Whatever The Day May Bring Us

/ Ally Bean / 12 Comments

The other afternoon I was at home writing and listening to a classical music radio station while waiting for Dave, the man from the chimney/roofing repair company, to arrive.  Dave has been to the house before so I knew who to expect and that he’d find a solution to our latest homeowner problem.

He showed up on time and started by looking at our water/mud mess in the basement.  Then he and his camera went up on the roof to figure out what was happening up there to cause the mess.  It didn’t take long for him to determine that the builder had once again skimped on something important.

[Details of problem for those who care about such things.  Chimney cap not installed with proper horizontal support.  Hot water exhaust pipe, which goes up inside of the chimney, not surrounded by proper gasket where it intersects with chimney cap.  Result: water doesn’t roll off top of chimney cap.  Instead, water forms a 2″ deep puddle on top of chimney cap and then slowly drips down leak around the exhaust pipe into inside of chimney.  Along the way to the basement water rots first floor sub-flooring under fireplace and creates a gentle steam down the basement concrete walls into the adjacent floor drain.]  

So Dave got down off the roof and knocked on the door.  He put on his standard issue contractor-inside-your-house paper booties, and stepped into the foyer to show me photos of this year’s month’s week’s problem.  He explained to me how the problem could be repaired.  And then he told me to expect an estimate in the mail in about 2 days.

Very standard.

But what made this visit different– and almost got me to the point of giggles— was that while Dave was talking with me the classical radio station was playing The Blue Danube Waltz.  Just float-y, water-y, swoosh-y music drifting into the foyer from the radio in the next room.

I don’t think that the music registered with Dave at all, but to me it was very fitting and funny.  I ask you, could there be any more perfect background music for a discussion about water running down the inside of your chimney into the basement and then flowing toward the drain?  Me thinks not.

Well played, Universe.  I bow to your sense of the absurd.

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~ as a way of including The Blue Danube Waltz in this post, and for your entertainment, I leave you with this video ~

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My 5 Suggestions For Writing Better Blog Posts

/ Ally Bean / 13 Comments

Even though I’ve blogged off and on since 2004 [read more here], I’m not sure that I’ve ever written about how to write a blog post. When I first stumbled upon blogging years ago nothing like this list existed.  Back then blogging was all trial & error, but eventually I figured out how to write a post that was understandable & interesting.  Now, of course, advice on how to blog is EVERYWHERE.  Which got me thinking that maybe what I’ve learned might be of value to someone.  So, without further ado, I give you…

My 5 Suggestions For Writing Better Blog Posts

[from www.thespectacledbean.com]

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1.  Have a thesis statement for your blog.

this is vital.  you need it to help keep you grounded as you write each post.  without it, you’ll flounder and your blog will go nowhere.

2.  Be specific.

details, baby!  tell us exactly what interests you and why.  show us how you did something.  explain your point of view.  i’m not talking about being wordy, here.  i’m talking about presenting your life in a clearly defined way that tells us about you.

3.  Write each post with one or two people in mind. 

pretend like you are writing– or talking– to one or two people who you know care about what you have to say.  tell them your story, and don’t worry about what anyone else will think of it.  you can’t please everyone, so you might as well focus on the few people who will appreciate what you have to say.

4.  Give your readers something to say “YES” to.

can’t emphasize this concept enough.  readers engage with you because you are sharing ideas & experiences that ring true with them.  they want to talk about things, and it is so much easier to comment when there is a way to say “yes.”

5.  Make it stylish.

each individual post must look inviting and polished on its own.  you need to become familiar with all those little buttons in your text editor that allow you to do jazzy things like bold, italic, font sizes, font styles, font colors, text placement, image sizing.  effective communication is much more than a string of words on a page.

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Weekend This & That

/ Ally Bean / 14 Comments

{january – monday – early morning}

√  I’ve been making small tweaks here on my blog since the beginning of the year.  Have you noticed?  Over the weekend I think that I finally got each of my posts entered into the proper category where each post belongs.  Now instead of Monthly Archives I have a list of 7 Categories where you can find all of my past posts.  By category.  Obviously.

√  We started putting together our traditional winter project, a jigsaw puzzle!  Years ago after seeing an episode of Northern Exposure where a married couple had a fun time putting together a puzzle, we decided to give it a try– and found that doing a puzzle was a harmless distraction from the winter gloom.  So now every winter we do ONE puzzle.  Yes, I know– not the most high-tech, cutting edge thing to admit to doing.  But it’s fun.  

√  I tried a new recipe for cupcakes that uses Blue Moon beer.  The cupcakes were good, not at all beer-y– but not orange-y enough to make them interesting.  I made some notes on the recipe and will try it again later this winter.  I think some clove and more coriander are in order.  Maybe a drop of orange extract?  If I ever perfect the recipe, I’ll post it here.  If.

√  We did a test on the stair railing to see how difficult it would be to strip the old stain and varnish off of the railing and posts.  Our conclusion: not difficult at all.  But because of the fumes and mess involved with this project we decided to postpone it until late spring when we can open the windows for ventilation.  Plus they’ll be more daylight then– which can only help us see what we’re doing.  Always important.

Bath Time + Snack Time

/ Ally Bean / 9 Comments

Sometimes a person needs to stop and smell the hibiscus flowers.  Or, as in the case of baby sloths, stop and eat the hibiscus flowers. 

‘Tis a sweet little video.  Enjoy!

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[… I’d like to give proper credit to whoever showed me this link, but I can’t remember who it was.  My brain is a colander.  So, if it was you who showed me this–and you want me to give you a H/T here in this space– then let me know that it was you.  That is all.]