A Slice of Life

Okay, since I don't know anyone out there that reads my blog (besides a few select family members) I am going to divulge a little of my life over the past few years.

I graduated from high school in 2000 and soon attended a rather large private university studying business administration. Feeling the financial strain of paying for such a university full time I soon found myself working 3 jobs. The first I had been working at since I was in high school. I was a teller at a national bank. I was only there on Saturdays and that definitely wasn't enough. The second job was with my roommate's mom who was in charge of scholarships. I did her filing between my classes. And my third job was as a full time hostess at a Denny's restaurant near the university. As if working there wasn't enough it happened to be the late night weekend shift. Just a bit of advice if you like to get drunk and then go out to eat afterwards... Being rude to the hostess will NOT get you seated any faster!!!
After my first year I decided that I would take the next semester a little bit slower and was only there part time. I took on more hours at the bank and quit my other two jobs. Let me tell ya, it's a lot easier to do homework, study, eat, sleep and have a social life when you are not doing so much work.
I attended the second semester of my sophomore year full time and soon decided that I wasn't sure if business administration was right for me. So I quit school to work full time at a book publishing warehouse and to think about what I wanted to do forever. The job had decent pay and the people were friendly enough so I left the bank to give myself some more time. Finally some time to relax.
Before I knew it I was bored and decided to try out massage therapy classes. Being a shy person I quickly found out that that was not for me. Although, to this day I still regret telling my family about my two week stint as a massage therapist. I am now always the giver and rarely ever the receiver.
A few years later and still working at the warehouse I met a guy that worked in another building for the same company. Our romance was like whirlwind and we soon moved in together. I was in love (or so I thought). I was scheduled for shoulder surgery and while waiting to be carted to the operating room the dr. informed me that he could not operate as I was pregnant. I was in shock but excited. Unfortunately he did not feel the same way. A short time later I moved out of our apartment and back to my parent's house. I went to face my pregnancy without a supportive man in my life.
My pregnancy wasn't bad. I had some morning sickness and a lot of back pain but everything else went smoothly. On April 19, 2005 I welcomed a beautiful little girl, Alexis Faith. She was 8lbs and 19inches. When she was 3 weeks old I took her to the warehouse to meet my co-workers and stopped by to see my ex thinking that he wanted to meet his little girl. Boy was I wrong. All he wanted was to know where to sign the papers so he wouldn't have to pay child support. He has never seen her since that day and has since come to be known as sperm donor or SD.
When Lexi was 3 months old we moved to NC to help my sister with her bumpy pregnancy and a month later my beautiful niece Camille was born. We've lived with them ever since.
In November 2005 we all moved to Ft. Rucker, AL where my BIL became an Apache pilot. When he graduated we were carted off to Ft. Hood, TX where none of us expect to go. We soon came to love the area. On Father's Day 2008 Patrick was shipped off to Iraq to defend our country. In October he came home on R&R and we drug him to Disney World (not that he gave much of a fight). Now he is back in Iraq and is scheduled to come home in September 2009.

So now that I have brought you up to speed I hope that anyone reading this feels like they know me just a little. Feel free to ask me what you would like to know.

Oh, Christmas Tree

We went and picked out our Christmas tree. It was so cold I thought that my nose was going to fall off. We took the girls to a place that my parents had taken us when we were little. They have some trees already cut that you can pick from or you can go pick out your own and they will cut it down. They usually have a nice selection of pre-cut trees but they were busy and didn't have the one that we wanted. So my dad, Melissa, the girls and I hiked our butts out and walked and walked and walked. We passed trees that at least one of us thought was nice but we couldn't all agree on the same one. It felt like it took us all day to finally pick one that was acceptable to take home.
The funny thing is, when we got the tree home and brought it into the house it was too big. Not by too much though. My dad just cut the point off the top and we can't fit the angel on but at least it's in the house.
The girls helped us decorate and by that I mean that they were given an ornament to put on the tree and after they put it as close to the ground as they could get it one of us would move it higher so that they could put the next one in the same spot.
Now we just have to figure out where all the presents are going to go.

Happy Thanksgiving

We are at Patrick's parents house this year. We hosted Thanksgiving for them last year and it was nice to travel here and not have to worry about all the hubbub. Granted, we did help out but we didn't have to do all of the pre-holiday planning and all of the shopping. All the food turned out great and I am so stuffed.
I love to come down here and visit. In the summer we went to all the baseball games and now we took the girls to their first hockey game. I think they enjoyed it (not that they really watch what is going on) but they seem exited none the less. Then there is always the beach, the children's museum (which we have yet to take them to), the aquarium and so on. We are just never bored here. Not to mention that it is 80 degrees at the end of November!
We will be leaving to go back home to our house tomorrow. On Monday we are headed to the northeast to spend an extended Christmas vacation with our family. I'd say that I am going to be a little busy between now and Monday. So far we are having dinner with a friend on Saturday and possibly going to the biggest craft show of the year. Plus there is the laundry and the packing and the cleaning since we practically trashed the house before we left.
It's 3 days of driving to get to my parents house so you can only imagine how that goes with two 3 year olds in the back seat. On top of that Lexi is potty training so I'm sure we will make twice as many stops. This is our first trip without her in diapers so it will definitely be a new experience.
For now I am just trying to relax and not think about the stressful days ahead of me. Wish me luck.

Robin

Here I Am

Hello everyone and welcome to my very first blog. My name is Robin. I am a single mom to a beautiful, smart, energetic 3 year old little girl named Alexis (Lexi for short). I am waiting for Mr. Right to come sweep me off my feet. I am shy, crafty, and dedicated to my family. We live with my beautiful, strong, kind hearted, sister Melissa. As well as her hard working, dedicated, army pilot husband Patrick. And their beautiful, smart, energetic, 3 year old daughter Camille. Our girls are like sisters since we have lived with them since Lexi was 4 months old.I hope that everyone enjoys reading my blog. Please come visit me again as I share my stories like I have never done before.