You just can’t beat a view like this.

My youngest brother showed up last night with his brand new, 3 pound little bundle of joy. Yes, that’s right, 3 POUNDS!!!! Just look at that chubby little bare puppy tummy and those teensy little baby pink feet. And don’t even get me started on that absolutely adorable tiny little face or the sweet puppy smell! She is 2 months old and already has a large fan club. I was ready to hide her under my shirt and tell him she was lost and he would have to go home without her. My nephew was ready to pack his clothes, abandon his parents and move in with my brother so he wouldn’t have to say good-bye to the little baby.

There is something about that little bugger sleeping curled up next to my neck that brings out every single mothering instinct that I didn’t even know I had.

Compared to my big, huge slobber monster,

this little sweety is just a snack before lunch. And if my fur-baby were to lay curled up on my chest, it would cause some serious, call 911 damage.

p.s. Don’t show my big huge slobber monster the picture of the teensy little baby sleeping all curled up on my chest. She has some serious “that’s MY mommy” issues. LOL

p.p.s. It would also make her think she should sleep all curled up on my chest and then we’re back to the call 911 issue.

The silence. A full moon shimmering across the water. Perfect weather. Not too hot. Not too chilly.

And me and hubby standing next to each other enjoying it.

I want to catch it in a bottle and savor it forever.

Today is my 40th birthday.

I didn’t fuss and worry about it. I did, however, have my hair highlighted for the first time in my life. Not necessarily because I was worried about the grey hairs that are hiding in there. I know they are there. I just happen to be lucky enough to have blond hair so you can’t see that they are there. I did it mainly because I wanted to enter my 40s feeling refreshed and renewed.

I didn’t quite manage all my goals that I wanted to reach before I hit 40. I wanted to lose 8 pounds but back issues kept me from exercising those off. I did have a skin cancer screening and in October I’ll be having a mammogram. I do eat a vegetarian diet about 90% of the time. I want to go into my 40s being as healthy as possible. Having been going to physical therapy for the past 2 weeks has motivated me even more to stay as healthy as possible. Seeing some of the other’s in there struggling with various issues has scared me into watching my diet and weight a little more closely.

Lesson to all – the 40s are nothing to fear!

The little dog in the picture shares my birthday with me. She is 1 year old today. That makes her 10.5 years old in people years.

And it makes me only 6.75 years old in dog years.

As a child I always loved to watch the planes swoop around spraying the fields. Little did I know that while they were saving the crops, they were also poisoning us and the earth.

Soybean fields have aphids destroying the crops. So they release japanese lady beetles into the fields to eat the aphids. Not the cute lady beetles that first comes to mind though they do closely resemble those. The beetles were so thick for a couple of years you could barely breath outside without getting one in your mouth. They invaded our homes and every crack and crevice they could find their way into. They bite. Hard. When threatened, they expel a stench that is horrible. And when you squish them, they stain whatever surface they happened to be on. Now I’m hearing that they want to release some sort of wasps to eat the beetles. Huh? What the . . . . .? Apparently they aren’t the kind that sting but still, I don’t want those things thick as can be outside. And what happens when they take over? What even bigger kind of bug will they want to release? And guess what? The planes are still swooping around, spraying the fields for aphids. Just what is gained when man tries to alter nature?

An intense stare out the door like this can only mean one thing.

A rabbit. Does he know what is watching him with a hunter’s eye just mere feet away?

One day as I pulled up to work and parked, I looked across the alley and had to laugh at the sight before me. Someone has a good sense of humor.

“What is this place” you may be asking yourself. Is it some sort of asylum where insane and/or dangerous people are locked away? And if that is what it is, what in the world was I doing down there?

Actually it’s a medical museum hidden away in the basement of a hospital that I was at yesterday.

There are tools and devices in this room that I don’t even want to know what they were used for. Tools such as these which were labeled bone instruments:

Or this entire wall of tools that only brings to mind every single scary horror movie I have ever seen in my entire life:

But the tool that creeped me out even more was this one:

It was big. “shudders” Anything labeled a pelvimeter and looking like this can’t be good. Or the long thing next to it called a Uterine Gauze Packer. Please don’t tell me what these were used for. I DON’T want to know.

I’m so glad I live today and not back when you walked into an exam room and were greeted by this sight:

I realize devices like the iron lung saved the lives of a great many people.

But I’m thankful that hospitals now try to make the atmosphere much more comforting. I can’t imagine how scary it would have been to need to stay here:

Just what are they doing to this poor head:

Anyone care to have a seat in my dentist’s chair and open wide?

Bwa-ha-ha-ha-ha. See you in your nightmares!

I strive to be as abnormal as possible. After all, what I observe to be considered ”normal” is not acceptable to me:

Existing on junk food, fast food, empty food devoid of any nutirients without taking into consideration the health and well-being consequences.

Always wanting more. Never happy with what they already have. Easily discarding belongings and friends when they think something better has come along.

Having no respect for their spouse or boyfriend/girlfriend.

Always living on their last dollar. Buying, buying and buying trying to prove something to everyone by owning more “stuff”. As a result, not putting away any money for a rainy day and then complaining when that rainy day hits.

Constantly saying “why me” without ever making an attempt to change things for the better.

Having no respect for other living things, human or animal.

Living with a “me, me, me” attitude.

The list could go on and on. And if I allow myself to dwell on it all, I would become so depressed I wouldn’t be able to get out of bed.

So instead, I choose to live by example. I take care of my family to the best of my ability. I respect my husband for the good man that he is. I treat animals as family members. I’ve learned that “stuff” isn’t all that important. I take care of myself and try to eat healthy the majority of the time as well as serve healthy meals to my hubby and to my furbaby. I take responsibility for my life and know that I can change any situation I’m not happy with at any time. I strive to do my best at whatever I am doing. After all, isn’t anything worth doing, worth doing well?

If just one person sees how I live and how happy and content I am as a result and then decides to follow my example, I have changed the world.