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Paint a picture for the house. I'm not quite finished. I caught a  sewing bug this weekend, followed by a baking, cooking, and gardening bug. Captain is home, and that tends to happen when i find myself with help to keep the kids occupied. Anyways, I want to do some shading on those little suckers, but other than that it is finished. YEAY! First goal has been accomplished.

So. Why did I paint an octopus? It was the first thing that stuck me that didn't seem overly complicated. My first idea was a painting of the kids and the puppy. I know, that never would have been finished. I would have loved to paint a person, but wasn't able to pick one that I liked and I reallllly didn't want to paint myself. So, that left animals, plants, and minerals. 

I've always liked fish, and I've wanted to paint an octopus on a shirt for about a year now. This seemed a natural leap for me, even if it was strange to everyone else. I used ordinary craft paint, and a 16 * 20 canvas purchased  on sale at Craft Warehouse about 5 years ago.  

I have started a few other goals as well. Today marks the 3rd week of jogging. I'm about 50/50 jog/run on a 2.5 mile course. I've started taking photos of food to post up here and make into real printable recipes. You'll notice a new tab up at the top for finding said delights easily once they are posted. I have 3 scriptures memorized and am working on the 4th. It is Exodus 33:11 if you want to memorize it too. Really easy, just 2 lines. We have also had 2 FHE nights. I KNOW!! 2 in one month. It's crazy. 

That should be everything so far. I have plans to make a little sidebar thing if anyone wants to follow along with some of the less personal tasks, like running, push ups and scripture memorization, but not like neck waxes because seriously I don't know any other female who needs that. We will see though. 

Also. I'm going to start compiling my dreams for the goal, but what I want to know is if you all want to read about them. They are pretty crazy. For example last night:

We had met in a parking lot to catch up. It had been a long time since Maili and I had seen each other. It was dark, her car was white. A man approached to speak with us. Maili was snatched, they tried to get me, but I made it to the car. I was trying to drive away, but something was wrong with the pedals and the snatchers were able to keep up on foot. The steering was messed up and I wound up running. I reached the school, and found a ransom message. They wanted 2 million. Really? Who did they think I was? There was no way I could pay that, so I set out to find her. I was trying to find someone to help asking everyone I saw. One lady thought I was crazy. She had me lay down on a cot and gave me some tranquilizer. It went into my thigh, like a bug attached to a string burrowing. Amazingly I had spend the last few years building up an immunity to anesthesia via bug. Instead of knocking me out, it merely numbed the pain from the attack. As soon as the nurse left the room I ran off, there were stairs involved. Many Many stairs. Finally, I reached the top where I lived. My roommate answered. She also though I was crazy. She had never heard of Maili and was convinced I was hallucinating. That is until the showed up to get me. I ran into the bedroom and she stalled them at the door. Frantically I braced my body against the frame to lift up off the floor. It almost worked. Then they had me. HELP HELP HELP!

My dreams tend to run along that line. Not that I wake up screaming from all of them, but there are lots of bad guys and fighting or chasing and schools. So if you want to hear them I will type them up otherwise I will keep them to myself. 

So! Wish me luck for next month.

Friday Snapshots

We had a regular day yesterday, full of regular activities. Yet somehow, we wound up with 50 photos to share. I edited it down a bit, but still, that is a lot of photos for a regular type of day.

 

We started with a bath. It was originally Harvey's bath, but then Lia wanted to get in on the fun.

Harvey really enjoys having his baby sister in the bath with him. Mostly they ignore each other, but sometimes they windup playing.

Particularly when one has something the other finds fascinating. That white thing is a plastic washer from the squirt bottle.

This squirt bottle to be precise, and yes, I did get wet.

Another thing that makes our lives exciting these days is the fact that Ginka is no longer afraid of Chloe.

This leads to a barking/ Hissing match several times a day. Neither one is willing to back down. Neither one is technically allowed up on the counters, but that really doesn't stop them. The both just hop back up when we aren't looking. It doesn't help that I find these encounters all sorts of amusing.

Eventually Chloe runs off to a Ginka free zone, i.e. the top of the fridge or the front room. Ginka finds this to be unfair. She thinks she should be able to go every where the cat does, particularly my lap.

Harvey has a new shirt. He LOVES it. It makes me happy to make him things he likes. He's worn it two days in a row now.

So that was our Friday. I hope everyone is having a nice weekend!

Cha-Cha-Changes

We had a busy weekend finishing little projects around the house.

First up was installing the new rods and curtains I had made. If anyone is interested in a tutorial on how to sew up lined curtains let me know. The curtain rods are a bit of a hack. The rods I had were too short so I picked up some dowels from home depot to lengthen them. Captain just screwed the finials onto the dowls and installed the rods like normal.

Harvey's closet received some hooks to hang coats, hats, and backpacks.  We mounted the 1*4 with drywall screws to make sure it would hold up to Sir Climbs-a-lot.

Lastly, I installed some hooks on the pegboard in the kitchen. My drawers were getting crowded and it was frustrating to close them, but then I had an Ah-ha moment. Actually, it was more of a well duh moment, use the pegboard as it is intended. I just went to the hardware store and picked up a kit. Apparently these kits work as well for spatulas as they do for screwdrivers.

I hope you all had a productive weekend as well.

Baby Nerd Bibs

My favorite baby bibs to date that I've made. I think I need a wookie t-shirt now.

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!

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. 

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.