So, everyone knows that since Dear Daughter got accepted to both her first and second choice colleges, we've been trying to help her decide which to attend.  Either Clemson University in South Carolina or Drexel University in Philadelphia. 

She thought it best to visit each, and maybe one or the other would stand out.  But when I started planning the trips, it was chaos.  Planes,  rental cars, hotels, etc. etc.  I was so not looking forward to either trip.

However, thanks to Chevrolet, I'm actually looking forward to it now.  We will be undertaking a 8 day road trip that encompasses both University visits.  And we'll be riding in style--a 2010 Chevy Tahoe!!  This will happen in just a few weeks.  I'll even get to stop and meet some of you!  Details to come...  And of course, I'll keep you updated on our progress, through blog posts, videos, tweets, and photos.

Thanks Chevy for sponsoring our trip!!!

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Here's the week, so far--

Monday--Day 2 of Daughter's Birthday--most of you know that she's a leap year baby. So on those years that she doesn't have a birthday, she claims both Feb 28 AND March 1 as her birthday. She stretches it over 2 days. So Day 2 bought more birthday cards, cake and cash!

Tuesday--She gets an acceptance letter from her first choice in colleges--Drexel University in Philadelphia. She's over the moon!

Wednesday--TheTinyJEWELBox is named Best Personal Blog in the Sun Sentinel Best of Blogs contest. I was over the moon!

Thursday--She gets an acceptance letter from her second choice in colleges--Clemson University in South Carolina. We're both over the moon!

Today--I'm sitting outside waiting on the postman. I'm hoping that I win the Publishers Clearinghouse Sweepstakes and continue the winning streak...

What's happening in your house this week? Your comments--priceless!!

Ok, so yesterday, I found out (AGAIN!) that I'm old and old fashioned. My daughter and I were discussing prom and I suggested a limousine. She looked at me as if I had suggested that they walk to Senior Prom in potato sacks.

"Who does that, Mom???? WHO DOES THAT????" Now, instead of me simply retracting it and abandoning the subject, I took the Old Fashioned Mom route--"Well, when I went to prom, folks rented limos and went to dinner, prom and then the after-parties." Hmmph. I forget her exact response, but I do know that the word "stagecoach" was mentioned.

So, again dear readers, since you are very diverse in age I'll ask. Are limos for prom really "played out"? And more importantly, when did I get old and old fashioned? It had to have been recently. Like last week, or maybe last month. Were any of you there when it happened? Was there a flash of lightning or did my new-fashion simply slink away one day?

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Well, I'll spare you all of the details, but recently I had to take my 17 year old daughter into the emergency room. Imagine our faces when we arrived and they sent her to the Pediatric side. She will be 18 in 2 months. We got into the waiting room and it would have been pure heaven for a 2 year old. She looked around at the murals and the huge pirate ship taking up half the floor. She muttered, "Oh joy..What should I play with first?" She was not pleased.

When they got her into the room, there were more pirate ships on the walls. She still wasnt pleased. We spent all day looking at the decor. Well, all that pales in comparison to yesterday. We had to see a pediatric surgeon. Trust me, I TRIED to get an adult surgeon, but nobody would see her. They all said that they didn't do minors. So, we had to see the "baby doctor."

As we drove up, I hoped it would be plain decor. I was wrong. It was Winnie the Pooh! BOOOY was it Winnie the Pooh. And Tigger too! And kids running around. Oh joy! hehehe They showed us to Room 3 where there was more Winnie. She was silent. In fact, she sat there texting and tweeting on her phone. When I commented that I found it odd that a patient sitting on a Pooh bed would have a Blackberry, she lost it. I had gone too far.

I thought it was funny--was I wrong?



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So, this was Homecoming Weekend for my daughter. But Homecoming has drastically changed from the ones that I remember. When did it change?

First of all, why can one not find a simple, conservative evening dress for a young lady? It seems that if she isn't willing to "let it all hang out," she will be hard pressed to find something suitable. Why is everything strapless or mini skirt short? Why are slits way up the thigh or plunges so deep in the back that you have to remind yourself to "say no to cracks"??

And what about the costs of the dance? Whatever happened to having the homecoming dance in the gymnasium with paper streamers and ballooon arches? My daughter's school rented out a local nightclub, which was fine with me until the pricing was announced. It was on a sliding scale--the first week that tickets were available it was $75 PER PERSON. Every week afterwards, the price went up $5. Wow wee. Luckily, my daughter got a free ticket for doing well on some standardized testing last year.

Some kids rented limousines and went all out. I kept scratching my head. This is HOMECOMING not PROM. Gee whiz--When did it change????

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Just when I'd thought that I had seen it all, I saw something yesterday that truly amazed me. I ventured way out of my comfort zone to a shopping mall that I don't frequent very much. I've been there 3 times in the nearly 8 years that I've been here. But when Homecoming is this weekend and your daughter has yet to find a dress, you do drastic things.

Within a half hour, we'd found a dress (Yay!!) and then 15 minutes later, we had shoes to match. We ventured over to the food court. Here's where I got the shock. The most popular place in the food court sold corn and corn products. Yes, CORN.

You could buy cups of corn in various sizes. They had regular corn. They also had corn scampi (topped with butter, garlic and salt). They had all kinds of toppings to go on the corn, including chipotle, teriyaki, lemon, chili powder, etc. Then they had corn muffins, corn soup, arepas, and corn smoothies. CORN SMOOTHIES???

There was a guy giving out samples and I tried the scampi. Although it was tasty, walking the mall with a cup of corn just didn't appeal to me. And folks were waiting in line to buy the stuff. Did I mention that it wasn't cheap?? A large cup, about the size of your average styrofoam coffee cup was $4.99. Perhaps I should take a second look at this thing. Or maybe I could create a spin-off. I could use rice. Or tomatoes. Or grits. Would you buy it?

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Today, my daughter takes her final SAT tests. Amazingly, it carries a lot of weight with college admission departments. I'm not sure that I understand why.

Certainly, you need to know the mathematical value of pi to succeed in life, right? And surely, you'll have use for dissecting sentences regularly as a "grown-up," right? I think we should totally reinvent the SATs to make sure our youth are truly ready for life. We can test their knowledge on things like balancing checkcards and changing tires and how to properly behavior in the work environment. Wouldn't that make more sense?

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Ok, I know you all won't believe me, but I tried not to blog about this. I really did. I didn't want to do it. But I had to. It's been burning in me and though I've been dowsing it regularly with that new Dasani water with lime essence, the flames keep coming back.

So, me and Dear Daughter went to the photo studio on Saturday. It was quite an experience. And how things have changed. When I sat for Senior Pics, I wore some old rag, they threw a cap and gown over it, snapped a few poses and I was done. This newfangled stuff was different. They took the senior pics with the drape and boa and that was fine. But now they have "PERSONALITY PICS." Huh? What the heck are personality pics? I quickly found out.

Personality pics are informal pics that you get to choose your own outfit for. In theory, it makes sense. Athletes pose in their uniform. Twins pose together, etc. However, in reality, it was NOTHING like that. Kids showed up with suitcases of outfits, some changing 10 or more times. They treated it as if it were their own personal photo shoot, complete with hair and makeup, usually done by Mom, but sometimes there was an additional person that the family had paid. It was unreal.

My daughter wore jeans and a tshirt, as she felt this adequately portrayed her personality but most of the girls had VERY suggestive outfits on. Things you would see in a men's magazine. Cheeks hanging out of shorts, boobs hanging out of tops--and, lest you forgot, these are high school KIDS. And again, parents were actively participating. The photographers had to admonish parents for running into the shot to unbutton yet another button and hike up a skirt a bit more. There was even one angry Mom who left in a huff because the photographer wouldnt allow her daughter to until her bikini top and use her hand to hold the tiny piece of fabric in place. What???

Is it me? Is it? Am I the ONLY parent in South Florida who doesn't wish to have my daughter's body on public display? I guess I can see why the kids would want to do this, but why would parent's allow it? What does this say about us as a society?

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Having just come off of a weekend road trip with my parents, I'm now preparing for another road trip in a couple weeks. This one will be over the course of 3 days, with the husband, the kids, and yes--Dad.

The weekend trip actually wasn't as bad as expected. Dad sat next to me and served as both the navigator and the passer of snacks. Mom sat in the back, but watched the speedometer like a hawk, reminding me of the speed limit and the possibility of a ticket. It wasn't anything new. We did have a great meal at Cracker Barrel, where Dad cheated on the little puzzle game that they have on the table and Mom checked out my Kindle.

I was prepared for it being insane and it wasn't. It worked out so well that I'm actually looking forward to the next one. This time, I plan to have the husband drive so I can capture all the fun on video. I'm excited.

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Today, my daughter and I volunteered at a Habitat for Humanity site. Though I am beat, it was one of the most rewarding things that I have ever done.

I got involved in this project through FOJ Maria. I'm glad that she did. I met the folks who run Habitat for Humanity of Greater Miami, including new FOJs Michelle, Rud, and Gavin. I will be doing more with them in the future. I worked with the most amazing group of people. We were such a diverse group, that we could have only been brought together through a project like this. We worked alongside the new homeowner, a single mom. She gave us all open invites to visit her anytime. I can't wait until she moves in!

One of my favorite sayings goes like this--"You have not lived until you have done something for someone who can not repay you." What have you done recently for someone who can not repay you? How did it make you feel? Is there anything else like it in the world? Tell me about your experience.

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