In Which We Get New Outdoor Furniture & Ally Embraces Social Media, Part 2 of 2

May 11, 2016January 25, 2024 / Ally Bean / 61 Comments

{Sub-titled: Nothing Is Ever Easy, But Darn This Furniture Is Pretty}

~ ~ • ~ ~

YESTERDAY ON AS THE ~~WORLD~~ BEAN TURNS…

We left the Beans longing for Carton 2 of 6, unable to determine where it was, or when it might appear at the house.

What will happen next?

~ ~ • ~ ~

THURSDAY, Day 12 – After posting the above tweet the night before, Ally receives helpful early morning tweet from reputable catalog company asking her to phone them. This pleases Ally, but being an introvert she passes message on to husband to deal with.

Around 11:00 a.m. Ally, sitting in her home office, hears thunk of carton as someone drops off Carton 2 of 6 by the garage door.

No one appears at front door, so no one signs for anything.

FRIDAY, Day 13 – Ally, who had the audacity to leave her house, returns home to find a message on the answering machine from Important Office Guy at reputable catalog company. He is apologizing for the delay and explaining how on the following Monday she’ll receive the cushions lost in transit.

Except the cushions are no longer lost.

Again, Ally the introvert, forces Zen-Den, Esq., to deal with this. And he does, calling Important Office Guy to tell him that all is well here.

We. Are. Happy.

This would be the end of it all, or so you would hope…

WEDNESDAY, Day 18 – Around 8:00 a.m. Ally receives phone call from Worried Manager Guy of the third-party delivery service. He needs her to sign for Carton 2 of 6. Without her signature, reputable catalog company will not pay third-party delivery service.

This situation does not make Worried Manager Guy happy. He asks if one of his drivers could come by the house at 11:00 a.m. for her to sign for Carton 2 of 6.

Ally, who can’t think of a reason why not, figures that’d be ok.

At 8:50 a.m. the doorbell rings and Ally finds Truck Guy from third-party delivery service standing on her stoop, proving that when it behooves them, third-party delivery service can find her home lickety-split.

Truck Guy has packing slip [sans clipboard] + pen for Ally to use to sign piece of paper that confirms Ally did, in the end, after 18 days of messing around with reputable catalog company, and their chosen third-party delivery service, get all of her pretty wicker furniture with cushions.

~ ~ • ~ ~

THUS ENDETH THE STORY.

Unless, of course, someone realizes that no one signed for the ottoman and cushion, in which case, there will be a sequel to this story.

~ ~ • ~ ~

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.

~ ~ • ~ ~

• 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.

~ ~ • ~ ~

• 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.”

~ ~ • ~ ~

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

~ ~ • ~ ~

X Is For XXXX Sugar, Top This Sort Of Excellence

April 28, 2016January 28, 2021 / Ally Bean / 53 Comments

“Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch, you know that I love you. I can’t help myself, ‘cuz I love you and nobody else.”

• These are the lyrics of a classic Motown song by the Four Tops, who have sung this song for decades. This song mentions sugar, but we do not know if that sugar is XXXX [powdered] or granulated.

Now do we?

• This means that for purposes of this A To Z Challenge, which never seems to end, I believe that the sugar mentioned in the above quote is of a fancy XXXX powdered variety, and not merely your everyday granulated sugar.

It could be true.

• So please, my gentle readers, indulge me as I snap my finger and wink my eye, sharing, what I’m going to say is, a perfectly acceptable post regarding the letter “X.”

Top that, people!

V Is For Vinegar, Very Much So

April 26, 2016May 6, 2021 / Ally Bean / 27 Comments

Full of spit and vinegar

… is a slang term that implies someone is high-spirited, boisterous, full of vigor.

Noisy, even.

I have no idea when I first heard this innocent version of, shall we say, a classically crude saying, occasionally seen in literature, but rarely said in my world.

This is not because I’m offended by coarse language, but because this saying doesn’t float into my addled brain when I want to tell you that I’m feeling youthful and rowdy.

Too many words. Too idiomatic. Too easy to be misunderstood.

Instead, I’d rather tell you straight up and directly: I’m feeling energetic today. Watch out world.

• • •

{ SOMETHING TO DO FOR FUN }

Here’s a website where you can create your own custom background noise. You can make the noise to help you mellow out OR be productive. It’s up to you. Go try it now.

• • •