We went to an escape room today and we missed it by about THREE MINUTES. We had even figured out the clue but just kept typing in the answer wrong. We are so bummed! We did a lot better than the last time, and honestly that made it more fun. It also helped that we didn’t have to share the game with people we didn’t know. I so want to go and do another one and manage to escape. We were just so close! It was a good time and nice to go out and do something together. We’ll have to go again.
Tag: robin
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May 22
We went to Carmine’s Pie House to celebrate Robin’s 8th grade graduation. We got off to a little bit of a rocky start, but it ended up being a pretty good night. I had a win (or at least the start of a win) at work today, too. I configured a GPT to help build a searchable database of questions and answers for our training site. This is something the team has been asking for for years and we haven’t been able to figure out a good way to do it. I set up a more or less automated system in a couple of hours. I feel like a million dollars. It needs some refinement, but I’m proud of it. I can’t wait to share it with the team. Not a bad day.
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May 19
I missed my first day in this project since starting it in 2023. I’m so upset! Nothing to do about it now except keep going. Robin graduated 8th grade today. The ceremony was really nice. I cried during the reverse rose ceremony. I stopped myself from being audible, but it was hard. I’m proud of her for taking part and not being to anxious. I know that wasn’t easy for her. She looked beautiful and I’m so proud of her. I love watching her grow up!
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April 11
Christina had a dance competition today. It was a very long day – we left home at 12:45 and got home at 9:45, with no time for lunch or dinner. Christina looked great, though! It was the last time she’ll perform her trio. Big smiles on their faces! They won a judge’s choice award for electric energy, and they deserved it. That’s impressive after being there for nine hours. Proud of our girl!
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April 10
Today frankly sucked. I just feel so inept. My training redesign was summarily rejected, my class is failing, and their leaders are pointing at me for their failure. I just want to give up. I’ve let everyone down, especially myself. I need to do something to lift my spirits, but it’s almost 10pm and I’m too depressed to think of anything positive to do. I can’t even focus on my crossword puzzle. I should just go to bed and hope I wake up feeling better.
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March 27
The kids had a half day today, so Robin and I went to Leaderboard and played video games for a while before getting ready for tonight’s middle school dance. Looking at these two tonight, I really have to wonder what the heck happened to my babies?? At this point I have no chance of surviving prom. They had a great time and I’m glad.
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March 25
I finished the day with a splitting headache. There is just so much riling me up at work and I can’t control my ire. I have a clearer idea of what I can throw off my plate; now I just need to find the time to do it. First I need to recover.
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March 18
Pretty decent drive from NJ to VA today. There were a couple spots with traffic, but nothing more than a few minutes and otherwise traffic was very light. I hope tomorrow is just as easy, but I take nothing for granted. We got to the hotel pretty early, around 3:15. I spent some time telling ChatGPT how disappointed I was with it (for some reason this felt necessary), did some crossword puzzles. Then we went to the Subway at the gas station for dinner, bought some snacks, played some Uno, called Billy. Now I’ve showered, watching some basketball, and pretty soon I’ll be off to sleep. I’m hoping to get an early start tomorrow. Arriving early enough to have time to relax before crashing is nice. Fingers crossed for another easy day. We’ll see. I’m ready for anything. Kind of.
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March 17
We had a nice day living the life at Aunt Cathrine and Uncle Bob’s senior living facility. It’s like living on a giant cruise ship. The place has everything imaginable. Today’s highlights included visiting the facility thrift shop, going to the pool, playing Uno, and having a fancy St. Patrick’s Day dinner in the dining room. They seem so absolutely happy here, and honestly, who could blame them? It has been so good to spend some time with them. I’m glad we made the trip.
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March 15
Made it to NJ in really great time. It’s so great to see Aunt Cathrine and Uncle Bob. We spent the afternoon and evening getting the grand tour and catching up on pretty much all the things. They seem so happy in their new place and I don’t blame them. This place is pretty awesome! They rented us the little guest apartment that is right next to theirs and it is really so very nice. I’m truly exhausted, though, and glad for some quiet time before going to bed. Tomorrow will be a long day – and hopefully not too wet. Please?
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February 21
Now that Robin and I are talking again, we tackled the massive challenge of cleaning her room. Holy fucking shit. It was absolutely nauseating. There was something soaking wet in her hamper that had been sitting there god knows how long because the floor is now completely rotted where she had it. I am sure it was at least partly, if not mostly, urine. There were 83 soda bottles in there. Used menstrual pads. Used band aids. It was fucking DISGUSTING. I need to take two showers now. It took us four hours and 12 garbage bags to get it cleaned up, but it is now beautiful. We’ll see how long it lasts. I’m not sure it’ll make it until morning.
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February 16
Robin asked to go to a rage room, and who am I to say no? There is some kind of satisfaction that comes from smashing things. And we smashed things. Printers, mirrors, lamps, radios, dishes. We used crowbars and wrenches and sledgehammers. Christina refused to participate and stood in the back the whole time, but the rest of us worked up a real sweat destroying things. Good suggestion, Robin.
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February 13
Robin may look a lot like Billy, but she feels a lot like me. I wish we could lift it out of her and set her free, but I know all too well that we can’t. This is her journey and all we can do is walk with her on it. I have loved and lost my mom, my family loved and almost lost me, and the thought of loving and losing Robin is unbearable. Desperation only adds fuel to the fire, so that burden is mine to deal with. In the meantime, I hope that just being beside her is enough.
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February 1
Busy day. Took the girls for haircuts. Robin went for a big change and it looks amazing on her. She was really happy with it, but didn’t want her picture taken, so we have this. Then we went food shopping and out to Target so Christina could buy some birthday gifts for her friends. We bought a cake on the way home, mostly because Billy asked for one, but also to celebrate Mom’s birthday. It was pretty yummy. I wish I could describe our parents to the kids in a way that they would appreciate, but the truth is it’s hard to get to know someone who’s already dead. It makes me sad that they’ll never know the special people who raised us. I’ll just have to pass on as much of their legacy as I can through my own actions and interpretations of the love they showed me. Hopefully some of it rubs off on them.
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January 24
We scratched off another card and took a kayaking tour on the river near Rock Springs in Apopka. It was beautiful! The kids were not interested in the least, although Robin did say on the way back that it was peaceful, which I think was positive. Our tour guide, Nigel, was great. I feel like I’ve been paddling enough times at this point that I should be better at steering, but apparently not. I’m glad we had the day free to do it and that the weather was so perfect.
Year in Photos 