Dorms and Decor

Dorms and Decor....

O goodness.

We moved Miss Bunny into her dorm last week.

Who knew dorm decorating was a competitive sport?

Certainly not me. At least not until I arrived at the Ole Miss campus.   I should have gotten a heads up when Bunny showed me this article regarding...yep...an Ole Miss dorm room.  Here's the room from the article:

A beautiful coordinated dorm room.

Photo by Lindy Goodson, one half of the dorm design duo

and here's the article link.  The two girls did what, it appeared, every other girl in the dorm that Bunny moved into did. They met, they discussed what they wanted their room to look like and then they ordered and planned and shopped.
Bunny and her roommate also met on social media (and then in person) and have been discussing furniture and fabrics since last March. Things slowly started accumulating in the dining room, waiting for school to start. Orders for sheets and comforters (PB Teen)  and headboards (WalMart) were placed, HomeGoods was scouted.  Not a whole bunch of money was spent but the end result was fabulous.

And let me tell you. These dorms need a dose of fabulous.

I confess. I never lived in a dorm during my gazillion years of college attendance.

I'd only been inside one or two-ever- and certainly not an empty one.

When I walked into Bunny's empty dorm room last Wednesday morning all I could think was "This is the most depressing little dungeon I have ever been in."

Before

Peeling and water stained wood cabinets. (Bonus! There was an empty beer bottle in one of the drawers. Were these rooms even cleaned???) Cinder block walls.  Two plastic chairs that cannot be removed from the room.   And bunk beds. (Not bunked, but they could be)

It's a 13'x10' room. With two tiny closets. For two people. For nine months. 

Double the depression.

Honestly. I would have called in a designer if the girls hadn't already done their own thing.


And where will Bunny be calling home?

The finished room.

Not over the top but mighty cute and

a HUGE improvement on the "before" pic.

The Bunny Eye view from the bed.

Not quite done but almost.

And let me say, the girls in the viral photo have gotten a lot of flak about over achieving, going overboard, etc. but guess what? Their room is nothing compared to some of the rooms we saw during move in. A quick survey of maybe 15 rooms on one floor of one dorm on one campus revealed some of the most gorgeous, Pinterest worthy rooms I have ever seen- inside a dorm or out. The viral room above had nothing on most of the other rooms. 

All of the rooms had coordinating headboards, coordinating dust ruffles, coordinating pillows and in many cases, coordinating girls. Quite a few said they had bought their room stuff from last year's residents. Creativity was the order of the day and it was amazing to see how and where refrigerators, microwaves and clothes were all stashed in these tiny tiny rooms. (Bunny's roommate has the fridge stashed underneath her bed.) Most girls mentioned HomeGoods/TJ Maxx as the main source of their decorative items. I.e. These rooms were done on budgets.

So let's think about this.  If these girls can figure out all this before they've ever even spent one night in a room together, think how prepared they are for negotiating the rest of their lives. Bunny lived in Texas. The room mate lived right outside of St. Louis, Missouri. (Albeit actually in Illinois.)   They met briefly for the first time in March when they both went to Mississippi for ONE weekend. But some how, some way, they coordinated an entire room online, showed up on the appointed day with the coordinated stuff and the only duplication they had was TWO microwaves. Unfortunately neither one of those microwaves fit in the intended space even though Bunny swore she had measured, but whatever. The roommate's kind daddy found one that would fit. And I don't know about the roommate, but I do know Bunny spent quite a bit of her own hard earned money for this room decor.

So what's the problem with having a nice room? 

Dorm decorating. Maybe it's a competition but you know what? It's also a life lesson. Think of the negotiating skills! The budgeting knowledge! Problem solving!  

(We ran into a problem with the beds being too low for the fridge to be under one and still open. A trip to WalMart solved that...bed risers.  Then the shelf between the two beds was too low after the beds had been raised. A trip to Home Depot for new legs and a bit of paint solved THAT problem. How do you hang a curtain rod on a cinder block wall? Command strips. There were a lot of critical skills used that day.) 

O!   And best of all? School started Monday and I got a "first day of college" pic.

Look! That room is already a mess.

This Wasn't on the List!

This wasn't on the list!  
(But maybe should have been)

I'm back in Texas to get Bunny off to college. My babyyyyy. Eek! Squeal!
That's why the blog has been silent.

The house is a disaster while she acquires all of the things she MUST have to go school.
"Mom, I don't have any towels yet!"
"I have an idea. Take some towels from the bathroom."
Seriously. Do we HAVE to have monogrammed towels for college? I suggested taking the monogrammed towels we already have that have her siblings' names on them. What's the matter with taking towels that say Belle and Boy? No one will steal them.

Anyway, this is what I arrived home to:

Using all of my restraint, I left it. All of it. Not my mess.

A week later, it looks like this:

Progress.  Still ignoring it. Still not my mess.

I have helped her do the laundry that was on the floor of her room.  
Her sister's room currently looks like this. Please note, the sister does lives in Florida. While Belle was home last week for a few days, she took all of her stuff with her when she left. This is Bunny's adjunct room/closet. All of this is hers. All of this is going to college. She has another room that looks basically the same. Everything in there is going also.

Bunny is doing the classic "spoiling the nest" routine that teenagers do so well. Trashing our house so that we will be eternally grateful when she leaves.  Bless her heart.

Anyway, I'm not sure how two rooms of clothes, bedding, clothes, furniture, clothes, laundry items, clothes and bathroom items (and clothes) will all fit into basically a 9x12 dorm room along with another cute teenage girl who will also be bringing the same amount of crap  personal belongings, but we shall see.

Meantime, I'm off to find a bed safe for the girl. And maybe just a couple more "must haves".
Because.
Like mother, like daughter.

I'm not sure Mississippi is ready for her.

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

I still need to write about the most interesting part of my trip to Aspen. I had my Tarot cards read. 

I recorded the session and have been listening to it, trying to absorb all that was said. Also have pics of all the cards so that I can refer back to them. That will be next post.

Bye Bye Bye

Bye, Bye, Bye....
to steal a line from N'Sync.


Well, Belle is gone.

Not in a bad way. In a "gone off to college" way.
(She just graduated from High School here.)

The hubs drove with her and her car to Florida about ten days ago. Fortunately it was an uneventful trip except that an accident on the other side of Houston had them stopped for THREE HOURS! Which means they were on the road for almost four hours before they actually got out of town.

Then the hubs flew home and she had ONE practice night all by herself. No relatives or friends within 1000 miles.  Then I flew over and stayed a few nights, making sure she actually registered for her classes.

Belle does not win the hostess with the mostest award.  Love her, but.

She likes to keep the thermostat at 80º.

I slept on the couch and the first night she went to sleep and neglected to give me a blanket. I had a throw which didn't quite cover me so every time I wiggled (which I do a lot) I came uncovered and then woke up, re-covered myself, fell back to sleep and repeated about 20 times. It was not a restful night.

I got to sleep on the couch. 

She got the King Sized Bed. 

I sure hope she gets some artwork for that wall.

Complaining got me an actual blanket.

She had a list of things for me to do FOR HER which mostly included scrubbing things she did not want to scrub.
That's okay.
Her last request was to make her some bacon.
I did.
Then I left her the dirty pan to clean.
(Sometimes revenge is sweet, even if it is against your own kid.)

The view from the kitchen window.

A storm was brewing.

She tried out her adult persona after a trip to the beach.
I was sitting on the couch with sand still between my toes (and other unmentionable parts, I'm sure) and she said:
"Mom, don't you want to rinse off before you get sand everywhere and have to clean it up?" 
And then...
"Bring your beach towel and put it in the washer, please."
Followed by....
"After your shower it is nap time. One hour. I don't want to hear a peep from you. You can watch cartoons but no louder than 12 on the volume." 

The very beautiful Jupiter beach.

After three nights we were getting on each other's nerves a bit. She was ready for me to leave so she could start her new life.
I was ready for real bedding and a thermostat lower than 78º.

It was perfect. 
Not a tear was shed when I left. (At least not by me.)

School starts this Friday.
Job hunting started today.

I am so proud of that girl. 

Belle headed to the beach...

She's convinced a panther is going to jump out of the bushes and eat her. 

Bye, chica! Be careful. 

Friday Follow-Up

Friday Follow Up

As I mentioned here, back in May Belle graduated (was graduated? my mother would know the correct grammar on that one) from tiny Salida High School.

Belle with her proud mama.

Which means Belle is going to college.

YAY!

Belle is a singular child. Determined. Knows what she wants, how she wants it and what color it should be in. Whatever "it" is.

Ever since she was in elementary school she has said "I will go to college by the beach, NOT in Texas. I want warm weather."

Belle's College Requirements:

Toes in the sand, sun on her back, ocean in the distance.

O! And classes. 

She's never been too specific about what she would study, although she has cycled through Veterinarian (couldn't put the animals to sleep, though), Marine Biologist (chemistry-not her forte) and hair stylist. She's a girl of many talents.

That's okay. It's a rare 18 year old that knows what they want to do for the rest of their life. Hell! I'm 58 and still struggling with that decision.

And so she made her college decision by looking at the map and researching small schools and acceptable (to her) locales.
I guess there are worse ways to decide.

Palm Beach Gardens, Florida and Palm Beach State College won.

PBSC Amphitheater- Gardens Campus

Since we were in Colorado, it was a Herculean task to get to Florida and back over even a long weekend to look at the school, so we didn't. Until this week. Texas to Florida ostensibly is an easier trip. (Although, of course, with our luck, that wasn't quite the case.)

Talk about cutting it close. School starts on the 22nd. Belle had NO back up plan. Didn't want one. She knew this is what she would do. And this is a school that offers ZERO school housing. No one could even suggest a place for her to live. I assumed that we would easily find something once we showed up on campus and talked to administrators and students in person. Wrong.  Nothing. No suggestions. Nothing on the Student Center boards. Nada. Zip. Zero.


The college is in the middle of a luxury community. No apartment complexes within 20 miles.

Panic.

We both loved the school. Small.  About 9000 students. Friendly. Nice demographics. Safe.

But housing.

I scrolled through the realtors online until I found one that looked motherly. I called and pleaded my case. She referred me to an outstanding Coldwell Banker realtor, Arlene Love, that totally got what we needed. And assured me it would be very hard to find. But she was willing to try.

The next morning she had two listings for us to look at. But, as she said, sometimes you only need two.  Or one.

And the first one was it. A small garage apartment behind a large house in a lovely quiet community. Alarm system. Furnished. (I barely dared dream of a furnished apartment- that seemed to be asking too much to even think of.) And furnished in a way that Belle would have done if she had the chance.
Within 5 miles of the school. And 5 miles to the beach. With a washer and dryer. Internet included for a small additional fee. Parking outside her door.

The selling point for Belle? 

A bathroom counter that went on for days.....

The skies parted, the sun shone, angels sang.

Belle has a place to live.

Actually the sun did not shine.

On our way to the airport we got word that our flight had been cancelled.
We were rescheduled for the following day.
We boarded the plane Thursday and sat on the tarmac for 20 minutes because of rain. Took off and flew. And flew. And flew. Later we found out we had flown down almost to Cuba before heading towards Texas. And then we were held off some more because Texas had rain. Twice we were told of delays. We made a sharp turn and drop as the plane rerouted to Corpus Christi. They had held us off so long that we needed to refuel. This time an hour on the tarmac. No more water on the plane, it was getting warm and since we could look at our phones, we got to read about 298 people being shot down on a Malaysia Air flight. (Reassuring. Not.)

But we made it home. Only 18 hours after our originally scheduled arrival.

That's okay.

It was a successful trip.

.......................

I've had a few people question my sanity re: sending my 18 year old daughter off to live on her own 1000 miles away.
I get it.
But I also know this child. She will do just fine. There will be hiccups but if anyone can do it, she can. I am slowly collecting names and numbers of people in the vicinity in case of emergency. But I predict this one will go off and be successful, whatever she does.
Now her little sister. Not a snowball's chance that she would be allowed the same privilege. Love her, but no.
And older brother wouldn't even consider the idea. He doesn't like travel.

Besides, as my friend Libby pointed out: "Apple, tree, etc."
At 18, my parents dropped me off in San Miguel de Allende, in the middle of Mexico, for school. Like Belle, I knew no other students.
This was pre-cell phones and pre-computers. A long distance phone call took a minimum of two hours just to get through to an international operator. Then there might be a line available, might not. Mom left me at a boarding house and within a month I had met a friend and we had found an apartment.

My first two room mates at the boarding house.

Cathy, Claudia, Me.

(Love those high waisted pants!)

How did we know how to rent a place? I have no idea.
How did we get someone to rent to us? We had no jobs. We were foreigners. Again, I have no idea.
It was all an education.
And isn't that the point?

O! Libby is soooo right.

The apple doesn't fall far from the tree.

Apparently a bathroom counter that went on for days was my priority, also.

This was from a Mexican house we rented my second year down there.