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Day 7: Favorite What more do I need to say?! This is Gidget. She is without a doubt the best dog in the world. I really mean that. Not exaggerating. Won’t even get into counting the ways, too many. She is simply the best!
Read Post →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.
Read Post →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.
Read Post →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.
Read Post →I drink my breakfast. I use the liquid food pyramid to ensure a balanced breakfast.
Read Post →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!
Read Post →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.
Read Post →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 …
Read Post →I was at a DotMOM Conference and heard Kathy Peel explain this very clever concept – The Clutter Jail. Kathy, author and family manager expert, created a clutter jail for her children. If they left there clutter around the house – she did not nag – she did not chastise – she did not punish. She simply picked it up and put it in jail. Do not pass go, do not collect $200. When her child discovered the item was missing he received a notice of bail to release the jailed clutter. Let your imagination run wild. Bail can be set at whatever you need – dishes washed – money for a manicure – babysitting – dog poop collecting. You name it depending on the age and ability of your child! If they don’t want to cooperate then the item stays in jail. In that case, the good news is it won’t be cluttering the house anymore. I took the idea to iMOM (Kathy is an iSpecialist for iMOM) and they made a tool out of it. I love it – hassle free – that’s for me. P.S. This concept is particularly effective after Christmas or birthdays when children …
Read Post →What is it with me and white lately?! I am tempted by all things white: the white fire place and my wedding dress the white cabinets I want for my kitchen the silver tub with the white porcelain lining And now the white Nikon J1. I want it. And I am rather attached to it. If I had a J1 my pictures might look like more Ree Drumond’s or Ann Voskamp’s. If I had it I would take more pictures of my family that were worth keeping. If I had the Nikon J1 this blog would be visually inspired by pictures of food and children more beautiful than all the visions of sugar plums that ever dance in my head put together (do you think there is a chance my husband might read this – hint, wink, hint)! I have a million excuses to get it…and just as many not to get it. It is new on the market so there are no deals to be had; I have a looming house renovation (not my choice – the flood, remember) threatening to exceed its budget at every moment; not to mention the three school tuitions I am paying …
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