I Will Not Let One Tulip Get Me Down

January 28, 2015January 28, 2015 / Ally Bean / 33 Comments

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I bought a bouquet of 20 tulips at Kroger because I like how graceful tulips look in a vase and because a bit of cheerful color in mid-winter is a good thing. I put 17 of the tulips in a large vase and set it on our kitchen table.

Upbeat.

• • •

Three of the tulips wouldn’t fit into the large vase so I put them in a smaller crystal bud vase and set the bud vase, on a saucer, on top of the chest of drawers in our bedroom. I liked how the 3 tulips looked reflected in the mirror on the wall above the chest of drawers.

Artsy.

• • •

HOWEVER, a few hours later when I walked back into the bedroom I noticed that 1 tulip had given up. Cracked under the weight of blooming.

Sure it was still a bit of cheerful color, but it was not working with the other tulips to create a tiny uplifting bouquet. And I had the distinct impression that the Universe was messing with me via these 3 tulips.

But you know what? I didn’t care, so I left the tiny bouquet just as it was as a reminder that we all do what we can to make each day special & unique. In our own way. Regardless of what other people may want us to do.

N’est-ce pas?

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A Revelation Upon My Return To Blogging: Snoopy Is My Spirit Animal

January 13, 2015January 13, 2015 / Ally Bean / 22 Comments

“My life has no purpose, no direction, no aim, no meaning, and yet I’m happy. I can’t figure it out. What am I doing right?”

~ Snoopy

I’m back. And ready to challenge myself by continuing on with this blog, The Spectacled Bean. There were moments, while I was off in the real world doing holiday things, when I wondered if I’d return.

So easy to let this all go.

But then my spirit animal, Snoopy, turned up among the Christmas tree decorations which we keep in boxes in the basement– and I realized that I’d missed having him around in my home office.

As inspiration. Motivation. And protection.

Thus it came to be that the Snoop-ster and his ever faithful friend, Woodstock, once again found themselves sitting on this funky old chair which adds color to my home office. And it is from this vantage point that Snoopy has my back once again.

Which, as you can imagine, makes me happy. 🙂

I’m Not Obsessed With Logic But…

November 6, 2014February 25, 2015 / Ally Bean / 20 Comments

I’ve no doubt that some people have wondered the above about me. [For the record, I tie my shoelaces all by myself.] We all have our moments, don’t we?

Uh huh.

So it is with the foregoing in mind that I tell you the gist of a conversation that I had with a casual acquaintance. It’s a conversation that didn’t make sense to me, but then I was having one of my logical days while my casual acquaintance wasn’t.

Oh well.

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ACQUAINTANCE: Congrats on your success. I see that you’ve accomplished something.

MOI: Thank you.

ACQUAINTANCE: Did you do something different this time that contributed to your success?

MOI: Yes. {I explain how I did what I did.}

ACQUAINTANCE: {Acquaintance asks 2 or 3 clarifying questions.} Wow, so you did something entirely new?

MOI: Yes I did.

ACQUAINTANCE: WELL THAT WON’T WORK. YOU CAN’T DO IT THAT WAY. YOU’LL FAIL.

MOI: Huh?! But you just said…

ACQUAINTANCE: {Lots of explanation about how what I did will never work and how wrong I was to even try.}

MOI: Well, thanks for telling me this.

ACQUAINTANCE: Oh sure. Just trying to help.

MOI: Uh huh.

~ The End ~

[Source for the above image is anyone’s guess. I found it on FB. I’ve seen it on Pinterest, stumbled over it on many blogs, but have been unable to find its original source.]

Get Out The Windex, It’s Time To Vote

November 4, 2014November 4, 2014 / Ally Bean / 18 Comments

{ Source: WordPress.com News }

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During the 18 years that we’ve lived in this area we’ve voted at six different locations:

the smoky VFW Hall;
the cavernous golf course/convention center;
the cheerful Methodist church;
the crowded elementary school;
the difficult to get into and out of community church; and now
the Greek Orthodox church.

Of all the locations, this Greek Orthodox church is the best one because it’s slightly off of a busy street, has lots of parking and the actual voting area is a few steps inside the door. The Greeks do voting well.

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But the thing about this voting location, which has absolutely nothing to do with the voting itself but I’ll tell you about it anyhow, is that Z-D comes from a family with a Greek heritage.

And our well-mannered, kind Mr. Bean can do a wicked, dead-on impression of his Great Uncle, who disapproved of everything and everyone. Great Uncle was not a happy person with a generous soul, unlike his nephew.

So as you can imagine, this impression, which Z-D trots out two times a year, gets me laughing. Every time.

And always leads to one of us quoting a movie that is best known for its references to Windex, but also explains Zen-Den’s family so well. A movie in which I am the WASP to his Greekinicity. A movie called My Big Fat Greek Wedding which gives us the following wonderful lines.

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Aunt Voula: What do you mean he don’t eat no meat?

[the entire room stops, in shock]

Aunt Voula: Oh, that’s okay. I make lamb.