Suzanne Schaffer

In 1970 a movie called Love Story was released, challenging a generation to believe, "Love means never having to say I'm sorry." 


Insert eye roll here.

I remember watching this movie in the 80's because it was a classic. I knew immediately the message it was intending to teach was foolishness. And now, after being married for twenty-seven years, I know it more than ever. Because love means saying I'm sorry. The truth is, we mess things up. It's what we do. We're human. Feelings get hurt, whether intentionally or not. We always hurt the ones we love. Because we are people. We are a box of disappointment wrapped up in pretty paper. 

Sometimes our perceptions of how we think things should be and the reality of the way things are cause tension within us and we lash out. Life rarely responds the way we hope it will. Pies get dropped. Coffee spills. Hospital visits ruin vacations. Stress levels rise and we react instantly instead of thinking through. Our voices ta…

All of the books I read in 2018 Favorites are in bold

January

1. Oath of Honor by Lynette Eason 
2. The Man He Never Was by James Rubart
3. The View from Rainshadow Bay by Colleen Coble
4. The Air I Breathe by Louie Giglio
5. All Things Bright and Strange by James Markert
6. The Wrecking by Christy Barritt (Kindle)
7. Hidden Currents by Christy Barritt (Kindle)

February

8. Why I Hate Green Beans by Lincee Ray
9. The Masterpiece by Francine Rivers
10. Flood Watch by Christy Barritt (Kindle)
11. Shadows of Hope by Georgiana Daniels 
12. Fatherless by Dr James Dobson & Kurt Bruner

March

13. Beneath the Surface by Lynn H. Blackburn 
14. Where the Fire Falls by Karen Barnett
15. If I Live by Terri Blackstock (Kindle)
16. Plain Threats by Alison Stone 
17. Murder in the Locked Library by Ellery Adams
18. Desperate Escape by Lisa Harris

April

19. Pelican Point by Irene Hannon
20. No Less Days by Amanda G. Stevens
21. Dangerous Waters by Christy Barrett (Kindle)
22. Royals by Rachel Hawkins 
23. Begin Again by L…

I'm pretty sure when I say Be Dazzled all my friends think of the 80's gadget used to decorate clothing with bling and how much it reminds them of me. 

And rightly so. 

I admit, I love all things sparkly. 

Sequined shirts. Glittery shoes. Jeans with embellishments. Sparkly fingernails. Check. Check. Check. Check.

Yet there's so much more to this phrase.

I saw a pin on Pinterest a few months ago that read, "God must be really disappointed if we aren't dazzled at least twenty times a day."

While I don't think He's in heaven shaking His head if we aren't dazzled by His creation, I do think He appreciates it when we are.

This has skipped through my mind ever since I saw it and I've begun to be intentionally dazzled.

When I turned on the yard light at 6:00 AM to let the dog out and saw the frost glittering on the grass like a trillion diamonds, I was dazzled.

When I made a middle of the night trip to the bathroom and saw the crescent moon hanging in the sky…

I know I've been bad at keeping up this page lately. It's fourth quarter on eBay. That should explain it all. I'm busy shipping, listing, cleaning, sourcing. 
I also know you've been craving my 2018 list of favorite things. 
It's kind of a tradition. And probably only important to me ha ha.
So here it is. The moment you've been waiting for.

Suzanne's list of favorite things: 2018

Gentle Leader Headcollar.  This is life-changing. My dog cannot pull me when we walk. She used to lunge for rabbits, she used to dig her feet in and lean to one side if there was something interesting to smell. Now we walk and the leash is loose the whole time.  Get one. Trust me. Your dog will hate it for the first week or so but will then be used to it.  Sunbeam heating pad with massager. This folds over my shoulders and relieves my stiff and achy mess in minutes. It's bliss. 


Nail polish by Starrily. It's the best I've used and the prettiest. This shade is called Sea Glass. It …

"Why is your house always so immaculate?" Donna asked as she stepped inside. This was the third or forth time she'd been to my house, all of them being this year. 

It didn't take me a second to reply, "Well, for one thing, I don't have six kids."

It's just the two of us now, so when I clean a room chances are it's going to stay that way until either he or I do something to change it. And I work from home, which allows me to run a sweeper or clean a toilet at any given moment. My friend has six kids (four at home), several dogs and cats, and works a full time job as a nurse. And she's a pastor's wife. #PlateFull

I think the six kids thing gives her a free pass for years.

Sometimes it's easy to see someone else's life situation as an unattainable goal. We look at our own situation and see a big red failure stamp on it. It's not wrong, it's not a failure, it's just different.

There's a time in all of our lives when we wil…

Ace wanders the neighborhood of his own volition. His mom once told me that he won't potty when he's on a leash so she just lets him wander. He meanders through each yard, doing whatever he wants, while she watches and tries to correct him.

"Come here, Ace."
"I'm sorry," she says to me as Ace approaches my dog (who is leashed). 
"No no, Ace."

And so on.

Ace is king of the hill, ruler of his house, master instead of pet. 
And Ace is only about four pounds.

Someone isn't playing with a full deck. Instead of leashing their dog they allow him to control their lives. They follow him around the neighborhood, cutting through yards, walking on driveways to get to the woods behind the houses. All because Ace won't potty while leashed. 

They are allowing a four-pound pet to control them.

If this is how a dog is being raised how are we parenting our children? It's no wonder America is in the state it's in.

Give them screens to appease them.
Apologiz…