I’m Doing The A To Z April Challenge 2016: For Better Or Worse

March 29, 2016May 6, 2021 / Ally Bean / 45 Comments

Just the facts, ma’am…

I’ve joined the A to Z April Challenge 2016. I’m in the mid-1500s on the list, should you care to find me. There’s still time for any of you, my gentle readers, to join in. Never let it be said that I didn’t invite you.

I’ve never tried to do this challenge before. When it comes to The Spectacled Bean, I tend to fly by the seat of my pants, so following a schedule, which this challenge requires, looks suspiciously like work to me. But I’ll do my best to keep on track.

My theme for this challenge will be FOOD: Talking The Talk. I plan on sharing sayings, such as proverbs, idioms, or slang phrases, and a few quotes or product names as examples of how we talk about food, even when we’re not necessarily talking about food.

I promise, as I go through the alphabet, that I will not be pedantic. In fact, I imagine that this sort of challenge will allow me to flaunt my natural tendency toward flapdoodle and twaddle. With a little snark thrown in for good measure. And occasionally, a few facts.

… That is all.

March Is The Do-Over Month: Happy New Year 2.0

March 1, 2016March 1, 2016 / Ally Bean / 20 Comments

• I ALWAYS FEEL LIKE January and February are practice months.

It’s during these months that I flesh out how I’m going to do whatever lofty word I’ve chosen for my one word of the year [this year’s word here]. I make my mistakes in the cold of winter when no one will notice.

Or so I think.

• THEN ON MARCH 1, which happens to be today, I start all over again, relying on the wisdom I’ve gained through ~~fiddle-farting my days away~~ failure, marching toward being a better bean.

If you know what I mean.

• THIS IS HOW MY wack-a-doodle mind works, so when I found the following simple Workplace Thinking Style Graph [details here] that leads me to believe I am not alone in the way I do things, I was thrilled.

Coolness. I love straightforward explanations.

• ACCORDING TO THIS CHART, I am an Optimizer. That is because, no matter what I do, my focus is on process; and, despite wanting to be less of a micro-manager, my orientation is on details.

This describes me perfectly. [Read beginning of this post to confirm.]

So it is with this insight, as I move FORWARD into the rest of 2016, that I leave you, my gentle readers, today. Later kids, I’ve got some New Years celebrating to do. 😉

A Conversation About Self-Awareness & Assumptions

February 4, 2016January 9, 2017 / Ally Bean / 36 Comments

~ ~ • ~ ~

A friend, who was clearly absorbed in her own thoughts, got into my car, buckled up, and without so much as a Sherman T. Potter “howdy-do” said:

Do you think you were wanted?

Now I’m a good friend. Attentive. A natural-born problem solver, but you have to give me some context. So I said the first, rather inarticulate, thing that drifted into my head: huh?

Then the story unfolded as she went on to explain that she’d started reviewing her life, all of her life, in light of a recent setback in which her job ended.

While she understood on a logical level why her job, which she tolerated, had been cut, on an spiritual level this experience had sent her into a spiral of self-doubt– and a need to understand it all.

~ • ~

We talked for a while. She explained that the question she had asked of me wasn’t about being wanted at work, but about being wanted within a family. That is, did I think/she think that our parents wanted us.

In my case, Yes. In her case, No.

Getting to the crux of her contemplation, she thought that being unwanted early on would have given her some superpower to automatically know when that sort of thing was happening again.

In other words, because she was so sure of herself had she missed some sign that she was going to be kicked to the curb by this employer?

We came to no definitive conclusion about her recent job loss, but we did stumble upon a good topic of conversation about self-awareness. That is, how we all make assumptions based on previous experiences.

And how those assumptions when applied to the here and now, aren’t always a good guide for how to live your life, even though it’s easy to delude yourself into thinking that they are.

~ ~ • ~ ~

Of Long Forgotten Blogrolls & Kind Delurkers

January 22, 2016August 29, 2018 / Ally Bean / 33 Comments

[Received this snazzy award on Monday.]

ONE FACT I’VE LEARNED ABOUT BLOGGING in my 12 years bouncing around the blogosphere is that things change.

To wit, I always liked having a blogroll, but a few years ago I realized that keeping an up-to-date blogroll had turned into a monthly chore. Bloggers were coming and going from my blog, and the blogosphere, like it was a revolving door.

So instead of putting up with the aggravation and extra work required to keep my blogroll current, I decided to not have one anymore.

WHICH BRINGS ME TO THE POINT of this particular blog post.

Two weeks ago I asked my blog readers to delurk because that was the week to do it, and I’m pleased to say that your response overwhelmed me.

Who knew so many wonderful people were following The Spectacled Bean? Not me, that’s for sure.

So as a way of expressing my appreciation for the gift of your attention, I give you, my gentle readers and kind delurkers, the following list which is as close to a blogroll as I can muster.

Many thanks to everyone. You’re the best.

~ ~ • ~ ~

My List Of Blogs Written By People Who Know How To Delurk When Asked To Do So

Solvieg Werner “~ eclectic, multilingual …”

Allie Potts Writes “How to appreciate the everyday”

Naples Girl Blog by Cheri

Views and Mews by Coffee Kat “Kate’s views on life edited by four opinionated cats”

Susie Lindau’s Wild Ride “A life filled with adventure is always a Wild Ride.”

The Write Transition by Carrie

The Green Study by Michelle

It’s All a Matter of Perspective “99.3% truth, .7% blatant lies. in between lies my perspective on life.”

Dept. of Nance “Uncorked and aging nicely”

Mary J. Melange “A hodgepodge of thoughts, ideas and the reality of life.”

One Grain Amongst the Storm “A Mélange of memoirs, fiction, short stories, verses, book reviews and uncorked angst.”

Stargazer “A view inside my universe”

Evil Squirrel’s Nest “Where all the COOL SQUIRRELS hang out!”

Marian Allen, Author Lady “Fantasies, mysteries, comedies, recipes”

Practically Wise “Musings & Meditations From An Aspiring Matriarch”

reading interrupted. “because reading also involves the way your head rests on your hand as you lean over a book, the damp mark you leave on a page when reading in the tub, or being interrupted by a”

Philosopher Mouse of the Hedge “Simple observations, analysis, and common sense comments”

Around ZuZu’s Barn “Conversations With Kindred Spirits”