Daily Life

Cross Examined At Breakfast

/ Ally Bean / 16 Comments

I walked into the kitchen the other morning wearing five pocket straight leg jeans and a t-shirt.  I was carrying my sweater to put on after I ate breakfast, but before I went out the door.  The following conversation ensued.

~ • ~ 

Him:  You have sparkles on your butt.

Me:  [shaking my tail feathers]  You like?

Him:  There’s shiny stuff on your back pockets.

Me:  [reaching for the carafe and pouring myself a cup of coffee]  Pretty, huh?

Him:  What are those sparkles doing on your butt?

Me:  [pushing him aside to get into the pantry]  They’re fashionable.  They’re just there.

Him:  Does your sweater cover your butt?

Me:  [ripping open a breakfast bar and biting into it]  I dunno.

Him:  Well, if it’s long enough your sweater will cover the sparkles on your butt.

Me:  [taking another bite of breakfast bar]  Yes, and if it’s short enough you’ll see all the shiny on the pockets.

Him:  Is that what you want?

Me:  [eating my last bite of breakfast bar]  I don’t care.

Him:  Here, put on your sweater.

Me:  [putting on my sweater]  Okay.  How’s it look?  Sparkles or not?

Him:  Your sweater covers part of your pockets.  You’re only half shiny.

Me:  [slurping my last slug of coffee]  Okie dokie then.  I’m a sparkly half-ass.  It’s confirmed.

Him:  Why’d you buy those jeans?

Me:  [grabbing my purse from the floor where I’d put it beside my canvas tote]  I bought them because they were on sale.  I don’t care what happens on the backside.  I don’t see it.  And they fit really well.

Him:  Hmmm.  Yes, they do.

~ • ~ 

And this my friends is what it’s like being married to a lawyer.  He can’t just say “pretty.”  Oh no.  He has to get all the details first.  Establish a fact pattern.  And then he’ll comment.  If he’s in the mood.

Late Autumn

/ Ally Bean / 9 Comments

Over the course of this last week the colors have changed around here.

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There are a few last shots of color here and there.  God bless red roses.  I try to memorize the color so that during the bleak months I can remember it– and keep my spirit alive.  Do you do this too?

~ • ~ 

This is what is left of our Happy Returns Daylilies.  I love these plants.  In the summer their lemony yellow flowers make me smile.  And now they remind me to have faith in the process.  Bright colors will return again.  Yes?

~ • ~ 

The water on the glass-top green-rimmed table is doing a great job of revealing the bleakness of the woods beyond.  I love reflections.  What is real and what is imagined?

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And then there is the woods back of the house.  The leaves on the trees are all down now.  I like how easy it is to see the grayish brown trunks of the trees.  Very visual and organic.  There are no straight lines in nature, eh?

Weekend This & That

/ Ally Bean / 13 Comments

√  I tried three new recipes.  One, Roasted Grape And Pecan Stuffing from Ladies’ Home Journal Nov ’11, was a keeper.  The other two, which I found online, were not worth the bother.  So it goes.  Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

√  I’m still fussing around with what to do about the drapes in the eat-in part of the kitchen.  Bay window, round table– and I’m indecisive about how high to hang the drapes.  All sorts of variables for me to fret over.  Life is in the details.  

√  I made us mint juleps with the end of the mint from our herb garden.  The weather forecast says that we’ll have a hard frost this week, so I doubt that the mint will be there next weekend.  Waste not, want not.

√  I went with Zen-Den to a professional football game on Sunday afternoon.  The weather was in the lower 60s and Luther Vandross sang the national anthem.  We were in a box with a mellow group of people.  No stress, no fuss.  Just comfy seats and good food– watching the home team almost win.  Every little thing gonna be all right.

Well, Who’d Of Thought?

/ Ally Bean / 9 Comments

For a pleasantly scented work area do this:

  • Go for an early morning walk.
  • Upon returning home but before entering the house– pluck stray dried leaves out of the pot of rosemary that sits on the front stoop.
  • Enter home and immediately go to desktop computer to catch up on email.
  • When finished with email– shower and dress for the day.
  • Return to home office and sit down in front of computer to start day in earnest.

Result?  The most delightfully aromatic keyboard I ever did smell.  🙂