The One About Affirmations & Allergies & Assertiveness, Oh My!

April 2, 2025 / Ally Bean / 211 Comments

The Affirmation Part

As I’m sure you realize, my little cherry blossoms of joy, there’s a difference between quotes and affirmations.

Quotes are thoughts said by someone. Ideally a quote, when properly sourced, is from an authority— maybe a person like a novelist or poet or songwriter OR from a well-known book or movie or TV show. When examined in their context quotes add depth to your thinking, speaking, writing.

Affirmations on the other hand are sayings that provide generic emotional support or encouragement. They tend to be popular ideas, often reflecting the existential angst of the era in which the affirmation originates. While an affirmation may be motivating for one person, it could just as easily be dismissed as poppycock by another person.

So keeping the foregoing in mind I share an affirmation that dropped into my sneezy life as I was scrolling along the interwebs. It stopped me long enough for me to muse upon its meaning | wisdom | value.

And how it could be a reflection of the times in which we live. The need to feel some control over something is powerful in the best of times and doubly so in our socially-mediated times. Maybe more so than in the past.

N’est-ce pas?

The Allergy Part

Without a second thought I can tell you the 3 months I like the best: October [at the top] – May – January. Then there are six other months I’m indifferent to, followed by the 3 months I dislike the most: February – August – April [at the bottom].

I apologize to people with April birthdays and wedding anniversaries, but for me April is a lousy month. This is because of ALLERGIES.

You see, I suffer from what the allergy doctors refer to as Rose Fever, the springtime equivalent to late summer’s Hay Fever [which I also suffer from]. While Hay Fever makes me tired, Rose Fever makes me irritable & leaves me feeling churlish.

It aggravates me in ways that fuel my natural penchant for being snarky, which I admit may work to my benefit. People tell me it’s my sassiness that draws them to this blog.

Thus this is where I find myself today, a woman muttering about her drippy nose, eyes that won’t focus, itchy skin, a mild never-ending headache, and the ability to sneeze loudly enough to startle Z-D when I’m downstairs and he’s upstairs on the other side of the house.

True story, really happened!

The Assertiveness Part

While researching something unrelated to that which follows I stumbled over another interesting online test that I had to take. I have a thing for them and from what I can tell so do my bloggy friends.

I realize I’ve been known to say that I believe life is one big ole test with a few pop quizzes along the way. I was being figurative but maybe for me it’s a literal thing.

Anyhoo I took the simple + fast Psychology Today’s Assertiveness Test that helps you determine how confident | bold | decisive you are.

From my results I learned that on a scale of 0 to 100 I rate 73. This puts me in the Somewhat Assertive range which means I’m an “effective communicator” who respects other people.

It also confirmed that I know that my “thoughts and feelings have value.”

Since becoming an adult I doubt there has rarely been a time when I didn’t know that my thoughts and feelings had value, but it’s good to have outside confirmation.

I guess…

Questions of the Day

Keeping your destiny in mind what have you created lately?

What is your favorite month of the year? What is your least favorite month of the year? What are your reasons for your choices?

Do you have seasonal allergies? If not, how’d you get so lucky?

If you took the test, what is your assertiveness score? Does it seem accurate to you?

~ ~ 🩷 ~ ~

The One About Trying New Things, Setting Boundaries, & Taking A Respite, For Sooth

October 22, 2024 / Ally Bean / 228 Comments

I’ve heard it said that when you get down to it the world is held together with safety pins and duct tape. There’s a truth to this idea, especially when I contemplate my personal blog here on ye olde WordPress.

Safety pin meet duct tape.

I’ll take credit for the safety pin part, that’d be my weekly blog posts ‘pinned’ here for all to read, contemplate, and comment on. Thank you, my fellow cool kids*, for doing so.

But the duct tape part? That’d refer to WP’s support of this blog, the way they attempt to ‘tape’ this virtual place together. And let’s just say bless their heart for ~~trying to~~ doing so.

Although I have to admit that some weeks I wonder how much longer WP will be around. There are glitches galore making it increasingly tedious to write, edit, format, and publish my pithy thoughts— and for you to receive them in the way I intend.

All of which brings me to the reason I’m writing this post. You see, my bloggy friends, I’m going to try something new, setting a boundary where I’m feeling drained, and taking an extended respite from writing this personal blog.

Because I’m tired of writing it**.

It really is that simple.

Tired.

As an introvert I feel that I’ve come to a point where I need a bit of space between me and whatever it is that I’m doing here. I want to relax into my real life, contemplate why I’m blogging at this point, and review what I hope to gain from writing. It’s time to reprioritize my blogging expectations.

Thus I’ll quietly duck out of here, probably returning sometime in 2025. Or maybe I’ll go elsewhere and find a new place to share my flapdoodle and twaddle.

I dunno.

And you know what? I don’t have to know right now because I’m keeping it loose, keeping it light*** by not worrying about the deets today.

Thanks to everyone who follows The Spectacled Bean, adding joy and laughter to my days. I appreciate that you’ve included me in your lives. I plan to continue checking in on yours every so often, enjoying what you have to say on your personal blogs.

Y’all are the best.

Later, kids.

* HERE is the explanation of what I mean when I talk about cool kids.

** HERE is how it has come to be that I am tired.

*** HERE is why I’m referring to wanting to keep it light.

Home Sweet Home: Do You Know Where You Belong?

October 16, 2024 / Ally Bean / 181 Comments

The Tale [Or Tail] Of An Unexpected Visitor

I wanted to sweep leaves off our deck, it being autumn and all, so I’d opened one of the French doors between our dining room and screened-in porch, leaving it open behind me, then I stepped outside into the screened-in porch.

I had a sense of purpose.

These are the steps that Cookie walked up.

Next I opened the door from the screened-in porch to the deck propping the door to the deck open. I began sweeping the leaves off the deck, attentive to what I was doing, when something from the yard, that had climbed up the stairs to our deck, dashed past me.

Like a black and white canine thunderbolt.

This is the deck that Cookie ran across going through the screen door that was open at the time into the screened-in porch.

I pivoted quickly to see Cookie, our neighbor’s Dalmatian-Great Dane mix, go running across our deck into our screened-in porch through the door I’d propped open.

Never expecting an uninvited visitor.

These are the French doors that Cookie walked through from the screened-in porch into our dining room.

Then faster than you can say “Jack be nimble, Jack be quick” while still standing on the deck I looked through the sliding door that leads from the deck into the kitchen or vice versa. This is when I saw Cookie, the happy-go-lucky goofball, inside our house looking out at me.

Through a locked door.

This is the spot in our kitchen where Cookie stopped moving, choosing instead to stare outside at me still on the deck.

So I ran across the deck into the screened-in porch, through the dining room, around the corner into the kitchen where Cookie was patiently waiting for me to feed her. Or so I assume.

What did I do?

This is Drags pretending to be Cookie so that you can get the idea of what I saw inside my house, on the other side of the locked door, while still standing outside on the deck.

Welp, I conned her out of our kitchen through the foyer toward the front door by shouting “WALKIES” and she fell for it by following me. I opened our front door, she stepped out, and I instructed her to “go home” while pointing in the direction of her house. And with that, slightly confused but obedient, Cookie trotted off.

To her home sweet home.

Deciding Where You Belong

I stumbled across the OECD Better Life Index. The index is a simple little online gadget that allows you to determine which country would best suit your personality.

Apparently I belong in Norway.

It’s easy to determine where you belong by following the link provided above. You’ll be asked to slide some doodads around to indicate how important 11 variables are to you. Then *voilà* you’ll learn which countries are where you’d find other people vibing with your values.

Your soulmates, I guess.

Questions Of The Day

Have you had a neighbor’s dog come for an unannounced visit? If so, how’d that go? What boss move did you do to get said dog to go home?

Upon opening a door to go outside do you immediately shut it behind you— or are you lax about shutting it sometimes?

If you tried the Better Life Index, which countries do you belong in?

Do you feel Drags needs to be featured here more often? I admit I’ve drifted away from using him, but doesn’t he just make you smile?

• 🐲 •

In Which I Become An Active Amateur Nutritionist: A Story, A List, A Few Questions

October 1, 2024July 2, 2025 / Ally Bean / 219 Comments

Is this not so‽

DESPERATELY [SORT OF] SEEKING CALCIUM FOR STRONG BONES

You’re not a very good freezer spelunker.

Z-D said this to me when I couldn’t find a bag of frozen edamame, a bag that he found almost instantly after digging further down into the disorganized mess that is our freezer.

He was right about me. Our freezer is on the bottom of the refrigerator and looking down into it with my bespectacled eyes is the equivalent of 52 card pick-up. It’s a jumble of blurry stuff.

The thing is that prior to March 2020 in the Before Times we had an organized freezer. I had a place for everything and could quickly easily find what I was looking for.

However after March 2020 when Mr. Man began working from home all the time and we began making all our meals at home all the time I lost control of the contents in the freezer because, say what you will about Z-D, he knows food and likes to have lots of it on hand.

Nonetheless, getting to a point here, you may be asking yourself why was I searching for edamame?

Thanks for asking. Please allow me to explain.

• • •

Edamame, also called soy beans, are a good source of calcium which, as you probably know, is good for your bones.

If I am to believe the results of a recent DEXA scan that measured my bone density, I need more calcium so that my bones get stronger or at least remain as strong as they are now. I’m not into a full-on osteoporosis situation with brittle fragile bones, just a pre-osteoporosis situation that is called osteopenia.

There’s always some dodgy name for medical conditions.

And further if I am to believe my Primary Care Physician’s advice I need to eat more calcium in addition to taking a weekly little prescription pill called Alendronate.

My insurance company [inexplicably] covers the full cost of this annoying little pill. You take the pill on an empty stomach then without laying down you wait at least 30 minutes before eating or drinking anything. I’m a person whose digestive track is easily upset, so naturally the pill doesn’t play nice with my intestines.

There are issues.

Plus the ridiculous dosage regime means that after dragging myself out of bed to face the day there’s no coffee for me for a half hour. I resent this intrusion into my morning routine. Obviously this is not a good way to start my day and I’d like to get to a point where I don’t take this little pill even if it is weekly.

• • •

Admittedly I’m not thrilled with dairy products, a well-known source of calcium. I eat a few but to get the recommended amount of daily calcium [1200 mg] I have to think about taking dietary supplements &/or eating more calcium-rich foods.

Because I want to avoid the dietary supplement angle of calcium intake I’ve chosen to become the Queen of Non-Dairy Calcium Information. As an active amateur nutritionist I’ve researched the topic online, going so far as to put together the following list of sources of calcium-rich non-dairy foods that I ~~would~~ will eat.

I share it here because maybe you, too, are trying to eat more calcium because you, too, don’t like taking prescription medicine or dietary supplements. Thus without further ado I present for your edification this *at least it’s a place to start* list.

[Please note: the order of the foods means nothing more than how I wrote them down during my research.]

A NON-EXHAUSTIVE LIST OF SOURCES OF NON-DAIRY CALCIUM

SOY FOODS