Meet Susan Swiderski!

Hello sweet friends. Gosh this has been a long nine days since we last talked. I truly miss you and hope your
doing well.

Sending you love and thanks for all the lovely comments you left me on my previous post about my son Clint's accident. He is recovering at home and receiving lots of attention from his family.

I did manage to finally drive to Austin to see him on Tuesday. The nasty stomach virus I had kept me away until then and as all of you know a mother not being able to see her babies when their hurt is a living nightmare.

Clint was still banged up bad but is on the road to recovery. I wanted to cry when I saw him but after seeing what he looked like in the emergency room I did cry. He is taking care of himself and will soon be back to work and I imagine riding bicycles again one day with his kids.

Today is his and Andrea's wedding anniversary. They were married 15 years ago. He wrote the sweetest Thank You Note and love note to Andrea today on Facebook wishing her a Happy Anniversary. No one ever wrote me such a sweet note. lol  Wishing them both many many more years of happiness.

Now let me introduce you to my dear friend Susan. She graciously agreed to be my next Blogazine Guest on here. You know how I love it when someone volunteers but sometimes I have to reach out an grab you to get you on here.

Susan is lot's of fun as you will see from reading her post here. She also has written a book that after I read it I knew I wanted you to meet her too. Her writing is refreshing and at times quite hilarious. I fell in love with several of her characters in the book and hated to see it end.

As you know I love nothing better than to curl up with a good read but sometimes their hard to find so I often ask you to tell me about what your reading. You will not be disappointed if you purchase Susan's book from Amazon or visit her blog  I Think Therefore I Yam!
So please enjoy my friend Susan and if you want to be my next blogazine guest please send me your post to
maggiemallard888@yahoo.com. We all have a story to tell so please send me yours.

Hi-ya! It’s a pleasure to meet y’all. My name is Susan, and most people call me… um… Susan. (Go figure.) It’s really great to be here to chat with you guys. (Thanks, Maggie!) Talking about Maggie, isn’t she something else? Ya gotta love a gal who calls herself Grandma Yellow Hair. Any of the rest of you relate to that name? I sure do. The way I see it, just because my kids refuse to do anything about their gray hair is absolutely no reason for me to stop putting smelly crap on mine. Somebody has to support the economy, right?  It ain’t much, but it’s something.

 

As you can probably guess, I’m an old(ish) fartessa, but I’ve got no complaints. My hubby and I have been married for forty-four years, and are enjoying retired life in our empty nest. Wait… let me rephrase that. He’s been retired for almost a dozen years. I was a stay-at-home mom, over-zealous housekeeper, and outta-control volunteer, so technically I can’t ever retire. However, I’ve gotten around that little technicality quite nicely by becoming a whole lot more (ahem) relaxed. The health department hasn’t threatened to condemn the place, so I figure we’re still good. I mean, who the hell needs to see their reflection in the kitchen floor, anyway? I’m not even all that keen about seeing it in the mirror.

Oh yeah, our slightly messy nest isn’t entirely empty, either. We have two cats, Dot and Dash, who are considerably more spoiled than our children ever were. Kids? We’ve got three, (One of each, my husband likes to say.) and they’re all married and off raising their own families now. I tell ya, there must be something in that Florida and Alabama water… grandbaby number thirteen just made his grand entrance (Or was it an exit? I guess it depends on how ya look at it.) a couple weeks ago.

My hubby and I are originally from Maryland, but we moved to Georgia in 1971. You think it’s a bite ya in the butt bit of karma that our boys moved out of state to raise their families, too? Could be. We’re both amateur radio operators, (AKA hams) and pursue a number of other hobbies. For our anniversary this year, we went to the north Georgia mountains for a few days, and tried our hands at panning for gold and gems. So, we ended up backing into yet another hobby. Rocks. I never would’ve imagined that one, but so far, we’re having fun with it.

Enough of that. I’m pretty sure what Maggie wanted me to talk about is my writing, so I’ll get to it. For many years, I did a lot of pro bono stuff for numerous organizations, and got a couple pieces published in magazines, (For pay! What a concept!) but I decided it was time to write a book. After all, my second grade teacher TOLD me I was gonna be an author some day, and dammit, who was I to make a liar of her? (She was a really sweet lady.)

So fast forward… lots and lots (and LOTS!) of writing, rewriting, and editing, and then it was time to query agents. Several suggested I start a blog, so I did: I Think; Therefore I Yam.  It’s an eclectic blog, to say the least. What can I say? I’m a bit of a smart ass with a weird sense of humor, who loves weird facts and historical tidbits, so just about anything goes. Initially, the premise was to build a platform, but that’s a bunch of hooey. I  blog now because of the connections I’ve made with so many wonderful people around the world.

Anyhow, long story short, my book (Tra-la!) was released a couple months ago. It’s called Hot Flashes and Cold Lemonade, and contrary to the title, it isn’t a book about menopause. It’s about life, love, family, and friends. (And a gal who just happens to be going through menopause.) From the feedback I’ve been getting, my book has been making women AND men laugh. And cry. And making this old gal very happy… because they…ohmigod, they LIKE it! Life is good. It is very very good.

Again, thank you, Maggie.


Thank you Susan for taking time out from your writing to do this post for me. I hope you enjoyed doing it as much as I enjoyed having you here. 

It's a delight to me getting to know my friends out here in this amazing world of blogging better. 

Congrats on your book Hot Flashes and Cold Lemonade. I just know you will sell tons of copies and I am looking forward to reading your next book.

Sending all of you much love and hope to see you again soon. I am
still having trouble with my internet but will try to stop by and see you soon.

Love to all
Maggie

In A Matter of Seconds!

Sizzling hot here in Texas today. My outside thermostat is reading 103 right now and the heat index is 110.  Thank goodness for living in a home with air conditioning. I really can't imagine living in Texas without AC.

My biggest concern today though is not the heat but my Son Clint. On Sunday evening he was spending quality time with his children Bailey and Kaci when in seconds their outing turned into a horrible nightmare.

They were riding their bicycles around the neighborhood when the front wheel on Clint's bicycle came off while he was going down hill. He was of course unable to control anything and was thrown over and landed mostly on his face.

This is what Clint shared with his friends on Face book. I hope he doesn't mind me repeating his post on here.
             Had a pretty horrible accident on my bike last night. Riding with the kids
             and going down hill pretty fast and my front tire hit something..popped it in the air
             when it landed I basically flew off my bike. I am so proud of my kids it knocked me
              out and I was bleeding every where. Bailey stayed with me and Kaci rode for help.
              I know they were freaked out but they got to Andrea who then took me to the
              emergency room. I hate they had to deal with it but so proud of them. I have a
              concussion and right side of my face looks like Mike Tyson beat me for 12 rounds.
              Stitches and gauze all over the place. I am in bad shape but my kids saved me from a lot
              worse. I love them so much.

Clint is in bad shape and was really banged up. He had to have stitches in his eyelid and chin. Also he will need dental work because it broke one of his teeth on the bottom near the front. He is devastated about that as I am for him but thank God he is not seriously injured with major problems.

My grand kids are amazing. I cry when I think about what they went through while this was taking place.
I can just imagine the horror of seeing their Dad fly off his bike and to be laying in a pool of blood. Kaci took control and rode to get her Mom several big blocks away while Bailey stayed with his Dad. It was extremely difficult for both of them but they are my little hero's and I am so proud of them for knowing what to do.

Andrea told me that Bailey was crying so hard on the way to the emergency room and Kaci was coaching him in the back seat to Breath and to think of the Beach and them there watching the waves coming in and out. They love the beach so wasn't it smart of Kaci to get Bailey to think of those times.

I shared with you today the picture of Clint, Kaci and Bailey sitting on the deck of a friends beach house last month. They were enjoying shakes from the nearby Sonic.  Hopefully in the near future they will be watching those waves again.

Since I am still sick with this bug I can't go to Austin and be with them but my sweet daughter-in-law Andrea has kept me updated on both Clint's recovery and how the kids are handling it.

Andrea has really been a life saver with taking care of Clint around the clock. I can not begin to tell you how grateful I am that he is married to someone that loves him the way she does.

I want to thank all of you for always leaving me such sweet comments and all the get well wishes I am better and I am hoping in another day this too shall pass.

Stay cool and take care dear friend.

Love to all
Maggie