Suzanne Schaffer

  If you've been around me any length of time, you'll know I love having a front row seat when possible. Church. Concerts. Comedy shows. Auctions. I want to be front and center, where the action is, so I don't get distracted and miss something. I want to be part of the event and front is where it's at.  Lately I've had a front row seat to some things that I wish I could unsee. My mother's Alzheimer's diagnosis and the last year and a half of watching her slow and steady decline into a world of unknowns has taken a toll.  I tend to hold every emotion inside. Always have. I've learned -these past fifteen months or so- that this is bad for my health. Stress levels are impacting how I feel. Palpitations, and a diagnosis of "harmless" PACs, have left me trying to manage this stress. It's gotten easier but, I'll admit, I still have things shoved down inside. And then along came CDH. A diagnosis I'd not heard of before it was given to...

I missed last year but have compiled a list that is for 2021-2022.  Most of these things are edible ha ha.  Magnesium is something that most of us are lacking. This Calm Creme by Lemongrass Spa (Yes, I am still a consultant but I don't do parties anymore) is an excellent way to get magnesium. I was making my own magnesium lotion until they came out tight this. It is available in the lavender/vanilla scent or peppermint. Use on feet, legs or anywhere with sore muscles or cramps.  I actually found this stuff in 2021 and have since forgotten about it. Milk Street coffee sugars. They have several different varieties but we liked this one best. Really good in tea (or coffee, if you're into that....) Savannah Bee Honey. Whipped Cinnamon. I have tried other brands of whipped cinnamon honey (trying to save some money because this stuff is $18 a bottle) but they cannot compare. These people know what they are doing and this stuff is amazing.  Uh yeah....

Years ago I spent some time disguised as the church secretary.  I know, you're trying to picture it. Trust me, it was rough. While my husband may be my dream man he was definitely not my dream boss . Nor was I a dream secretary. Being self-employed is what I was created for. Well, that and the ability to make really good apple cake. On one of these days the church door was left unlocked and I was alone in the building (which takes on a creepy edge when you're alone there, just saying) and in wandered a sobbing woman. Being the one to see who entered (read: since I was alone) I met her in the entryway and she fell into my arms.  I sensed she needed to talk. We sat in the sanctuary and she poured her heart out. She'd just found out her husband was cheating on her. She was devastated. She cried and talked for a long time and I encouraged her as best I could. I prayed with her and thought that was the end, but she started regularly attending the church and...

  Over the course of my nearly twenty-nine year marriage I've moved to different houses fourteen times. At the onset of nearly all of those moves I thought about how the new home would make everything better. That being in different walls would solve all of my angst. It wasn't until the past couple moves (the last one being nine years ago) that I realized the only thing that was going to change was my address because I'm a human with issues and I take those issues with me everywhere I go. Life is a little like that though. We observe others and compare our lives to theirs.  "If my house was bigger I could _____ just like they do."  "If we had more room we would get along better."      "If our house was newer it would look better." The truth is that rarely does changing our surrounding change anything else. We are still the same messy person we were before. We still have the same marriage issues we had before. We still struggle with our diets. W...

2020 has been the craziest year. I decided to release my favorite things list a little early, not that it's important to anyone but me ha ha. These are things that impacted me over the past year -- in a positive way. I could easily do a least favorite things list for this year, as I'm sure could you. It was hard to find positivity in 2020 but there is always something to be thankful for. The sun still rises and the tides still sweep across the shores. We are still free -for now- in the USA. Read on to see what I enjoyed this year.  Silk pillowcases are on my list of new favorite things. For the past ten years or so I've found it hard to sleep on a rough pillowcase. They almost feel like they burn my skin, some can be very abrasive. I've taken to using the old pillowcases, the ones a few washes from the trash can, the old cotton tends to soften. Until silk pillowcases came my way. *Cue organ music* So luxurious . Apparently there are legit reasons to use these (n...

 Zoey - August 10, 2020 When we found her I didn't realize I needed her. Sure, she needed us, she was living in woods, alone, surviving on whatever she could find. She was nine months old, the vet later told me when I took her in for a check-up, still unsure I wanted to keep this undernourished mutt. We'd been on vacation in southwest Missouri, near the Arkansas border, in the middle of the woods. I was on the porch when I saw her trotting down the dirt road. A little brown dog. I whistled and she stopped to look at me from across the lawn. Then she continued on her way. Later that night, the family was watching a movie we'd brought (no cable service out there!) and suddenly this furry face popped up in the window, scaring my husband out of his seat. We fed her some people food and went to bed.  She was still there in the morning. We asked around and no one knew where she came from. We fed her some more and she stayed. The next day we went and bought some dog food, f...