So, it does work to use your phone as a hotspot- it just doesn’t work well. Not having reliable wifi is really screwing everything up! I’ve been spending way more time than I would like at Starbucks. But Starbucks has delicious tea and holiday cups, so I guess things could be worse.
It turns out the wifi outage is for our an entire neighborhood, which is a good thing. AT&T trucks are on our street, and I’m confident it will get fixed without us committing to a four-hour window to be home.
Anyway, what else is going on? MY SON IS COMING HOME! He’ll be home for the entire week of Thanksgiving. August- Thanksgiving is the longest stretch we have without seeing him, and it’s been hard. This past week was very busy for him, with several performances and some recordings to make. And he got sick! He told me he just had to take Advil and power through. I wanted him home so badly. I pictured him here, lying comfortably on the couch while I plied him with tea and orange juice.
I also got this text from him:
He still needs me! I’ll take any mother-son bonding time I can get. Even if it involves writing essays.
Meanwhile, we’re having our first big cool down of the year!!!!! Remember my post from a couple days ago, where I said I want to live in a biodome where the temperature always stays between 50-70 degrees?
In case you’re worried about my poor cats being advent-calendar deprived this December- I stopped at Target and got this one. We might even like it better, because it looks like it has a variety of treats. So there, Trader Joe’s!
Last but not least… I was the lucky recipient of one of Engie’s amazing postcards!
Thank you Engie. We’ll get through this if we stick together.
And now, I’m off to our high school football game- it’s the Regional Semi-finals! Go Bulls!
Are you excited about Thanksgiving? – I’m excited to have the entire family home. Not as excited about cooking- but the family will help me.
32 Responses
Internet outages are hard! I have been jonsong to do a bike bootcamp and was looking forward to one this evening and then my son said the storm had shorted our internet. I was so bummed. But it came back! And I have never been so happy to do a 30 minute bike boot camp. 😉
Yay for son time! I’m sure I’ll be ready and willing to do pretty much anything to spend time with my kids when they go to college.
I’m not super excited about Thanksgiving proper, but I’m THRILLED to have a week off!! Bring it!
Yes Noemi- you must be so happy! I know my husband is. I hope you get some time to relax this week.
And- it’s funny how much of a panic it throws you into when the internet goes out. It’s almost like having your car not start!
That’s a really sweet message from your son! These days, students could just ask ChatGTP to help them, but he wants you!
Enjoy your mom-son time, Jenny!
Oof, I’m SO glad he’s not just asking ChatGTP. He must have a lot of faith in me- I better get ready for this.
Paul seems like the sweetest kid! I am glad you will get a full weekend with him. My mom was my essay editor, too! Now I don’t need her help anymore because she would not understand what I am writing about for my job. Ha. But back then she was very helpful!
I am very excited for Thanksgiving! We always celebrate with my family and I am glad I don’t have to travel for it. I am running a 10k that morning and then we will go to my brother’s in the suburb. I bring the veggie tray and a Brussels sprout salad. Then on Friday we are having taco’s 4th bday party with my family at our house. So it will be a festive weekend!!
I hope your internet is restored ASAP!
Thank you Lisa! Internet is back today : ) !!!!!!!!!
It’s funny- my son is way smarter than me when it comes to math (and many other things) but he’s not great at writing. Well- he’s gotten better over the years, but he will still appreciate my help.
You do have a big week coming up! Good luck on the race.
It sounds like the internets will be back soon! Yay! Also yay for a “biodome” forecast!
I am pumped for TG! We’re having it at our house and we’ve done our usual divide and conquer for the menu so that everyone is doing something but no one is doing too much. There will be 12 people and 3 dogs!
OMG. Even if someone else were doing all the cooking, I would still be stressed at having to host 12 people. I guess it’s all what you’re used to. I have a client who’s hosting 30 people, and that’s totally normal for her.
Woof, I hope your internet is back soon! I don’t mind going to the coffee shop sometimes, but I also really like sitting at home in my jammies! However, it is definitely worth the price of a coffee if you can get a couple hours of browsing done. When I am on the road, I tend to go to McDonalds or Tim Hortons because while they don’t have the best coffee, it is so much cheaper than SBUX!
Internet is back!!! I expect an apology from AT&T for all the trouble they caused : ). They also need to reimburse me for my Starbucks.
We are still in the throes of the Canada Post strike, so I am living vicariously through everyone’s snail mail. God I hope it’s resolved soon. It’s really cutting into my happy festive mail. And I really hope your internet is back soon, that really sucks, Jenny!
Yay for your son coming home! My older son, who lives in dorms, was sick twice in four weeks, apparently. It reminded me of when little kids go to daycare or preschool, someone always has a runny nose and a cough.
Also yay for your forecast!
Well, what I’m hoping for all you Canadians, is that 1) the strike will be resolved soon, or if not, 2) everyone will send out cards and gifts whenever the strike is resolved, even if it’s January of February. Think of it as prolonging the Christmas spirit!
Ugh, sorry about the internet. It sounds like they’ll figure it out soon. Safety in numbers I guess, in this case I translate safety to better to have a whole group who needs service as you’ll likely get some attention.
I’m a little out of the loop. I know your son is in college, but what does he perform? Is it part of his college thing or a side gig? What a great text.
I’m excited for Thanksgiving. I’ll have my 3 college/gap year kids home. Ed is coming home from the city. Lad lives nearby. We’re all heading to my SIL’s. She’s near O’Hare, so 30ish minutes away. I’m bringing food, but it’s nice not having it at my house. I still need to get my house in order, because Mini’s roomie is staying here Tuesday night till she catches her flight back to NJ Wednesday morning. Happy cooking and hope the game went well.
Oh! I’m not sure if I knew you were in the Chicago area! Or maybe I did know that, but forgot.
And, yes! 20 people angrily calling AT&T (many of whom work from home) got results much faster than one person who’s trying to get out all their NaBloPoMo posts. The internet is back!
My son is majoring in trumpet performance at Baylor. So all these things were school-related for him.
Isn’t mail just the best?! (Sorry Canadian friends!)
Engie’s postcards have been fire!
But also, that sweet text from your boy saying “Mom we may have to have some mother son bonding time” –love how sweet your relationship is–that’s a blessing for sure!
Hope your Wi-Fi is fixed soon.
It is fixed!!! Hooray. And, I know. My son is so, so sweet. It makes up for the fact that my daughter is extremely “prickly.” (ha ha… I love them both!)
Shhh… don’t tell… but It’s the same dynamic for me–my older one is sweet, my younger one is prickly. (Another reason they’d get along?)
We had an internet outage on Thursday, so annoying as I was doing transcriptions, which I can do offline, but kept needing to look things up! No Thanksgiving here of course but hope you have a lovely family time!
Thank you Liz! And, yes it’s funny how much we absolutely rely on the internet. How did we survive without it all those years???
It’s wild how much we rely on the internet and feel lost without it when it goes down! Hopefully it’s back for you soon.
Your weather sounds like ours, except it’s not humid here! But the 70s feel nice.
Yay for having your son home for Thanksgiving! I am going up to my parents for the 4 day weekend, and my sister and her fiancé will be there, so 5 adults and two dogs, which isn’t a ton of people but definitely a full house!
Five people and two dogs sounds like a perfect amount. And- our humidity is definitely much lower than normal, but probably not as low as yours.
Enjoy your time with your son…
Happy for your cool down but hope it warms backup when I get down there – Dec 4-9
Awww. So glad you’re going to have time with your son and, at least from my perspective as a daughter, I am ALWAYS a daughter and still value my parents advise so very much.
Hope Thanksgiving week is amazing, your Wifi comes back on…and you continue to have cool weather.
I agree that hot spotting isn’t the best, and I wonder if the signal was diminished by all of your neighbors using their phones too? Glad there is a Starbucks nearby you can go to. Also glad to hear that your internet is back up, AND YAY to your son being home, that is going to be so nice. 🙂
Yay to college kids coming home for thanksgiving!!!
I hope the team won!! What a fun treat for your cats. My older cat is now getting a “calming treat” every day to help with the stress of being attacked by Sam every time she turns around! I hope it helps them get along. So exciting your son will be home soon! That will be wonderful.
What a blessing that your son is looking forward to some bonding time. You seem to have a wonderful relationship.
I am going to pick up my mom in an hour – I should get started – and spend a day with her.
No thanksgiving around here so… not looking forwards. But still have fond memories of our Friendsgiving a couple years back. Maybe I should host another one next year.
Why does your son want to go to grad school, Jenny? I thought he wanted to be a performer. I’m just curious because I work with a lot of students in the humanities and arts and I’m always interested in what their reasoning is for grad school!
I am always a little sad for Thanksgiving or any major holiday really because my extended family is so far away. But we do visit our friends in Las Vegas again and I am looking forward to that.
sorry hear about the wifi outage. this is inconvenient for sure.
glad to hear you are having such good weather for the run! I can’t wait to run in a cooler place.
I just looked to see if those advent calendars are available at my Target. The closest location that has it is 42 miles away. WAHHHH. There’s a different cat treat advent calendar, though, that I may pick up for them. I’d much prefer that than one that gives toys because they have ENOUGH TOYS. Especially Christmas-themed toys, lol.
Glad the wifi outage has been fixed! Stuff like that is such a nuisance.
I love that text from Paul. How sweet!
Oh yes, not having wi-fi sucks. Imagine not having cellular reception either LOL
Yay, your son is coming home! I am so happy for your mother-son time 🙂