Blogging

5 Truths & A Lie

/ Ally Bean / 21 Comments

[I got the idea for this post from Rara at Rarasaur;  her answers are here.  She got the idea for her post from Jen at Sips of Jen and Tonic;  her answers are here.  Go visit them both.  You’ll like ’em.]

• • • 

Here’s what I’m doing.  It’s a bit of a game.  I’m going to tell you a few things about me: 5 things will be truthful, 1 thing will be a lie.  Depending on how closely you’ve been paying attention to me all these years you’ll know the lie immediately.  Or not.

Whoever correctly figures out which statement is a lie, will win the opportunity to either: 1) be a guest poster on this blog;  or 2) have me write a haiku about you that’ll be posted on this blog.  Your choice.

Ready?  Here goes.

• • • 

1.  THE HUBSTER proposed to me in the parking lot of a bakery.  He had no ring with him.  All he said was: “so when do you want to get married?”  And that was that.

2.  I PLAYED the violin when I was a girl.  I learned in a Suzuki method class [which means by ear, not by written music].  While I never excelled at playing the violin I did make it to state regional orchestra level one year.  I was the last seat.  And I hated the experience.

3.  WE LIVE in a hilly area in a home built on a wooded ravine lot.  Once upon a time we purchased 200 tons of dirt so that we could create a backyard.  It was a messy project, but now we have a lower level terrace instead of the forest primeval.

4.  I DRIVE a gray SUV.  I named him Bullwinkle because of his color [which Lexus says is blue, but they’re wrong].  He’s not a new vehicle,  but he gets me where I need to go.

5.  I’M NOT a fan of the traditional Thanksgiving Day dinner.  I’ve made my share of them over the years and they were delicious, but I’d rather have a good steak with a baked potato for dinner than turkey + all that carbohydrate crap.

6.  I HAVE narrow feet, as in women’s AA shoes.  This is more of a problem than you might initially imagine because there are very, very, very few AA shoes available.  The result of this is that I keep my shoes forever and am usually forced to wear a pair of “so out of date you have no idea what decade they came from” shoes.          

• • • 

So, How ‘Ya Been?

/ Ally Bean / 19 Comments

When I decided to take my blogging hiatus, I thought that I’d be back to The Spectacled Bean within a few weeks.  But things happened.  Obstacles presented themselves.  And in the course of it all, I lost my blogging mojo.  

So what happened, you wonder?  Well, I think that this is one of those blogging moments when only a list can explain things.  To wit, I give you…

~ ~ • ~ ~

THE LAMENTATIONS OF ALLY

•  Our internet connection stopped connecting.  Without going into the details, suffice to say that we are no longer using the less-than-reliable phone company for our ISP and are now using the cable company for our ISP.  And getting this worked out?  Why, it only took 55 days, during which time I couldn’t get to my blog.

•  Our kitchen sink drain pipe developed a leak that we discovered after said leak had partially destroyed the sub-flooring and was dripping into the basement.  While in and of itself this is not a reason to stop writing, it bothered me.  And a bothered Ally Bean is a scattered Ally Bean– and a scattered Ally Bean can’t focus long enough to write a list, let alone a blog post.

•  We had new carpeting installed upstairs and on the stairs, which created the most cluttered home I’ve ever lived in.  All of the upstairs stuff had to come downstairs– and then, of course, go back upstairs.  The mess was everywhere and lasted for about a month because that’s how long it took us to have the time [and energy] to move the stuff all around.  During that time I couldn’t even get to the computer which was trapped inside our home office turned storage warehouse, so no writing for me.

•  Our property was invaded by stink bugs– whose sole mission was to get inside our house.  For about 3 weeks they were all over the screens, peering into the house, just waiting for the opportunity to wander in and die.  And here is what I learned from that experience: when creepy bugs are looking for their final resting place within my home, I become unnerved and cannot write a word.  

~ ~ • ~ ~

So that’s it from here.  It’s just the same old, same old in a whole new way.  Certainly something more interesting has been happening in your world, my gentle readers.  Spill the beans in the comment section below.  I need to know what’s up with you.

Something Different This Way Comes

/ Ally Bean / 19 Comments

“It looks like the repo man has been here.”

~ Zen-Den, looking at the mess in our home office

– • –

Over the weekend we decided to start the process of updating our home office.  It’s where I write this blog and I’ve never been happy with the furniture arrangement and accessories in here.  Too dark.  Too orange-y.  Too blah.

So we ordered a real desk.  Then in anticipation of its arrival we dismantled the computer system that sits on/around/near the horizontal surfaces that I’ve spent the last few years pretending are a desk.  And finally, we dragged all this old, orange-y, non-desk furniture into the basement.

Bottom line?  Cora, my trusty desktop computer that I use to write this blog, is now sitting on a little table that is scrunched into a dusty corner of the deconstructed home office.  Consequently, this means that for the next few weeks until the desk is here and the computer system is back in place, I’m going to be away from the my favorite keyboard.

Considering that Late Summer morphing into Autumn is a beautiful and mellow time of year, I’ve decided that while everything is in flux I’m taking a proper blogging hiatus during the month of September.  Might even extend it into October.  We’ll see.

So with that being said, I’m stepping away from the computer and taking a bit of time off to enjoy my life without the need to write about it.  Shocking idea, I know.

I’ll catch up with you later, kids.  Be safe. Be happy. Be. 

Everything Including Half Of The Kitchen Sink

/ Ally Bean / 15 Comments

•  I was testing my camera to make sure that it was still working after it had gotten dropped and knocked about a few times.  For no reason whatsoever I took a few photos of the kitchen sink.  So here you go:

HALF OF OUR KITCHEN SINK.

DSCN1239

•  Now that it is August I’ve decided to shift my posting schedule to afternoons.  And to do more of the dreaded bullet. point. posts.  And to just babble a bit more than usual.  In other words, I’m going to take it easy in my real life and think that I will do the same thing here.  No stories, just stream-of-consciousness.

YOU’VE BEEN WARNED.

•  It is gorgeous outside today.  Blue skies, white clouds, low humidity, happy birds, pretty flowers.  This is what summer should look and feel like.  I see that rain is in our forecast again [still], but I’m grooving on this beauty today for as long as it lasts.  Sounds like a philosophy of life, doesn’t it?  Maybe I could make a bumper sticker:

GROOVE ON THE PRETTY WHILE IT IS HERE.

•  And with that piece of pithiness I’m going outside to do what I consider to be play;  that is, I’m going outside to weed the garden.  Yes, I’m a middle-aged, middle class, midwestern woman.

WHY DO YOU ASK?