Empty Nester....Almost A Month...Time Is Flying By....

 

We have almost reached the month mark of bringing our daughter to college.  I think she is slowly getting used to college life.  There are days where she loves it and days where she is stressed with class work and wanting to do really good.  I think the hard part for her is she is used to getting straight "A's", and so when she gets something lower than an "A" she gets nervous.  I like texting with her every day.  We usually text in the morning and then at night letting each other know we are doing good, and to say goodnight.  When she calls I get nervous.  Usually calls are I'm stressed out.  We are still trying to figure out this type of situation.  She wants me to listen to her and say "everything will be ok."  which I'm sure everything will be ok...but I want to fix her problems.  I want to tell her what to do to make this stress situation go away.  This fixing need on my part is not what she wants.  It frustrates me to just listen and not give advice on how to fix your problem.  This leads to extra stress for both of us.  So I need to learn to be a listener and not fixer.   I need to realize that she just wants a sounding board to express her feelings to, but not advice on how to fix the situation.  It's not an easy change for me.   We have had our share of little issues these past few weeks, and I've come to realize that parenting a college student isn't an easy thing.  You need to be there, and not be there.  We are all surviving and learning.
Do you have any college parent survival tips?

My Son has 214 more days on his mission.  I have to say that his being on a mission has been easier on me than my daughter being in college.  I think it's the not being able to communicate constantly.

I think the people who run the mission are smart.  I can't imagine being in constant contact with my son, and trying to help fix his mission problems.  I think not knowing on some level is easier. His weekly e-mail sounded good.  He is working hard and learning a lot of life lessons. I hope to have his most recent e-mail up on the blog soon. 

Last week my husband and I went to the Red Butte Gardens.

This Garden is just amazing.  I've done one blog post on it already, for our 

summer day dates.

It wasn't as hot this time so we stayed longer and checked out 

their water wise garden.  It was beautiful!  The views from 

the top of the garden are incredible. Have I convinced you that 

you need to go see this garden?  I'm thinking 

of getting a yearly pass.  I want to go at least once a month. 

I love seeing how gardens change through the seasons.

This is close to the top of the water wise garden. The view was beautiful,

it was nice to sit

and just relax.

My husband keeps busy during the week when he is not at work, by helping friends with car projects.

I can't even number how many people he is helping right now.

I am working on a new blog idea highlighting his car friends.

He and I have been having fun putting a list together of all the people he has

met because of his car hobby.  There are some cool car stories there, and I 

have decided I want to write them down so future generations know about his car hobby.

The things I'm doing to keep busy, I'm finishing this book.  It's the fourth of a series, that my 

daughter said I had to read.  I like them actually.  I'll be doing a blog on the books

I read this summer and tell you a bit more in that blog post.

I'm learning about all the flowers I have photographed this

summer.  I hope in the winter to put some books together with my photographs.

I'm hunting for dinosaurs at the gardens.  I've found 27 of 36. They are not

easy to find.  I hope to find more this week though.

I'm also in a walking competition at work, I'm trying to keep in third place, as the first and second place people are just doing way more walking than I have time for.

I am working on editing my newest book.  It needs to be perfect before Christmas time

as I have a few people I want to print it out for and give to as a present.

I also have a few people that I send cards to weekly, so I need to get writing my weekly letters.  

I love sending cards to people, there is just something about writing letters that I love.  I was

so happy when one of my friends actually wrote back to me, and told me that they enjoy my 

weekly letters and photos. 

I'm cleaning and organizing my house.  Ok I collect magazines.  One of my goals for the 

next few months is to do a buying freeze.  I only want to buy groceries and gas for my car.

No eating out, no buying things I want.  Only things I need.  I look around me 

and think, "I Have Enough."  I am abundantly blessed and need only food for awhile.

I also am trying to bring my own food to work for lunch, and I'm making menus and meal planning.

I am going to become a saver on a large scale.  I'll let you know how this all works out in a few months.

I'm also spending some time planning out my fall list of dates with my husband.

I think that is the one thing that I can still spend on, though I think I can find

some cheap but fun things to do too.  

Well if you have sent your children off to college what are you doing to survive and what are the struggles you are dealing with?

G.G.