Suzanne Schaffer

Spring is here and with its arrival have come the crazy birds. The robins seem to have nothing better to do with their time than to peck at their reflection in my windows. They mark up the glass with their dirty beaks, and annoy me to no end with the pecking. My workspace is right next to these windows. Here's how it plays out: Innocent me (no comments here please) sits down with a nice cup of hot tea and dons the reading glasses (because I can no longer focus on things right in front of my face, including the computer screen) and begin to work. The house is quiet except for the occasional snore of the dog. Suddenly there's a tap, tap, tapping at the window. I jump in my seat, my heart rate elevates, I look over my shoulder and peek out the window to see the robin. I scare him/her and it flies away. I get back to work and it starts again. I scare it away and yell at it to go dig up a worm. This entire scenario is repeated all morning. For three days. Until o

I have a confession. I'm addicted to lip balm. I have been for as long as I can remember. These are the ones that I could grab in less than a minute. I have them everywhere. Purse. Desk. Dresser. Kitchen. Car. Pocket. And these are all natural lip balms (well, mostly natural anyway....some are a little iffy). I made the switch over a decade ago when I realized that all of the gunk in them was probably sitting undigested in my gut. Not that I eat the stuff. I just like to taste it when it's on my lips and I'm sure that some of it gets inside. Some of my favorites that I've found over the years are: Alba nourishing coconut cream lip balm . This stuff is fantastic. It's got good coverage and tastes wonderful. It's truly a balm and not a gloss so it's a little thicker than some others. No shine at all with this one. Lemongrass Spa pomegranate lip balm . Of all of the ones I've tried this is my favorite for flavor. It has a strong flavor that lasts f

Aren't you glad that things go in and out of fashion, even when it comes to  food? Can you imagine being served this Special Salmon Loaf that I found in a 1953 edition of Good Housekeeping ? How appetizing does that look? Right down to the green olives in the middle. Yuck. Glad that some things stay in the past and that the one thing that we can count on that never changes is how much God loves us.  Seasons change.  People change. Friendships change. Relationships change. Circumstances change. Technology changes. God never changes. His love for you never changes. He is crazy about you.

You already know that the man and I love to go out to lunch on his day off. There are a handful of places in our town that I will eat at. It's not that I'm a picky eater, I just try to be a healthy eater and that alone eliminates most chain restaurants. I will eat at Chipotle (because they have high quality standards and I know that they use the best ingredients that they can find) and I recently had an organic "bowl" of something at Panera. I can't remember what it was. It was very salty though--that's saying a lot for me, I probably won't choose to go there, but if forced to at least I know they have an option for me.  So that leaves me with just five other places in our town that I will eat at. Five. The Phoenix is one of these. I wish I had discovered this gem sooner than last year. I had no idea that we had food this good in Altoona. We first went last year with a group of people after sending our kids off to the prom. It doesn't look like

Is anyone else tired of the "Don't Say ______ to the Pastor/Waitress/Teacher/Cashier/Pregnant Woman/Newlywed/Introvert/Graduate" lists that are all over the Internet these days? It's almost to the point where you can't say anything to anyone, and it's  getting old really fast. I suppose I shouldn't say that it's getting old. That might offend someone who is getting old. And I just learned that this is a real thing. It's called ageism.  Or if I say I'm about to go postal will that offend a mailman? I recently read how offended someone was in a Facebook group because someone else said that they were gypped. Apparently this is offensive to gypsies and this woman (though not a gypsy) was angered. In looking for the perfect picture I found out that you can't say "man up" anymore because "strength is not defined by sex or gender." You can't say "run like a girl" because "my gender doesn't li

I see you now. You look just like the woman pictured above. Yes, I said we are going to talk about sex. Married sex. Between a man and a woman. The way that God intended it to be. Side note here: I believe that sex is for married people. For a man and his wife. I believe that is the way God made us. I mean, the parts fit together don't they? They don't work any other way. Just saying. It has been brought to my attention that some of you ladies out there are not having sex with your husbands.  For months.  Trust me, this is not something that you want to do. How do I know this?  Your man is screaming out for attention and he is talking to his friends about it.  "It's been over nine months..." - said by the man who knew the exact date of the last time with his wife. "It's been since our last child was born..." - said by the man with a child that is years old.  I understand that you're not happy in your marriage, but guess what

  All good things must come to an end. We woke up Sunday morning and said farewell to our friends. So sad. On our drive home from Williamsburg we stopped in Winchester, VA for lunch and to walk around a little bit. Anyone else think it's awful just sitting in a car all day long?  I found this restaurant to stop at. La Nicoise Cafe .  I ordered some hot tea. There is just nothing like tea to me. You coffee people can have your coffee. I just want tea. The man had a crepe. He said it was good, just not very filling. It is kinda small. I had my favorite meal: chicken salad. Seriously, I could eat this every day. What made me laugh about this restaurant was that the dining room was split in two, the left side is where the customers all sat, the right side was empty tables (empty from customers) but the tables were full of stuff. One was simply overflowing with cookbooks. Thankfully I saw this after we ate. Ha! Love the name of this salon in town

Word vomit. The Urban Dictionary defines it as: A point in a conversation where you say something that you really didn't mean to. I told Robin that I saw Mike with some girl at the movie theater last night. It just came out of my mouth like Word Vomit. I'm sure we've all experienced it. Several nights ago we went out to dinner with a group of people. We were all sitting around the table and laughing and telling stories. A subject came up and I had a funny anecdote to share. It sounded so much better in my head. Which is where it should have stayed. I opened my mouth to share it and words just came out all wrong. I couldn't stop them. Once I realized what was happening I tried to fix it. I'm not sure if I actually was able to fix it or if the damage had already been done. My husband said he just watched in horror as it happened. I spent the entire next day mourning over the words that tumbled out of my mouth.  I suppose that my own mouth will f