I have two but a lot of asthmatics are allergic to cats). And then also the building would have been an issue; I would have needed to ensure the building were free from mold and dust and such. Only one of the colleges I applied to I would have actually been living in dorms; I otherwise would have lived at home or with relatives.

Anyway, I picked a small private school about 30 minutes from home. There were a lot of commuters, so I didn't feel like I was the only one not living there. I made friends with people who lived there so if there had been an emergency, I could have stayed overnight with them if need be; fortunately that never happened. I pretty much was on campus during the week and at home on the weekends, so I didn't feel like I was missing out by not living there because I was there all the time. I worked on campus so I got to know people and had summers off to go on vacation or do internships.

Most importantly, now, I don't have student loans. I had enough scholarship money that my parents covered the remainder, and I've never had a student loan payment. Less than two years out of school, I bought a new car, which desperately needed to be done, and now it's paid off, and I shouldn't have to worry about buying another one for several more years. I have a credit score over 800, a significant savings account, and I'm saving up to buy a house. I'm finishing up my second degree and looking to get my CPA, and my first degree gave me the foundational education I needed in my career.

My advice to commuters is to just treat college as if you live there. Spend more time there than you do at home. Work there, eat there...do everything but shower and sleep there (except find a good napping couch, lol). Hang out and do homework in between clases. Go to sporting events. And then you'll still have the college experience but be able to come home to your own bed, your pets, and your mother's cooking because let's face it, campus food gets real old, real fast.

That was the good thing about living at home. There was a commuter meal plan, but my parents opted not to have me buy that. I brought my own food a lot of times. I figured out pretty quickly that the food at the main campus eatery was BAD. I did eat a lot of food on campus/Subway, but I also was bringing my own food and just getting snacks as needed. On nights when I was just working and not in class late, I just would snack late and then my mom would save me dinner from that night when I got home. I really didn't gain weight because although I was eating more, it was offset by the walking, so between bringing my own food and still eating at home, I didn't have the extreme weight gain problem that a lot of freshmen get. Which is a good thing because I have always struggled with my weight, so no need to make it harder for me.

I sat down last night and started crunching numbers and looking at the logistics if she stayed local, went to UH and attended as a commuter. On the surface, it would be the cheapest option and she'd graduate with zero student loan debt. That being said, we'd have to buy and insure a fourth vehicle that's suitable for that kind of commute. It's about a 35 mile drive, but knowing Houston traffic, she'd be spending 120-180 minutes a day on average in traffic. Add in fuel costs, parking permit fees and maintenance costs and the commuter scenario would potentially cost us more. The other consideration is that UH is not in a great part of town. The campus itself has a decent amount of security, but location is probably our least favorite of all of the schools on her list. The school is trying really hard to shed its commuter school image and offering a lot more on campus for students that live there, but it's still often shunned by the locals for this reason. K has attended some events at their student center and is pretty well versed on their food options, but I don't think she's ever eaten at the actual dining halls...which didn't sound that popular, according to our tour guide.

I think being a UH commuter would be a serious consideration if the commute was better and the school location was a nicer part of town. When I think about it, Rice is really the only one located in a good part of town, but tuition alone there is just under $60,000/year.

 

[StarWarsGirl]

When I think about it, Rice is really the only one located in a good part of town, but tuition alone there is just under $60,000/year.

See what she gets. Where I went was out of our price range on paper, but it ended up being the same amount as it would have cost to go to the state school without scholarships when they gave me my scholarships. And I got a better education there and the campus was definitely safer than the state schools. The state school has incidents ALL THE TIME. The private campus is more secluded and just has fewer people causing riff raff.

 

[Sans Souci]

I sat down last night and started crunching numbers and looking at the logistics if she stayed local, went to UH and attended as a commuter. On the surface, it would be the cheapest option and she'd graduate with zero student loan debt. That being said, we'd have to buy and insure a fourth vehicle that's suitable for that kind of commute. It's about a 35 mile drive, but knowing Houston traffic, she'd be spending 120-180 minutes a day on average in traffic. Add in fuel costs, parking permit fees and maintenance costs and the commuter scenario would potentially cost us more. The other consideration is that UH is not in a great part of town. The campus itself has a decent amount of security, but location is probably our least favorite of all of the schools on her list. The school is trying really hard to shed its commuter school image and offering a lot more on campus for students that live there, but it's still often shunned by the locals for this reason. K has attended some events at their student center and is pretty well versed on their food options, but I don't think she's ever eaten at the actual dining halls...which didn't sound that popular, according to our tour guide.

I think being a UH commuter would be a serious consideration if the commute was better and the school location was a nicer part of town. When I think about it, Rice is really the only one located in a good part of town, but tuition alone there is just under $60,000/year.

I went to University of Chicago for grad school. It is in a notoriously sketchy area of Chicago. I commuted in. I hated it. The traffic was horrendous and the parking was much worse. I would leave my house much earlier than I needed to leave so I could find street parking. I would either sleep in my car until class, or study in the library. I would often have a class that ended at 9:30 PM, so I would try to find people who were parked in the same area to walk together, so we wouldn't be victims of crime. I would offer a ride home to people who lived near by, so I would have someone to walk to my car with me. When I was going to school there, a student was mugged not far from the building where I had my classes. He ended up in the hospital with a TBI because of the mugging and it happened during the day. My husband bought me pepper spray because of that. Something else to consider with commuting is that you can't always schedule your classes in one block and leave. I would often have classes from 9-12, then have class at 6:30. I lived 35 miles away, at first, I would go home in between that long break. But that was tiresome and I would sit in traffic on the way back into school. I ended up staying at school and using that time to study, but I would struggle to be alert on my drive home at 9:30. I was honestly so burned out by the time I graduated. I probably should have rented a studio apartment near by, but my son was 8 years old and my husband was traveling for work a lot.

 

[Sans Souci]

Hello

Checking in with leg day. I had the gym all to myself this morning. The workout flew by. It was an hour, but it didn't feel that long at all.

We watched Anatomy of a Fall last night. I enjoyed it. I had been seeing this suggested to me on Apple TV, but it was described as a "taut, psychological thriller" and I can't fall asleep after watching those types of films, so I never watched it. But my husband rented it and it was not a psychological thriller at all. It was a courtroom drama, so there was no sitting at the edge of my seat before bedtime. lol

I bought a bunch of heat and eat entrees and a mini cheesecake at the supermarket the other night and that is my Valentine's meal tonight. I don't feel like going out, especially in winter, plus we had a really nice steakhouse meal in Phoenix a few weeks ago. So, I am just whacking stuff in the oven.

 

[Songbird76]

That's insane about not paying you back for the Disney trip. You have to pay more money in air fare than he does and then you get eat his portion of the vacation. My brother is cheap. We once went to his place for New Year's Eve and I brought a cake. OMG, I think he cut it with a laser because you could practically see through the slice of cake he portioned out, then he put it in the fridge and we never saw it again. I never wanted to bring it home, it was for him to keep, but maybe you should keep it out in case someone wanted another piece of cake that could not have passed for Kleenex. My husband and I still laugh about it and it was over 20 years ago.

He lied to my mom about me using drugs, just for giggles. He told her I was using Special K(Ketamine). I absolutely was not, but she believed him and she threatened to put me into a drug treatment facility. I don't even know why she believed him. He thought it was hilarious. I was the most boring teen/young adult. My brother, on the hand, was smoking weed like it was going out of style and nobody cared. My grandmother financed a Mustang for him and he kitted it out with a nitrous oxide tank to drag race it in the city on the weekends. Then when I met my husband, my family was shocked that I went to live with him in England and not the other way around. Why would I want to be near such dysfunction when I could leave it behind?

Yeah, my brother is cheap too....not when it comes to himself, but for other people, he only does the bare minimum. He's not going to spend money on a birthday gift when he has an air freshener candle in his closet that he can give and then he has the money he WOULD have spent on a gift for something for himself. And if he can get someone else to pay for a dinner out in a restaurant, he gets to save his money for himself. When I was planning my wedding, he had basically gone bankrupt. My dad bailed him out by giving him the money he needed for a consilidation firm, with the agreement that he could not have a credit card or anything for like...10 years? So he wanted to buy a house, but had no credit. The realtor required a payment of like $750 to make an offer...to show a person was really interested in buying. But he had no money to his name, couldn't get a loan. He called me up and wanted me to give him the money I had saved for my wedding. I knew if I did that, I would never see that money again. So I lied. I told him I didn't have anything saved. He said he knew I had started an account for my wedding. I told him I had already used that money to make down payments on the dj, photographer, and reception hall, so it was all gone. He was pretty upset with me, but I couldn't afford to lose that money and I knew he wouldn't pay me back. Same with Disney...I knew I'd probably never see it again, but I had the advantage of having my dad's estate money in my account, half of which was technically his. I figured I'd just take it out of that. In the end, I never gave him his half, because he started his own account and put all the money from the cattle sale and such in that, and it was pretty even with what I had in mine. I knew I'd never get my half of that, so I just kept what I had and let him keep what he had and called it good.

Your cake story reminds me of when my brother invited my husband and me over to his house for dinner, as a thank you for something....I don't remember what. But he invited us and our friend Lisa. He baked a chicken, made a pasta salad, and a package of 6 pilsbury dinner rolls. There were 4 of us eating, and he took 3 of the 6 rolls for himself before anyone else even got to them, and I won't eat cold pasta salad...it's a texture thing. So I got one dinner roll and a piece of chicken.

And when he visited for Christmas, we took him out for dinner in a nice Greek Restuarant. And this was after we paid for his flight, and he stayed with us and my in-laws and ate there, so he had no expenses. He told my MIL that he didn't bring her flowers because we wouldn't stop on the way so he could pick some up, though he never asked us to. And there were flower vendors all over in the airport when we picked him up and he commented that it was too bad he couldn't get flowers to take back home, because he'd love to get some roses for his best friend's wife as they were so inexpensive here. He could have gotten some for my MIL, but he didn't want to spend his money, so he just blamed it on us. And then the way he paid us back for the trip was to take us to lunch at Burger king, where we were each allowed to get one value menu, and HE got a value menu plus a couple of extra burgers and an upgraded soda. We took him out for a nice Greek dinner in a sit down restaurant, and he got us a fast food burger. So I totally get what you mean by your brother being cheap. Is your brother older or younger? My brother is older, and my mom thought the sun rose and set out of his rear, and he lied through his teeth to get whatever he wanted. She saw what she wanted to see. She couldn't bear to think of him as less than perfect, so I was the convenient scapegoat. Sounds like maybe you were too?