mystic memories

I was busy the other night cleaning out some old files, rearranging my rec room so it would be less of a wreck.  The room serves as my computer room, art room, exercise room (read: mostly unused treadmill in a corner), and office.  I had scored a wonderful filing cabinet with deep drawers at work last week, and was busy emptying some of the baskets and boxes I had filled with my things.

I was listening to music, and just humming along.  Then I found some things from my dad's memorial, back in 2000.  Funny, I thought the memorial was on August 17.  For years that date has been fixed in my mind.  It was August 18.  How odd, I thought.

I was musing about that when Into the Mystic by Van Morrison started to play.  And I remembered a night, almost 7 years ago, when I was staying with Jen after the twins were born.  The twins weren't sleeping, and at 2 AM, we each had a baby in our arms in the living room, and this song was one of the songs we danced to.  As I remembered, I could feel it as though I was there again.

I found the memories swirling in my head as I listened to the music.  Wishing Dad could have seen his four great-grandchildren.  Wishing they could have known him.  I see him in them sometimes, the nuances that go almost undetected.  I see him.  And smile.

Ah, the memories.  Life is sweet...

 

...life is good.~cathfind me @jonesbabie on Twitter

book review: diary of a submissive

The following is a paid review for BlogHer Book Club, but the opinions expressed are my own.

When I signed up to be chosen to read and review Diary of a Submissive for BlogHer, I didn't really expect that I would be chosen.  I'd tried several times to be chosen as a reviewer, and was always just a smidgen too late tossing my name in the hat to be a reviewer.  I saw the announcement, and decided to jump in.  My family and I were headed for a two week road trip to the west coast, and in the back of my mind I figured I would be too late signing up to be chosen as a reviewer.

Wrong.  I got the email, and was thrilled, then realized that the book would be delivered while I was GONE.  I had my daughter in law checking the mail every day, and was going to get her to overnight it to me.  But it didn't arrive in the time frame I needed it to, and so I knew when I got home I would have just three days to read it and write the review.  I hate pressure when reading, but I had committed, and steeled myself to do it.

We got home at midnight on Saturday night.  I decided I would just peek in the book at the first few pages then go to bed.  At five in the morning I was still reading...

And reading.  I was mesmerized, fascinated and could not put the book down.  The book is sexually explicit, but that didn't put me off.  What I found fascinating was the psychological aspect of it.  Sophie Morgan, the author (writing under a pseudonym since this is a true story) takes the reader inside the mind of a submissive, someone who has had an unremarkable, stable upbringing.  Sophie discovers her submissive nature in college, and her book chronicles her journey into the world of domination and submission, of pleasure and pain, a world not for the faint of heart.  It lays out in detail how relationships unfold, change and grow when there is a darker side to the relationship.  Outwardly, Sophie leads a "normal" successful life.  In her private life, she reveals a side of her personality that is anything but a woman in control.

For me personally, I found the book fascinating.  It was impossible to put down until I finished it, and that was in one sitting.  For anyone with a curiosity about alternative lifestyles, and sexual proclivities, who is comfortable with graphic descriptions of sadism and masochism, this book can open your eyes.  Sophie Morgan does an excellent job of making you understand what makes her tick, in an unrepentant way.  Diary of a Submissive is not the first book of this genre to be written, but the fact that it is a true story, written in an insightful way makes it a compelling, interesting read.  I recommend it.

For more information about the launch of Diary of a Submissive, and to follow the discussion, please click here to go to the BlogHer Book Club Page, and join the discussion!


...life is good. ~cath
find me @jonesbabie on Twitter

tag i'm it!

A couple months ago (has it REALLY been that long?) Janine over at Reflections of a Redhead, a fellow blogging friend and part of my favorite group of bloggers (check out the BLOGS+ tab at the top of the page for my PBAUs buddies) decided to hit me with a game of tag.  I meant to answer immediately, but life got in the way, and I had one of the busiest summers I have ever had in my life.  Life has a way of leveling out though, so I am going to answer her challenge to me now.  I decided since so much time has passed, that it would not be fair to pass the tag on, so y'all are off the hook. :D

The rules:
Wait, I'm not passing this on, so there are no rules.  Wow.  That was incredibly easy.  I like no rules.  This is going to be fun.

Wait.  Now I have to answer Janine's questions.  Answering questions about myself is not an easy thing to do.  I'd rather know more about others, and am always curiously watching the world around me.  But, in fairness to Janine, I will answer the questions she listed in her post.

1. What is the thing that makes you want to get out of bed every day?
I can't wait to see what the day holds, whether it is work, or my art or photography, or chasing the grands, every day is a brand new start.

2. What do you tell yourself to get through painful, difficult or challenging times?
I have a personal mantra, and an escape plan.  I've always had them.  My mantra is "this, too, shall pass" and reminds me that nothing remains the same in life, and moments pass into other moments, whether they are good moments or those challenges that make you wonder how you will survive them.  My escape plan is still there, but I have never had to use it.  Maybe because I always had it!

3. What can you look back on and remind yourself you were successful at, or were strong enough to come through?
That would have to be graduate school.  Within a six month period, my daughter got married, I had major surgery (a week later), and my dad died a couple months after that.  It was the worst period of my life, and I tried to quit school, but two wonderful friends, and an instructor who wouldn't allow it, pulled my butt through that period of pure misery, and taught me what friends are really about.

4. Look around you at this moment and choose one thing to smile about or be thankful for.  What is it?
My sisters and daughter, mum and even Stevie Wonder.  Familia.

5. If you could do anything at this moment to make yourself happy, what would it be?
I would freeze this moment in time with my family, along with all those moments of my life, and relive them over and over.  Like reruns of a favorite movie.

6. Do you have a special place, real or imagined, where you go to in your mind or reality to regroup, seek peace, or just be?
My favorite thing to do is to grab Big Girl and head to my yard, usually late evening.  As I take pictures of my world, I gain a new appreciation for the microcosm that is my part of the universe, and how unique life is, in all its wonderful forms.

7. Has there been a particular book that you have read that inspired or motivated you to seek your potential?
Eckhart Tolle's A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose changed my life in a profound way. It challenged how I thought, and how I existed in every moment of my life.  Astounding.

8. What childhood fable, fairytale, or movie stretched your imagination and sticks with you to this day?
Although I loved books and read everything, and Grimm's Fairytales made an impression on me, it was National Velvet with Elizabeth Taylor.  It was the story of determination, and the power of believing in yourself, as well as the power of a woman's determination.

9. What is your favorite form of art and artist (anything you consider art qualifies).
This is one I can't answer.  I love all forms of art, and the creative spirit, which exists in many forms, including the written word, the fine arts, and music.  I have a passion for it all.

10. Do you have a personal anthem, a song, that reminds you of who you are and want to be, that represents the ideal of you?
Anything by Tina Turner.  She is an icon to success in the face of adversity, and believing in yourself.

11. What did you experience while answering these questions?
I realized how much I have to be thankful for, and that life is an adventure I look forward to every day I wake up.  And gratitude to Janine for nominating me for this game.  I have never been good at games, but I am always willing to jump in and try.

Thanks Janine, you inspire me!

...life is good. ~cath
  find me @jonesbabie on Twitter

happy birthday to a beloved sister

The birthday girl Vix having a glamham-it-up time today...we decided we'd go for pedicures...and off our little piggies went...

 We had to pick out colors first...decisions, decisions...

 Wretch in contemplation...she makes sure hers are done to piggy perfection...  

dooj and her camera, and vix has hers too...

stevie wonder gives up, he's outnumbered

Then the laughs start when we get back to Vix's and try to take photos to share, and I end up getting photos of Dooj taking photos of Vix taking photos of...
our feet...
not the strangest thing we've ever done by any means...

Stevie Wonder horns in...

dooj and wretch

wretch having the last laugh

...life is good. ~cath
find me @jonesbabie on Twitter

happy 65th birthday stevie!

Wretch decided to surprise Stevie Wonder for his birthday on Saturday, September 29th.  No cake, (because he is watching his figure).  But he had to have SOMETHING special.  This was his 65th birthday, after all!  The year he gets to start drawing Medicare!  So she gathered up all the party stuff she could find, including a tacky birthday hat and horn, some streamers, a birthday table centerpiece, a Happy Birthday banner, and a giant cardboard pink flamingo (don't ask where that came from).  And then, to make sure he was surprised by it, she stuffed in all in the cab of the truck he had just spent a week getting ready for our BIG TRIP.  Front and back seat.  Stuffed.  Full.  

I was up all night, and it was lucky I was, or Wretch and I would have slept through the surprise.  But I was finishing some laundry, and he came out of the bedroom, and dropped his suitcase, fully packed, with a loud plop in the middle of the living room.  To let me know that he was ready at 3 AM just like we had all decided.  Wretch was buried in the bed, and I was one of the walking dead at that point, a zombie on two legs.  But I had my eye on him.  And predictably, as soon as he knew I had seen he was ready, he picked up his bag and headed to the truck.  The truck that was stuffed full of tacky birthday decorations.  

As soon as he went out the door, I ran to the bedroom and screamed at Wretch to "GET UP GET UP!  he's out at the truck and you are going to miss the surprise!  GET UP!!!"  She raised up slowly, then I could see her come alive.  Probably the fastest she had ever awakened in her life.  (We called her Oscar the Grouch when she was a kid because you didn't dare approach her until she had been up at least an hour, or she would gripe you to death.)

We ran to the front porch.  Steve was loading his bag.  Then he came back by the truck, and that was when he saw it.  I had the presence of mind to grab my iPhone, and take a video.  Not realizing until after it was all over, that all you could see was headlights, and hear our voices.  And Gabe baying when he heard the party noise.  So turn your volume up, and listen...because you sure won't see anything. :D

...life is good. ~cath
  find me @jonesbabie on Twitter