Tehachapi Sunsets

One of the best things in the high desert are the sunsets. It's too hot and too dry, but the sunsets are amazing here.  My husband went on a bike ride last night and took a few pictures of the last sunset of summer 2012. Enjoy :)

Easy Bilingual Kid Craft - Street Lights Sign

I made this fun little street lights sign craft with Adam this after-noon. The sun was still a little to hot to be outside after lunch, so I opted for craft time inside instead. Since I am trying hard to raise Adam in a bilingual world, I gave a simple twist to the project. Like that, he can learn his color in English and French while having fun. He loves anything related to cars, so I knew a street light sign would be a success.

All I needed was:

• construction paper (red, yellow and green) ripped in small pieces,
• a white (or black) paper, 
• glue ( I used flour and water)
• a red, yellow and green crayons.  

Adam had a great time doing it, while we revised our colors in both languages. Sunday afternoon turned out to be fun and easy :)

Crazy Cat Lady

           If you know me personally, you know I love animals. It also probably why sometimes my house feel like a zoo. Over the years, we rescued many pets and welcomed them into our family. At this moment, we have 2 cats, 1 dog, 1 turtle and a few fishes. One of our cat is indoor only, she was dewclaw very young (her paws are very tiny because of it) and she never been outside her whole life. We think she was about 6 years old, when we got her. Having an indoor cat equal having a litter box right? I also mentioned we have a dog. About 2 years ago, we rescued this full size dachshund name Bam-Bam. Before we rescued him, he was used as a breeder dog in Bakersfield. He was malnourished, lived outside mostly and had fleas and ticks. He had never been trained for anything. When we got him, we had to teach him all of the basics, like "sit" and how to walk on a leash. Still up to today, "sit" is one of the only command he responds to. Some friends of ours told us he is more like a companion dog. But no matter what, we love him very much and are glad he is part of our family.

Most people I talked to who have an inside cat and a dog seem to have the same problem that we have. Our dog loves to go munch in the litter box (I know this is disgusting!!!) Not only we were totally repugnant by Bam-Bam actions, we had cat litter all over the house. My first reaction was to make my cat potty-trained (here's the crazy cat lady) and get rid of the litter box. I researched online the many ways and all of the products to help achieve my new goal. I removed the litter box and put a bowl on my toilet with cat litter in it. I follow all of the steps on how to make your cat potty-trained. Isis was a little bit resilient at first, but she finally got it. But when it was time to remove the bowl, she refused to go on the toilet seat. She was done with my experiment. I guess you can't teach your old cat a new trick, no matter how smart you think your cat is. So there I was, back online doing more research and I couldn't find anything that will work for us. I was starting to be desperate and starting to consider to find a new family for our dog.
Then my husband and I had an idea, we were going to build a cover for the litter box with a hole small enough that our dog will not fit in it. With a few piece of left over wood from the garage, my husband build the box one Saturday afternoon. The wooden box is quite bigger than the litter box, so even if our dog try to fit in, he can't reach the litter. I cover it with some vinyl shelf liner that stick on contact from the dollars store. It was easier, faster and cheaper than having to paint the box. It works perfectly. Not only it looks better than that ugly litter box, we also used the top to put our cat food on. No more cat litter all over the house and Bam-Bam get to stay with us. My son was very happy about that, since he is his dog after all.

FYI: For more than a year now, I used the natural corn fiber cat litter and I like it a lot more. I recommended it, it is way better that the regular clay litter. Well worth the little higher price. I never tried the feline pine litter, if you have let me know, I wonder if it's better than the corn fiber.Thanks

Homemade Fruity Play dough

This fruity play dough is a fun recipe/craft to do with your little ones. I made some with my son a few days ago and he LOVED it. It's a nice way to encourage your kid to help you in the kitchen and what is more fun than fruity play dough for a 3 year old?  

 You will need:

• white flour – 1 cup
• warm water – 1 cup
• salt – 2 tbsp
• cream of tartar – 2 tbsp
• cooking oil – 2 tbsp
• Jello any flavor – 1 3oz pack ( I used a store brand, it was half price)

Add all the ingredients together in a big bowl and mix them together until consistent and with a uniform color. Let your kids helping with the measuring and mixing even if it means a longer process and a lot more clean up. They can learn so much from helping in the kitchen, and it’s very fun for them. Pour into a pan and stir continuously over medium heat. Wait for it to thicken into a big ball and can't stir anymore. Let it cool for at least 20-30 minutes.  let the little ones help knead it and adding  flour until it is no longer sticky (about 1/2 cup total). 

It's time to play.

Our Raspberry Playdough

Skateboard tricks

My husband and I love to film our neighbor Kyle Huddleston doing tricks on his skateboard. If you like that kind of stuff enjoy watching him.

The Smile Project :)

I made this video last year, after a lot of people around me experienced very sad time in their life. I decided to create "The Smile Project :)" to help everybody who needs a smile in their life.

Enjoy

(sorry for the bad image quality, I am in the process of buying a higher quality camcorder)

Downhill @ Mountain Park

This is my husband going down Mountain Park, Tehachapi, on his 20" bike.