Random List

Five Links For Eggheads And Other Goofs

/ Ally Bean / 5 Comments

… because information is FUN dammit.

√ to see what your blog looks like on different types of devices, go here.  USEFUL.

√  to determine if you’d be smart enough to get into a gifted kindergarten program, go here.  SURPRISING.

√  to make your own plaid pattern to use on your webpage or computer desktop wallpaper, go here.  ADDICTIVE.

√  to give yourself a push when you don’t know what to write about, go here.  INSPIRING.

√  to learn how to make yarn ball bookmarks, go here.  RETRO.

[I’ve collected these links over the last few months while surfing the web.  I’m not the most organized about such things, so I don’t know where I found them.  If I have inadvertently not credited you with a H/T link, please let me know and I’ll update this post.]

Three Changes I’ve Made During The 2012 Presidential Election Campaign

/ Ally Bean / 12 Comments

1.  I’ve started watching CBS news.  I used to watch ABC, but our local affiliate could not shut up about the national election.  It was weird.

So I clicked over onto CBS and discovered that our local affiliate talked about [get this] local news & weather & traffic.  And that CBS This Morning with Charlie Rose, Gayle King & Norah O’Donnell is a delight.  No sales pitches. No silliness. No crowds of onlookers.  Just [get this] news & intelligent discussion & quiet humor.

In other words, my kind of people.

2.  I decided to boycott a business because this small, local business put up way too many political signs in front of its store.  While it is a right for any business to do this, it is also my right to stop frequenting an establishment because of it.  There are consequences for extreme partisanship– and one is the loss of customers who believe that politics is a personal matter, not part of a business plan.

[In fairness, I cannot take credit for this idea.  A friend pointed out to me that she had stopped going to her doctor because this doctor had become so blatantly political outside & inside her practice, that my friend walked away from the practice.]

There is a time & place for all things.

3.  I have learned to drive more slowly and with much more awareness.  Those darned lawn signs obscure who or what might be darting out from behind them.  Small children & pets are drawn to those signs, and more than once I’ve hit the brakes while driving through suburbia because I’ve noticed suspicious movement around the signs.

I understand that to many people political signs are a right… a need… an important way to make a difference.  So if you do put them out in front of your property, please consider putting them up close to your house instead of by the street.  I know they’ll be less visible, but doing such might avert a horrible accident.

Just saying, no offense intended…

The “Ten Things You May Not Know About Me” Meme

/ Ally Bean / 16 Comments

I may not be the fastest when it comes to doing things, but I am one of the most sincere– which must count for something.  Sorry that it took me so long, Polly….

Last June, Polly at caughtwriting gave me the Beautiful Blogger Award.  I knew that I wanted to participate, but just didn’t feel motivated to think about it until this week.

So without further delay, and only a few months late, please allow me to:

  • thank Polly for thinking of me;
  • tell you, my gentle readers, what I’m supposed to tell you about myself;  &
  • suggest that six of you bloggers out there do this meme, so that I might pass this award on to you, too.

###

1.  I minored in Political Science in college.

2.  I’m a fan of The Big Bang Theory.  But then, who isn’t?

3.  My current favorite lip color is Spicy Honey Almost Lipstick by Clinque.

4.  I like Zagnut candy bars.  [If you only click on one link here, this is the one to pick.  Funny old commercial.]

5.  I use our Kindle more for playing games than for reading books.

6.  I don’t suffer liars easily.  [Good information here about “the most reliable indicators of lying.”]

7.  I don’t like the current trend of wearing lots of bracelets on your wrist.

8.  I’ve managed to keep the Christmas poinsettia that I bought late last November alive all year.

9.  I’m not now, nor have I ever been, a floozy.

10.  I am learning how to make origami cranes.  So far, not so good.

 

I Need New Eyeglasses

/ Ally Bean / 17 Comments

{ Via* }

What is a blog if not a place to whine about discuss something that one wants, but for various reasons, has yet to get?  ‘Tis the essence of blogging, imho.

So, here’s the skinny.  I am sitting here all squinty-eyed looking at my lovely computer screen because I need new glasses.  I’ve known this since July when it dawned on me that I was leaning in very close to the computer screen to see what I’d just written.

Bad posture + squinting.  Not good.

But here’s the thing: I can’t get my eyes checked by the doctor until the weather turns cold.  Very cold.  Freezing cold.  Because I need all the nasty pollen and mold spores to die. So that my itchy, red, inflamed eyes will be able to accurately see all those letters on the eye chart.

The key word is accurately.

Past experience, and the eye doctor himself, have taught me that until the allergens that cause my eyes to be irritated disappear from our environment, there is no point for me to try to get my eyes checked.  The results of the exam will be wrong.

That would make me not happy.

So instead of charging forward [term used in both physical movement sense + paying for something expensive with a credit card sense], I am sitting here perusing the intertubes looking at photos of eyeglass frames so that when the magic day arrives for me to get my blurry eyes checked, I will have some idea of what frames I might want to go with.  The choice, as I see it [pun intended], is between rimless frames OR dark plastic frames.

Sarah Palin or Wolf Blitzer?

Yep, that’s what it comes down to: granny or grump?  Continue with my rimless look or give the hipster look a try?  Spend oodles on another pair of Kazou Kawasaki frames or spend less on a pair of Warby Parker frames?  All the while knowing that no matter which style I choose, I’ll initially dislike them because that’s what I do after buying new glasses.

I fret. 

RELATED:

•  Bobbi Brown’s The New Tortoise Shell Collection, eye shadow specifically for women who wear glasses

•  Makeup Tips for Women With Glasses, how-to photos to achieve natural yet polished look

•  Makeup for Girls Who Wear Glasses, article geared toward women who wear bold frames

•  Revenge Of The Nerds: Makeup Lessons For Gals With Glasses, video showing makeup applied to make your eyes pop

[*Original Source for image here.  Just realized that I linked wrong above.  Mea culpa.]