Suzanne Says…

I was out and about this morning, meeting the football coach at the bank to sign papers making me the official Treasurer of the Booster Club, and got a phone call from Oldest Son saying he was at my house. They didn’t work today, even though it’s not raining, so he came to do some work in my yard and play around on one of the computers.

Since he and I rarely get any time to do anything just the two of us these days, I invited him out on a lunch date at our favorite Chinese buffet. When we got back Fresh Air and PDD came in (PDD had spent the night over at Fresh Air’s house last night) so I seized the opportunity to have Fresh Air take a picture of me and Oldest Son (also a rarity!) He never smiles openly in pictures these days because he’s got major issues with his teeth, but at least he doesn’t look like he’s pissed at the world. And I’m not going to be a choosy beggar - he agreed readily to the picture and that’s blessing enough for me!

So, ok, as I’m sure you’ve noticed by now, I SUCK at things like NaBloPoMo. I post much more often when I’m not trying to post everyday than I do when I am trying to post everday. Must be the inner rebel in me…I don’t know. But I’ve decided to do a little experiment: July’s NaBloPoMo theme is: Food. Now, come on - can I not come up with 31 posts about Food? I know I can - YOU know I can, but what’s my inner rebel say? She’s probably in there grinning her evil grin and saying, “Oh go on, Suzanne…try it. I’ll just exert my little bad ass self again and you won’t make it again, and how stupid will you feel not being able to write about food, for crying out loud??!! Hahahahahahahahaha!!!”

So, we’re gonna shut that little heffer up. How? Ha! By participating in July without SAYING I’m going to post every day about food for 31 days straight. Try a little reverse psychology on her butt…huh? Yeah, that’s the plan.

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In other news, I HAVE MISSED YOU ALL!!! But I have good reason to be away so long: I’ve been BUSY with a capital B!

Last post, I told you all I’d been asked to write for another site. Well, not only did I accept, but I also mentioned that I had a few tips for her regarding her site (just a few tweaks here and there) and she ended up hiring me to take over the programming on her site, too! So BOTH Suzannes get to work with Yasmin at APOOO (A Place Of Our Own) Bookclub!! She asked me (the coach) to write the Motivational Monday column each week, and my first piece is up today: Every Ending Is Also a Beginning. Come by and have a look if you have the time. I’ll be there every Monday, and if you like to read and want an insider tip… Subscribe to the APOOO feed! All kinds of goodies are going to be coming to her feed subscribers, so don’t miss out! Shhhh…you didn’t hear that from me. LOL

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Here at home, this is what we USED to have to help us deal with the crazy Oklahoma heat. (Let’s not discuss how this picture got taken by Oldest Son standing atop the 1-1/2 story insulated steel building in the backyard…no…we’ll overlook that, because it’s really such a great shot.) This is the reason I bought this house, as opposed to the myriad others I looked at. This pool saved lives and kept me out of jail, trust me.

But then comes a house fire, a year of abject poverty recovering from that and then the ice storm of December 2007, and this is what we have staring back at us when we go out the back door. In addition, you can’t see that a limb came out of the tree and broke the pump in half - literally, and the state of the filter is yet undetermined. All told, probably a $grand$ to get it back looking like the picture above.

So…..

This is our temporary, one-summer solution. LOL Yes, we’ve gone from an 18-ft by 27ft, 4ft deep oval to an 8ft by 30 inch deep circle. Quite the come-uppance for this household, I assure you. But like I told PDD, which would you rather? I spend $50 and provide you a way to get wet or save my $50 toward fixing the big pool while you sweat all through August? Suddenly, our wannabe pool will do. (Funny how that works, huh?)

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As we wrap up the very eventful month of June here at the Suzanne Says… household, I want to tell you I am working to get my act together and not leave you hanging weeks at a time from now on. I’m sure you bloggers out there identify with this - sometimes life moves at such a pace that just keeping up with it is a trick, much less documenting it on your blog! But what I miss when I call myself too busy to come talk to you all here is a lot: my sanity, in part; talking things out with you all here helps me sort out what’s true for me, and knowing that is essential to leading a happy life, and I like my happy life and want to keep it that way!

So I may disappear for a few days, but I’m just like a boomerang - I’ll always be back!

I received my first request to write a weekly column for a website today! Holy moly! How ’bout that!?! I’m dog-tired and don’t have any details to share, but couldn’t wait to tell you all that it happened! I’m still pinching myself!

Nitey nite - more details soon - I promise!

Second Son broke up with his former girlfriend a couple of months ago. Of course, I am the last to know anything, so I was somewhat confused when he and one of the neighbor’s daughters started ‘hanging out’ together.

PDD has been friends with this particular girl for awhile now. She’s only 6 months younger than Second Son, but she is the youngest of her family (like PDD) and when she’s with PDD, she’s finally older than somebody in her world. LOL She’s had a crush on Second Son for as long as I’ve known her (they moved into the neighborhood about 2 1/2 years ago - a few months before our fire) and I’m sure that hangin’ with PDD also gave her a better ‘view’. To her credit, she really does spend time with and pay attention to PDD, so it’s not a case of ‘putting up with’ PDD to be around Second Son.

When Second Son spent the week at University of Tulsa (6/9-6/13), she pretty much spent the week over here with PDD. We did ‘girl stuff’ that week and celebrated the absence of testosterone in the house. We watched chick flicks and one evening, she flat-ironed PDD’s hair (PDD just LOVES straight hair, of course, since hers is so dang curly) and we put a perm in my hair.

Given the situation Second Son may have gotten himself into with another girl (when I can write coherently about it, I’ll fill you all in), this girl is impressing me with a maturity not often seen in girls her age - hell, girls ANY age! She’s got a strong sense of self and I really like that. In fact, that’s one of the reasons I’m happy she and PDD are such good friends - PDD could use a good example of that in her life, particularly in one of her peers.

Another great asset this girl has, as far as I’m concerned, is she still is very much a kid. She loves to goof around and take pictures with PDD making crazy faces and is not at all embarrassed by her hair being messed up. See? Strong sense of self. Love it! She’s a much needed breath of fresh air around here, so that’s what I’ll call her around here: Fresh Air.

PDD is at a slumber party this evening so I’ve got me a date with a hottie: Second Son! We’re going to see “The Incredible Hulk” and “You Don’t Mess With the Zohan” at the drive-in here in a few minutes.

Try not to be jealous, folks!