Because It’s Still February & I’m Bored: 10 Trivia Facts I Know

February 24, 2017August 28, 2018 / Ally Bean / 113 Comments

{ photo by Alice Donovan Rouse via Unsplash }

I don’t know if the following list is an example of useful information OR humblebragging.

I mean on the one hand, knowing some trivia can be fun and fill-in those awkward pauses in social conversations.

But on the other hand creating a list like the one that follows is a bit egotistical. I mean in essence I’m saying to you, here are things that I know and you probably don’t. Woo-hoo!

However, I have nothing else to write about today because February, the longest short month on the calendar, is never going to end and I am bored with it. So why not share some trivia?

Ten Trivia Facts That I Know

I know that on the Jetsons, Astro’s name before he came to live with the Jetsons was Tralfaz.
I know that Cosmic Latte is the name of the color of the universe.
I know that at one time Jell-O came in a Celery flavor.
I know that shoes used to be made with buttons on them, no laces or velcro; and that you needed a button hook to get the button-hole over the button on your shoe, so it would stay on your foot.
I know that a stoat is a kind of weasel that according to folklore, upon seeing one a person must say “hello” to it– or risk bad luck.
I know that coffee, not tired eyeballs, is an ingredient in red-eye gravy.
I know that baby squirrels in the nest chirp like baby birds.
I know that at one time in the English language you put a backward question mark at the end of a sentence when the question in the sentence was rhetorical.
I know that chromophobia is the word for the fear of color.
I know that you can make a passable martini using chardonnay instead of vermouth.

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NOW IT’S YOUR TURN TO SHARE, MY GENTLE READERS. TELL ME SOMETHING TRIVIAL THAT YOU KNOW!

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When One Doth Use The Snot Out Of Something

February 2, 2017May 6, 2021 / Ally Bean / 42 Comments

I love when the absurd intersects with the ridiculous, and everything suddenly makes sense.

{ Classic TV: Catch the toast. Kiss the grapefruit. }

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I. Years ago Zen-Den and I were walking around a discount mall complex. It was crowded, we were walking slowly, and we chanced to overhear part of a serious conversation between two people who we didn’t know.

What we heard was: “We used the snot out of those oven mitts.”

We started laughing because neither one of us could imagine a scenario where you’d say this sentence with such earnestness. Of course Z-D and I, being who we are, immediately adopted this sentence as our favorite inside joke that means absolutely nothing, but it’s darned funny to say.

Don’t judge.

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II. I’ve been cooking and baking more this winter than usual. We didn’t decorate the house for the holidays, but instead I decided to be festive and make some foods that we especially like: stews, soups, casseroles, breads, biscuits.

Even though the holidays are over now, I’ve just kept on cooking.

All was going well in my happy little cooking world until our last oven mitt ripped in two. This left me with one square potholder and a dish towel to use when getting food out of the oven, and off the top of the stove.

I adapt. No big deal, right?

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III. It didn’t concern me to not have any oven mitts because I was making do with what I had. It was only when Zen-Den walked into the kitchen and asked me what I was doing that I began to realize that this conversation was going to go somewhere funny.

I got the giggles but was able to explain the situation to him, and for the first time ever I was able to say in all truthfulness: “We used the snot out of those oven mitts, didn’t we?”

Thereby using our favorite absurd overheard sentence in a non-ironic way to describe the present ridiculous situation– and to finally understand why anyone would say that sentence to begin with.

Life is good.

Links I Love For Clever Beans, Badass Turtles + Other Goofs

January 31, 2017August 28, 2018 / Ally Bean / 78 Comments

… because information is FUN dammit.

• Sometimes you need to remember How To Begin Again.

• Inspiration like the 5 Tips to Trim Down for Trump is why I love the blogosphere.

• Reminding you again How Being Bored Out Of Your Mind Makes You More Creative.

• Taking the What’s Your Closet Personality quiz, learning that I’m a Clothing Economist.

• What say we all try to be a Warrior Not Worrier.

• Knowing How to Enjoy Tea Throughout the Day seems like a good idea.

• Wondering about being a “54” after taking the Do You Live In A Bubble? quiz.

• So The Secret Is Not To Care, huh?

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New goal: Be as badass as this turtle.

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In Which Breakfast Disappoints Me & I Am Not Happy

January 27, 2017January 28, 2021 / Ally Bean / 73 Comments

“A helpful Tribe Called Quest flow chart” via @MarionDowling

THE FIRST THING you need to know is that I dislike eating the end of anything. Heel of the loaf of bread? Yuck. Last of the peanut butter in the jar? No thanks. Final serving of the mac and cheese in the casserole? Ugh.

[Character failing or intriguing personality quirk? You, my gentle readers, are free to decide which it is.]

So this morning, half-awake, as I prepared my breakfast, I went outside my comfort zone when I decided to voluntarily eat the end of the Orange Marmalade. I like Orange Marmalade, and in the winter when it’s cold and dreary outside Orange Marmalade cheers my soul, which I believe is an admirable thing for a condiment to do.

[It makes me think of England where I went to college for a term. In the spring, when it was pretty and green outside. The opposite weather of this morning.]

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SITTING DOWN TO breakfast at the kitchen counter, with my mug of coffee and my tasty toast smeared with Orange Marmalade, I bit into what I thought would be the perfect midwinter anti-gloom breakfast.

[Oh, but was I disappointed.]

It seems that in our refrigerator we also had a jar of almost used up Apricot Jam, which just happened to be sitting beside the aforementioned Orange Marmalade. And as fate would have it, glancing casually at the orange color, I picked up the Apricot Jam, plopped the end of it onto my toast, and then took a big bite of the wrong thing.

[BLEECH! A thousand times bleech!]

And that’s how my morning started. Reminding me that my comfort zones are there for good reasons. To keep my safe, healthy– and HAPPY. Which I am not, right now.