Hello February: Of Prosecco & Puzzles & Perceptiveness

February 1, 2022 / Ally Bean / 171 Comments

PUZZLE PIECES CASUALLY STREWN ON DINING ROOM TABLE

After a bitterly cold, yet rejuvenating, weekend of staying inside at home PLUS a well-deserved indulgence of Chocolate Chip cookies with Prosecco [see previous post for context about indulgence], I’m feeling better now.

My silly self has returned, my smart self has kicked in, my stylish self is back to planning, and my sane self… well, she’s still trying to make sense of things around here, in the world, wherever.

Because it’s winter in the midwest, as a way of passing the time, we’ve started putting together on our dining room table another jigsaw puzzle [see previous post about our freaky puzzle project]. And by *we* I mean Zen-Den is doing 96% of the putting together while I do 4%.

Same as it ever was.

The puzzle has 1,500 pieces and is of a cheerful tropical beach scene. It’s colorful, but with lots of sandy beach and a building with a thatched roof.

PUZZLE PIECES THAT FORM SIGNS

Because Zen-Den believes in the economic concept of Division of Labor I was tasked first with putting together the wordy signs as seen in the photo immediately above.

I did that all by myself.

Then he asked me to find all the tan, beige, khaki pieces that form the aforementioned beach and roof on a building. I’m capable of putting bright colors together, but when it comes to connecting pieces that are almost monochromatic, my eyes fail me [see previous post about me walking away from puzzle dust].

To wit, I found all the pieces for those portions of the puzzle, but I couldn’t get the pieces to fit together.

Zen-Den looked across the table at me to see how I was doing, then uttered what might be the most apt description of me he has ever said. He said in all seriousness:

“You don’t know your sandcastles from your tiki huts.”

No truer words, kids. No. Truer. Words.

PUZZLE PIECES THAT FORM SANDCASTLES TO THE LEFT OF THE RED SHOVEL, TIKI HUT TO THE RIGHT

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Please note:

I’m crowdsourcing a blogroll & there’s one week left to add your blog to the list. Go HERE and scroll to the bottom of that post to learn more & to see if you qualify. Let me know about your blog in the comment section there.

This is your last chance.

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A Potpourri Of NOT Much Happening Around Here

January 21, 2022 / Ally Bean / 194 Comments

You know, my little sugarplums, that I enjoy writing posts here, right? I tell you about what’s going on in my life. But that premise is based on the idea that something interesting is going on in my life.

And sometimes THERE AIN’T MUCH HAPPENING HERE.

However I feel like writing & using emojis. Muse is getting antsy waiting for it to NOT be January, so here’s what I have to tell you, interesting or not.

THE WEIRD CONVERSATION

While I was shopping in Kroger as I was standing in front of the cheese case a woman wearing a mask walked up to me to ask a question. She pulled down her mask [🤨] and asked me: “do you know what uncured ham is?”

It sounded vaguely familiar, like something from my childhood but I couldn’t tell her what it was. This didn’t stop her from sharing her woe about not finding it, an ingredient in some special sandwich, the recipe for which she waved before me as if it was a magic wand that’d spark my memory.

When I assured her I did NOT know anything useful about uncured ham, but maybe someone at the meat counter did, she wandered away, visibly disheartened.

I felt like I’d failed a pop quiz.

THE GOOD NEWS

The 30-foot tall dead tree in our neighbor’s yard, a tree that has loomed ominously over our screened-in porch for 5 years, fell down NOT on our house. Instead it keeled over into the wooded ravine behind our houses.

There said tree shall remain for eternity… with my blessing [😇].

THE REMODELING MEETING

We finalized remodeling plans for our 2 bathrooms. Having already had the kitchen and the primary bathroom and the laundry room remodeled by this company, it was easy to pick out the cabinets. We’re rather familiar with them [🙄].

The cabinets won’t be here until May; NOT sure I believe that, but I’ll try to be positive. The rest of the decisions about tile and sinks and knobs and wall color are yet to come when we closer to the project start date and the interior designer is ready to work with me.

I’m jazzed because that’s the fun part, oh yes it is.

THE PHOTO PROJECT UPDATE

Last April I started taking a monthly photo of our backyard + a little of the neighbor’s backyard; the previous photos are here. They are to document the changes of the seasons. I snap them while standing in the same place on our deck.

While this is NOT my usual higgledy-piggledy photo style [😁], it’s a fun harmless project that might prove something… yet to be decided.

These photos are the next installment.

AUGUST

SEPTEMBER

OCTOBER

NOVEMBER

DECEMBER

JANUARY

~ ~ 💚 ~ ~

In Which Ms. Bean Answers Mr. Monk’s Question + The Names Of Measuring Spoons & Cups

January 11, 2022 / Ally Bean / 197 Comments

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“How many pinches in a dollop?”

We’ve been watching the TV show MONK at night. It’s currently streaming on Amazon Prime. The show is silliness wrapped around a mystery, so it’s light and entertaining.

Just what we like.

For anyone unfamiliar with the show, Mr. Monk is a detective who suffers from so many phobias & foibles that half the show is watching him freak out, while the other half of the show is observing how he solves a mystery, usually a murder.

In one episode, “Mr. Monk Goes To The Circus” [Season 2, Episode 4], while attempting to make a mug of cocoa Mr. Monk asks Sharona, his beleaguered assistant, the question shown at the top of this post. It seems like it might be a rhetorical question, but in fact it is not.

There is an answer that I shall now tell you.

Ready? Here goes.

FIRST you need to know these two facts about measuring spoons:

a PINCH is 1/16th of a teaspoon

3 TEASPOONS is 1 tablespoon

PLUS you need to understand that:

a DOLLOP is 1 + 1/4th tablespoons

THEN you need to do the math:

Knowing that 16 pinches are 1 teaspoon and that 3 teaspoons make 1 tablespoon, I determined that 1 tablespoon is 48 pinches [16 x 3].

But what about the 1/4th of a tablespoon, you might be asking yourself? Well that’s where it gets more complicated but I figured it out.

Remembering that 1 tablespoon equals 48 pinches, I was able to determine that one fourth of a tablespoon equals 12 pinches [48 ÷ 4].

Thus I added 12 to 48 and arrived at the answer:

60 pinches make a dollop

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The Names Of Measuring Spoons & Cups

a DROP or a NIP is 1/64th of a teaspoon

a SMIDGEN or a SHAKE is 1/32nd of a teaspoon

a PINCH is 1/16th of a teaspoon

a DASH is 1/8th of a teaspoon

a TAD is 1/4th of a teaspoon

a HALF is 1/2th of a teaspoon

a DESSERTSPOON is 2 teaspoons

a TABLESPOON is 3 teaspoons

a DOLLOP is 1 + 1/4th tablespoons

a WALNUT-SIZE is roughly 2 tablespoons

a SPLASH is less than a drizzle

a DRIZZLE is about 2 tablespoons

a GLUG is more than a drizzle

a HEN’S EGG is 3 to 4 tablespoons

a FISTFUL or a WINEGLASS is 1/4th of a cup

a HANDFUL or a TEACUP or a GILL is 1/2th of a cup

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Sources:

What’s the Difference Between a Pinch, a Dash and a Shake? via Taste of Home

How big is a dollop? via AnswersToAll

A Walnut-Size of Butter via Bygone Food and Recipes

On The Nose: Contemplating My Goals & Word Of The Year For 2022

December 17, 2021 / Ally Bean / 221 Comments

Tigger under the Christmas tree. He has nothing specifically to do with this post but cute pink nose, eh?

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Bill at A Silly Place wrote a post, a challenge really, that got me thinking about what I’ll be doing next year. Thank you, Bill. You can read his post here and join his challenge if you so choose.

Consider yourself tagged.

Bill’s challenge is to forget about traditional formal New Year Resolutions, which I’ll admit have always seemed a bit overblown and idealistic to me.

Instead you commit to a few specific Goals that you monitor as the year goes along. It’s not as highbrow as declaring New Year Resolutions, but probably more doable because more pragmatic.

At least in my estimation.

While I usually shy away from anything that involves numbers, preferring to go with the wordy flow rather than mess with any dodgy numbers, I’m going to try this challenge because I am open-minded & curious.

My modest Goals are:

go for a walk five days a week;
cook four vegetarian meals each month;
donate three boxes of unwanted stuff to charity each month;
go on two vacations somewhere that is not here; and
read one book that is currently on our bookshelves each month.

But wait there’s more.

In keeping with my longstanding habit of deciding on a Word of the Year, while I pursue these numerically-based Goals I’ll implement my 2022 Word of the Year. It is how I shall do these things.

My word is ENJOY.

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Do you make New Year Resolutions?

Do you think that setting Goals, as opposed to making New Year Resolutions, is an intriguing way to state your intentions?

Do you pick a Word of the Year?

Keeping my 2022 Word of the Year in mind, what do you think of the *Christmas* music video below?

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