Tuesday, February 14, 2012

I Love My New Vaccum

Introducing the newest member of the smith household, Ginka the wonder pup!

We picked Ginka up from the airport on Saturday and she has melded right into our little family. She is a full blood german shepherd and only 9 weeks old.

Cecilia loves this little dog, and the new toys she has brought in. It is a bit of a struggle to keep the dogs toys with the puppy and the baby toys with the baby.

Lia and Ginka also super duper love each other, but it is an unhealthy relationship. Cecilia is constantly pulling Ginka's fur and Ginka gets so exited to lick up old bananas she knocks the baby down. We have to separate them for their own good.

Harvey, on the other hand, is much to big to be knocked over by this wee pup. For now.  They have had so much fun racing around the house these past few days.

The only one unhappy about the new puppy is our cat. It took her 2 whole days before she would even come near Ginka, and even then it was only to hiss and spit her displeasure.

Ginka though has been very good at ignoring Chloe. She hasn't barked or chased after even once. I'm not sure how long that will last, but for now it is a good thing.

Ginka's name comes from the Girl Genius Comics. Madame Ginka is a general in the Jagger army. Anyway, the name seems to suit her. Also, Ginka is wearing Flash's old harness. That was a fat cat.

We love our new puppy!

Sunday, February 12, 2012

30 by 30

I'm turning 30 soon. In 30 months to be precise.  I'm at a point in my life where it is easy to become stagnate. When I'm with friends, I've found we mostly talk about our kids. Which is normal because our lives mostly revolve around them. But I'd really like to rediscover some interests in myself that have been on the back burner for a while. To that end I've decided to give myself a challenge. To accomplish 30 goals before I turn 30 years old. I've tried to pick goals that are things I have enjoyed doing in the past, things I've wanted to do but never made the time for, or things that need changing in my life.  I've also tried to pick things that would challenge my mind, body, and spirit just to keep some variety.
Mind 
  1. Learn 10 hymns on the piano 
  2. Make perfect fudge without "cheater" ingredients
  3. Slip cover the couches, or anyone's couch really  
  4. Build a dining room table
  5. Reupholster dining room chairs
  6. Sew a garment for myself, designed by myself.
  7. Paint a picture for the house
  8. digitize personal artwork for embroidery
  9. Create a digital cookbook of my favorite recipes.
  10. Kill 30 different bugs and start an entomology collection.

Body
  1. Practice piano 3 hours a week for a month
  2. Run a 5K
  3. Learn to do a hand stand
  4. Do 60 push-ups in a row.
  5. Go Skiing with my dad.
  6. Go rock climbing 
  7. Learn to do a back walk over
  8. Be in bed by 9 and up by 6, 5 days  a week for a month
  9. Go to the dentist and optometrist
  10. Get neck waxed

Spirit 
  1. Play piano in front of an audience
  2. Read the standard works cover to cover
  3. Memorize 100 scriptures and references.
  4. Keep a dream journal for 30 days
  5. Take new wedding photos
  6. Travel somewhere I've never been before.
  7. Have 10 no kid dates.
  8. Donate hair to locks of love
  9. Have at least 30 FHE nights 
  10. Print blog posts into a hard bound book. One per year.
I know I may not accomplish all these goals, But I am going to try. Every 12th of the month I will post my progress. 

Friday, February 3, 2012

Petite Cake

For christmas I recieved 2 6" cake pans. Now, instead of making 1 large cake, I can make 2 small cakes. 

I have been having fun making some fancy cakes.


For these 2 I used this recipe, and added about 10 minutes to the recipe to have them baked all the way through. It was really tasty, and I will use that recipe again.