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From Susan Merrill

The Blog

Encouragement

30 Day Photo Challenge: MAKES YOU SMILE

Day 6: Makes You Smile This is my husband on the right. With his friend, Jay, on the left. Wearing the same shirt. At Disney World. Dancing. In the street. Note: The children are no where to be found – hiding in embarrassment. My friend, Beth and I, we loved it. It still makes me smile… and tear up. Shortly after this visit, Jay discovered he had an aggressive, B-cell lymphoma. His treatment is equally aggressive chemo – 6 rounds followed by a bone marrow transplant. Mark took a trip to visit Jay and encourage him in between treatments. I sent him with specific instructions to be a help and do some chores around the house for Beth. This is definitely a posed shot. My guess is they were just goofing around as usual but trying to prove to me that Mark was helping out around the house. It makes me smile to know my husband can be “a friend who loves at all times, and a brother in times of adversity.” And it makes Jay smile, too.

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Encouragement

30 Day Photo Challenge: SOMETHING YOU WORE

Day 5: Something You Wore Remember my post about finding my wedding dress all sealed and safe when the house flooded? Shortly after that post my childhood friend and bridesmaid came to visit for the weekend. Another bridesmaid came over for dinner and well, the dress was too much of a temptation. We cracked the 23 year old seal. It took both of them to get it zipped. I couldn’t breath. But, I wore it then and I can wear it now – for a limited time.

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Encouragement

30 Day Photo Challenge: SOMETHING YOU ADORE

Day 3: Something You Adore It is rather coincidental that I have to declare adoration for something just days after I confess that I am not the adoring type – with my husband. More to work on. This is Megan. My firstborn. I adore her. She gives 110 percent to everything she does. She pleases me in every way and amazes me every day. She is ready for the world. I am just not ready to let her go.

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Encouragement

Photo Challenge Day 1: YOU

Day 1: YOU This is me through the eyes of Madison (the iMOM task manager, slave driver, non-creative, bottom line, sassy co-worker). HMPH! Why do I make so many faces?! This picture is not unusual for me. Have you ever uploaded video to YouTube? When you do, it selects a frame from the video to be the frame cover for the video. I am ALWAYS making a strange face. Serious, check it out for yourself! I told you. And that makes three things I can’t control – YouTube, my face and Madison. Madison took this picture and I didn’t even notice. What was I talking about? I could not begin to guess. So here is the perfect visual example of why my blog is called Susan – It’s Just Me! Because just me is exactly what you will get – imperfection every time!

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Encouragement

30 Day Photo Challenge

The challenge is on. I am taking it. I don’t think I have a choice since Madison (A.K.A. The Wrangler) has thrown down the gauntlet. She is taking the 30 Day Photo Challenge and put a typically unflattering picture of me as the subject of Day 9 on her blog. I didn’t know she was doing this, obviously. On top of that she proceeded to describe for her readers her perception of our working relationship. If she were my daughter she’d be grounded for a month! I figure I need to show her how to take pictures and maybe get some revenge. After all, I have a new camera that I need to break in – yep, I got that Nikon J1 I wanted for Christmas, my birthday, Valentines Day, and my anniversary, from my parents, Mark’s parents, and my children. I am in gift debt for the next 365 days. This could be good for me. I may actually learn how to use my camera. On the other hand, this is probably a strategy of Madison’s to wrangle me into writing more blogs. In that case, she wins no matter what I do. She kills me.

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Parenting

The Perils Of Popularity

Years ago one of my children, after just one week as a freshman in high school, made this comment, “Sometimes I wish I were a geek, it would be so much easier.” I knew exactly what the child was thinking and the child had correctly assessed the high school dynamic. There are perils that come with popularity. Perils fraught with pressure – pressure to stay connected, pressure to compete, pressure to look good, pressure to be in the know…cutting edge…included…doing the “in” thing…taking risks…asserting independence…seeking thrills…shocking others with drama…experimenting with…?! The geek, on the other hand, is defined as a computer enthusiast or one who is overly intellectual. Or according to the popular television show Glee perhaps it can also be defined as one involved with chorus or band. My kids have played all sides from chorus to sports and clubs in between. There are two sides to every story and every child has a different way of sorting through adolescence. Some seem unscathed, some struggle. Whatever side they fall on popular, geek or somewhere in the middle, they will be challenged as they stretch and grow into adulthood. It has been my observation, as well as my child’s, that popularity …

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Marriage

Confessions: I Am Not The Adoring Type

And I am not stupid. So when I am hit with the same pang of conviction twice in one week I am smart enough to know God is trying to show me something. Pang #1 hit me during a casual conversation with a friend at the football field. My friend was sharing with me about her husband. She was gushing about him, she said that he amazed her and on and on and on. Hmm, I couldn’t remember the last time I gushed about my husband to anyone. Pang #2 hit at the Family First Annual Dinner. The speaker, Dr. Ben Carson, and his wife sat across from me. They have been married for decades but were adorable together. The entire time he was speaking, his wife, Candy, would smile at him and give a pre-emptory chuckle seconds before every joke. She obviously knew every line well but she still thought he was hysterical. She adored him and every word he spoke as if they had been dating for three months instead of married for thirty years. I’ve got to work on that. Is it my “type” that makes me less enamored, fanciful, adoring? Or is it a lack of …

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Encouragement

Saving Strategy To Fly Free

Every few years you have to reassess the deal options out there. When our kids starting going to college we realized we needed a strategy to save on flights. We have tried several credit cards and hands down the best is SouthWest. Before you read any further please let me be clear about using credit. Credit cards are very dangerous and require lots of discipline. Many financial advisers recommend that you don’t use credit cards at all. The SouthWest Visa works for us because we have three simple rules. It must be paid off on time, in full. We have never paid a finance charge. We do not ever buy what we cannot pay for in cash at the time of purchase. It is the only credit card we use. So everything goes on one card and we do not lose track of how much we have spent. To really rack up the points we put everything on this card that we can. Some examples include – food, restaurants, appliances, car repairs, school tuitions, some bills like electric. If they take visa we use the visa. In return we earn free flights. With SouthWest we earn a lot of flights because there are different point amounts …

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