My 1/2 Birthday.....

Yesterday I became 6 months closer to being 29....AHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! One of my favorite people in the world always wishes me a happy 1/2 birthday because her daughter and I have the same birthday...I'm just one year older. Anyhow....so as I get closer to 30, I worry more about our health and well being. I know the pups keep us happy and will definitely help us live longer...even if Smokey is a tard, Yogi makes up for it. :) I worry about not having a baby in my 20's and how much harder it will be to have a baby in my 30's. In this crappy economy, I worry that I will not be making 6 figures by the time I reach 35 which will impede our ability to provide the kind of life I want to give to a child. As I grow older the value I put in living in California has drastically changed due to the fact that the cost of living is so expensive and while wages are higher, are they high enough to stop a family from living pay check to pay check. When a family of 4 (2 working parents and 2 children) struggle to make it through the month with enough food and money for the month, hoping that they can make it to the next payday....something is truly wrong.

I think we'd make great foster parents

The Boys....The Kids....You know....Yogi and Smokey

This is how rough our life is in Santa Cruz....

We have to sleep on Cubs blankets with papa when mama leaves for work......

We have this lumpy old bed with these 2 people in it all the time....Where's our own bed?!?!?!?!? I guess we just have to use the couch stead....

We're both allowed to be on the bed, even if 2 people and 2 dogs can't fit comfortably. Bah! I guess it's not so bad. At least we're not in the heat of Redding. We wake up to sounds of crashing waves or these weird barking sounds...it's not a dog. Mama said it's an sea lion. Sea Lion? Shouldn't it be Sea Dog? They bark....come on give me a break!

Wake up....we have to go pee.......

Yogi and Smokey trying to get papa to take them out to pee?!?!?!?!?! Well this is the way they look most of the time when trying to papa to play, or take us pee or feed us...it's a universal look.....

New Recipe Thurday

So we've had these burgers 2 times all ready because we saw them on Diners, Drive Ins and Dives....Stuffed Cheese Burgers. I made them again last night and Den LOVES them....so if you like burgers, I suggest trying these at home...this is my first attempt at writing my own recipe, so if you have questions about how to make them, call me or email me. ENJOY!

2 BURGERS

Ingredients

• Cheese of your choice
• 4 slices cooked bacon for serving
  
• 1 pound ground chuck
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• Grill Seasoning
  
• 2 large hamburger buns, split
• Ketchup, mayonnaise, and mustard, for serving
• Lettuce, sliced tomato, onion, and avocado, for serving

Directions

Make 4 burger patties out of ground beef. Season the patties with grill seasoning, salt, and pepper. Pile cheese in the middle of 2 patties directly in the center, leaving enough room around the edges. Then take the 2 patties without cheese and place on top of the 2 with cheese. With your fingers press the sides of the patty together making sure the filling is covered completely.

Place a large grill pan on 2 burners over medium-high heat or preheat a griddle flat top and get it very hot. Brush the top with oil to keep the burgers from sticking. Grill the burgers for about 10 minutes on each side. After 8 minutes on the first side, cut a slit in the top of the burger in order to keep the cheese from oozing out of the side of the burger. (The USDA recommends cooking ground beef until it is no longer pink and the internal temperature is 160 degrees F.) Remove the burgers to a clean side plate while you toast the buns.

Rub the grill rack with more oil and place the buns cut-side down, toast for 1 minute. Serve the burgers with your favorite condiment and any garnish you like, such as lettuce, sliced tomato, onion, bacon, and/or avocado.

A GREAT Father's Day movie and a new favorite

Yesterday afternoon once we finished breakfast at the Red Apple Cafe, we went home to play with the kids, clean up and possibly nap. I turned on the movie that came in the Netflix, Bedtime Stories. Everyone that knows me, knows I am a huge Disney fan. I am also a big fan of anything Adam Sandler makes through Happy Madison. So what a great combination of Disney and Happy Madison in Bedtime Stories.

We started watching the movie on Friday night but after Dennis worked and I cooked and cleaned, we were both too tired to finish the movie.

Sunday I put the movie in the DVD player upstairs and we finished watching it. It was the sweetest movie about a Dad and his son having his great love a hotel. The main character of the story is the son and his niece and nephew. It was SO CUTE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Kids have the greatest imaginations. They come up with the most awesome ideas.

I can't wait to see my husband with little people to tell stories to. It reminds me about Jayce's birthday party invitation. He's dressed in his little Where The Wild Things Are costume with pictures of him frolicking through the forest. He loves stories and books. He just wants you to read them to him over and over again.

If you get a chance, watch Bedtime Stories!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It's definitely worth the rental....I can't wait to purchase it.

New Wife Tip #2.....

New Wife Tip #2: Use the Food Network site for easy regular foods that you would normally buy pre-made at the grocery store. Now I'll admit to this...I buy Pillsbury Grands biscuits. I never saw the point in making something from scratch that was so easy to take out of a can. Recently I made the last can of biscuits from the fridge and they were great right out of the over. I couldn't have imagined a most delicious piece of bread at the time. Please keep in mind, we're changing our eating habits, so having bread with dinner has become VERY unusual. So I thought these buscuitts were the best thing I could have made. The next day I went to take one with me to work for a snack mid morning when I feel like passing out because I would much rather be in bed than at work (no..this is not a low blood sugar passing out). The buscuitts were hard as rocks. I think if I tired, I could have broken a window with one.

Last night we had breakfast for dinner. We decided on this meal while I was at work, and I got to thinking...I should try something different. Dennis and I both said we wanted eggs, breakfast meat of some kind, and buscuitts. I decided to make Sweet Potato Buscuitts. I had seen them on Diners, Drive In's and Dives and thought...that would be great to make. I printed out the Emril recipe, had my hubby get all of the ingredients I needed and made them in no time at all. These are the most amazing things on earth. The recipe is below. I changed it just a slight bit....I added more nuts because Dennis and I are big fans of walnuts. I also added about 1/3 of a cup of brown sugar, and I also added a little cinnamon (2 tablespoons) and a tiny bit of nutmeg (1/2 teaspoon). This has truly made me a believer...making something home made doesn't always have to take all day and it's going to be that much more amazing. This morning when I took a buscuitt to work, it was still mosit and WONDERFUL!!!!! We will be making these again!!!!!

Sweet Potato Biscuits

Recipe Courtesy of Emeril Lagasse

Ingredients

• 2 cups flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 12 tablespoons cold butter
• 1 cup mashed roasted sweet potatoes
• 1/2 cup ground pecans
• 1/3 cup half and half

Directions

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Grease a 1/2 sheet pan. In a mixing bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and sugar together. Add the butter, and with your hands, work the butter into the flour mixture until the mixture resembles a coarse cornmeal. Stir in the sweet potatoes and pecans. Add the cream, a little at a time until a soft dough is formed. Lightly flour a surface. Place the dough onto the surface and dust the top with flour. Lightly press the dough out to 1/2 inch thickness. Using a 2 inch biscuit cutter, cut the biscuits into rounds. Place the biscuits on a greased baking sheet and bake for about 15 minutes or until the biscuits are golden brown.

Our Ultimate Dream Job

Everyone knows that Dennis and I are the 2 of the biggest animal lovers in the entire world. Before I ever had my own dog, I just loved ALL dogs. I still LOVE all dogs. Dennis had the Pei's and he of course had the Tumbies, aka Cujo and loved him more than anything. We also had the Piggy's, Clayton and Ivory. Now that we have adopted 2 pups from the California Shar Pei Rescue....all we want to do is open a doggie sancutary. Our friend James Joliff, not Ivory's new dad but out Pitbull Piggy friend sent me the email below. I didn't read the article either...I'm much more of a picture person. These are the sweetest looking dogs. They're giving each other kisses.

I need to start playing the lotto more. God knows this is what we'd do with our winnings. We'd buy a big peice of land out in the middle of no where...well maybe not no where...but in the middle of some place we liked a lot that wasn't a big city and we'd run a doggie sanctuary with little dog kennels our houses for each one, a play ground area for the dogs to have fun. With some tug of war ropes where either one dog can play against the wall or 2 dogs can play against eachother through a wall, and maybe a tennis ball thrower so the doggies can chase balls all over. Maybe we'll be lucky!

re: Iran's only dog shelter

On Thu, Jun 18, 2009 at 11:46 AM, wrote:
> >This is not political. It is all about the dogs.
> > I have not read the article, but did look at the 110 pictures of dogs. Even
> >with all they have been through, they are still loving!
> > http://www.iranian.com/main/albums/loyal-angels
> > James

The newest edition to the Family

So, we have been very excited over the last 2 weeks or so. We have been bonding with our new family editions. Ivory, aka BevMo was adopted by our good friend James. She has really bonded with him and is a totally different animal. She is getting great training with James and she has really found herself a home for good.

We have had these 2 guys for almost 3 weeks and they're great. They were all ready potty trained, so no messes on the carpet and they are buddies so they play together all of the time. Also they all ready knew their names, so we didn't have to wait for them to learn what it sounds like when we call their names. They usually come to us right away when we call or stop in their tracks when they hear their names called.

It's so sweet that Yogi is Smokey's dad and you can see how he tries to help Smokey all of the time. They have the Cujo dog personality....it's split between the 2 of them. Both have their own unique characteristics and both do many things like Cujo. Smokey is a lover. He wants you to love on him all of the time. He licks like there is no tomorrow but his lick is super soft, unlike BevMo who could lick the skin off of your hand.

Yogi on the other hand is the protector. He is always watching over us and making sure that Yogi isn't being too much of a tard with us. He wants love about as much as Cujo did, which is only when he wants it. And Yogi is SO STRONG. If he really wanted to, he could easily pull me down while I'm holding onto his leash and drag me all over town or until I let go. So to avoid that, I usually run with him if I'm the one walking him.

As for the cutest thing they both do....Yogi's is easy. He is obsessed with towels. Anytime we use a towel, he wants to roll around on the floor on it after we're done. We both wish we knew what the purpose of all of the rolling around was but we don't. We try to come up with theory but nothing too good has come from it so far. Smokey...well he's just all around cute. The way he licks is probably the cutest thing he does, or his sideways trot. Cujo walked the same way, so we think that's adorable. His lick is so cute, on his third or fouth lick....he gives you a long lick with a little flutter at the end.

We're taking them to meet my mom this weekend. She will absolutely love them. She might even try to keep Smokey but of course we won't let her. Be sure if you get the chance to welcome Yogi and Smokey Bear to the Family.