Random List

Regarding Sweetness & Light For Valentine’s Day

/ Ally Bean / 14 Comments

Tomorrow is Valentine’s Day.  Here are five links of sweetness and light to put you in the right frame of mind.  Enjoy!

√  Fall in love all over again… with puppies.  Watch commercial many times.  Feel all warm & fuzzy inside.  [Which TV show used this music as its theme?]

√  Remember how much you loved the romantic movie You’ve Got Mail.  View the movie’s original promotional website.  Allow its simple charm + your memories of the movie to make you smile.

√  Bake some Mini Cinnamon Rolls with Maple Icing.  Be overwhelmed with happiness upon tasting them.  Try not to eat them all in one sitting.  So good.

√  Print a few free Valentine’s Day cards to give to your sweetie + friends + family.  Remember to give yourself a card, too.  Just because.

√  Take a look back in time when a girl’s dream was to have a man sweep her off her feet.  Be amazed by what good-looking, athletic Douglas Fairbanks, as  Zorro, could do.

So, How ‘Ya Been?

/ Ally Bean / 19 Comments

When I decided to take my blogging hiatus, I thought that I’d be back to The Spectacled Bean within a few weeks.  But things happened.  Obstacles presented themselves.  And in the course of it all, I lost my blogging mojo.  

So what happened, you wonder?  Well, I think that this is one of those blogging moments when only a list can explain things.  To wit, I give you…

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THE LAMENTATIONS OF ALLY

•  Our internet connection stopped connecting.  Without going into the details, suffice to say that we are no longer using the less-than-reliable phone company for our ISP and are now using the cable company for our ISP.  And getting this worked out?  Why, it only took 55 days, during which time I couldn’t get to my blog.

•  Our kitchen sink drain pipe developed a leak that we discovered after said leak had partially destroyed the sub-flooring and was dripping into the basement.  While in and of itself this is not a reason to stop writing, it bothered me.  And a bothered Ally Bean is a scattered Ally Bean– and a scattered Ally Bean can’t focus long enough to write a list, let alone a blog post.

•  We had new carpeting installed upstairs and on the stairs, which created the most cluttered home I’ve ever lived in.  All of the upstairs stuff had to come downstairs– and then, of course, go back upstairs.  The mess was everywhere and lasted for about a month because that’s how long it took us to have the time [and energy] to move the stuff all around.  During that time I couldn’t even get to the computer which was trapped inside our home office turned storage warehouse, so no writing for me.

•  Our property was invaded by stink bugs– whose sole mission was to get inside our house.  For about 3 weeks they were all over the screens, peering into the house, just waiting for the opportunity to wander in and die.  And here is what I learned from that experience: when creepy bugs are looking for their final resting place within my home, I become unnerved and cannot write a word.  

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So that’s it from here.  It’s just the same old, same old in a whole new way.  Certainly something more interesting has been happening in your world, my gentle readers.  Spill the beans in the comment section below.  I need to know what’s up with you.

A City Girl’s Random Musings On Goats

/ Ally Bean / 17 Comments

::  This morning when I read this article about the Congressional Cemetery in Washington, D.C., using goats to clear a field of poisonous weeds, I knew that it was going to be a good day.  Is this the best idea ever?

Probably yes.

::  Thinking about goats reminded me of a wonderful graduation party that we went to earlier this summer.  The graduation girl was a graduate of a rural high school, so the party was at her parents’ house out in the country.

Many of the guests were farmers and at one point the conversation turned to goats.  Show goats, to be exact.  [Did you even know there was such a thing?  I didn’t.]

Come to find out, 4-H kids raise and groom certain goats with the right disposition and the right looks to be show goats.  These goats are somewhat pampered as I understand it.  Loved by one and all.  Winners of ribbons.  Indulged.  And kept around the farm as pets, not livestock.

An important distinction when you are an animal on a farm.

::  I have a goat necklace from Switzerland.  Really.  I’ve always liked goats.  So when I was a girl in high school my aunt and uncle sent me a silver goat necklace purchased while vacationing in Europe.  I don’t know where that necklace is now, but I’m sure that it’s around the house somewhere.

Misplaced, but not forgotten.

::  Not too far from here is a dairy that has cows as well as a few goats.  Beside the goat barn is a machine that for 25¢ dispenses goat chow.  [Yes, just like cat chow or monkey chow or dog chow.]  One of my favorite things to do in life is to buy a handful of goat chow and feed the goats.  Their little goat lips tickle the palm of your hand as they nibble.  And they are always appreciative of what you have to offer them to eat.

So fun, so cute.

Answering Your Questions, I Am [Part 2 of 2]

/ Ally Bean / 11 Comments

•  From Lori P who just happens to be my SIL… If you had to do it all again, specifically targeting the choices you made for yourself, would you change anything?

I think the one thing that I’d change is I would have stood my ground about taking a year off between high school and college.  For various reasons, I was emotionally exhausted and mentally unclear about my future when I graduated from high school.  I knew that I needed a break from academics so that I could figure out what to do next, but my mother wouldn’t hear of it.  She forced me to go on to college straightaway.

Had I followed my own instincts, I would have been more mature, rested and focused when I arrived on campus as a freshman.  I suspect that I would have gone to a larger university that had a more diverse student population and offered a wider variety of majors– one of which would have prepared me for a career in something or other.

•  From Kristen Plumer at Kristen Loves Design… What would you describe as your decorating style? Does it match who you really are?  And a related question, if you could decorate however you wanted (money being no object), what would you do?

Our decorating style is relaxed traditional with family antiques, hints of mid-century modern & splashes of spirited color.  It’s eclectic, but to keep it from looking too jumbled the walls are in shades of warm neutrals like khaki gold, creamy white or warm gray– with white trim everywhere.  The style matches who we are to a tee– cheerfully mixed-up with the ability to pull it together when need be.

If money were no object and I could find the right interior designer, I’d like to have a home that has more of what I’d call a California relaxed vibe to it.  Mostly neutrals inside the house because the outdoors is colorful.  Open, sliding doorways from inside living areas to the outside.  Black trim around the windows.  Lots of amazing original artwork.  And perhaps some stucco, arches, Mexican tiles, too.

•  From Zazzy at Zazamataz… What are your favorite foods – to make? to eat? What’s comfort for you? What can you absolutely not stand? 

My favorite foods to make are fruit-based deserts like strawberry shortcake with homemade whipped cream or bread pudding with raisins or applesauce spice cake with caramel icing.  I also like to make stews and soups in the winter.  All that chopping and blending of ingredients makes me happy.

My favorite foods to eat are fresh fruits and vegetables.  Plus grilled fish + chicken.  I like sourdough bread, and pasta or rice done very simply with a bit of olive oil/butter, onions, herbs.  Also, I am a nut for unsalted nuts.  I really like eating healthy, but do not always have the time & energy to do so.  Which is a bummer, but a reality at this point in my life.

As for comfort food, I occasionally eat a bakery white [or yellow] cake cupcake with vanilla icing– for medicinal purposes, mind you. And the one food that I cannot stand is green or yellow or red peppers.  Yuck.  Won’t eat them at all.

[Yesterday, Part 1]