Today is my mom’s birthday and well, it is the first time that we have been apart for her birthday. It is really strange! I called her a few times, which was great, but now it feels weird, no upside down cake. I hate that stuff, but I eat it every year because its my mom’s birthday. This year, no cake. In many ways I got off lucky, but frankly, I would rather eat the stupid cake if I got to spend my mom’s birthday with her!

I’m talking about your social security number.

It’s a very important number to know if you are an American student leaving home for college. If you want to go to the doctor or need to go to the ER, chances are, you are going to be asked for your number. It’s a good idea to memorize it before you leave home.

Passport. Do you have one? Do you know where it is? Start talking to mom and dad about where they keep your imporant documents. If you want to be treated like an adult, start acting like one. Know your information.

If you are an international student and may have an address in the states where you want your mail sent, including bills, know the address by heart!

Are your forms all filled out? Are you sure? If you own your own car, where are the documents for it? Have copies of all your important information. Life happens, and you want to be prepared! Show your parents that you know what you are doing, or at least taking charge of your life. Mom and Dad aren’t always going to be around with all the answers when you need them, so it is a good idea to sit them down and ask them questions.

Where do they want you go to in case of a hurricane? What is your health insurance company? If your car breaks down on the side of the road, does your car insurance cover the tow to the shop? How far do they tow?

Then the big stuff for college students! Where’s the money coming from! How much money are your parents willing to give you each month or week to spend. Think about things you will have to spend money on each month like clothes, special food, bills, gas for your car, dues for greek life, etc. Growing up and being on your own means having to keep track of all your money.

Just a few things to think about. Talk to your parents before you leave college!

My mother just left yesterday for Iraq and this time, she made her flight! Yah! So what happens when Mommy leaves? The house falls apart! I woke up at 5 am to find that my cat was throwing up all over the house and was screaming in pain. Right now he’s sleeping which is wonderful since I haven’t gotten any real sleep! Then a huge water bug ran under my bed. Oh my gosh. I ran for my life! I jumped on the couch and that was the end of that! I found out this morning that the water bugs are taking over our building. Oh, that’s a comfort.

Right now, I’m playing mommy and rushing around my house trying to get everything ready for Krystal’s trip to the emergency room.

Next post, what to bring to college! I’m so excited to surf the web and find things that are good ideas for a college dorm room! So stay tuned!!!

So I just got a phone call from my mom saying that she showed up so late that they refused to check her on the flight… so she missed her flight. Oh boy. This is crazy! So now this is going to be a big problem. A big big problem. This could get complicated.

To be continued…

I just got back home from dropping my mom off at the airport. Of course we were so late getting there and it became a mad rush. My mom’s bag was at least, AT LEAST 20 pounds over the limit. Haha. I feel bad for the sucker who has to pick it up.

So now my mom is on a 14 hour flight to Jordan, and I have a wonderful condo all to myself! My condo! YES! But now I have a ton of new rules and stuff to do. Of course my mom didn’t just leave, she left me with a long list of stuff to do until school gets out. This is some how bitter sweet.

Now, what is going to be the first rule broken?

….Just joking Mom!

My mother and I drove up on Friday night, Saturday morning, to Philadelphia to see my family before she goes. I had no idea that seeing my family was going to be such a challenge!Not only were there mattresses on I95, a whole bunch of them, there were cones all up and down the road. It was pretty crazy. One moment, there was a mattress in the road and then a minute later there was another one ripped in half. The police were trying to pick them all up and put them on the side of the road, out of the way of traffic, and boy was it a challenge.

Then there were the flying cones! Just cones everywhere. We could not understand what was going on. We finally made it to my Grandmother’s house and I ran to bed. I woke up to find out my mother talked my Grandmother to sleep. Lol.

Sunday we went shopping for all the things that Mom needs when she gets to Iraq on Tuesday and that took hours. At least I got new clothes for school, which I am very excited about!

I had lunch at my grandfather’s house today. It was a great to see him and just have a relaxing lunch at his house. Miss Rae made a huge salad and was forcing huge mounds on all of us. It was hard to eat everything. I was so full I passed out on the day bed.

I have been truly irked by something since I’ve been home. My stupid phone! Not only have people been calling me after 9pm, which is a great insult in my family, but they get upset that I don’t have time to talk to them! I was so happy to see my grandfather but then it got overshadowed by a bunch of people calling and texting, then upset because I would rather spend time talking to my family than text them. I finally turned off my cell phone and was through with it, but later found out that my father was trying to call me. I was really upset when I found that out. I didn’t get the chance to see my dad because my phone was off and my mom’s was to far away she didn’t hear hers.

I still don’t understand why people wouldn’t respect the fact that I was with my family, who I only get to see every few months, if I’m lucky, normally it’s once a year, and then they have the nerve to get upset with me!

I can tell I am my mother’s daughter because I get upset when people call before 9 am and after 9 pm. To me, it is truly rude and shows great disrespect for some one’s house hold, which I think this problem arisen with the creation of cell phones. I got so upset tonight that I just turned it off. Its bad enough the thing never stopped ringing and beeping today.

I’ve had to turn that thing off twice today because it would not hush! I can’t sleep now since it had rang twice while I was sleeping and so now I’m up which totally sucks because my mom and I are driving back to DC at 5 am. I am so not looking forward to that drive, but we have to be back in DC first thing in the morning. My mom has a meeting at like 8 am and then she is getting packed out at around noon. Tomorrow is my last night with my mom before she goes to
Iraq. I think the cell phone finds a new setting, off.

So a few days ago, my mom’s car broke down on the way to dinner with some old family friends. We some how make it to the place by coasting for like a mile and, had a wonderful dinner and then had to call AAA to tow the car back to the house. Talk about stressful! We road home in the tow truck which shook most of the time and made me nervous the whole way home.

So now we are renting a car for the week. Of course our car broke down right when we really needed it! I just got back from a trip to West Virginia last night. I had fun but I wasn’t there for long. I went for a really cool driving course that challenges the driver to do all kinds of wild turns and spins. I had a blast, but after 6 hours of hard driving, I came home and slept for 12 hours… maybe more.

Ahh, it’s good to be home. Tomorrow I’m taking the cats to the vet, the fat one is getting a hair cut. lol. This could get interesting.

I’m at Cape May right now and I am so excited! Aunt Dorothy and Joelle will be here in a few hours so I will have some one to chill with at the beach. Sweet.

Plus, the long list of hot guys that are just in the hotel is a huge plus. I had to laugh yestorday when the guy at the radioshack gave me his number after I bought some ipod stuff for the road trip.

Mom was joking last night while on the road that the fog made her feel like she was in a bad scary movie. All that we needed was a werewolf to pop out and try and eat us. Had to inform her that after three hours in the car, I was in no mood for supernatural animals trying to eat me and that she should just keep driving on through the fog because I wanted to start my vacation!

So I have a new camera, a friend to chill with, and a huge beach to enjoy. This week is going to be awsome!

I love summer vacation. I spend my evenings reading books until I can’t hold them up any longer. Jana would be proud. lol. I brought almost $200 worth of books a few days ago. I’m starting to think I spend more time deep in a book than I do in the real world. My cat Krystal thinks I’m reading to him so he comes and sits next to me all night until I put the book down.

Since my mother’s graduation, we’ve been spending a lot of mother daughter time together. She started her Iraq training yesterday and comes home with wild stories. I must say, my favorite one is when a woman crashed her SUV and it rolled a few times. When rescue found her she was unconscious and they had to remove her clothes. Well, the guy wasn’t the smartest guy in the world and thought he would take her pulse from the opposite side of her then he was standing and well, she woke up. She beat him so badly, she put HIM in the hospital! *cracks up* She woke up confused and found herself naked and with some strange man over her and whooped him good.

Moral of that story, talk to the person you are trying to save or they might wake up and kick your butt. Lol. Apparently, hearing is the last to go so it is important to talk to a trama person even if they aren’t awake and screaming at you. Hehe.

Cristina seems to be having a ton of fun in Spain. We still talk as much as possible each week but I really can’t wait for her to get back to the states so we are closer in time diff. This whole 8 hours is really not working for us! I keep changing my facebook status to “Spain needs to give me back Cristina” or something along those lines.

*gets email and yells at mother* “MOM! I’m in the same room as you! Stop emailing me!” I swear, and they say children don’t listen. My mother is on the phone and she is emailing me. *shakes head* She used to text me that dinner was ready when normal mothers would just yell at the stairs. I kind of miss the traditional style of calling for your kids. You know, before cell phones and emails.

Alright, I’m off to download some more music and plan when I’m going to do my homework for some online courses I signed up for. I couldn’t just stay still all summer.

Oh and next month I’m working on Sigma Care Packages. I’m so excited. First got to get mom ready for Iraq, than I can work on stuff for the next school year! Ahhh… one year down!

Does it ever end!? I can’t stand paperwork and it seems like all it ever does is find its way back to me! And what is with all this mail doing here in my name? Only a few years ago the only mail I would get would be a package and it had to be a holiday. Now all I seem to see are forms and bills!

I must add that the puppy dog look no longer works on my mother when it comes to forms. It’s horrible! Lucky Cristina, her mom still fills out her forms! So not fair.