He is officially DONE!

Yes, after 5.5 years--Dan is done with college!  Dan drove to RWU yesterday to pickup his printed thesis book, get it signed by his advisor, and submit it to Dean White!  He is done and we're so proud of him!  Of course, he does not see the big deal and he says he's not "done" til he gets his final grade.  But he has fulfilled all his requirements and once the grade is submitted, RWU will send him his diploma.  He is still planning to participate in the graduation ceremony in May and so we'll officially celebrate then.  But last night was opening a bottle of wine and toasting him on this milestone!  Both Ed and I are so proud of him.  It was a lot of work and he did it!  And it wasn't easy, that's for sure.  Long days and many all-nighters to prep for studio reviews.  I certainly could not have done it!  I guess we'll let him have the weekend off to do nothing for a change!

Congrats Dan!  We are so proud of you!

Celebrating with Fuzzy Navels!

The infamous Thesis Book!

Happy Belated Valentine's Day

Dan left Thursday night (Feb 9th) to go visit his girlfriend Cassie in Long Island for the weekend to both celebrate Valentine's Day and their 3rd anniversary together.  Can't believe they've been together 3 years--time flies!  So Friday night Ed and I went out to dinner at Ginger Garden in Amherst.  Very good food (Asian food, sushi) and excellent service--we would definitely recommend it (at least the Chinese food--we didn't try the sushi!).  It's on the corner of University Drive and Route 9.

Ed had a treatment on Monday (Feb 13th)--no changes, same ole, same ole--tired and queasy for a few days afterwards.  He's got one more treatment scheduled in two weeks and then they'll probably schedule his next CT scan.  We're hoping things look good and they can cut back for a bit.

Valentine's Day was pretty low-key.  All of us had to work and so we (okay, Ed) put a pot roast in the crockpot in the morning so we had a nice dinner waiting for all of us when we got home.  We also shared the bottle of wine that we received as a gift while in Italy.  It was nice to be able to share that with the three of us.

Now I know some people traditionally go out to dinner on Valentine's Day.  However, we were never one to go out and leave Dan behind.  That never seemed right.  And, yes, I do believe in time together as a couple and that is exactly what we did Friday night.  But even when Dan was younger, we felt it was more important to share time together as a family.  I mean, I love both my guys, so why wouldn't I want to spend time with both of them while I can!?  If you can't tell yet, we do enjoy spending time together and I'll cherish it (and take advantage of it) for as long as I can.

Our big news this week is that Dan finally submitted his thesis book last night!  Woo Hoo!!  He's been putting many, many hours into it!  Of course, his advisor responded within 20 minutes with the okay to print it!  So now Dan is figuring out how to print it and then get it to his advisor for necessary signatures, etc.  It may require a day trip to Bristol but it will be so worth it to have this done-done!  Then I can nag him about being more aggressive in finding a job!! lol  In the meantime, though, we are thankful he at least has part-time work and can live at home to save some money.  The student loans are already coming due!

So life is good and we're looking forward to going away for a few days in a couple weeks.  In the meantime, stay healthy, stay happy.  Enjoy the weekend!!

Roses from Ed that Dan delivered to work for me!

Flowers from Ed at home.

My Lucky Bamboo from Dan.  My guys really do spoil me!

Upside down picture of just some of the Valentine's treats we shared.  No picture of the 4 boxes of chocolates that we ended up with amongst the three of us!

Red Velvet cupcakes that I baked up for the guys!

 

February Has Arrived

Yes, February has arrived.  January passed way too quickly...  And it was kinda disappointing that there was no snow (or at least none to speak of).  Don't get me wrong.  I don't like shoveling nor do I like driving in the snow.  My idea of a snow day is staying home, a fire in the fireplace and watching the snow through the window.  It is peaceful and it is pretty.  And, honestly, one of the joys of living in New England is the change in seasons.  Oh well, you all can remind me of these words when we're hit with a snowstorm in March and I'm complaining about it!  But again, isn't that what we New Englanders do?  But enough about the weather...

Last weekend was moving the rest of Dan's stuff out of his apartment in Bristol, RI.  We rented a cargo van and packed it to the gills and Dan packed more stuff in his car.  Amazing how much he accumulated in 1.5 years.  Unpacking took much less time than I had expected.  Some things ended up upstairs in the garage, some in the basement, some in Dan's room, and some is still in the garage or on the back enclosed porch.  But Dan is sorting through things and some of his stuff is being blended into the household (like cleaning and laundry supplies, some cooking utensils, etc.).

Ed and Dan loading up the van.

The van mostly loaded.  We did add more...

On one of his days off this week, Dan rearranged his bedroom to fit in some more furniture that he brought home with him.  It actually looks good.  Dan continues to chip away at his thesis book.  His goal was to finish by last week, but that didn't happen.  So now he's attempting to finish it by today.  He spends time working on it at night after work and on his days off and weekends.  Of course, moving and packing/unpacking kinda threw off his productivity last week.  He's planning to go to Long Island next week to see his girlfriend, so he better have his book done or Mom won't allow him to go!! lol

Ed had another treatment this week on Monday.  Bloodwork still looks good and the Dr. B. believes his liver is shrinking again (although I don't remember him ever saying it was getting larger again...but whatever...).  We will plan for another CT scan in March.  Ed hopes that if things look good we can cut back on one of the chemo drugs.  Time will tell there...

Dan and I were all prepared that Ed would not be feeling well when he got home Monday so we planned dinner and I also lectured Ed that he shouldn't plan on running errands afterwards but instead come home and rest.  It seemed to do the trick since he was feeling okay Monday evening and Tuesday.  But by Wednesday, he was feeling queasy and tired again.  Thankfully Dan cooked dinner on Wednesday (since he had the day off) and so Ed could come home from work and rest.  By Friday he still wasn't feeling great and so came home from work early.  Hopefully he'll be feeling better by Sunday.  We'll see.  At this point, we're just planning to lay low over the weekend.

We are beginning to take into account in our plans the fact that Ed doesn't feel well the week of treatment.  If we're looking to do something (such as go away, go out to dinner, etc.), we are now avoiding treatment week.  But, all-in-all, certainly nothing we should be complaining about.  We are still much more fortunate than others and need to remind ourselves of that during this tougher days.

This weekend we celebrate our nephew Nick's 13th birthday (not sure how he got that old) and we'll be staying home to watch the Superbowl.  Ed's friend Mike invited us to his house, but since Ed is not feeling 100%, we're planning to just stay home.  Can you believe it's been 6 years since we've watched the Superbowl with Dan?!  We really are so happy to have him home with us right now!

Go Patriots!!

Dan and his roommates (Matt & Nate) on the front porch of their apartment. A good group of guys.