My Reflections On The 2016 A To Z Challenge: The Outtakes

May 3, 2016August 29, 2024 / Ally Bean / 69 Comments

• Well, butter my butt and call me a biscuit, I finished the 2016 A To Z Challenge. I know a few of you wondered about my ability to do this challenge, if I’d flake, and I have to say bless your little pea-pickin’ hearts for being worried about me.

But you see, my gentle readers, this challenge did not, in the end, upset the apple cart for me. I finished this challenge because I used my noodle to make sure that I didn’t end up in a pickle while doing it.

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• Sure, some days the constraints of the challenge griped my grits; but even though my writing process is slower than molasses, I did not allow that hard cheese to stop me from publishing each post.

I’ll admit that some of the things I wrote were about as sharp as a wet cornflake, which might have made me appear to be a few fries short of a happy meal.

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• However, throughout the challenge, even though I didn’t consider it easy as pie, I remained cool as a cucumber and didn’t stumble ass over teakettle in the process.

While I’d never say that I was a huckleberry above a persimmon, I did finish the challenge, and came to the same conclusion that Snoopy, my spirit animal, observed years ago: “It’s amazing how many friends you have after your waffle iron gets fixed.”

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THESE LAST 15 FOOD SAYINGS, THAT DIDN’T MAKE THE CHALLENGE CUT, ARE DEFINED IN THE COMMENTS BELOW.

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O Is For Orange, Okay Then

April 18, 2016May 6, 2021 / Ally Bean / 50 Comments

Orange you glad I didn’t say banana?

… is the punch line to a knock-knock joke that I believe all English-speaking children learn at about age 4. Maybe a little older or younger, I dunno.

{ Image Source }

It’s just a goofy way of playing around with words, and means literally: Aren’t you happy that I did not say banana? The humor in this saying is that the spoken word “orange” sounds phonetically like the spoken words “aren’t you.”

I’m not a connoisseur of le knock-knock jokes, so I rarely, if ever, say the above phrase. However, considering that my A To Z Challenge theme is Food: Talking the Talk, this phrase fits right in.

Orange you glad of that?

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{ SOMETHING FUN TO DO}

Here’s a link to Knock Knock Jokes based on first names where you can add your own joke to the list. Have at it, kids.

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L Is For Lime, Like It Or Not

April 14, 2016May 6, 2021 / Ally Bean / 30 Comments

Take life with a Grain of salt, a Slice of lime, and a shot of tequila

… is good advice that I’ve never taken literally because I don’t like to drink shots of tequila.

If I might be allowed to combine these ingredients with some simple syrup into a margarita on the rocks, then I’m right there with you chilling out about life, being cool about things.

Which is what I take this slang saying to mean.

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OF COURSE if we happen to make it two margaritas, then I’m singing a song about a lime.

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AND IF by chance we make it three margaritas? I’m wearing a sombrero because like Hobbes says: “What fun is it being ‘cool’ if you can’t wear a sombrero!”

{ From Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Patterson }

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“Useful” Was The Word Of The Weekend

March 8, 2016May 6, 2021 / Ally Bean / 42 Comments

:: I USED TO write about the various home redecorating projects we had going on around the house. Chez Bean was almost a character in and of itself in this blog.

But over the years, as every ding dang one of those projects dragged on, I stopped writing about them because who wants to read the ramblings of a whiner talking about first world problems?

:: HOWEVER, I’M THINKING that because this particular project seems to be going well, I’ll tell you, my gentle readers and fellow interior design aficionados, that we’re painting the walls in one of the guest bedrooms.

This is the bedroom in which we have a couple of upholstered chairs & a small little desktop computer area & a TV & some books shelves. Years ago Zen-Den the Literal began to refer to this space as the Un-Bedroom, and the name stuck.

:: SO WHAT COLOR are we painting the Un-Bedroom ~~this time~~?

The walls are now in the process of becoming Sherwin-Williams 7050 Useful Gray, which is a color I chose after reading about it here on THE COLLECTED Interior.

It’s a neutral, calm, warm gray color that Zen-Den, the person actually painting the walls, has announced is the best. color. ever.

I like it because it’s a color that both He Who Paints The Walls and She Who Makes Important Decorating Decisions can agree on.

Making it, I believe, most useful. 😉