Decorating

Obligatory Proof Of Holiday Decoration, Christmas 2011

/ Ally Bean / 18 Comments

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Herewith please find PROOF OF HOLIDAY DECORATION in accordance with unwritten blogging rule #1225/jff.  To wit, all bloggers are required to show the world proof of holiday decorating.  No wordy little story about decorating will be accepted in place of mandatory photos.
Further, let it be known that the undersigned, Zen-Den and Ally Bean, jointly and severally hereinafter referred to as “The Beans,” do certify that they decorated their home of their own freewill and with relatively few arguments about how to do said project.
Further still, let it be known that The Beans would very much like to take a couple more photos of the outside of their abode, but the incessant rain has kept them from doing this.  Hence, they humbly submit only one photo of the outside taken while standing inside but leaning out the front door with camera in hand.
Duly submitted and signed this day, December 7, 2011, in the presence of absolutely no one.

Zen-Den & Ally Bean

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I’m Dreaming Of A Gray Christmas

/ Ally Bean / 4 Comments

random thoughts on a very dreary December morning… 

~ We decorated the outside of our house this year.  We don’t always do that, but this year we decided to put some lights on the bushes out front, a few wreaths on a few windows, and one long strand of lights wrapped around the deck railing out back.  So far the decorations are surviving our record-breaking rainy weather without any prob.  They’re all on pre-set timers, so they know what to do and when to do it.  Wetness be damned.

~ After we decorated the outside of the house, we decided to put up a Christmas tree in our TV room.  We don’t always do this every year either.  Naturally the old lights that we had weren’t working, so Z-D drove over to Lowe’s and then Home Depot to buy a total of four boxes of the same GE multicolored lights to put on the tree.  All of our ornaments from past years were in good shape, so we used them without buying anything new.  The tree is pretty and colorful– the perfect antithesis to the bleak weather outside.

~ Most people who know me know that I’m not a fan of the holiday season.  I tolerate it with gritted teeth and a quiet grace.  I dislike the phoniness of it all.  Too many people telling me too many ways in which they’re overwhelmed– by decisions that they freely made.  Commitments they accepted for reasons they can’t explain, but will whine endlessly about fulfilling.  To me, it seems like a time of faux friendship and forced frivolity.  Not centering and joyful at all.

~ Zen-Den may be taking some vacation days at the end of the month.  This will depend upon whether problems develop at work.  We’ve made no formal plans to go anywhere, so if he does take the days off I think that we’ll be taking a staycation.  Lunches out at some upscale restaurants that we like;  a visit to the zoo to see the lights;  a few rounds at our fav English pub.  Nothing elaborate, just doing some fun things– because we want to.

[Hello FTC!  As you may recall, I do not accept money or any other sort of graft for writing about any product.  So you need not worry yourself about anything nefarious happening here on my sweet little bloggy.   I like what I like– and I write about it because I want to write about it.  Nothing more, nothing less.  Just my opinion.] 

Five Senses Friday

/ Ally Bean / 5 Comments

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Feeling:

rather calm considering that:

there are half-finished drapes hanging on the kitchen windows… the house is three-fourths decorated for Christmas… I haven’t begun to figure out what to serve at a party we’re having in two weeks… the handyman guy for the leaky bathroom window is dragging his feet while tightly clutching our money and not doing the repairs… we have a huge muddy mess in our basement where there is a crack in the chimney foundation or a leak in the chimney cap [or both I suppose]… and we have now hired some company to fix our foundation/chimney/cap mess before winter sets in.

Hearing:

the sound of the [new] furnace blower as it keeps our house warm

Tasting:

freshly brewed black coffee

Seeing:

strewn in front of my computer on my desk:

clipboards – white paper printed with info – small yellow legal paper scribbled with ideas – one blue pen – one book – many pink & blue 3×5″ index cards – dust

Smelling: 

not much of anything because allergies have my nose stuffed up

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{This wonderful idea is from abby try again.   If you wish, you may play along in the comments below or on your own blog.}

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.