Love Yourself Through It!

Ok…I have been in Georgia for over a year. I am fully in the middle of my second summer. Now, I lived for many years in what I like to refer to as the “psuedo-south. Kentucky is a beautiful state full of very southern accents and lots and lots of good country cooking and southern hospitality, but the south…well, it is really a different story.

When I talk to people who have known me a long time…they always ask how I am liking it in Georgia. I always say I love it, and that is the truth. I do. But as with everything, there is a duality to living in the south. I think that I am about to share it with you, if I can ever get to the list…so, let’s just get on to it right now.

Good Thing- The south is warm, most of the time.

Bad Thing – The south is oven hot, for a couple of months.

Good Thing- The southern sun is bright and beautiful.

Bad Thing – The southern sun will burn your hide like your momma after you cussed in church.

Good Thing- There are so many beautiful flowers and trees that blossom in bursts of colors. They are like surprise gifts as you drive along.

Bad Thing – Pine trees and their needles and sticky sap are everywhere.

Good Thing – Bluebirds and Cardinals are lovely and vibrant.

Bad Thing – What the hell is that bug?? I have never seen bugs like this! There has been some weird stick bug on my front door for two days. Doesn’t it need water or something for God’s sake??

Good Thing: Pedicures are cheap

Bad Thing: Cheap does not always mean good.

Good Thing: Hot weather makes everyone walk around half- naked.

Bad Thing: Lord, I am doing it too, and I know that I don’t need to be. LOL

Good Thing : People are friendly. The pace is slow.

Bad Thing: I miss my baby and all my Kentucky Wonders.

But, if I am being honest….it is all good. The bad defines the good. The missing makes the having even better. The hot makes me glad that I am not in the cold.

I am digging the hot south. I am brown as a bean and feeling calmer. I see so many people around me that don’t feel this easy energy. I see people searching and struggling. me?? I am too hot to be frenetic. I am sweating out the negativity. I am gonna find me a house with a front porch and sit with my baby and drink tall glass of something cooling.

I hope that you will do the same.

People say that the world is gonna come to an end. We don’t really know it, do we? Some folks will tell you that they do know it and they even know the exact day. Who can say for sure?? I can’t pretend to know for sure. So…

I say until then…

Love each other, love yourself and try your best to be better. Live your life in a better and more joyful way. Get out and look around you…let that sun on your face. Enjoy today. Love today. Live today. Laugh today. Be the love today. Be happy today. It is really your own perspective. Your own story. Release the negativity, release the expectation and just live this day fully and in joy. Allow your life to be perfect as it is. It is all our own paradigm, who says it can’t be fabulous? It can be if you want it to be…and know that you deserve it to be. You do, very fabulous child of God…YOU DO!!

And, if you’re are in the South….get some sunblock. It is hard to be Christ-like when the back of your knees are burnt. You can take that straight from the girl who is peeling like a lizard. 🙂

Smooch Out, y’all. Big Love on ya!!

http://www.susanrushing.com

Hey there Summer Bunnies!

I have to tell you all about a new little pastime that we have taken up here in the Casbah’s kitchen. We are totally making this up, but so far so good, and I so want to the share the goodness with everyone.

Ok, so, in Atlanta, we have this little street vendor company called “King of Pops”. I mean to tell you that these popsicles are BANGING, my friends. I so mean that with every fiber of my being. They are the best tasting things ever!

A couple of weeks ago, Sondra and I were out prowling around trying to find some good barbecue and a decent nail place, when we were getting ready to turn a corner and there he was…KING OF POPS. Of course, we stopped. I got the Strawberry Lemonade and Sondra got the Salted Chocolate. OH MY GOD!! They were incredible. Fresh fruit and just the right sweet and tart combo in mine and rich chocolatey goodness with the sweet salty cycle built right in Sondra’s. We were instantly addicted.

So of course, as all foodie girls do….we looked at them and we tasted them and we rolled them around in our mouths and declared them delicious…and then looked squarely at one another and said, ” You know, we could make these.”

And so it began. We came home and Sondra immediately ordered the popcicle molds from Amazon….and also about five hundred wooden sticks. 🙂

We decided that our first recipe would be fruity. So we went to the farmers market and bought some peaches. Georgia peaches…and they were good and ripe.

The pops turned out to be incredible!! We used everything natural and nothing chemically processed. You know…for the healthy part.

Here is what we did…in case you want to try.

6 small peaches…ripe

2 lemons

1/4 cup raw sugar

1/4 cup water

Ok…Getcha a big pot and bring some water to a boil. It doesn’t have to be a big rolling boil…just as long as you see some bubbles at the bottom. Put your peaches in the water…just like they are. We are only cooking them for a couple of minutes to get the skins loose.

While your peaches are doing their thing in the hot tub, get out a big bowl of water and put some ice cubes in there…not many..just six or seven or so. When your peaches have been in the water for about two minutes…lift them out and put them in the ice bath. You can let them sit there until they cool down enough to handle.

Get down your food processor or you blender…whatever you make your frozen cocktails in.

Now, take the peaches out of the water and make a small slit in the skin. That inside peach should just squeeze right out of there..easy peasy. When you have skinned all of the peaches, mush them apart with your fingers and get out all of those seeds.

Put the peaches in the cocktail making device.

In a saucepan…Squeeze out the juice of the lemons, add your water…also go grab about 1/2 cup of the peach juice that is in with the peaches. Put in on the stove and then pour in your natural sugar. Heat this on the stove just until the sugar dissolves….just like making a syrup for a mint julep.

Pour the sugary goodness into the cocktail making device and turn the bad boy on. When everything is all mushed together in cosmic harmony….start filling the molds.

Put the molds in the freezer for no less than four hours.

Lick all spoons, bowls and whatever isn’t sharp on the cocktail making device. Dance around while you are cleaning up your mess.

Oh…and don’t worry if you make more than your molds will hold…this stuff will make an excellent frozen cocktail, or ice cream.

Have fun…today we are gonna try to do the salted chocolate!!

Smooch Out…and don’t get freezer head!

I know. I have been quiet. Please don’t take it personally, I’ve just been doing a lot of thinking. Introspection…it seems one of the old girls favorite pastimes lately. Who knew that would happen, from a girl who spent her first allowance on a set of Lee tabby nails?

Last year, I changed my life. No really….I changed just about everything about it. Parts of it keep coming back to wave at me in a frenetic way, but mostly it’s the new Suzy in this new reality. Scary and exciting and sad and happy…all of those descriptors.

I have recently come to some hard realities. I had to do some serious letting go. Relationships and situations that no longer fit. People that turned out to be something different than they appeared to be. These things let me go or I let them go…not for good or bad, but just because that is the way it needed to be.

A couple of weeks ago, I went to the ocean. Not at all a familiar activity to a country girl who swam in farm ponds and man made lakes. The saltwater made my eyes burn and the hot sun turned my Irish hide the color of a cherry limeaid.

That big water scared me. It scared me on a level of a past life that took me away into its depths and left the one who loved me on the shore to search and wait for me forever. Really, I think what scared me the most was the infinite possibilities that it represented to my tired spirit. I stood by that great water and as it is known to do, it started calling to me.

Wash away your dis-heartened feeling, wash away your sins and sorrows…..let me take from you those fists clenched in indignation and frustration. Let me unclench that jaw that holds back the words that you so want to say to whomever will listen. Let me take away the soreness from walking the high road while those around you do what they will and say what they don’t understand.

…and so I did. I took a smokey quartz and I focused all of the pain and anger and disappointment and sadness and disillusionment into it. I prayed that Jesus would take that negativity from me….and when it felt like my spirit was lighter and more peaceful…I threw that stone into the ocean…and I let her have it. I said a gratitude to my Jesus and I began to change my belief systems.

I began to realize that while I did have my part in the undoing. I have recognized it. I have apologized for it. I can sleep at night in the calm knowing that everything is as it is supposed to be. I have been honest. I have spoken my truth. I have come from a place of love. I am also loving myself and recognizing that these things have happened to move me further on my path. I am grateful and love all that have been involved. I made a decision to choose peace and to not go back to the place of negativity and self doubt.

With this new state of mind, I went out and purchased an inexpensive ring and had it engraved  with the  word “Perfect”. So I can look down at it everyday and know that even through the most chaotic times in my life…the Universe has it all under control…it is as it should be. It is perfect.

So are you. Thank you for being in my life. I am grateful for you, my friend, for reading this.

Don’t be afraid to shift  your paradigms…it could be the best thing you ever did.

Smooch Out Wonderkids 🙂

yeah…and I think that she effects me in large ways.

I call her Halelula. She looks a great deal like Dolly Parton,  but not the skinny, new millenia version. No..No…like the Best Little Whorehouse in Texas version, with the fabulous big wigs and matching hips.

You know…

Just lots of good will…and maybe one small thrill….but there’s NOTHIN Dirty goin on!

She’s not the angel that you would think of when ever you think of an angel…but she is a good one. I love her. I do.

She leads me to be sweet, and to smile at folk that aren’t smiling. She leads me to love unconditionally and to preach that love to those who to hear it and to spread it around like fertilizer on a rose garden. She encourages me to feed people and starve hatred. She teaches me to hug with full body and and extra squeeze, and to mean it when I do it. She shines as brightly as the rhinestones on her dress and that blonde wig perched atop big eyes and high cheekbones is a luminous halo. She shows me that beauty comes from all places and in all ways and that the light of Spirit in each of us is the most fabulous sight to behold. She lets me see it, and makes me humbled in it…and grateful for the gift of it.

She also lets me be human. She understands that I am gonna get mad. She never frowns when my language turns as blue as her eyes. She understands that sometimes that the threat of a good ass whoopin is the best release of negative energy for me. She sits patiently with me when I speak ill of others, and holds me accountable for it later. She loves big, and she loves tough. She is simple and complicated, just like me. 🙂

She leads me to the pathway of beauty…both inside and out.

She sits on my shoulder at the beauty supply store while I peruse the wigs and false eyelashes. She was there with me every morning of my sixth grade year, as I hid behind the garage to smear frosty blue eyeshadow on my lids before I caught the bus. She was with me at the Revco when I used my first allowance to buy a pair of false eyelashes and a set of tabby nails. She has held my hand at every audition that I have ever had, and guided me in the direction that I needed to go.  Her opinon has been a blessing in every dressing room and lingerie section that I have ever set foot in.  And how could I ever have stood tall in my shoes without her gentle nudging towards shoe stores with four inch heels?

She let me know that sometimes speaking isn’t the only way to share your love. So, she helped me find the chord progression on the guitar that I can play with fingernails. She whispered in my ear ” Baby, you know four chords, you can sing about anything.” She was right, and she’s right there with me, tapping her divine foot, while I beat that guitar half to death to sing some hurtin kinda song.

She tells me everyday in my ear that I am the best thing since sugar. She came to me today twice to let me know it. I sure did need to hear it. She tells me in so many ways, and I promised her today that I would start to pay attention. She tells me in every hug I get and every smile that is given to me. She tells me in every ring of laughter or when someone says my name with a smile on their lips. She lets me see it reflected in the eyes of those who care about me. I hope they see it back for themselves.

So, tonight I think I am gonna have a cocktail in her honor. She digs that……okay, I dig that…whatever. But I am going to say thank you to her from the middle of a country girl’s heart. We may pick up the guitar or just sing some karaoke, either way we will be raising the vibration of the day…of the week….and we all love that.

PS….almost one month no sugar, y’all. A little Asian woman tried to trip me up yesterday at the Chinese restaurant. Halelula was right there and someone drank theirs first and caught it before I did!  If I am gonna mess this up it is going to be with creme brulee’ or a ho ho or something…not with a damned glass of tea, y’all!

Smooch out, angels.  Big Love on all of you!

http://www.susanrushing.com

Ok y’all…

I am wrestling today, I swear. I am a 45 year old women ( please insert the “you don’t loooook 45″ comment here. Really, please)

I am grown. I pay my own bills. I have raised my own child. I have made major purchases at major department stores with major credit cards…hell I think I may even dated a major or two. But here I am wringing my hands in fits of frenzy because an impending visit will soon be upon my household.

Three little letters that strike terror and panic into my serene world.

MOM

She will be here in 6 days.

Now, please don’t get me wrong. I do love my mother. There is really nothing more lovely than the softness of her green eyes when she is laughing. Her soft sueded voice and lightening fast wit are a very charming and disarming cocktail. Especially after she has unleashed a funny, tucks her chin and looks upward as if she shouldn’t have done it. She loves me. She loves anyone who needs a momma….and you just have to love her back.

No, really you HAVE to.

She was a strong woman. Sister was doing it for herself  long long before anyone ever sang about it, and she drug me along beside her by the chubby little wrist.

She left an alcoholic father and went right to an alcoholic husband. She did her best for 15 years. We left when I was 4. She worked full time, made most of my clothes and hers and kept a house so clean that if I ever decided to lay my tongue on the floor ( and I probably did) my mouth would have been cleaner than before I did it. She was a wonder woman in her younger days. A fireball of creativity, intelligence and she did it all on a diet of coffee, bouillon and saltine crackers.

She held herself to high accountability. Always on top of her game. Smart and pretty, and always on a diet.

She held me to it too. I had to be the best one there at every event. Grades above all else. I went on my first official diet at the age of 12. I weighed 127 and was 5’2”.

The problem: I am not my mother.

She, the Virgo: the taker of chaos and maker of order.

Me, the Aquarian: the maker of chaos and shaker of order.

For all of our differences we fight to love one another.

For all of our opposing qualities ( politics, religion, diversity)

we share equally as many similar qualities ( shopping, eating, stong will)

yeah…that last one kicks our asses, quite a lot.

I have never laughed harder than I have with my mom

I have never fought with anyone harder than I have my mom

I have never cried harder than I have with my mom

We are a duo of extremes.

I accuse her of being an energy vampire. She accuses me of being an ungrateful brat.

I beg her to be more positive and stop being so damned negative all the time.

She begs me to come home to Ohio.

This visit will be her first trip to Georgia. Oh the fights we had about my moving here. We still do it. The more she moans about my coming home the more I put off the trip. Part of me is looking forward to her coming. Part of me knows it will be a battle. Most of me knows that she will talk mostly about death and dying and when will she see me next. It will be a hard time for both of us. Me trying to be just right and she trying not to beat me to death. If there is a flaw she will find it. I am full of flaws….she knows where to look for all of them. And just like a mirror….she mirrors back to me the things about myself that I don’t love so much as well as the imperfections that are so glaringly obvious whenever she is around. It is some hard lovin, y’all. I am sweating just thinking about it.

But I do have high hopes…I really do…

I want her to see the beauty of the south. I want her to feel how delicious that sun feels on a winter lived body. I want her to appreciate the new things that I will show her. I want to share with her, my favorite, most interesting things. In my heart, I know that she will not take joy in these sparkly things, but see them as dark enemies that keep me from her.

I also know that they will not be good enough, just as I have not been good enough.

I pray everyday that she will wake up and just appreciate what the day has for her. She won’t dwell in the harshness of the past or in the bad things that people have done to her. She won’t look to the future and dwell in sickness and death. She will just wake up and notice  the sun is beautiful. She will come to see me with the joy of the laughter and the beauty of just being together. She will come to my home and see that I am happy. She will be glad for me. When we go outside she will see the magic in that grand Magnolia that is just about ready to burst forth in beautiful blossom, just in time for her visit. She won’t judge. She will just love. We will be grateful together for our time with one another.

I am gonna keep praying that prayer. It’s a good one. I really do mean it and say it will all the positive energy that I can send skyward.

But, just in case Jesus doesn’t come through…

I’m gonna keep on cleaning…hard. 🙂

Loving us all through it….y’all….yeah I’m not allowed to say y’all around her either. 🙂 hee hee

Smooch out …and pass the Pine-Sol, wouldja?

http://www.susanrushing.com

Mother is at war, boys and girls.

Really…

at war with myself, at war with the past and most of all…at war with those Dolly Madison trucks that tool down the highway with pictures of donuts on the back of their trailers.

I was behind one today on the way to work and found myself biting at the air towards a large dirty image of a powdered sugar donut that was on the lift gate. I realize that I am pathetic in this…but I am owning the weakness and trying to embrace it. I am hoping the weakness will define the strength…and I will be better for it. What was that clicking sound? Did I just bite the air again?? Jesus, give me strength.

It is a battle…

but, I want to share with you the final message…the last attempt, by my guides, to show me what I was doing was not just physically detrimental, but psychically damaging as well.

Before I do that…let me rewind the movie of this and tell you all about a couple of dreams I had, a few months ago, that were clear direction from my cosmic posse that I needed to make some swift and drastic changes to the dietary intake. They were unsettling. But like a James Bond martini…I was only shaken, not stirred.

A few months ago…well, okay…

over a year ago, I had an odd dream. In the dream I was out and about doing a little shopping (imagine that) and I was trying on some spectacular outfits in the trying on room, of my favorite phat grrl clothing store. I was putting on a pair of very snappy palazzo pants and noticed that there was something stuck to my foot. It looked like a wrapper from a hostess snack.

Gasp! I was embarrassed that I hadn’t seen it earlier. I would imagine that a Ho Ho wrapper stuck to a fat girl’s foot is the equivalent of toilet paper trailing from the shoe of a super model. I mean everyone clearly knows that you do that sort of thing, but the proof on your foot is humiliation city.

Quickly, I pulled the wrapper from my foot and went to throw it in the trashcan. It was then that I noticed that my hand was wet and smelly, and there was another wrapper-looking thing on my other foot. The more I looked the more stinky wet stuff came out of my hands, and garbage was literally falling right off of me. I was turning in to a big pile of garbage. I tried to get the clothes away from me, I didn’t want to get the garbage on the clothes, and who knew how bad that stinky swill, which was puddling on the floor, would stain.

I started to cry with panic and fear…and then I heard someone say to me…” Garbage in, garbage out…Susan.

I jolted awake and vowed to myself, and my guides, that I was going to stop my trashy eating habits and start doing better. I did….for about three days. Phhhhht.

A few months later, I had a second dream.

In this dream, I am on a cruise ship. It is night time and there are twinkle lights on the deck where I am standing. I have on (again) PALAZZO pants and a lovely flowing tunic. I have a cocktail in my hand and the night ocean wind feels fabulous as it breezes through my hair (which by the way has a really terrific color job).

I walk over to the railing of the ship and look over the side, at the dark swirling water below. Then, something swam to the surface. Whoa…I had no idea what that was. I looked again. It was a sea monster, a big Chinese dragon looking sea monster with swirly fins and a long tail.  As I kept looking, with shock…I noticed there were several of them swimming around, just under the surface of the water…right alongside the ship.

Just as I decide it might be a good idea to report this distressing discovery, a very attractive and fabulously clad woman approaches me.

Here’s the conversation:

FW ( fabulous woman) – Enjoying the night, Susan?

M (me) – Uuh..yes, yes I am. It is lovely on deck. Have you looked in the water?

FW- Yes, I have. It’s beautiful.

M- Did you see anything in the water?

FW- No, Susan. Do you see anything in the water?

M- There are monsters in the water. Look!

FW- I don’t see monsters in the water.

M- Well, have you looked lately? There are monsters swimming in the water right now.

FW- I don’t see monsters.

M- You have got to be kidding me, lady. They are right there. I see the monsters in the water, right THERE!

FW- (in my face) Do you know why you see monsters, Susan? You see monsters, because you eat shit. You eat shit. You see monsters. YOU see monsters.

I woke up, with my heart pounding, like a jackhammer. I swore to Jesus and myself that I was going to cut out the crap.

Thankfully, Jesus is the forgiving kind….compliance lasted about a month.

::sigh::

Last Thursday, my cosmic team gave me a message in a practical kind of way. One that hit hard and brought on an understanding that is still difficult to deal with, but the experience was powerful.

It was a busy day. I had six readings on the book and no time for lunch. I had a decent breakfast. Well, one without sugar. I was going full steam and doing some of the best readings that I have ever done. I was receiving clear information and messages that were getting right to the core of the issues. I’m talking terrific readings and awesome validations. It was a sweet day.

About four o’clock, I got not only hungry, but HUNGREEY. So, I grabbed four or five of those little, mini Reese’s cups. Popped them in my head and washed them down with a coke. My final two readings came in, about 15 minutes later. Oh my GAWD….it was like swimming through thick mud. I had to work so hard to get information. It was like my power steering had gone out. I could still get to where I was going, but it was a whole lot of hard work.

When I said my gratitude’s and closed the cosmic doorway at the end of the day….a little voice inside my head said,

“Sugar is your kryptonite”

Whoa….I so believe it.

So…I haven’t had any sugar since.

In the days immediately afterward…

I got angry. I got tearful. I got bitchy. I got resentful. I got a migraine. I got ridiculous cravings. I got mean.

And, I am still…a little on the mean side.

However, after three days…a fog lifted. The world got a little brighter.

I realized, right then…I have an addiction.

I have had people sit in my chair, who have substance abuse issues. They look at me and say, “I have been sober or clean for 30 days.” I used to think…wow 30 days. Even though I always smiled and gave kudos, in the back of my head I was thinking that isn’t a really long time.

Today, I completely understand that it IS a long time. On the day when I can say I have been without sugar for 30 days, I will be jumping up and down and doing some major fist pumps. AND…if I encounter any me’s out there with a sugar coated negative energy…I will sugar coat a “kiss my behind” and send it to them.

The realization of the addiction was the line in the sand.

So begins the war….and I think it might be one of those really long, religious kinds. But, as long as I win the daily battles, it is all going to be good.

For those of you who are struggling with an addiction of any kind. My love goes to you. I am the master of my ship…..and I am trying to steer this thing in the right direction, away from the monsters. I salute you, from my wheel to yours.

So, here’s to us. Raise your water bottles high….

Love yourself in all your glory.

Love yourself in all that ills you.

Write yourself a different story.

Win the battle, if it kills you.

Go forth and do kindness,

to the world and also to you.

And, if you suffer another’s blindness,

love yourself and say,

“Hey, Screw You!”

(you can love folks through a “screw you”)

I am doing this thing, y’all.

It’s all about the love. Love for me. Love for life. Love for love.

Smooch Out, Love Muffins…. and may the forks be with you!

Ooooooh…did I just say muffin?

Ok….I am not athletic.

I never have been. You can ask any of the folks that grew up with me…they will smile and tell you that Susan has never  been picked first for any sport on any team ever.

I hated gym. I really did. Changing clothes in the middle of my day, sweating off my carefully applied makeup and wrecking a good hairdo never seemed like a good idea to me. I mean, really…I spent a good hour every morning getting my fabulosity on…destroying it  in 45 minutes by doing things that were most unladylike….so not attractive to my way of thinking.

I am in complete agreement with Suzanne Sugarbaker on this matter. If I could have had my period for four years straight to get out of gym class…I would have taken that option with a glossy lipped smile and a pop of my bubble yum. ( yeah, I know I just dated myself…twice.)

So, as you can imagine…the minute I became an adult, the hidden inner Athlete Suzy,  was immediately beaten to death with a teasing comb and a can of hairspray….we are not sure who the assailant was, but there is rumor that Theater Suzy did it. She was still sore about having to reschedule her high school musicals when the football team made it to finals.

But,I have to admit,  there is a part of me that always wanted to be a pony tail girl. You know the ones….wearing those stretchy shorts and cute little tshirts with their little tennis shoes and precious little socks. They usually had their shiny hair pulled back in a stretchy band. That shiny, bouncy little ponytail doing it’s healthy little dance with every step of  a Nike swoosh. Fresh faced with a slightly burned nose, those girls, although not very glamorous, looked like they were having fun. But, I wasn’t every very good at doing what they did to have fun. I was way more Rita Hayworth than Doris Day and I knew it. Besides, Rita Hayworth was having a kind of fun that looked pretty good to me. I went with that. 🙂

BUT….when I hook up the Wii…..and we just did.

I am FREAKING ATHLETIC FIERCENESS, Y’ALL!

I am BOTH of those Williams girls! I am Cal Effing Ripkin! I am Tiger Woods with ALL the phone numbers and text messages. Because WHO, I ask you, WHO doesn’t want to date a great athlete?

So I play….hell yes I play. My Fitness age on the Wii is a decade younger than I am. Oh yeah…. Competitive me DIGS that I can get younger if I am faster or play better. So I play…harder and more and faster…

Now, my arm is killing me.

I am afraid that I have a virtual sports related Injurwii

So, like a true Athwiit…I am playing through it. I am switching up to the Zumba today. I will be shaking my behind like that cute dark haired chick from Dancing with the Stars.  Hopefully I will not pass out from it like Marie Osmund. 🙂

I am trying like hell to get my heart rate up and my dress size down with this one. The plan is to stay inside and work up to the real world. I am starting slow from a complete stop to moving forward. I am starting on the inside of me  and working to the outside too. Loving myself and caring for the old girl from the inside will ease me into enjoying the care and maintanence of the outside girl. I mean, besides the pedicures and hairdo’s. 🙂

So, once I have increased a little stamina…I may get more athletic half of this domestic duo to take me outside and teach me to play tennis. I keep telling Sondra that if she hits the ball too me, I will do better…that whole running around thing…well…you know.

Until then…it is mii and the wii…..I just hope I don’t throw my hip out doing the Zumba and have to go to Wiihab. 🙂

Enjoy that sunshine today!

Smooch out with a shake, y’all.

http://www.susanrushing.com

Ok…I am old. I am. You cannot sell me anything different than that today.

I had an adventure this weekend. It was so much fun. I met so many wonderful people and reconnected to people that I love. It was a good thing, Martha. But, here it is Wednesday…and I am still worn the heck out! I am not a nap taker, but really I could do with a good one right now.

This weekend, we went on the Ghost Get Away Weekend at Boone Tavern with the fabulous Patti Starr. For those of you who are new friends…

Patti Starr is who I give full credit and all of the love for giving me the resources and encouragement to be secure in my current dream profession. She has been not only the wind beneath my wings, but also the love in my heart and sometimes the boot in my behind. I love her to pieces. I call her my paranormal momma. I know that there are many folks out there that feel the same way.

I met Patti at a psychic fair. She was a speaker and had a booth. I talked to her briefly. But a few weeks later, after a trip to Waverly Hills….I called her. I needed some explainations. I knew that she had the love in her to answer them and to be patient with me. I had been seeing and talking to dead people for as long as I could remember, but the experiences in my teenaged years were very frightening and I didn’t want that to happen again. The Universe guided me to where I could find the love enough to work through those fears and seek answers to the questions that terrified me. As usual, I was guided to the perfect place to heal…Jesus gave me Patti Starr.

I eagerly read Patti’s book, and every other book she recommended to me. I took her ghost hunting classes and formed a little group of my own. I knew quickly, that ghost hunting was not the only thing for me. Every investigation was validation of the tingly feeling that I felt whenever there was spirit energy around. I soon became more interested in the spirits than in the seeking evidence of them. The more I read and meditated, the more ghost hunting seemed wrong to me.

I gave up my equipment. I didn’t care about that. I declared it inhumane to hunt spirits. I decided that if we found spirits, we should assist them in crossing. Yeah….I know. Judgement. Ego. Judgement. Ego.

This weekend, I drove the 7 hours to KY to do what I decided I was done with.

I bought a new meter. It scares me a little. I never pick it up without getting something.

But what I realized was what I really already knew.

Spirits aren’t always trapped. They come in visitation.

Some spirits don’t want to cross

Spirits can be in many places at one time.

Judgement of anything is not mine to do.

The paranormal can lead people to spirituality…..it did me.

Who better else to be there when someone has those questions than someone who has been there too and was so graciously loved through it? And so, if the Universe allows….I will give my best Patti Starr love to anyone with a question that I might have an answer to. I will probably go on more investigations if I am asked. I am not going to invest in a ton of equipment….but I am keeping this freaky little meter. So we come full circle…

No Judgement. No Ego. Just Love….and experience.

By the way…I had a crazy experience Friday night with what felt like someone lying next to me in bed with their arm slung around my waist. When I told the one of the hotel staff, she confirmed that she gets reports of that kind a lot.

and….I took a photo with a full apparition in it.

it still made my belly tickle with excitement.

-sigh-  You can take the girl out of the creepy, but you can’t take the creepy out of the girl.

Smooch Out!

http://www.susanrushing.com

ok…I say these things all the time..

It’s all about the love ( Named my radio show this AND it is on the back of my business cards)

Love each other through it

love yourself through it

and the one that I have used for as long as I can remember..when someone says, ” Susan! What am I gonna do with you?”

I say….” You’re gonna love me…and I am gonna love you right back!”

The number one used word for me on the Facebook is “Love”…the second is “Big”

Big Love on ya.

I throw that word around like Paula Deen throws around butter.

….and I do it for the same reason.

BECAUSE IT’S GOOD!!

In the best times, love and butter are soft and creamy and delicious. They make you smile and say things like, “mmmm” and ” yyyeah” and “gimme some more o’ dat”.  They enhance and complete things…they make you feel comfortable. They both sizzle when it gets hot. And they both go well with a biscuit. ( I put love in my biscuits, don’t you?)

It can me a hot mess too.

In trying times, love and butter can make you queasy. They both can be messy and when the fire gets too hot they can pop you and burn you. If left unattended …they both can grow bitter and the taste can get off. If we give either of them up, we get homesick for them. Try a substitute….it just tastes like plastic.

So, let me just say that butter and love although two of my favorite things (  I was originally gonna compare love to bacon, but I am trying to cut the pig out of my diet) love is way healthier for you than butter…and it won’t make your butt er get bigg er. There is no doctor gonna tell you to cut it out and Richard Simmons will never cry if you over indulge.

My recommendation is that you use love like butter. Spread it on everything until it is shiny. It doesn’t matter if it get’s messy. It will get messy, for sure. You are gonna get burned, and you will heal. You will have to clean up some mess from it, and you will learn how to prevent a mess during that. You will get popped, and you will learn to take care of yourself when the proverbial skillet gets hot.

….and I know that you would never forget to butter your own biscuit, right?

 

but just like a little butter on a biscuit, it will be worth it. It will make you smile. You will want more of it. Soon, you will never want it to be out of your house and you will never want it to go bad.

I am buttering the sugar out of all of you right now.

Biscuits all around!

Smooch out…and pass the jelly. 🙂

http://www.susanrushing.com

 

 

Hello Love Monkey’s….

I had a reading today. I called someone who looked fabulous and sounded fabulous and got …really a fabulous reading. I will tell you who he was later. Right now, I want to share a message that he gave to me, and that I preach to so many of my clients….

Today I realized that I truly am the plumber with the leaky faucet.

For those of you who know me, or have at least browsed through my pictures on the Facebook…you know that I am a big girl.

Not a tall girl.

A big girl.

I say “big girl” because it sounds better. I remember that it was praise when I did something right as a toddler. “Look at that big girl!” It was a good thing Martha…so I keep rollin with it.

BUT…the fat assed truth is… I am obese.

That is just ugly. Ugly to say, ugly to read. Write it in a pretty font…doesn’t matter…UH GA LEEE!

“So, what are we going to do about it, Susan?” says that smart mouthed list maker that lives in my head. She is all the time bossing me and making me do stuff and even though she keeps me out of trouble….I secretly resent her smarmy butt.

“Shut the hell UP!” says that other girl in my head that loves all things superficial and physical. She finds the cookies and helps me put my eyelashes on in the morning. She never looks out for my best interest, but she sure is a good time.

The me in the middle knows what I have to do, but hates to even think about doing it. It is emotional.

Emotional? Yeah…it is a physical condition…

but the physical condition is just an outward symptom of a long standing glitch in the old girl’s system.

So..ok back to the reading…

So, I was asking questions about some opportunities and such…and out of the blue , my new favorite friend says to me that he hears me being excited about the possibilities, but he feels like deep down inside I block them because I don’t feel like I deserve them.

Well let me tell you right here….the hair on my arms stood straight up…He was RIGHT!

So we went back through years….no there is no coat of many colors….but there was the answer. There it was like a little shiny golden egg in a little broken nest.

“What makes you need to ground yourself after a reading, Susan?”

” People get wound in my energy, I need to do something physical to come back down.”

” Do you think that people get too close to you when you’re reading?”

“Yes, they get too close to me, emotionally.”

“You don’t like that?”

“Not all the time.”

“So do you think that you eat to push people away?”

“Yes I believe I do.”

“Susan, who was the first person who got too close to you and made you emotionally uncomfortable?”

“The one who fed me.”

Cue lightbulb over the head.

So, we both went on for a while longer until we had come to the conclusion that I block success because of my weight issues and I have weight issues because of my emotional issues….and we come full circle… I see the egg, I see the obstacle, I see the why and the wherefores….I just need a plan of healing that doesn’t cost thousands of dollars in therapy. 🙂

So, I have made a deal with God. To prove that I am loving myself without question and without condition, I am going to do some form of exercise for 30 minutes every other day. I am going to state to the Universe that I am grounding myself and getting in touch with not only my spiritual body, but also my physical body. I no longer block success. I am worthy of it. I am manifesting it…and I am loving it.

The best part….I am taking my own advice.

Thanks Dougall….you are a complete rock star.

So I am going to say to all of you…..again

The only real thing is love. In accepting this challenge, I acknowledge my commitment and my passion for my purpose and for myself. I am a bright and beautiful child of God. I deserve to be happy, and loved and successful and abundant. I also deserve to shop at least one time in Victoria’s Secret….and so do you.

Group hug, lovies!

Go look in the mirror and make a commitment to yourself. Say that you love what you see from the inside out. I love you all….you should love you too.

Smooch Out!

 

oh…and go check out the cosmic wonderboy that is Dougall Fraser. You will dig him. He is cute as hell and funny to boot. Not as funny as me, mind you….but ten times more precious!

http://www.dougallfraser.com

 

http://www.susanrushing.com