Author: Susan

I do this blog for PG audiences and another one for R audiences with Bae Bliss.

Wiener Dog Versus Rat

Posted in animals, California, Dachshund, dogs, fire fighter, handy man, memoir, rats, Tough Shed, writers2 Comments

Long ago, when I had three school-aged children off at their respective schools, I sat at my desk writing during the quiet of the day when I heard the Dachshund barking. He was somewhere in our spacious backyard. I ignored it at first, but when the barking didn’t subside, I decided I’d better go check… Continue reading Wiener Dog Versus Rat

The Grass is Always Greener

Posted in bedroom, dogs, emoji, humor, kiss, marriage, partner, relationships, roommate, texting1 Comment

(re-run) I had a meeting tonight with two girlfriends in solid hard-core relationships. One is married, the other is living with her guy. My relationship is with two roommates who fight a lot over squeaky toys and over who gets to go out the door first. They are roommates of the furry kind. So imagine… Continue reading The Grass is Always Greener

Massage Talk, Otter Card, and Scavenger Find

Posted in #MeToo, blog, blog posts, chiropractor, football, library, library card, massage, memoir, news, Prius, scavenger, South Dakota, stomach issues, TVLeave a comment

(re-run) Every other Tuesday I treat myself to a full-hour massage at my chiropractor’s office. Curtis is awesome. He can make this senior citizen feel almost 50 again. Curtis asks lots of questions while he is working on me. For the past several months I haven’t been able to talk, have barely been able to… Continue reading Massage Talk, Otter Card, and Scavenger Find

Living with OCD

Posted in compulsions, gene, germs, health, hereditary, hoarder, memoir, obsessions, OCD, perfectionist, routine, worrier, writersLeave a comment

I always knew I was different in the way I perceived the world.  Instead of needing to do classic hand washing or constantly worrying about germs, I had other weird rituals, like never leaving the house without a Kleenex and needing to have a regular routine. I married a last-minute, no plan, fly-by-the-seat-of-his-pants kind of… Continue reading Living with OCD

Must Love Dogs

Posted in animal adoption, animal rescue, beach, California, choke chain, dating, dogs, Golden Retriever, humor, ocean, relationshipsLeave a comment

(re-run) John had a date with a woman named Sally. She had just rescued a dog and named it Muffin. John wanted to go skim boarding at the beach, and he asked Sally to come with him. Of course she had to bring Muffin, her Golden Retriever. When they got to San Gregorio beach a… Continue reading Must Love Dogs

Late-night Loser

Posted in alcohol abuse, bar, bartender, blondes, California, Chinese food, dancing, dating, firsts, jerk, memoir, relationships, restaurant, sex, worstsLeave a comment

(re-run) We decided to meet at Bing Crosby’s. I took a seat at the bar, and asked for water. After all, I’d had two glasses of wine already, waiting for him to get off work at the TV station and to drive all the way to Walnut Creek from Marin County. I listened to the… Continue reading Late-night Loser

Watch Out for the Green Pepper

Posted in dancing, dating, dogs, food, Fred Flintstone, hiking, hospital, humor, passive aggressive, podiatrist, relationships, stitches, UncategorizedLeave a comment

I can’t eat green pepper. I can’t eat a lot of things. The older I get, the more things I need a certain way to keep me happy. When I was four years into a past relationship, I knew it was in trouble when the boyfriend started adding green pepper to everything he served me.… Continue reading Watch Out for the Green Pepper

The Scars of our Lives

Posted in accident, aging, broken bones, dentist, dog bite, health, make-up, memoir, scars, stitches, sunburn, tetanus shot, tooth, VenezuelaLeave a comment

(re-run) When you get to be my age, you are bound to have a few scars. I haven’t had any big surgeries, but I do have scars from burns, bumps, and scrapes along the way.  Right now it’s my thumb that is most noticeable. I broke it by pulling down a three-piece sectional garage door… Continue reading The Scars of our Lives

Black Jamaicans are African Americans

Posted in Blacks, Central Americans, Cuba, history, Jamaicans, Jeopardy, Kamala Harris, memoir, North Americans, Portuguese, slavery, South America, Spanish, teacher, textbooks3 Comments

It was pointed out to me today on Facebook that people say the dumbest things.  Today it was that Kamala Harris isn’t really African-American because her black father was from Jamaica. Here’s a news flash. Blacks in Jamaica are descendents of slaves, just as blacks from Venezuela, Brazil, Barbados, anywhere in the Americas are, as… Continue reading Black Jamaicans are African Americans

I Wish You Would’ve Died

Posted in accident, California, detention, English, ESL, highway, Hispanic, Iowa, memoir, Ramona, substitute teacher, teacher, teaching, UncategorizedLeave a comment

Imagine a white woman from Iowa teaching Spanish in a town that was one fourth Latino. Imagine coming into the classroom mid-year after a string of substitutes. On my first day, a student said, “You’re our 12th sub.  How long are you going to last?” It was a brand new middle school in Ramona in… Continue reading I Wish You Would’ve Died