If The Fates Allow

/ Ally Bean / 25 Comments

I don’t feel like telling any stories today.  Instead, here are a few of the thoughts that are swirling through my head.  Keep in mind that Christmas is not my favorite time of the year, so if I sound cranky here it is because I am.  And quite frankly, why aren’t you cranky too? 

::  I haven’t started to address and sign our Christmas cards yet.  I thought that I’d leave that task until tomorrow when I have the morning to devote to it.  I like to send cards because they are personal– or at least they can be when done right.  The right way according to me?  Hand signed.  Group photos, if included, have the names of the people on the back.  A newsletter, if included, is succinct.  If someone does not abide by the above, then I tend to doubt that he or she is sincere when sending the Christmas card.  And I remember this.

::  I spent the weekend cooking.  On Saturday I tried a new recipe for roasted chicken with root vegetables that was a failure.  The only thing that we could salvage from it was the roasted red beets– the rest of it never cooked right.  On the other hand on Sunday, I jazzed up an old tuna noodle casserole recipe.  I turned a plain dish into a grown-up feast by using WW pasta, adding some white wine, throwing in some smoked paprika, topping with panko bread crumbs spicy chipotle pita chips + gourmet parmesan cheese.  *yum*

::  Anyone else finding the incessant Christmas music in all the stores to be especially annoying this year?  I dislike it to begin with, but in light of the Sandy Hook Massacre I find the jolliness of it to be inappropriate… rude… disrespectful.  Live music has heart, but this stuff is just wrong.  We are a nation in mourning this Christmastime.  And the music, which can easily be changed, needs to reflect this.

::  There is no sign of snow around here;  instead, we have lots of rain and lots of gray skies.  Some years December is like this.  It makes for a less than festive atmosphere during what I am told it the most wonderful time of the year.  While at night I enjoy the contrast of the bright outside lights juxtaposed against the late autumn gloom, during the day the grayness overwhelms me.  Any thoughts that I might have of Christmas merriment dissipate into the bleakness.       

::  We don’t exchange presents with very many people.  When it comes to family, all anyone wants is gift cards/cash so that’s what we get them.  EZPZ, no?  I so enjoy giving the gift of shopping to other people who enjoy going shopping– unlike me.  And as for the rest of our holiday gift giving, I am only beholden to find some small items which I either put into pretty bags with cheery tissue paper or wrap in simple paper with a wisp of ribbon.  For us, gift giving is the easiest holiday thing that we do. *hallelujah*

Back When TV Was Truly Refined

/ Ally Bean / 10 Comments

… After yesterday’s constant stream of sad news I’m feeling a bit nostalgic today.  

This is funny and sweet.  It’s a reminder of how smart + delightful television used to be.  So. Very. Calm.

I miss watching TV shows that were in black & white.  I miss seeing TV shows that don’t *flash* and *bang* all over the place.  I miss being entertained by TV shows that don’t try to impress me with their super hipness.

But mostly I miss the kind of innocence that allowed a pleasant “nobody” to outsmart a panel of curious “somebodies” by merely being herself.  With a smile.

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[H/T to Maria Popova at Brain Pickings.  More info + other video clips here.]

[Unrelated to this video, but interesting to know, the contestant later wrote a memoir titled Look Back and Laugh.  Writers are everywhere, aren’t they?]

So Anyone Know Where I Can Get Some Steel-Toed Flats?

/ Ally Bean / 21 Comments

[Sub-Titled: A Party In Review*]

THE GOOD:  The party went very well.  The pre-party helper elves were wonderful.  Highly recommend that approach to party giving.

The homemade hot dips were a hit.  Next year I’ll make more of those.  Chips & dips were very popular as well.  Healthy veggies & humus & dry snacky snacks, like sesame sticks & salted cashews, were not so popular.  [Of course, those may be more for me than the party guests.]

The wraps and the pretzel sandwiches, which we got from the Kroger deli, were snarfed.  Inhaled.  As was were the fancy cheeses & fruits pastes & crackers & wafers.  God bless Murray’s Cheese [at Kroger] for putting together a perfect cheese board.

The plates of cookies from a local German bakery were a big hit.  Truly yummy.  And the adorable cupcake Santa from the Kroger bakery was almost all eaten, leaving behind a rather Dali-esque image of Mr. Claus.  Oddly though, candy like M&Ms and Snickers was hardly touched.  Who’d of thought?

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THE BETTER:  The pre-party started at 5:30 p.m.  The last party guests left at 1:30 a.m.  [The helper elves were spending the night with us.  So we all went to bed at 2:00 a.m. after doing a fast pre-collapse clean-up.]

During our 8 hours of merriment we went through 7 bottles of wine, 40 bottles of beer, 20 cans of soda & 20 bottles of water.  There was also some shots of bourbon & a Brazilian liquor.  [Both were gifts.  Both were tasty.]

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THE UGLY:  I got hurt during our party when I dropped an ottoman on my left big toe.  The wooden leg of the ottoman went exactly onto my big toe.  Not onto the floor.  Not onto the top of my foot.  No, it went onto my toe which was inside my cute Stuart Weitzman flats– which I’m sad to report do nothing to stop a falling object, like an ottoman, from hurting a toe.  Wussy shoes.

Nothing is broken so I’ll probably survive this self-inflected act of stupidness.  But really, it hurt when I did it.  And it still hurts as I sit here typing.  *meh*  So on that cheery note, I’m out of here.  Going to put my foot up with a bag of ice on it.  Take some acetaminophen.  And rest my weary self.

Later kids.

*  This post is probably more for me than for my readers.  I need to put this info somewhere where I’ll find it next year.  And as I always know where my blog is, a post here seems like the logical place to me.

[Hello FTC!  Please rest assured that I was not compensated for my opinions here.  Just a few of my personal thoughts about stuff & things.  This & that.  Nothing for you to worry about really.  But, as always, thanks for stopping by, FTC.  And Merry Christmas to You & Yours.]

In Which I Manage To Disappoint By Merely Existing

/ Ally Bean / 24 Comments

I have hit a new low in blogging.

Putting aside the fact that I’ve never written a word about wind chimes until today, I think that it is fair to say that this spammer took a very dim view of one of my blog posts.  I’ve never received such a sad piece of spam before.  Most of my spam is of the “great job” variety, so the unhappiness described in this piece of spam is almost too much for me.

I feel the angst.

But here’s what confuses me: why is this piece of spam telling me about some clunky, un-melodic wind chimes?  I had nothing to do with the wind chimes.  It’s almost as if this piece of spam was written without anyone actually reading what I wrote… as if there is no correlation between my content and the spam comment… as if this spammer doesn’t care about me at all.

Oh dear!  That couldn’t be it, could it?  😉