My dogs crack me up!

I have the funniest dogs! My boys Penn and Teller definitely live up to their names. We bought them a little over a year ago and really can't imagine our family without them. We had been wanting a set of Chihuahuas for the longest time and when we found them we could not pass them up.

Mike and I watch Penn and Teller Bullshit on showtime. It's a great show, funny and very witty. Penn and Teller basically debunk popular theory and make a lot of people look like idiots. Welove it. Anyways, that's who our dogs are named after incase anyone was wondering.

Penn is the Black and white one. He reminds us of a mini siberian husky with his markings. He's really the sweetest dog. Very cuddly and protective. He wants all the attention and has to be in the middle of everything. He's a total lover. He's also a pig and will eat ANYTHING!

Teller is more quiet. He doesn't care if you shower him with love, he just wants to be by you. He's a little bit shorter than Penn and definitely chubbier. He takes his time with everything including eating. He inspects every bit of food like he's looking for poison. He's Mike's dog for sure. He mopes all day until Mike get's home from work. As soon as Mike sits in his chair, Teller is right there on his lap ready for a nap.

The boys love the girls. They will let the girls cradle them like babies, and love to cuddle with them whenever they can. They're crate trained and sleep in separate "condos" every night. But I'm sure if given the choice they'd choose to sleep with the girls. We're so lucky to have such great dogs.

I took this video tonight because my boys will do anything for pupperoni. Penn can jump really high and Teller cha cha's. It's super cute.

Have a great night. Maybe I'll have a good topic to blog about tomorrow ;) I'm off to get the coffee pot ready for tomorrow morning. It's all about the planning! Good night!

Monday already?

That was my first thought when I woke up to my husbands screaming alarm clock! Another week down, and I only have 3 weeks left of summer vacation until I head back to work. One of the joys of working for the school district is that I get the same vacations as my kids. Cool huh?

This weekend was pretty uneventful. Friday night we went to Gamestop so Mike and Kaylah could look at games. Kaylah ended up with some bella sara horse game for her DS. We tried to talk her into something else but it was her money and she wanted THAT game. What could we do? She likes it alot and can apparently unclock codes for her online bella sara account.

Target is next door to Gamestop so I took Maia there to spend her birthday money. She found a bratz doll and her mother set on clearance for $12.00. I do not like the bratz and have always told my kids, if you want one, save your money. I'm not wasting my money on those skanky barbies. Seriously! Again it was her money, what could I do? She did buy a set of presidential flash cards that already include Obama. This year in kindergarten she learned about the presidents. She can tell you who had stomach problems, how many presidents died on the 4th of July, and lots of other facts, I didn't even know. I know every mother thinks her child is a genius, but mine could very well be. She amazes me daily and says some of the funniest things. How lucky am I to have 2 great kids?


Saturday, I was dying to get out of the house minus my kids. Every mom needs alone time and after being in all week with my kids, I seriously needed some me time. My husband was so sweet and told me to take my mom to the movies and he'd take care of the kids. I didn't argue and told mom to get ready! We ended up catching a matinee of "My sisters keeper". I won't spoil anything for you if you have not seen it, but you'll need something to dry your eyes so grab extra napkins at the concession stand, or bring your own kleenex. You'll definitely need it. Even the man sitting next to me was balling, and sniffling. After the movie I picked up Pizza for dinner and settled in for a quiet night at home.


Sunday was quiet and boring too. ( We're boring people I guess) Mike's friend Mike came over for their Sunday hanging out ritual and we watched the new Friday the 13th that I rented from the redbox. I washed numerous dishes, did laundry, watered the yard. See, boring. I did pick up some fried chicken from Albertsons last night, cooked a pot of rice and made finadeni for dinner. My kids are so Chamorro, they loved the finadeni and rice.

Today will probablly be fairly quiet. Cleaning and a trip to the grocery store. I'm not sure what to cook for dinner but Arroz con pollo sounds pretty good! Have a great day everyone!!

How to make grandma's pie.

Sift Flour and salt into a bowl. Then add cold crisco shortening and cut in with a pastry cutter. Keep doing this until the crisco is broken down into pea size bits.


Next add ice water and with a spoon, gently mix the dough. Separate into two parts and place one into the fridge. Flour a flat surface and roll out the bottom crust. Place into the bottom of your pie dish and trim the edges.
Peel your apples and just cut the apple pieces off right away. I peeled the apples with a veggie peeler. Grandma used a knife but I'm not that skilled. It looks like a lot but they break down when baked. Make sure your apple pieces aren't too big or too thick.
Sprinkle 1 1/2 cups of sugar over your apple filling. Next sprinkle cinnamon and add 5 pats of butter. Really 5 is all youneed. You don't want a greasy filling.
Roll out the top crust. When you have it the way you want it fold in half and cut 3 slits in the middle and several slits around that. The filling needs to breathe or you'll have juices all over your oven.
Place top crust over filling and crimp the edges using your fingers. Dab some milk on the top crust, just enough to moisten it. Then sprinkle the crust with a little sugar. That's it, easy right?
Bake the pie at 425 degrees for 15 minutes, turn the temp down to 350 degrees and continue to bake for 1 hour. Let the pie cool for at least 2 hours on a cooling rack and enjoy. For Jada and Alli, to make the pie that much better, talk about Grandma when you're making the pie. It really does make a difference! Let me know how your pie turns out!


Crust:

3 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoon of salt
1 1/2 cups cold crisco ( I used the sticks, they were easier to measure out)
10 tablespoons of ice water


Filling:

7 or 8 good size granny smith apples
1 1/2 cups of sugar
cinnamon
5 pats of butter, don't use margarine it too watery when melted.



My pie turned out really, really good! I went a step further and made fried chicken, mac n cheese and corn for dinner that night. That was a typical Sunday dinner at Grandma's house. Everyone loved it, and mom said she was proud of me so I guess it turned out really good. I'll post how to make grandma's fried chicken and mac n cheese another day.

Testing 123, this is me blogging from my iPhone.

Grandma's apple pie

details to come!

Love letters

Oh how I love a good love letter! 12 years ago when I met my husband (online) we immediately started emailing eachother. Emails turned into handwritten letters and soon after that, phone calls. I couldn't wait to check the mail everyday to see if I had another letter from him. Usually one would be waiting for me (Cue Mr. Postman in the background please). My heart would race everytime I held a new letter in my hands. They were epic letters, sometimes as long as 5 pages front and back and almost always included a little surprise for me. He'd jot down a poem for me at work or tear the petals off a rose and fold them into the letter. Can you see yet why I'm so head over heels for him?

For over a year we emailed, wrote numerous letters and called eachother several times a week. I may not have been able to see or touch him in person, but I knew him and he knew me. When he decided to leave Texas for Guam I wasn't scared to meet him, in fact, the minute I laid eyes on him at the airport I knew that that was it for me. And as they say, the rest is history.

Now that the "how we met" is out of the way back to love letters. I have every letter Mike and I wrote eachother, every Email, every phone card. When my grandma passed away in 1997 we were unable to go to California for the funeral so a few of her things were sent to us by my aunt to remember her by. My favorite... you guessed it love letters! My grandma and grandpa wrote love letters to eachother. A fat stack of loveletters written in pencil on yellowed paper. They're beautiful and romantic. I'm not clear on why they were apart to cause such letters, but either way I'm grateful to have them.

My mom and dad also wrote love letters. My mom with her beautiful penmanship and my dads chickenscratch with his black government issued click pen. They were only seperated by a few hours drive but my mom was in high school and my dad worked. He'd drive up on weekends but write a letter for nearly everyday he was away from her, and so did she. I didn't know about these letters until long after my dad passed away but I love that I can be a witness to their courtship through these letters.

I've been married for nine years now and love letters have turned into surprise emails or quick text messages, but they still quicken my heart. I can't wait to share three generations of love letters with my daughters and I pray that one day one or both of my girls experience the thrill of sending and receiving a love letter.

Holy heatwave Batman!

Let me start off by saying IT IS HOT HOT HOT in West Texas! So hot in fact, that mom, the girls and I just got home from a milkshake run to Texas Burger. The high today was supposed to be 103, but the temp reader in my trusty toyota suggested otherwise when it immediately read 105. I'm a true island girl, raised on the beautiful island of Guam where it's warm year round and even I can't stand this heat. At least back home you could spend the day at the beach free of charge and cool off that way. Oh, how I miss my island home.


In other news I gained a new follower and it is no other than Supermom herself! I have known Supermom for a few years now, and met her on the AOL message boards when AOL was all the rage. She blogged on myspace for a bit and then started her own blog called " The adventures of Supermom". I have been a faithful reader ever since. If you haven't checked her blog out, peep over to the right of your screen and there you will find the link. Seriously, look now! I love her blog for several reasons. She is straight up and honest in everything she writes. She's open to her readers questions and also listens to her readers suggestions. She shares recipes, grocery shopping trips, and her everyday life that includes her husband and 4 kids ranging from a teenager down to a toddler. She is also very honest when it comes to herself personally sharing her trials with post partum depression, her opinions on breast feeding, and whatever else crosses her mind. She also reviews products, books, and TV shows with out spoiling them for her readers. I Heart Supermom and hope you take the chance to read her blog, I promise you will not regret it. She's incredibly funny too.


I think I have been doing a decent job as a new blogger. I know it's probably pretty boring, but I too am on summer vacation. Besides Maia's birthday and the 4th of July... nothing else has really been going on. Although I try to blog at least every other day for the few people that read this, I don't want to lose my few readers by blogging what time I woke up and what was on TV everyday. I'm trying to keep it interesting, if not funny. Hang in there with me, it will get better.


Tomorrow I'm baking an apple pie Grandma style. My grandma made the BEST apple pie I have ever had. It was blue ribbon, and won her lots of new appliances :). She passed away though in 1997 and my mom has been teaching me so I can carry on the legacy of Grandmas apple pie. I'm going to take pictures and blog step by step instructions for my sister and cousins on the Stinson side. If anyone else is interested, the recipe isn't top secret so you're free to give it a try too.


That's it for now, Mike will be home from work soon and dinner must be made. I'm thinking chicken alfredo with broccoli with a small salad. No bread, I'm trying more veggies, less starch and carbs. That's hard, I love bread, but I need to lose some weight too. (After I just said I was going to bake a pie :O)

Adios, until next time!