Here it is January, and with that, we all think of new beginnings.  We all like starting with a clean slate or sheet of paper.  It just feels fresh and new.

One of my goals here at Garden of Learning, was to start over with a whole new look.  I have been thinking about this for a long time.  I was just tired of my blog and how it looked.  I wanted to try on something new.  And I also wanted to revamp my focus just a little bit.  I think I have finally found something I like.  It took the help of a super friend to help me get the final component into place.  I just didn’t like anything.

I also added a tag line to my blog.  This will help refocus my blog on what I want to represent here in the digital world.  It’s my motto.  Cultivating Knowledge, Learning, Home & Life.  I like that because I think we are always learning and growing.  Right now I homeschool my son.  But one day he will graduate and move on.  And that’s OK.  But rather than close my blog down, I plan to keep blogging under the Garden of Learning name.  Why?  Because I am always learning and growing.  And that is what this blog is all about.

I hope you will enjoy the slight change of focus here.  I’ll still be blogging about homeschool.  I’ll still be sharing recipes.  I’ll even be sharing reviews.  But I’ll also be sharing more personal thoughts and feelings as I learn and grow here at home and in my life.  I want to be firmly planted in a Garden of Learning.  I hope you come along and will enjoy  the ride.

Oh, before I forget, I have a brand new blog button to go with my new look.  I hope you will snag it and share it.  You can currently find it at the bottom of my blog.

So, what do you think of my new look? Let me know. (I hope you love it.)

So we have not had a dog in our home for over 2 years.  We had a beagle, named Jake, and we loved him fiercely.  I have always been a lover of hounds.  They are just adorable and I love their rich voices.  But we sadly had to put him down over 2 years ago for some serious health issues he was having.  It was the kind thing to do, though it broke our hearts.

You can imagine the surprise then, that my hubby had when I fell in love with a froo froo dog named Asia.  She wandered into our yard on the 4th, and was very scared of all the noise that was going on in the neighborhood with firecrackers and whatnots.

She looked at me with those soulful eyes and I was hooked almost immediately.

Now, Asia’s rightful family was found and she was rejoined with her family.  But Chandler and I felt an immediate hole. But we figured it was a lost cause because Gary is technically allergic to dogs.  But Chandler pointed out that the Shih Tzu dog, formerly known in our household as a froo froo dog, was hypoallergenic.  They don’t shed, so maybe Dad should consider getting us one.   So my sweet hubby began to secretly search for something to replace that hole in our hearts.  He is cool that way.

He secretly put out feelers and found a couple of different breeders who were local to us.  He took me on a drive and surprised me with looking at a couple of different ones.  But while they were cute, they just didn’t feel right for our family.  Then he found a breeder who had this little cutie just waiting for someone to claim her.

He took us to meet the little fluffball last week and she and I bonded.  She likes Chandler quite well, and Gary was fine.  But I am her person.  I get to bring her home later this week.  She is an early birthday present for me.  I am calling her Panda because she looks like a little panda bear ewok.   We are excited to have a new member of our family this week.  I will post more about her after we get her home and take some new pictures.  She is already spoiled and doesn’t even know it.  I’m a cool mom like that.