My life as I know it

My October edition of Women's Day Magazine (yes, again, the mysterious magazine that I started receiving about a year ago and have no idea from whom) had several DIY tips for decorating at Halloween. Almost every one of them involved some sort of use of Candy Corn. I loved them all and wanted to try them! What a simple idea! I've only tried two so far but if I keep working at my hot glue gun skills (i.e. not burning myself several times while using it), I do foresee a candy corn wreath in my future (most likely at next year's Halloween). This idea I thought was so cute and so easy! I had Pat cut down a branch from our tree out front and I bought a cheap vase at Pat Catan's and some styrofoam. Pat trimmed down the styrofoam to fit in the vase (isn't it funny how "my projects" always become "our projects?" Funny for me, anyway). I then stuck the branch into the styrofoam and filled the vase with candy corn. I glued some pieces of candy corn ...

I did a lot of cooking last Sunday. I woke up in the mood to cook and that's what I spent my day doing! First, I made spinach artichoke dip for the husband and brother-in-law while they watched the Brown's game (maybe my dip is what got the team the big win?). Next I made beef stew in the crock pot and made my Grandma's Italian meatballs and spaghetti sauce on the stove. The beautiful thing about beef stew (and maybe most soups and sauces) is that they are just as good, if not better, when heated up so they are great things to make on Sunday and eat all week.  Last night, I made my very first batch of homemade mashed potatoes, which were surprisingly very quick and easy! I used a very basic recipe only calling for potatoes, butter, milk and salt. I used less butter and a little more 1% milk and added some garlic powder. I don't have a masher and wasn't sure if I would need a blender or my mixer to mash the potatoes, but they were so moist after boiling that...

Listen, I understand it's a Friday morning, the weather is getting colder and getting out of bed is getting harder and harder. Believe me, we are suffering through the same thing in the Robinson household. I understand that you were running late to work today. I was too (today and most every day, I might add). But what I can't quite understand is why the fact that you were running late to work this morning became everyone else's problem. Just because you are driving the same type of car that was used in the Italian Job , does not mean that you are actually in the movie or that you should be driving like you are. You may have gotten the car to feel like a race car driver, but you aren't and I-90 is not a racetrack. Just because your car is small, does not mean that you have the right to weave in and out of traffic like we are Go Kart racing. Last time I checked, turn signals are not optional and weaving from lane to lane too fast is not a good enough excuse not to use ...

Have I mentioned lately how much I love fall? Even my 50 minute commute feels better in the fall when I can watch the orange, brown and red leaves falling from the trees while I'm sipping my warm apple cider, keeping the other hand on the wheel, of course!  One of the reasons I love fall so much is because of Halloween. It's ironic that I love Halloween as much as I do because I hate horror movies and don't like to be scared, yet I end up going to Halloweekends almost every single year and walk through the haunted houses (which are suitable for children and yet still make me feel as though I could faint). We are going tonight and I absolutely cannot wait! It's currently pouring down rain where I'm sitting and the trees look like they're about to blow over. Not ideal weather for an amusement park but I'm hoping the Cleveland weather isn't indicative of the weather in Sandusky. In addition to Halloweekends tonight, this weekend is also the 6th Annual T...

Today, 10-10-10 marks the official close of the wedding season (and is also my dear friend Aubrey's 27th birthday). Wedding season officially started for me on Saturday, March 6 with Kari's wedding shower and ended on Saturday, October 9, 2010, with Jen and Sean's wedding. We were invited to 11 weddings this year and attended 9 of those 11. I attended 5 bridal showers and 4 bachelorette parties. Pat attended 3 bachelor parties and together we attended 3 rehearsal dinners. What is even more crazy than our stats is that many of my friends can top it with even higher numbers! It was a crazy year of weddings for almost everyone I know! Weddings are fun and it's great to be there to celebrate with people on one of the happiest days of their lives! As much fun as we had attending them and being a part of them, we are very much looking forward to having some relaxing weekends at home and saving some money! It was a personal goal of mine to not repeat any dresses this weddi...

I have become obsessed with the show Glee. As with most trends, I was very late to jump on the bandwagon so I watched all the reruns this summer and got HOOKED! I'm now officially a "Gleek," if you will. Every time I would watch an episode this summer, Pat would stick around until the first singing number started and then he'd get up and leave the room saying the show was too ridiculous for him. Last night, I begged him to stay and watch the full episode with me and give it a chance. I was hoping if he watched a full episode, he would catch on to some of the storyline and realize there actually was a plot and then might start to like the show. While he did stay downstairs with me for the entire show, he definitely wouldn't agree that the show has a plot and he definitely will never watch the show with me again. He can't get over the fact that the cast randomly goes into musical numbers, flash mob style, to express their feelings. But what he thinks is even w...

Don't get too excited. I'm not being helicoptered into the desert to prove what we all already know: I hate bugs and probably have very few survival skills. But I do sometimes feel as though I live with a bunch of wild animals. Whether it's Sadie who seems to be throwing up every other day or Grady who has been having accidents in his crate once a week, it seems that we are constantly cleaning up after these animals. And then there's Pat. I know that part of it isn't his fault and that by just being a guy, he will naturally do some things that I find disgusting. On Sunday, I watched him take off his socks, the same socks he had been wearing all day long, and roll them up into a ball. I assumed he was rolling them up and taking them right to the laundry basket so Grady wouldn't try to eat them. I watched him walk out of the office and turn left to walk into our bedroom rather than walking straight into the bathroom where the dirty clothes basket is located. He ...

Epic fail. That's all there is to say. Okay, fine. I'll explain. The nacho dogs ( recipe here ) were a disaster from start to finish. Actually, I was doomed before I even started because as soon as I read the line, "a great recipe for kids to cook," all I could think about was screwing up a recipe that was so easy a "kid could do it." I didn't find it to be all that easy. Whether or not it should have been is another story. The first step was as simple as opening the croissants and getting them out of the packaging. I'm not going to lie. I always get nervous when I'm opening the biscuits and croissants packaging because I know it's going to "pop open" when you least expect it. Tonight I was like Will Ferrell as Buddy the Elf when he's turning the jack-in-the-box and nervously waiting for it to pop open. And just like the movie goes, when it didn't immediately pop open, I was convinced that it wasn't going to. I thought...

No, not that kind of sign (I'm a Leo, by the way). I am talking about street signs and I have seen some pretty random ones in the three years I've been commuting around the city of Cleveland. The sign that I have seen throughout the last week, placed on the busy highway I take home from work, takes the cake as the most random sign ever. It's a big orange sign located right before you drive under and overpass with the message,  "Clean Water Falling." Ideally this is the kind of sign you would like to see in an art gallery where you can stand there, stare at it, back up, tilt your head to the side and stare at it again trying to analyze what the heck it could possibly mean. Unfortunately, when you see this sign right as you're coming around a sharp curve (known as Dead Man's Curve) and trying to slow down from 60 MPH to 35, you don't really have time for this sort of analysis. Instead, I found myself frantically trying to close the sunroof on my car so...

We're all guilty of it at some point or another - not always being the best listeners. One of the areas we focused on in communication studies is the art of listening. Some people might assume that listening and hearing are the same thing, but this is incorrect. Hearing refers to the physical act of sound entering your ears and doesn't require any action on your part whatsoever. Listening, however, refers to the act of taking the sounds that you hear and breaking them down so that you process and understand what you are hearing. Listening is something you must consciously do when you hear sounds. Why do I bring this up, you ask? There are certain times of year when Pat and I really struggle with our communication. It usually starts in late August/early September and lasts until the end of February. No, Pat doesn't develop ear infections during the winter months, hindering his ability to "hear." I'm referring to his inability to "listen" to me dur...

I have always given Pat a really hard time about how long he spends in the bathroom. Whenever he disappears for a half an hour (or more) I always know exactly where he is. I've asked him a lot of questions about why he (and most other men I've ever met) is in there so long. It's so foreign to me because I (and most women I know) am very quick in the bathroom. Get in and get out and get on with your day. That's the way I've always looked at it. Pat explained to me once that just because he's in the bathroom for a half an our (or more), doesn't mean that he's actually "taking care of business" the entire time. Once his business is done, he continues to read whatever magazine or newspaper he picked up. Seemed so foreign to me at the time. Why would you actually stay in there longer than you have to? It seemed foreign to me until today, when I had a porcelain revelation. When I went to the bathroom, I decided to pick up a magazine that came a mon...

I always feel bad in the morning when it's time for us to go to work and put Grady in his crate. From the time we got Grady last July until the first heavy snow in late December, I walked him every morning before work, rain or shine. It made it so much easier leaving him for the day knowing he had a chance to release some of his energy. By the time spring came, I had a new job, an earlier start time and a longer commute. Excuses, excuses, I know. Needless to say, the morning walks haven't continued since then. I know it would do Grady and I both some good if I started that morning routine again. And if I got up at 6 instead of 6:30, I could make it happen pretty easily. I guess I'm putting this out there as a way to motivate me to actually do it. I'm trying to hold myself accountable and thought maybe putting it in writing, for all to see, would help.  In the meantime, this is what I deal with each and every morning when it's time for Grady to go in his crate....

Whip up an easy skillet dinner with a hearty combo of chicken, potatoes and veggies. Prep Time: 10 min Cook Time: 30 min Total Time: 45 min Makes: 4 servings 1 box (4.5 oz) Betty Crocker® loaded baked potatoes 1 1/4 cups boiling water 1 3/4 cups milk 2 tablespoons butter or margarine ...

Grady in his favorite spot Although there are so many things I can, and do, say about Grady's bad behaviors, he has some good qualities too. He is not really a "barker." Of course you'll hear the occasional barking when he sees people walking by the window, but we've been working really hard to correct this behavior because quite frankly, neither of us can stand it! But for the most part, you can leave him outside and he'll never make a sound or he'll sit in his favorite spot on the couch looking out the window, watching the "comings and goings" without making a peep. Lately, though, that hasn't been the case. It all started last week, one morning before work, when Grady started barking like crazy outside. Pat went to see what he was barking at and was shocked to find Grady standing in our driveway, barking like a maniac at our neighbor, Denny. If you knew Denny and knew his relationship with Grady, you would find this just as shocking ...

I am not normally a morning person. I don't roll out of bed with a "let's take on the day" attitude. I don't wake up wanting to sing and whistle and celebrate the fact that I'm awake. I usually prefer silence and solidarity in the morning. It isn't until I've gotten ready and driven 40 minutes to work that I am finally ready to be social and get on with my day. Today, however, I woke up with a lot of energy, relatively speaking. I still snoozed the alarm clock but only 4 times as opposed to 8. I knew I was heading in for a 12 hour day and I was ready to "take it on." After I was finished getting ready (we're talking hair, make up, skirt, the whole nine yards - not normally part of my every day routine, either), I grabbed my phone and was about to walk out the door when I noticed several missed calls, a few voicemails and a text message saying the school was closed for the day due to a broken water pipe. If I would have found this inform...

No, I'm not mocking prayer. I believe a couple who prays together stays together too, but honestly, in my brief 15 months of marriage and five-year relationship with Pat, I have learned this much: assembling furniture and putting up tents are two of the very most challenging situations for our relationship. I don't blame either of us for this fact, I blame the people in China who build the furniture and I blame the people in America who claim they "tested all the parts" and who write those poor excuses for assembly instructions. The old adage, "a picture speaks a thousand words" does not hold true with assembly manuals, in my humble opinion. You may think your little picture with screws, arrows and parts are clear and concise, but we strongly disagree! I should point out, that Pat did the majority of the heavy lifting with this project. I was only called downstairs when the manual said "assistance required," (which ironically were the only word...

At the faculty and staff orientation last week, our new principal and assistant principal announced that faculty and staff could wear the uniform polos and khaki pants on Fridays and the school would be providing us with the first polo! I was really excited about this. One less day I have to stand staring aimlessly into my closet in the morning, when my brain isn't functioning well anyway, while I try to decide what to wear that day. I was so excited that I went and paid the $20 to buy a second polo (in my favorite aqua blue) so that I could rotate between the two polos each Friday. Today we had a pep rally at the school so we were allowed to wear our polos on Thursday (in addition to tomorrow). When I woke up this morning, there was no time wasted on figuring out what to wear. I was excited! That is, until I got dressed. When I was looking at myself in the mirror with my polo shirt tucked into my khakis, something just didn't feel right but I couldn't quite put my finger...

I cannot believe that Dexter season five starts one month from Sunday! We do not even have the Showtime channel, but I am confident that we will by September 26th when the season premiers. There is no way we can read everyone's facebook status updates and hear how everyone is so excited about the show and not be able to watch it ourselves. PLUS, we just got our new 52" LED Sharp TV. Can you imagine watching Dexter in 52" of high definition? I can't! If you're a Dexter junkie like we are (thanks to my dad and and Jill), you may enjoy watching the season 5 trailer below.

Easy Roasted Red Pepper Hummus Ingredients 2 cloves garlic, minced 1 (15 ounce) can garbanzo beans, drained 1/3 cup tahini 1/3 cup lemon juice 1/2 cup roasted red peppers 1/4 teaspoon dried basil Directions In an electric food processor, combine garlic, garbanzo beans, tahini, and lemon juice. Process until the mixture is smooth. Add roasted peppers and basil; process until the peppers are finely chopped. Season with salt and pepper. Transfer hummus to small bowl, cover and chill until you are ready to serve. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ So my new recipe for this week (I know, I've taken a few weeks off) was hummus. I'm not sure how or why I decided I wanted ...