Messing with My Teenager

Me sharing costume ideas with my 15-year-old.

And, by "Duane" I really meant "gauze."
And I misspelled cauliflower. 

Freud would have a Field Day with My Dreams

 Last night I had a really strange dream.

Let me say first, though, that strange dreams aren't unusual for me.

 I've dreamt about ghost mermaids.
And God Frogs.
And in one dream I was shot.

In ancient societies, people thought dreams signified divine intervention or interpretation.
In current society, people think dreams are insight into our unconscious mind.

 If that's the case, I don't want to know what the insight is into my dream last night:
I was trying to put on my contacts ... but they were gigantic. 
So, for some reason, I decided to put a gigantic contact into my nose.


Any weird dreams lately?   




 

BlogHer Book Review: Diary of a Submissive

 

I just finished reading Diary of a Submissive by Sophie Morgan, 
and I have to say I've never read anything like it. 

It's a "modern tale of sexual awakening." 

I've read romance novels and erotic books, 
but I've never read a novel about bondage or sadomasochism. 
To say it was graphic is to put it lightly. 
It was explicit. 

Some of it made me blush. 
Some of it was fascinating. 
Some of it totally turned me off. 
Some of it horrified me. 

 I had a hard time relating not only to the extent that Sophie wanted to be submissive 
but how much she got off on it. 

She really laid herself bare (pun intended) to write this novel. 
It's an extremely intimate look at her sex life and her feelings. 

When I finished the book, 
I spent some time trying to figure out why the book overall turned me off ... 
and eventually I concluded 
that it was because of how primative and animalistic her desires are. 

Sex can be primitive and animalistic 
but it can also be a lot more. 
and it should be about more, in my opinion. 
It should involve love and commitment 
and a depth of feelings and intimacy between two people. 

I don't understand wanting to be submissive 
and subjected to extreme pain and punishment. 

But, to each her own. 

Join our discussion over at BlogHer Book Club. 

Have you ever read anything like this?


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



 

Elephant Seals

 Last March, I went to California with my mom and my boys.

We visited my sister in Palo Alto,
Rode a street car, crossed the Golden State Bridge and visited Alcatraz in San Francisco.
And then we spent the rest of the trip renting a house in Pebble Beach,
and exploring Carmel, Big Sur and the rest of the Monterey Bay area.
The boys went tide pooling for the first time.

 It was an amazing trip, and on the last day of the trip,
we hiked in the pouring, freezing rain at Año Nuevo State Reserve
to see a colony of elephant seals.

The elephant seals spend most of their lives at sea,
and come ashore only to molt, give birth, and mate. 

The male elephant seals can be up to sixteen feet long and weigh up to 2 1/2 tons!
They have great big snouts, as you can see.

They were amazing.
They were HUGE.
They made the most amazing noises.


This is my first time to participate in Camera Critters in a long time!
Want to see more great animal shots?

Visit Camera Critters!







 

Flash Cards & WiFi

In the last week, my boys have gone through 2 packs of flashcards.

My 10-year-old needed them to make a book report mobile project.
He read Gregor and Marks of Secret,
then filled out a flashcards on main characters,
which we hung from a coat hanger.

This involved yarn, hole punchers, and about 20 flashcards.
I wish I'd taken a picture!


My 15-year-old has been making flashcards for his AP World History class.
In fact, he had to make about 70 cards last night,
but when we got home, the Internet was out in our area!!
Egads!
So, like any modern day parent, I just dropped him off at Starbucks
so he could work in a good , productive atmosphere with WiFi.

Our only choices (proximity-wise) were Starbucks and McDonalds.


I use flashcards to make grocery lists or To Do lists.
And to study vocabulary.
When I was in school, flashcards were the handiest tool for memorizing and learning things.
Spanish vocab? check.
History events? check.
Periodic table? check.

What do you remember using flashcards for?
Are your kids using them now?


 

Texts Without Context

My 15-year-old just texted me "metamorphosis frans kafkat."

Out of the blue.
No other context.

I'll admit, I had to Google it ... and it led me to think
that maybe he needs me to buy him The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka?

Or is this a new teen text strategy to confuse parents?

Want to read another funny mother-son texting story?




 

IcyHot & Donuts

With my teenager playing high school football,
he comes home every day covered in bruises and sore all over.
Ice packs and ibuprofen have become a staple with dinner.

And, then I bought IcyHot,
which he has me rub all over his upper back and neck.

It smells good, but I learned an important lesson last night.
Never slather IcyHot all over someone,
and then a little bit later, scratch your nether regions.

The result leads to surprising numbness in unexpected areas.



In other news, my dog woke me up at 1am last night
because she needed to go outside.

That's not normal.

This morning, I discovered why.

She made a late night discovery of donuts and ate half a box!

IcyHot and Donuts.
Dangerous things.


 

Who's In Control?

My 15-year-old has a learner's permit,
and is only 4 months away from a driver's license.
Those four months might as well be 100 years.
He's SO ready to have his own car.

For the next 4 months, though, he's stuck driving my big ole truckster.

He's doing great, but he seems to think that if he's driving, he controls the radio.

Nice try.

I'm still his mother.
He has to wait til he's 18 to get past that.

bwahahaha

What I've Learned as a Baseball Mom

I'm not a soccer mom these days
(although both my boys played when they were younger).

I'm now a football mom and a baseball mom.

And as a Baseball Mom, I've learned a few very important things.

1. Don't park your car too close to the field. Balls can travel quite a distance.
2. Don't try to catch a ball without a baseball glove. It hurts. Bad.
3. Bleachers are hard on the rear end after an hour and a half.
4. the dishwasher is a great place to wash sports cups.
5. I love watching my son play baseball.
6. New Terminology: balk, line drive, grounder

 What sports are your kids involved in?
What have you learned from your kids' sports.



 

Startled

You know that moment were you're just falling asleep, 
curled up in a cocoon of pillows and blankets, 
seconds from dreamland ... 

and then your 100 lb Labrador Retriever,
who is taking up half the bed, 
suddenly starts chasing rabbits in her sleep, 
thereby shaking your entire queen-sized bed?  

Add in some strange barky sound affects 
and a strong startle reaction and 
yep, suddenly you're wide awake again.

Yeah, that. 




 

A Brief Snapshot

Last night was baseball practice. I try to bring Annie, because it's a chance for her to get some exercise, run after her ball and enjoy nature.

My 10-year-old has 3 baseball games this week.  3! And my 15-year-old has a football game. It's going to be a loooong, busy week. But, I have to admit, watching my boys play sports is one of the biggest joys in my life, so I don't mind.

I'm relieved that they are both feeling healthy and able to play.
Not but a few months ago, Remy was having surgery and sick.
And Donny was still recovering from knee surgery.

I'm thankful they are feeling better.
We still have issues, but things are looking better.

Relieved.
Happy.
On ward.

 

Furry Work Conditions

I was sick this week and had to spend a couple of days at home.
Every time I set up a work station on my coffee table:





That face!

How do your pets make you aware of them?
Big puppy eyes?
Eating your shoes?
Barking?





 

BlogHer Book Club Book Review: Matched

Last week I read Matched by Ally Condle for BlogHer Book Club.

I was really looking forward to reading this
because it's another young adult novel set in a dystopian world.

 In this world, you future is controlled by The Society.

The Society decides where you can work,
who you can love
and when you can die.

It's horrifying ... and intriguing.

The main character, Cassia, suddenly finds herself questioning everything.
There's a love triangle.
There are mysterious actions.
And best yet, it's a series ... so there are two more books to read!

Here's a blurb from the back of the book:


Cassia has always trusted the Society to make the right choices for her: what to read, what to watch, what to believe. So when Xander's face appears on-screen at her Matching ceremony, Cassia knows he is her ideal mate . . . until she sees Ky Markham's face flash for an instant before the screen fades to black. The Society tells her it's a glitch, a rare malfunction, and that she should focus on the happy life she's destined to lead with Xander. But Cassia can't stop thinking about Ky, and as they slowly fall in love, Cassia begins to doubt the Society's infallibility and is faced with an impossible choice: between Xander and Ky, between the only life she's known and a path that no one else has dared to follow.


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


 

BlogHer Book Club Book Review: Daring Greatly

In 1910, Theodore Roosevelt gave a speech in Paris, France. And from that speech came one of my all time favorite quotes, and is also used by the author Brene Brown in her new book, Daring Greatly.  

Theodore Roosevelt says:

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.

My dad has this quote framed on his wall for as long as I can remember.  I've always loved it. I think it's a wonderful message. And it's from the last line that Brene Brown titled her book. Daring Greatly.

You need to read this book, to save it and come back and read different parts of it at a time. But to try and sum it up for a book review, it all relates back to that quote. Being vulnerable is part of triumph. Being vulernable isn't bad...it's part of the process.

I'm so glad this was a book I was able to read for a book review. I'd been hearing buzz about it on TV and online ... and I recently listened to the author's TED talks, which are great.  (go listen to them!)

We're talking about Daring Greatly over at BlogHer.
Join our weekly discussions!!



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