Happy Birthday C.J.!!

I am no Ace of Cakes, but at least it resembled a tractor. I used 2 loaf pans for the body of it, then chocolate muffins for the wheels. He blew out the candles without even spitting on the cake - way to go!

Yum, it even tastes good, too! He barely ate any dinner because all he could think about was "tractor cake." It was worth it to save those calories.

A dump truck he can ride - fantastic!

It is always so much fun when a big box comes in the mail - and this one had a present too!

As a special surprise for his birthday, we went to Walnutdale Farms (one of my clients), for some real tractor time!! You should have seen the smile ear to ear when we got out of the car and he stood next to the huge combine!! He was not as thrilled when I lifted him up into the cab - it was high up and pretty noisy. But after a few minutes sitting with him in the buddy seat, he warmed up to it and started talking with Farmer Ken about the corn and the combine.

Rylee went first to prove that it was o.k. That's her role in life I think - to be the guinea pig, first-to-try. She loved it and said it was safe, so then C.J. decided it would be alright to go, too. No pics of that because I was up there with him. He loved watching the corn fill up the bin and the combine "fingers" picking the corn off the stalks.

Then we made a side trip to the dairy to go visit the baby cows. They're always a hit!

Here is a birthday conversation with the little champ:

Person: What day is it?

C.J.: C.J. birday

Person: Oh, how old are you?

C.J.: TWOOO!

Person: What do you want for your birthday?

C.J.: Dump truck, tractor, monster truck, combine

Person: What kind of cake do you want?

C.J.: Tractor

Person: What else do you want?

C.J.: Candy!!

So we tried to live up to all his little aspirations of a special day - a tractor cake made by mommy, all sorts of trucks/tractors/combine, a big dump truck, and a trip to the farm!

H1N1

I get annoyed by the littlest things sometimes. I'll admit it. I've ranted about them before I'm sure, and I will again. Like right now I'm annoyed with H1N1 (more specifically with all the local people who are convinced they have it but most likely don't). So our kids were off of school from Tuesday thru Friday - 4 days - due to too much sickness in the schools. This was all the snow days we are allotted before we even had any of the white stuff accumulate! I blame the media for much of this because without their constant drumming of how awful this flu bug is and how it's a worldwide pandemic, life may be better. How many people kept their kids home just because they had a runny nose or a little cough, but because everyone is all up in arms about swine flu they felt they couldn't send them to school. My friend got a call at work on Monday from the school secretary to send home her daughter because she was sick. Said friend is a nurse, so she asked if there was a fever, vomiting, symptoms of any kind? Her eyes look tired. Nice.

So then all the news is covering this stuff and talking about how schools need only to have a certain percentage of students out sick before closing down. It doesn't take a moderately intellegent middle or high schooler long to figure out if enough of you are sick, school will be closed. I heard stories of perfectly healthy kids calling home claiming to be ill to help increase the "sick" percent.

Then all the sick people of course are flocking to the emergency rooms - after all, isn't swine flu an emergency? That's a great idea, lets spread this bug to all the people who are sick/dying of other stuff. I can see if H1N1 was a serious condition, but it's not. According to our local infectious disease doctor (who was pleading with people to stay out of the ER), it is milder than the average seasonal flu that we deal with every year. Really the only people who might need to be concerned are those with pulmonary issues (lungs).

So that brings me to the vaccine. Being a medical professional, I'm rather sceptical of a vaccine for a disease that was just identified 6 months ago. Animal vaccines take years to develop what with safety and efficacy studies. We just got a new cow vaccine on the market and it took like 2 years even though it was exactly the same as the old one, just one new ingredient, they had to re-prove the efficacy and safety of all the old ingredients plus the new one. So how did they do that in 6 months? Then the whole "forced vaccination" of medical workers - I won't even go there. You probably know how I feel already:)

So when our kids are in school on July 4th, you'll now know why.

Of soccer and sweatshirts

Ok, officially someone forgot to remember we need fall before winter. Crap-o weather in Michigan most of the time. I know I seem to always be mentioning weather here, but remember, I work outside. I should have titled "soccer and winter coats, hats and mittens." Oh well.

Soccer - what a blast we are all having!! I should have played soccer more than just the one year in high school - it's a lot of fun! Gabs and Ry are both on the same team (Rylee's playing up - it's just easier to keep track of one team and she was ready) and I'm assistant coaching. Mind you, I play soccer with the philosophy of a basketball player, just using feet instead of hands. The team is doing really well - we're like 4-1-1 I think. Both girls are playing great on all ends of the field - I admit my pride in them swells every week.


What else is new? Not much exciting - Steve has gotten one doe thusfar. House still not sold - we're considering taking it off the market, selling property, and remodeling current home. I've taken on a "boarder" horse - I'll have to post a pic for you to get the true picture of how badly he was injurred.

I will post pics when I can find the correct camera. I swear that thing is always lost!

Proud Blogger

So I must admit...looking at all your amazing blogs with great pics and interesting and/or witty stories made me feel bad about being an absent blogger lately. So instead of proudly letting you know what I'm up to, I'll post a picture that about sums it up. In case you need explaining, this is my freezer.

Q: "What is the blue/red/other colored stuff?"

A: Mostly blue moon ice cream, but it has some other fantastic freezer items melted into the goo.

Q: "Wow, what happened, did you lose power lately?"

A: Nope. We lost power about 3 months ago and about 6 months ago before that. Yep, it's been there that long.

Q: "I bet that took some effort to clean up."

A: I wouldn't know. It's still there:)

Full Circle

So I've now come full circle I guess.

Some were surprised when I announced that I was going to become a vet - "We've never heard you say you want to be a vet before." - and this was true. It never dawned on me that this would be the career path I would choose. My mother should have known, though, for way back in my early childhood days one of my favorite things to do was dissect any dead animal I could get my hands on - in her garage!! Early anatomy lessons.

So yesterday when my mom found my on my hands and knees in her garage with bloody towels all over, it was only natural. I finally got to fix one of my own, in her garage of all places:) My dumb dog once again figured out a way to injure herself out in the pasture. I swear she was out less than 10 minutes and somehow got a 4-5 inch laceration on her front leg. Thankfully only skin deep and no tendons, muscles, etc. damaged. 18 stitches later and she's good to chase horses once again.

Thanks mom for a nice clean garage floor to perform my life's calling on! You really are a trooper about all the guts and gore and smells! Love you!

She looks a little guilty, no? Maybe this time she'll think twice, but I doubt it. Speaking of guilty faces - this one definately is!! This is what happens when you give a boy a chocolate pudding to eat on his own. Usually his sisters referee this type of outlandish behavior, but since they were busy elsewhere, he took full advantage of my back being turned while making salsa. I obviously wasn't too surprised - I did take his shirt off before letting him go at it.

Day Off

So excited to go pick blueberries this afternoon!!! YUMMY!!! I have several recipes rolling around in my noggin and I'm psyched to try them out. We have new neighbors recently, and my good friend and prior babysitter, Hannah, just moved in down the road, so I have some home-welcoming to do! I'll try to post some pics of the event - no promises because my small camera took a crap and my good camera needs batteries (I think I can handle that one).

Happy Beautiful Day!

Liberty

(Disclaimer: I have refrained for the most part from political discussions on this blog, but I've finally had it, and I don't know what better venue to vent my frustrations than this since I'm better at writing than speaking.)

Webster Dictionary Definition of LIBERTY: 1. the quality or state of being free 2. the power to do as one pleases 3. freedom from arbitrary or despotic control 4. the positive enjoyment of various social, political, or economic rights and privileges 5. the power of choice



Declaration of Independence: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.



I am truly alarmed and horrified at the erosion of liberty in our lives. I'll site some things that are really irking me later, but what's even worse is that it seems like we're just sitting on our haunches and watching our freedoms vanish one after another. Everyone is so content to just let our "nanny," the government, just make all our decisions. Is this a generational thing - that we're too lazy to make our own minds up? Too comfortable in our recliners? Unlike our founding fathers who weren't content with having arbitrary control forced upon them from the British church and government. Are we so caught up in the rat-race that we can't even see what is going on around us?



So what is it that's got me all fired up? Well, it will seem stupid at first, because it is rather trivial. It's more the additive effect of stealing freedom and choice over and over. I reached my tipping point on Sunday. We were out boating on a gorgeous afternoon, minding our own business and following all the rules of the lake...or so we thought. Until the rent-a-cop boat police decided to pull us over. "What's wrong sir?" "How old are the kids in the boat?" "Six, five-and-a half, eighteen months, and the one in the tube is eight." "Well, they don't have the right kind of life jackets on." "Excuse us, they're all wearing coast-guard approved vests, sir."

"Well, they need to have type 1 PFD's until they're six in a boat, and until 12 on a jet ski. The rule changed this spring."

If you're not a boating sort, this seems stupid and irrelevant, but have you worn one of these Type 1 PFD's for any length of time? Back when I was a kid, this was the only option and they were a monstrosity. (Luckily we had a really worn-out version that was tolerable, but probably wouldn't have held up my leg). Until the modern boating era designed the type 3 PFD that is more like a jacket. The most recent life-jackets are actually really nice and made out of materials that aren't too bad. Even C.J. doesn't fuss to put his on. Also back when I was a kid (hey, that's really not that long ago despite you wanting to tease me about being old), there were no age rules on when you had to wear a PFD, it was up to your parent's judgement. So now, we not only have an age restriction (that came a few years back), we have to revert to the proverbial stone-age of life-jackets. The claim is "they hold up your head better," but I seriously wonder what manufacturers lobbied for this change after the new, comfortable versions came on scene and the type 1 sales plummeted? Why must the government infringe on our liberty? Am I unable of making a decision (for some reason my parents were able to make that decision and many others over the years without massive death and destruction on the planet).

Here are some other instances that take away our liberty/choice:

• I can't decide which tpye, or how long my child will be restrained in vehicles
• You must ride a helmet on a motorcycle
• You can't smoke almost everywhere (even in your own home in San Francisco)
• You can't lead prayer in public school

I'll go on...but wait, we can let a 15 year old choose to terminate a pregnancy? That seems really ironic.

• Everyone in a car must wear a seatbelt
• We buy cars that have to meet a certain cafe standard
• Trans fat is bad, restaurants had to take it out
• Sugar is bad - lets tax it
• Many states don't allow private citizens to have certain types of guns
• We can't use normal light bulbs. We have to use ones with mercury in them - nice...isn't that one of the leading causes of autism.
• They tell third graders, if your parents spank you, report it because that's child abuse
• ...and now, my kid must wear a type 1 or 2 PFD at all times in a boat until he's 6

Some of you are reading this post thinking I'm nuts, these are all good rules, made to protect us. Maybe so. I'm not at all saying that there shouldn't be a rule of law and we can just have anarchy, but why, in a country founded on the principle of liberty, can't I choose for myself as long as the effects don't imfringe on someone else?

I just hate where I see this country going. We are willingly being led in the name of "protection"; and as we walk the leash is getting tighter and tighter. I'm scared that by the time we realize it's choking us, we'll be asphyxiated and unable to reverse the damage. Generation X, we are adults now. It really is ok to make your own choice without mommy, daddy, and the nanny. We don't need to be forced to take on government health care. We shouldn't have to drive a match-box car. It should be my choice if I choose to be so dumb as to get on a motorcycle without a helmet. If I want to eat french fries cooked with trans fat and die of a heart attack, the responsibility is on me, no one else. If I want to be able to boat with my child, in peace, without clammoring and fussing because he can't turn his head or even sit down, it's a risk I'll take (for pete's sake, he's still wearing a life jacket). Some kids need a good hard spanking (maybe that's half the problem, not enough of generation x got spanked?:)). I hate smoking, it's gross. But if someone wants to smoke and they are in my space, have at it. It's your lungs and don't blame the tobacco company.

This country is too great!! Our founders were too wise!! The Constitution is amazing!! People have brains - make them use them!! Why can't we rest on these factors and quit with all the trivial rules and regulations.

Now that I've irked off everyone. I'll quit and go to bed. I feel much better. I'll sleep much sounder. Hopefully you can grant me the liberty of this vent without holding it agains me.