HA = that's funny "buildinghome". We had zero problems, not one tiny hitch. Yet the home started off at $240K and we kept adding little things. Ended up at $253K. Little things add up. Double the size of the deck, better appliances, better furnace (make sure you get a good furnace and not cheap builders furnace). Upgrade from a cheap Lennox gas fireplace (a true builders box - run away if you can) to a Mendota. Make sure the water heater is not sitting on the floor (rust). Make sure you have a regular door in the garage so you will not have to open the big door all the time. 12x14 foot deck is too small for real use, we doubled the size and because we face south we used wood and not composite with gets REAL hot in summer. If you can get an extra foot of overhang do it. Good for shade and run off. If you are on a hill make sure the garage is on the downhill side of the house. Make sure you have windows on all four sides. I'm surprised to see so many spec homes with no windows in the sides! Wash tub in the laundry room is a must! Outdoor faucets, put them higher up so you do not have to crawl on the ground to hook up the hose. If you are on a budget, get the expensive lights for the living areas and go cheap in the bathrooms and other areas. Then once you get back on your feet buy the good lights for the bathrooms. Paint everything neutral until you see how the light falls in the house. Don't go fancy YET! We would also build in a heartbeat . . . . . if we had too! Here is a link that might be useful: Rod & DJs House Building Adventure

When your daughter fires up her laptop she should get an icon on the task bar by the time for available network connections. She may have to double click this icon and select your home network. The installer did name it and set up security (like WPA) right? When she first selects your home network she will have to enter the pass phrase once to gain authority to use network. If you do not have security set up then anyone in range can be using your internet connection and easily hack into your network. Let me know what happens when she tries and I will walk you through it if necessary.

Bestyears - You are so welcome. I must confess that I am thankful that I'm finally out of the college search process. All 3 of mine have finished college, one added an MBA, one went to law school and the third went Ivy League and is now an apprentice in stage production in Philly. If your DD ends up there I'm only about 20 minutes away - I'll met you in Center City for lunch! I've always liked Drexel although none of mine went there. My kids drew a circle around Philly and then looked for schools outside that area. Part of that is because their high school was fairly small - they had about 150 in their graduating classes and they wanted a broader life experience. But many of their classmates did graduate from Drexel and most of them enrolled in the co-op program. And for trips back to Texas - it's an easy commute to the airport. My brother lives in Houston and he used to fly up to visit our parents often. Even though I grew up on the other side of Penna. after living here for 30 years I've become an unabashed supporter of Philly. It's just so darned convenient. The Jersey shore is 60 miles away, New York City is 90 and there are several ski areas within a 2 hour drive. When my DD was at Columbia I'd hop the train and in 90 minutes I'd be in Manhattan and we'd met up for a day of shopping or a Broadway matinee or just lunch. I'm not sure where you are in Texas but we do get snow here!

Thank you all so much for taking the time to give me/us these suggestions! Emily & I have been sitting here this morning, rereading every one of your posts and adding things to our ongoing lists to do, to take and to buy. They have helped so much. You've helped us both by suggesting things we hadn't thought of and you've also saved me money, because I'm not having to ship off things DD will need but we'd forgotten. And yes, I do realize that there will be local stores that she can shop at for forgotten items, but as I mentioned here before, we've been there and done this with DS nine years ago. Let me mention it again for any other new freshman parents: the local stores in the area will be a nightmare to shop at that move-in day and for at least the next week afterwards! Most needed items will be quickly sold out and the check-out lines will be staggeringly long with stressed out, frazzled parents and students. Been there, will NOT be doing that one again this time! Lisa: thank you for that suggestion! I'd hadn't yet thought of her immunization records, but have just added this to our list. Suero: thanks for that link. I've made a list of things we need to check with housing about. Lazy: yes, the school does provide bed, mattress, desk, chair, etc. I'm with you on the stores and madhouse there will be at them that first day/week ;^D Gotta run errands with DD once again. Will be back later to check on this thread once more. Lynn