Friday! Friday! Last Day of NaBloPoMo Woohooday!

Ok.

So it doesn't rhyme.

What of it?


I can't believe it. I can't believe I made it all the way through ... well, except for the day I got sick. But, regardless, this is the longest string of writing I think I've ever done.

For whatever effect it may have on the world.


Ok, so Geek of the Week.

I am going to defer to my dear hubby on this one. He's all riled up.

Attention Mr. Dennis C. Wolff? Pennsylvania Secretary of Agriculture?

You are Geek of the Week.

And NOT in the traditional sense of the word either.

You are a bad, bad man.

You who would ban the labeling of dairy products as to whether or not they contain antibiotics, pesticides or rBST (an artificial growth hormone).

Just why was that again? Oooohhhhh yeah. We don't want to confuse the consumer.

Thaaaaat's it. I'm sorry. I keep forgetting how discombobulated my little ol' mommy brain gets in the dairy aisle when I see the tried and true milk suffering the wild postulating of that radical hippie milk.

Organic.

Hormone Free.

No antibiotics.

WHAT DOES IT ALL MEEEEAAAAANNN?


Oh! MAKE IT STOP ALREADY AND GIVE ME AN ICE CREAM SANDWICH!



Mr. Wolff, give me a freaking break and give me the option to choose. I don't want you and all your cronies - who are making waaaaaaaayyyy more than any dairy farmer is - to put a warm, wet cloth on my forehead and pat my hand and tell me to "Just relax ... they ain't no harm in chemeeculs an such." I wan't to be able to choose. I don't care if I am paying more for it - that's my business.

EVEN! Even if you have NO PROOF WHATSOEVER of any harmful effects of any of this stuff - EVEN THEN! - I still want the option to choose to buy my milk from someone who doesn't roid their cows all up. Just because.

At least until I can get my own cow.

So, in conclusion, Mr. Wolff, you suck.



SOAPBOX TIME!!!

If you, as a Pennsylvania dairy consumer care about this little issue, you can send along a little note to that effect to our Governor.
Governor Edward G. Rendell
225 Main Capitol Building
Harrisburg, PA 17120

Or, you can email him.

Email the Governor of PA here.


*****

Now, I have to back up to yesterday's post because my daughterchild pointed out to me that I never answered the "fun part of being my children" part of the question. Which I shall do forthwith.

The best part about being my kids, I think, would be having me as a mom. The end.

Hee.

Ok, really now. One of the fun parts about being sonnyboy, I think, would be having the ability to ride a dirt bike pretty well. And actually having a dirt bike. That runs.

Because I? Have a dirt bike. But it? Does not run.

It doesn't even walk. Or roll.

All of a sudden I just came up with a crazy idea for a pimped out walker - you know, for people who need them to get around. And it can be called, you might have guessed, The Walk-n-Roll!

Guitar!

But I digress.

Yeah, I think having the ability, and lack of fear, to go over jumps and stuff like that would be pretty cool.

Maybe I'm just getting all nostalgic because that Master of the Moto, Evil Knievel, died today.





I remeber watching his stunts on TV as a child. EVERYONE wanted to be Evil Knievel.

God rest his crazy soul.

So, yeah, that would be cool. And apparently sonnyboy thinks so too because he spends an awful lot of his free time doing it.

As for daughterchild, she has so much going on I'm not sure where to begin. She can pretty much do whatever she sets her mind to. For instance, I just popped in the living room for a moment and she was watching a movie and knitting.

KNITTING.

I can't knit. I wish I could knit.

I also wish I could make it through an entire kick-boxing class. Which she can. There's a lot to be said for youth.

But, if I had to pick a particular thing, I might pick working on the yearbook. It was one of the things I kind of always wanted to do in high school but just never did - mainly because of the moderator. It is a little know fact that Kim Jong Il was a member of the Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary and acting moderator of the Cardinal Brennan yearbook club. That was way before North Korea.

Fortunately for daughterchild, she gets to work with a hip (Hip? Did I just say hip?) moderator and staff. It's a lot of hard work but I really think she enjoys it. And, more importantly, I think I would enjoy it.


But in the end, I think I would enjoy a whole lot of what they do. I don't mean to brag or anything but I pretty much have the best kids in the world.

No. I do.

No, really. I do.

Ok, ok. I know. That's what every mom says.


Except I'm right.

Anyway, I just have to say that I really like hanging out with my kids. I so wish we weren't all going in ten different directions at once and could actually do more things together. Because they are cool people.

It's so amazing to see the young adults they have grown into. I look at them and cannot believe I even had a hand in anything so wonderful.

And it's REALLY amazing to think my hubby had a hand in it. (Hi Hon! Just kidding!)

I think one of the things that I am most proud of - even though I have no idea how much I've actually had to do with it - is that they are thinkers. I love thinker kids. They are a joy to be around because it is so interesting to see their take on the world. It's neat to see what makes them laugh, what moves them, what riles them ...

Here's a for instance ...

(Ha! Boy am I rambling now!)

In the summer of 2000, daughterchild's Girl Scout troop made a day trip to New York City. I went along and had the opportunity to take sonnyboy as well. It was nice because there were some general stops but we were able to break off into our own little groups.

One of the stops was Ellis Island. None of us were ever there before. If you've never been to Ellis Island, I highly recommend it. It is just amazing. And not just the Statue of Liberty.

While she certainly commands attention it was the museum that was really moving. The stories of the people who passed through there were just incredible. I could easily spend a whole day there. And, as corny as it sounds, walking around there, looking at the photographs, reading the snippets of people's lives, one really gets a sense of what is special about our country.

And I could sense that my children felt it too - as much as a child could in their limited understanding of the world. They wantered around the museum, a quick glance at this photo but staring at that one, reading this item but skipping that one, the whole time showing a sort of childish reverence for everything.

At one particular moment I was lucky enough to snap a quick photo of the two of them together. It is a moving photo that I will always treasure. It's a perfect snippet of siblings, sharing a day, a moment ...

















... and a sense of humor.


My little snots of liberty. I love 'em!




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