Sunday Adventure

Ron and I took a little ride yesterday into Elyria.  Ok, I wanted to make sure that if I did have to go for jury duty that I could find the building where I needed to be as well as the parking lot I needed that is like five blocks away from the parking lot. 

(By the way, Day 1 of jury duty and I do NOT have to show up yet.  One day down, fourteen more to go!)

So, as long as we were in downtown Elyria, I wanted to go to the waterfall behind the police station.  I've taken pictures there before and posted them, but it's really such a pretty place that I have more pictures to post again! 

This is the upper falls.  It was just a beautiful day yesterday.

I am standing a good 20 feet above the top of the falls here.  I happen to look to the right and was SHOCKED to see a giant fish!  Keep in mind, I'm like 20 feet up and I swear that fish was at least 18" long if not longer.  I know it's kinda hard to guess the size of a fish from so far away but trust me, it was HUGE.

 
My little camera amazed me by capturing this shot!  I leaned over the edge of the railing, turned the zoom on and hoped I caught the fish!  I believe it's a carp but I won't be offended if anyone tells me I'm wrong.  The next shot even captured a couple of coins on the rock next to the water.  Almost looks like the carp is looking for the money.

I think the picture will get bigger if you click on it.  One coin is on the crack almost even with his eye and the other one is even with the stick jutting out of the water.  I thought it was cool that I captured this! 

I saw a total of three huge fish.  This guy that was hanging by the edge of the rocks and there were two more that were over about 20 or 30 feet away from the falls.  The two of them would appear and then dive out of sight.  Then back up for my photo op and then back down. 

These two were easier to see in person as the photo really didn't come out so well.  But you get the idea.  Finally, we headed over to the other viewing platform to get  a shot of the upper and lower falls.

Then, looking to the left, down the river.

It was just such a pretty day. 

As I was standing here in the corner taking pictures, a fly landed on the railing.  As an homage to Mark, who is the BEST bug picture taker, I have "The Fly".

I know Mark would have zoomed in close enough to see the fly's toothy smile, but I at least got a shot in.

This is just one of my favorite spots in the area.  It's beautiful to sit there and just look at the waterfall, and every time I'm there I have my camera.  It's a fun place to shoot.  Go on over.  Tell the carp I sent you!

And I Still Miss Him

This is my Dad and today he would have been 88 years old.

I have been thinking a lot about my family the last few days.  Mostly, the family members who are no longer with us.  For example, my Dad.  Being the youngest as well as a daughter, Dad and I had a special relationship.  Was it always good?  By definition, heck no!  Dads and daughters sometimes butt heads!  But, on the other hand, a Dad and his youngest daughter always have a special bond that can't always be explained.

Dad fought all my monsters, protected me from loose dogs, killed spiders in my bedroom and came all the way over to my apartment to load (and unload if necessary!) my mouse traps.  Dad fixed what I broke and started to explained things to me that I needed to know.  He gave me my first tool box complete with tools.  Craftsman tools, of course!

One of my favorite Dad stories was a little thing we did whenever he wanted to get away from Mom some evening.  That meant he didn't feel like doing whatever was on his "honey-do" list and he didn't want to hear Mom bitch about him doing nothing for an evening.

For real, he'd go up into the attic where there was a phone.  He'd call me at my apartment and ask me to call back and ask for him.  Ok, whatever, I'll give the guy an out for an evening!  We'd hang up the phone, I'd wait a few minutes and call the house.

Mom would answer and I'd start bellyaching to her that I broke something again.  My poor vacuum cleaner "broke" more often than I can tell you!  Anyway, I'd bellyache to Mom, she'd call Dad down from the attic and then Dad would "complain" on the phone in front of her about having to fix whatever I broke . . . AGAIN!  Fine.  I'd remind him quietly on the phone to bring the pizza and in about a half an hour or so there would be Dad on my doorstep, pizza in hand.  We'd spend a quiet evening eating pizza and watching a movie and he'd get out of doing chores at home.  Win/Win!

So, walk with me down memory lane as I remember my family.

My sister Barb and her husband Bill.

The older I get the more I think I look like Barb!

Barb and Jim, mugging for the camera!

 I miss her.  She was my voice of reason, my confidant, my supporter, my friend.

I don't have good pictures of my Mom.  I didn't have a digital camera back in the day so I only have pictures of her towards the end of her life.  My Mom was really a beautiful woman, but that's not reflected in these pictures where she's swollen from the medications she was on. 

Mom and my brother Mike.  This was 1997 shortly before she passed away.

Mom with two of her favorite sons, Mike and Jim!

And here was a rare sight.  One I can only remember seeing twice in MY life.  Then again, I'm the last of six children so all of this must have happened LONG before I was born!

This is four generations of men in my family back in 2003.  Starting with the smallest, my great nephew Evan who is now a strapping young man of 11!  To the right is his Dad, my nephew Mike.  I won't give his age!  On the left is Mike's Dad, my brother Mike.  And in the middle, is my Dad.  Mike and Dad have on their Hawaiian party shirts because you can't have a bad day in a party shirt!  This was in 2003 and we were celebrating Dad's birthday.  I thought it fitting to end with a birthday pictures.

 

Happy Birthday, Dad.  I love you.

Thank You! That Was Mighty Neighborly!

Tuesday I came home from work and all was well.

A few hours later, Ron and I are sitting on the porch while he's having a cigarette and I see just to the north of my house, in the north bound lane of traffic, a HUGE groundhog.  A huge DEAD groundhog.  Yuck.  That was NOT there when I had come home from work that day.

Part of me wanted to rush over and take pictures for the Lorain 365 blog, but lucky for you, I have been working on editing my thought process!  I'm sure all of our readers there will be so happy about that.

Even though there are no pictures of this huge dead groundhog, it was a train wreck (and almost a few car wrecks!) in the street.  North bound cars were swerving to avoid the hit and every time a car went by, I couldn't do anything but watch it go by, waiting for a direct hit.  I could NOT look away.  As much as I was telling myself that I did NOT want to see that groundhog get flattened, I just couldn't look . . . away.  It was horrible.

Finally, Ron suggested I leave my post on the front porch and go into the house and quit watching for the inevitable smooshing of the groundhog.  Fine.  That was probably a good idea.

Into the house we went and upstairs to the office.  I turned on m computer, turned on the TV and guess what?  All I could see is that damn groundhog!  I had such a good view of it from out the office window!  Again, Ron had the good idea of shutting the blinds on the window thus forcing me to QUIT LOOKING but that would have been too easy.  Besides, there is a cat perch on the window ledge and the cats like to get up there and look out which is why the shade is up.  I didn't want to close it on the cats!  (Besides, I was still waiting for that smooshing.  Ugh.)

Then one of the neighbor kids stepped up and took care of it. By kids I mean teenager, or at least he looked like a teenager to me.  You know the older you get the younger they look.  Anyway, he grabbed a long stick and kinda rolled that groundhog off of the street and over into the tree lawn across the street.  I can still see him there, but he's not as mesmerizing to look at now that he's not in the middle of the street.

So thank you, neighbor!  You saved me from putting a spot light on that ground hog so I could watch all night long until someone hit that poor thing again!

Then there is tonight.  It's now a group sport, coming to look at this groundhog.  First were three kids, maybe preteens.  The boy I think was trying to look macho in front of the two girls.  He actually took a picture of the poor dead animal and then proudly proclaimed "this is now my facebook status!".  Can you say "ewwww!!"  The two girls tried to poke it with a stick then ran screaming. 

Then, there was the father and daughter who were so fascinated with this poor rigor mortis filled dead groundhog that he actually had to pull over in the alley and get out to go LOOK at the groundhog with his little girl.  Ah, it made my heart warm that little family moment.  By the way, he also took pictures of the dead groundhog.

Why oh why did I pick NOW to start editing my brain?  I so should have gone out to take a picture and post it on the blog.

Hmm...it IS still light outside . . .

Share and Relish, Fresh Lake Erie Walleye

I know I am so far behind in posting recipes!  My friend Georgia is much better and keeping up the recipe sharing.  Please make sure you go check out her delicious looking Be-Well Soup and the rest of the good food she's posted!

Ron and Larry have been out on Ron's boat fishing most weekends.  The guys have been catching the best of what Lake Erie has to offer; perch, white bass and my favorite, walleye.  Here is a picture of one of the walleye that they recently caught.  This baby was our dinner Friday night.

From fresh caught walleye to beautiful fillets.

On the top left is one of the fish cheeks.  I guess it's a delicacy.  Ron and Larry got to eat those since they are the ones that caught the fish!  Fair is fair.

I took the filets and cut them into pieces about four inches long.  I was baking half of the filets and frying the other half.

Let's start with the baked fish.  I filled one bowl with milk (2% milk because that's what we drink!) and I filled one bowl with Panko break crumbs.  What I found out later is that Panko break crumbs are really made for deep frying.  I should have stuck with a bread crumbs or crushed corn flakes as a coating.  The panko were ok in the baked version, but next time I would use something else.

Anyway, here are my two bowls.

Real simple, I put the filet into the milk then into the Panko to coat it.  Since my baking sheets are all rusted and crappy, I cover them with aluminum foil before baking anything.  Once the filets were put through both bowls, I lined them up on the baking sheet.

I then melted two tablespoons of butter and drizzled the butter over the filets.  Then, baked at 400 degrees for 25 minutes, until filets flaked apart easily.  Here are the filets ready to go into the oven.

Since I didn't think to make this dinner into a blog until I was in the middle of making dinner, I didn't get as many pictures as I would have liked.  And, we were all drooling so much, so as soon as the food hit the table, we were chowing down!  I could have taken pictures of four full bellies, but that would not have looked as good on the blog.  Trust me, it was a fabulous dinner!

The second half of the fish was cooked the good way.  Fried in Crisco (or lard!)

This time I needed three bowls.  From left to right, flour with salt and pepper in it, three eggs whisked, another bowl of Panko bread crumbs.

Easy peasy here.  Coat the fish filets in each bowl, going from left to right.

I placed all of the filets on a dish until I had all of them breaded.  In a heavy cast iron skillet, I heated up about 1/2" of Crisco.  Here is the fish just placed in the hot oil.

Fry until both sides are golden brown.

I wish I would have made the time to take pictures of the finished product but like I said, we were in too much of a hurry to eat.  You gotta believe me when I tell you, the fish was AWESOME!

I had also cooked some halushki and Ron made some corn on the cob.  I need to make both of those things again and show you how to make a couple of our favorite things.

For now, fresh walleye from Lake Erie.  It doesn't get much better than that!

Day's Dam Saturday Walk

I talked Ron into taking a walk on Saturday.  We headed over to Day's Dam right here in Lorain Ohio.  I didn't think I had been there before, but some parts of the park were very familiar, like the giant cottonwood.  But, more on that below.

So, we went for a walk in the park.  It was a beautiful day and a beautiful trail.

We took one of the side trails that went to the giant cottonwood tree.  Here was the trail

and here was the tree.

You can't appreciate just how massive this tree is in pictures.  So, I asked Ron to stand next to the tree so you could get an idea.

That's a damn big tree!  As we were walking up the path (two pictures up) I was telling Ron that the only thing we were missing was the troll under the bridge.  Then, there it was!  In the picture with Ron, if you look over his head about six or seven feet, there was a troll face!  Ron thinks it's just the stump from a branch that was cut off at one time but whatever.  I know what I think it is and I think it's a troll's face!

The tree was huge.  And absolutely beautiful.  A giant cottonwood.  It's worth the side trip off of the main trail to go and see that.

Back on to the main trail, there were a ton of bird houses all along the trail.  Even trying to be quiet, we didn't see any birds.  Too bad as these little houses definitely looked like they were in move-in condition!

Then there was another little side trail that went to the waterfall. 

This is really one of the nicest MetroParks I've been to see.  Granted, we didn't get through all of it but what we saw, I loved it.

Finally we made it to the waterfall.  Unfortunately, there wasn't a good photo opportunity at this waterfall that didn't include wading in mud up to my knees!  So, from where the trail was dry, here is the waterfall.

Too bad the picture sucks because it really was beautiful!  Just to the left of where I took this picture, I saw what I thought was a giant snake climbing up a tree!  Ok, this is from the woman who sees a troll's face on the giant cottonwood! 

I'm still not sure what that was climbing up that tree, but I know now that it's not a snake.  I don't know if it's a root somehow or just a vine that snaked up the tree but for a second, it scared the heck out of me!

This was the best part of my weekend.  I'm going to have to try to talk him into more walks.

This Morning's Walk, 4.51 miles

What is a Snuggle Worth?

According to this woman, about $60 an hour!

For real, people, I can't make this stuff up!

While I hate giving her free publicity, this absolutely cracked me up and kudos to her for doing this for a living!  What does she do?  Well, if you didn't click the link, I'll tell you.  She snuggles for money!

You can go to her office or home or facility or where ever it is that she works and pay her to snuggle with you.  For real.  For $60, you can get one hour of snuggle time.  Hmm.  From her website,

Q. What if I become sexually aroused during my session?
A. Don't worry, it happens! Although sexual activity is not permitted, arousal is perfectly normal and should not make anyone feel uncomfortable.

I wish I could write fiction this good!

I am all about free enterprise.  I think my biggest issue with this woman is that I'm jealous that I didn't think of it FIRST!  If you have to have a career, this is the one to have.  If I have to work, why can't this be my job?  Dang it, this woman is genius!

Maybe I could still get on her bandwagon.  I don't want to look like I'm stealing her idea, so I'll just charge for hugs!  Sexual arousal not included.

How NOT to Photoshop

Some pictures are hard to tell if they are photoshopped.  This one was pretty damn easy to tell this has been doctored and doctored badly.

As you can see, this was an ad on a website.  The ad was for Sensa, a weight loss product.  Look at this "model".  Does anyone really WANT to look like this?  She is absolutely emaciated looking here.  There is no way her waist is that small and look at that neck.  If she doesn't look like an alien, I don't know who does.

I have so many thoughts running around in my head over this picture, I can't slow them down enough to pick one and write about it!  Let's start with the bad photoshopping job.  Really.  Does ANYONE think this is an actual picture?  This is HORRIBLE.

Ron had to tell me how to "clip" this photo from the website since it was an ad and I couldn't copy the picture from where it was.  I was afraid to just send a link because if you opened it, you might get a different ad.  So, Ron gave me an emergency lesson on how to grab that picture.  Thanks, honey!

From there, I followed the link to look at their website to see if bad photoshopping continued there.  Here is what I am assuming is the same "model" from the actual website.

Maybe it's the angle or just less photoshopping but she doesn't look AS emaciated here while I still don't believe they shaved some inches off of her.  This is just MY belief and MY opinion.  I am not an expert.  And, she has a normal sized neck in this shot, not one that will telescope up at will, like ET the Extra Terrestrial!  I also think it's comical that this photo is titled by the website "body hero model".  Not my hero but whatever.

Another thought I had is . . . aside from the bad photoshopping done on these pictures, if anyone is stupid enough to believe that taking a pill a day is all it takes to make you look like THIS, you're an idiot.  You don't get washboard abs from anything but diet and exercise.  As a matter of fact, you don't lose weight without diet and exercise.  Period.  It's really not a secret.  It's not easy, but it's not a secret.

Again, if you think a pill or two a day will make you lose 100 pounds and look like this, you deserve to be taken advantage of by these shysters.  If you think you will get abs like this from sitting on the couch watching Jerry Springer while eating a carton of donuts, then I also have a bridge over the Black River for sale, cheap.  Or, if your tastes run to the international side, I have another one in London that I am letting go to the right buyer.

Thanks for Calling, I Accept Your Invitation

Checking the mailbox is always a thrill for me.  You never know what will be there!  It could be a letter from Ed McMahon, it could be a card from Ojai or a care package from San Diego.  You just NEVER know what is in my mail box!

Saturday, it was a jury summons!  C'mon now, really?  You want ME??  Have you read my blog?  Have you heard about me?  And yet, you want ME!  Lorain County, you could be in big trouble here!

My first thought was "holy cow, I call myself a blogger!  How can I ever keep a secret if I get called to be on a jury?"  For real, have y'all ever known me to hold back with what is on my mind?  Some people say I over share.  Maybe I do, but this is my release.  Some days in writing down what has happened, it helps me put things into perspective in my mind.  Believe it or not, some times I even figure some things out by writing here.  Sorry for making you go through it with me!

This will be my biggest challenge.  If I get called to be part of a jury, how can I not blog about it until after the case if over?  Yes, a challenge indeed.  I have no filter between my brain and my mouth or in this instance between my brain and my fingers.  Perhaps, if I do get on a jury, I will have to pull the plug on my computer and leave it off until it's over.  Wish me luck!

Part of me says "it's about time!"  I may regret this down the road, but I've always wanted to see our process in person and not on Law and Order.  I have been a registered voter since I was 18 years old and have held a current and valid driver's license since I was 16 years old.  I'm not sure where else they go for a jury pool but you'd think I'd have been called a few times in the last 31 years.

Actually, I was called once for jury duty while I was living in Houston Texas.  I was never comfortable driving into downtown Houston so when I found out that your jury summons got you free public transportation, I jumped on that offer.  I caught a bus right in front of my apartment and it let me off like two blocks away from the court house.  Easy peasy.

I remember this one guy that was on the bus with me in the morning heading into downtown.  When I was standing on that same corner after jury duty to head home, that same guy was standing there waiting for a bus as well.  I don't remember all of the particulars, but he recognized me from the bus that morning and started up a conversation with me.

No big deal, you know how I talk to strangers.  So, we stood there chatting until the bus came.  When I got on the bus and sat down, this guy sat right down with me in a bus that was mostly empty.  Ok, I was a little uncomfortable but I didn't say anything.  We were talking after all so I guess it shouldn't be that weird, right?

Remember the warning we ladies were taught at an early age that if something feels wrong, it IS wrong?  I should have remembered that lesson.

On the bus on the way home, we're sitting there.  I had a dress on that day and luckily an umbrella in my hand.  Suddenly, he bent down, and ran his hand up my leg from my freakin' ankle!  Are you serious?  I don't remember exactly what I said to him but it had to do with "are you crazy" with outside voice and my umbrella raised.  I think he knew this woman was serious because he got right up out of the seat and RAN to the door, trying to get out of the bus before it even stopped!  Yeah, my brother.  I have an umbrella and I'm NOT afraid to use it!

So, that was my jury duty experience.  I never got out of the jury room and talked to no one and was out of there by noon that day.  So, my only story about being called for jury duty is the pervert I met on the bus!

This time I have to be available for THREE weeks for jury duty.  At least I can call in every evening to find out if I actually have to show up at the Justice Center or whatever they call it.  Hopefully this time I have a better story than a pervert on a bus.  Here's just hoping I can keep my mouth shut when I have to until I can blog about the story!

If the thought of ME being on jury duty doesn't scare all of the miscreants straight, nothing will.  Look out Lorain County, I have accepted your invitation and I am appearing for duty!

Things To Do Today:

Things to do today:

* Get up and go to work.
Check.
*  Pay some bills.
Check.
*  Make some phone calls.
Check.
*  Work on production schedule.
Check.
*  Spend a couple of hours in the emergency room.
Check.

WHAT??  Ok, that last one wasn't on my original list of things to do today but somehow it ended up on my list.

I was sitting there, working away.  I was working on a spreadsheet when suddenly, I got like a tunnel vision where the periphery of my vision all went black.  I suddenly really felt bad.  I was very dizzy.  The first thought in my head was that I thought I had been holding my breath.  Yes, I was working hard!  So I pushed myself back from my desk, took a couple of deep breaths and thought I'd be ok.

I sat there for a minute and convinced myself that if I just got up, went pee, I'd be ready to go back to my spreadsheet.  I got up, took one step and was happy I made it back to my chair before falling on my ass.  I was REALLY dizzy.

I sat there another minute.  The guys were in the next office when Dean popped into my office to say something to me and I guess I didn't look so good.  I told him I was just a bit dizzy and before I knew it Mike was in my office too.  I must really not have looked ok because Mike said right away that we were going to the ER.  Either he was driving me or calling an ambulance!  DANG, how badly did I look for crying out loud? 

I opted for a ride to the hospital but knew I'd never make it to the door.  I wish someone had a camera because Mike pushing me down the hall in my office chair had to be a sight!  They must be harder than you think to navigate based on the number of walls we hit!  I thought I was the dizzy one!

We made it to EMH in Elyria and I don't think we waiting very long.  I am dizzy and by now starting to feel nauseous.   I immediately was given an EKG, hooked up to a heart monitor, had blood drawn, given a chest x-ray and put on oxygen.  The immediate answer was that the EKG was fine, but they'd monitor my heart rhythm and wait for the results of the blood work and chest x-ray.

Heaven love my brother Mike, but as much as I tried to get him to go back to work, he wouldn't leave me.  You haven't lived until you have gotten to spend a few hours in the ER with him!  Trust me, we are WAAY to close as siblings, especially after this.  But, he did his job as big brother/boss and made sure to ask me if I was wearing clean underwear, then sat and watched judge shows on TV and even an episode of Grey's Anatomy before the doctor came back to tell me that there was NOTHING wrong with me.

The final diagnosis was "Near-Syncope" which means "Near-Fainting" due to a vasovagal episode.  Yeah.  Whatever.  Bottom line is I almost fainted and they have no idea why.  I feel MUCH better about it all now!

They did run a bunch of tests and I can tell you that I do NOT have a blood clot, my heart enzymes are perfect as are the rest of the results from my blood work.  I am the picture of health, just a little dizzy!  After laying there for a few hours watching TV, I felt much better.   Go figure.

This is chalked up to "one of those things".  It probably won't happen again.  But, if it does . . . go back to the ER.  How's that for definitely maybe.

Picture this, laying there on a heart monitor, on oxygen, when a woman from admitting comes in to tell me that my bill is $150 and she is there to collect payment!  For real??  I had to give her a check right then and there.  Ok, I could have done without THAT part, but aside from her, the rest of the staff was stellar.

And, at the end of the day, it cost me $150 to be told I was fine.  Ugh.  But after all the blood work and the rest of the tests on top of the physical I had with MY doctor on Monday, I guess I do have a clean bill of health.  And that was worth the price I paid.

And, Mike and I got to goof off for a few hours on a work day watching crappy day time TV.  And, I was allowed to take the rest of the day off.  Bonus for me!

The day may not have progressed like I thought it would, but at least it all came out ok in the end.

I DID IT!!

I struggled for the last 24 hours trying to decide if I wanted to make this public and put this information on the blog.  Then, I thought "what the heck"!  I've put the rest of my weight loss journey on this blog, I might as well share the good news too!

Let's go back two years.  I was told I was a Type II Diabetic.  Such a WTF moment!  I was 47 years old and due to a lifetime of bad decisions, I was now a diabetic.  To say I was overwhelmed is an understatement.  I watched my Dad die of this disease, one piece of him at a time.  I KNEW that was my future and that scared me to death.

It's been a long road of trial and error and good intentions gone wrong, but I finally feel that I am on the right track to make a lifestyle change. I have learned that healthy eating and exercise are a MUST in every one's life.  I will continue to eat blueberry pancakes at Pete's and I will continue to eat pretzels and ice cream.  But along with these treats I've learned that I need to eat a lot more vegetables and just make better choices about what I eat.

Exercise?  No matter how much it hurts, you have to do it.  I don't have to like it, but I have to do it. 

But now I can say that after two years, I have beaten it.  I can now be called a FORMER DIABETIC!!  For real!  My A1C test came back at a 5.2!!  That is freakin' huge, people!  My first A1C test two years ago had me at over 10.  That means my average blood sugar was over 200.  Not good.  My last A1C test last year had me down to 6.5.  I was really close to a normal person but I still had work to do.  As of yesterday, my A1C was 5.2 which means I am OFF of my meds and now calling myself a FORMER diabetic! 

I am so excited I could just PEE!  That is excited!

Was it easy?  No.  Am I done?  Far from it. 

It will be too easy to say ok, I'm here now I'm done.  But I can't do that.  I will be back at my doctor's office in six months (January 11th, mark your calendars!) and have another A1C test to make sure I am maintaining my numbers.  Maintaining hell, I better be in better shape that I am now.  At least that is my goal.

So, there you go.  Hard work, determination and the help from my family and friends got me to where I am.  Like I said, it's not over and it will be a lifetime of trying to make more good choices than bad, but I am hopeful that I will continue on my path to better health.

But for today, I am SO proud of myself and SO happy with what I have accomplished.  It took me longer than I thought it would, but I am here.  And I do NOT plan on going back!

Fifty Shades of You Gotta Be Kidding Me

There is a new book series out that is getting a lot of press.  I have heard a lot about this book and wanted to read it for myself to see if it was worth all the hype it was receiving. 

Fifty Shades of Gray by E. L. James is one of the hottest selling books on the market right now.  It is being estimated that this author is bringing in $1 million a WEEK off of this trilogy.  When does this madness stop?

I don't think I am naive, and I understand that there are alternative lifestyles.  I used to be a believer of what happens behind closed doors between two consenting adults is their business.  This book has caused me to rethink that philosophy.

Fifty Shades of Gray has to do with a young college student (who happens to be a virgin) meets through business circumstances this young twenty something billionaire who is seriously into BDSM. Of course they "fall in love" and this is her introduction into a sexual relationship. 

Let me set the scene here.  He shows her a contract that he wants her to sign.  A contract that states something along the lines that he is allowed to "train" her in any way he decides.  Any time she displeases him in ANY manner, he is allowed to punish her.  The contract states just what implements are allowed and what aren't.  To the writer's credit, she at least stipulated in this fictional contract that animals and children would not be allowed in their sexual escapades.  Great, no dogs or kids in bed, but please, beat me.  Then tell me how much I'm going to like it.  He tells her what she can wear, where she can go, what she can do.  She has to sign the contract that states how often she will work out with a trainer of his choice, and this list goes on and on and on.

I guess I have a serious issue with this book and can't understand the legions of women getting behind the wave of publicity and making this author beyond rich.  I'm all about some well written smut but when it's interspersed with this woman getting beaten, I just can't support that.  I read this book up to her first beating and that was enough.  I should have stopped after reading the contract but it was a train wreck that I couldn't look away from.  At least until the first beating happened.

Maybe just because I've been there, done that, got the t-shirt and the scars.  It took me years to realize that it is NOT ok for a man to beat me.  It took me years but at least I did get there.   How many women are still living that life?  How many can't or won't get out of an abusive relationship?  And I'm supposed to accept it as a fetish for sexual release?  Can't do it.  I will not support it, I will not condone it.

Call me a prude.  But I will never agree with the idea, even in fiction, that it's ok to hit a woman.  Ever.