Crafty: Kittens

I wanted to share these cute kittens my niece made for me last time my nieces stayed over. There are so many things to do with them. I have them on my magnetic board. You can put them in a frame and put it in a child's room. You can use them as invitations. The possibilities are endless! For those of you who have children, this can be a great mom - dad- child- project!








If you want to replicate the design you will need a few pieces of scrap-booking paper or any paper with beautiful designs. Ribbon. Scissors. Glue. A pen. Optional: Googly Eyes, thread for whiskers.

Instructions:
Cut the paper into circles. Then cut small-medium squares that will be cut in half to become triangles for the kitten's ears. (Do not cut the squares too small, you want to have enough space to add glue and be able to paste it to the back.) Glue the kitten ears (triangles) in back of the circle.  Grab the ribbon and make small bows. Add the bows to the bottom of the circle with glue. (Glue gun would work great too!) With the pen, draw in the eyes, nose, and whiskers. If you opt for the googly eyes and thread for the whiskers, then you will glue the eyes and then cut the thread into 6 equal lengths. Use 3 for one side and the other three for the other. Attach them to each side. You can be as creative and you want! Instead of drawing on the nose, you can add a button!

Let me know what you guys think!

Tenth Annual Las Vegas Women's Fair! 2011

Last Saturday, I attended the 10th Annual Las Vegas Women's Fair! I helped out Patty's Closet Fashion Boutique owners, my brother and sister-in-law, Juan and Patty. The event took place on Saturday, January 29th from 10:00AM to 4:00 PM in the South Point Hotel Casino Exhibit Hall. Visitors could shop for clothing, make-up, health and fitness products, and other wonderful things we women love!

At the Patty's Closet Fashion Boutique booth you were able to find clothes, shoes, and tons of accessories that consisted of rings, necklaces, earrings, hats, scarves, and headbands. There was tons of  people who showed up to the event, and at our booth, there was not a minute we weren't alone! It was an awesome experience, I got to talk to many women and practice my interpersonal skills.  It was a great place for businesses to showcase what they are all about and for buyers to get a glimpse of what the stores have to offer. 

Horchata Recipe

Ok, I just sent the recipe to a good friend of mine and decided to post it on here to share it with everyone. My lovely and only sister, Lupita, shared this great recipe with me a few summers ago. I try making it once in a while, because it's yummy and very simple to do. After looking at other Horchata Recipes, I decided that I needed to have more precise steps. I called my sister this morning and she gave me more details than the first time. lol So here it goes, a more precise recipe after talking to her. (For those of you that do not like milk, are lactose intolerant, etc; you do not need to add milk! Simply add more water. A perk of not adding milk is that it last longer, since milk spoils fast.)

Ingredients:
~1 1/2 cup of raw rice
~2 cups of water
~1-3 sticks of Mexican Cinnamon (canela) ( amt depending on taste, sister said 2-3, the better)

~1 can of sweetened condensed milk [Nestle La Lechera can (size: the small one) or (1 of the big one, it you want it sweeter)] 

~*1 cup of milk (or just add plain water as much as needed, the more water, thinner the drink)
~sugar (up to taste) 

~*optional: 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract 

Apparatus:

Blender 

Fine-meshed sieve

Steps:
1. Soak 1 1/2 cup of raw rice for 4 hrs with 2 cups of water in a deep bowl or until rice begins to soften
2. After rice is soaked, pour the mixture in blender with 1-3 sticks of  Mexican Cinnamon (canela) and the 1 can of sweetened condensed milk (Nestle La Lechera) until smooth
3. After blending, pour content on a fine-meshed sieve to strain rice mixture into a pitcher and discard the solid residue.

4. Add 1 cup of milk(optional) and desired amount of sugar, and 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract (optional).  Then add more water, the amount is up to you.

or 

4.a. Add desired amount of water, desired amount of sugar, and 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract (optional)

Enjoy!

 

Pyometras

Pyo= pus and metra=uterus

My dog suffered this terrible disease called pyometra that happens so fast and can be deadly if left untreated. That is why it is so important for me to write about it.  I would like to spread the word and tell my experience about this horrible infection. Honey, my dog, went on heat for her regular 3 week heat cycle. A week passed, then the week after, I woke up to walk her and our sheets were bloody. I thought that was weird. She continued to bleed, like another heat cycle.  I started searching online, searching "dog bleeding after heat cycle", and most websites mentioned pyometra. The more I read on it, I could only see that she had the bleeding symptom. She wasn't lethargic, she was eating, and was active. We decided to take her into a vet clinic. The vet told us that she could just be having another week of her heat cycle, that it was something that can happen. The vet told us that if she didn't stop bleeding after a week, to bring her back. He gave her a shot of penicillin and we went home. A few days later, the bleeding kept on, but now it was jell like pieces. Then, she stopped eating. She still will walk but wanted to cut her walk short by looking back and stopping. I knew immediately, something was terribly wrong with her, and that was the infection in her uterus, pyometra. I called the vet I had first taken her and asked if my dog had pyometra, how much was the operation. They informed me, $1800. I was shocked. How were we going to pay such a great amount. At the end, while looking online, I found Green Dog and Cat Hospital on S. Slauson Blvd, in Los Angeles, CA. They did blood work, and it showed an elevated white blood cell count, definitely signaling an infection. Surgery was expensive, but was a steal compared to other pet hospitals. It's been 3 weeks and she is doing phenomenal. I want to thank our families. You guys gave us so much support during this difficult time. Honey means so much to us, and we are exceedingly happy that we still have her by our side.

By the way, the only way to prevent pyometra is to spay your dog. I only wish we would have done it earlier.
The vet told us that we are young, and whenever we get another dog, to please spay or neuter. Females could get pyometra and males could get testicle cancer. I think it is not worth the dog suffering and and the money.

Here is a picture of Honey's uterus. The uterus has a body and two horns. The horns normally are suppose to be the thickness of a pencil, but with the disease, they are filled with pus and stretch.















 Here is Honey, a few hours after surgery.

Here is Honey, 10 days after.

Teenagers, Life

To all the teenagers who think their parents are unfair to their wishes. You need to put yourself in their shoes to actually see that really, they care about you a lot more than you think. Your parents only want to protect you from the many dangers of the world. Trust me, life is not all rainbows and butterflies. If you really want something, you have to earn it. By listening, doing chores, being a good student, etc. You get my point.


To the parents, its great to not allow your children to do certain things, but do not go over board. The more you try to take something away or not allow something, it will make them want to break the rules more. There has to be a median on the rules. For example, she wants to go out to the movies with friends. In order for both parties to meet halfway, the parents could stay at the theaters and watch another movie while the daughter watches hers with her friends. After a while, trust can be built and certain actions will diminish. For example, after the parent sees that her/his child behaved good and did what she had said she was going to do, then  the parent can feel comfortable just dropping off her/his child at the theaters and picking up after it finishes next time the opportunity rises.

To me, nothing is sadder when kids are doing things behind their parents back, and the parents are in denial, and choose not to see it. This tends to happen to strict parents. I think you shouldn't be to easy on them, nor not too hard either. Remember, you were once a kid, so go easy on them.

Lemons?

"If life deals you lemons make lemonade” proverb

Things do not always work out the way you want them to work out for you, but really, that is just life. We have to make a positive out of the negative. :) So every time things do not go as plan, take that opportunity to do something totally different that is out of your comfort zone.  At the end, you will be glad you did. There is no need of handicapping yourself and giving up. As the saying goes, when one door closes, another one opens up. Seriously!!! Life is full of opportunities and we just have to be active beings, live positive, and never give up. Thanks for taking time to read my blog.

Pick Up After Your Dog

One thing that really bothers me...

1. People walking their dogs and not picking up their poop 

• Lots of things wrong with that:   

• Stepping on it!
• Damaging the grass
• Polluting beaches more! When it rains, the water carried down the drains is going to contain the poop.                         

  [So, please pick up after your dog. :) ]