Shopping

First Photos With My New Camera: Outside From Small To Large

/ Ally Bean / 34 Comments

Over the weekend I bought a new point & shoot camera.  It is a Nikon COOLPIX P520 18.1 MP Digital Camera with 42x Zoom.  It will replace my Nikon COOLPIX P90 12.1 MP Digital Camera with 24x Zoom that I’ve enjoyed using for many years.

This new camera is similar to the old one, but has more bells & whistles on it.  *yeah*  I’m looking forward to learning about each cool thing that my P520 can do, but for these photos I just winged it.  This camera is, after all, a point & shoot model, so why not go with the obvious?

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[Hello FTC!  It’s been a long time, hasn’t it?  I haven’t bought much lately.  Huh.  Well, just as a reminder, please note that I’m not being paid for my opinion here.  I’m just explaining my experiences without any compensation whatsoever.  That’s the way I roll, but then you knew that.]  

In Which I Am Not Mindful While Shopping In The Grocery Store

/ Ally Bean / 20 Comments

I found myself with an hour of free time late in the afternoon.  As I was already out & about I decided to run into Kroger to pick up a few things.  Because I wasn’t planning on going there, I didn’t have my shopping list with me.

I knew that I needed 6 items to make what I had in mind for dinner, so I decided to assign each ingredient to a finger/thumb.  The result of this impromptu shopping list was that I looked like a child counting on my fingers as I shopped.  Goofy as it was, my finger list did work.  BUT it also meant that I started pushing my cart, a large one, with one hand.

And if there is anything that you must remember about me, it is that I am not too coordinated.  Clumsy, even.

Thus, it will come as no surprise when I tell you that while counting on one hand and pushing the cart with my other hand I managed to block a produce aisle with my catty-wampus, slightly out-of-control cart.

I knew immediately that I was in the way.  Pretty much because I heard the metal clank of my cart bumping another cart head-on.  It’s a sound one recognizes even while staring at one’s fingers and thumb.

I looked up ready to offer an apology when I  realized that the woman who I’d inconvenienced was Lilias Folan.  As in someone famous.  As in someone with a nationally syndicated PBS TV show.  As in the woman who is sometimes credited with introducing yoga to the USA.

Yep, that’s who I bashed into in the grocery produce department.  Good job, Ms. Bean.

But here’s the thing, Lilias was just standing there with a kind smile on her face waiting for the crazy lady [moi] to get out of her way.  She had no where to back up to, so her choice was to be patient OR to get angry.  And because she was living her life off the mat as she did on the mat, she chose the former.

Of course, me being me, after I said that I was sorry I tried to explain myself by babbling about fingers and no shopping list and dinner– et cetera, et cetera.  And my dithery explanation, I’m happy to report, got Lilias laughing.

This made me feel better about my screw-up and got me thinking that it’s time for me to get back into yoga because I want to be that older woman with perfect posture, a calm aura & the ability to laugh when things go wrong.

And who better to emulate than Lilias?  The bumpee in my brush bump with greatness.

Bad Coffee On A Monday Morning

/ Ally Bean / 41 Comments

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Let’s just say, for purposes of discussion, that this morning I made a pot of coffee that was so weak, so bad, so disappointing that I could only drink about half a mug of it.

And then let’s say that upon discovering how bad the coffee tasted, I threw out the rest of the pot.  Which was wasteful.  Something we do not like here at Chez Bean.

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Further, let’s say that thinking back I realized that ye olde coffee maker has made some rather dodgy, hissy, dragon-y sounds every morning for the last few months as it works at heating the water.

And even then, the water has not been as hot as it should be to brew a pot of coffee.  Or at least a pot of coffee that I would consider worth drinking.  Which, I think we can agree, is the prime directive of any coffee maker that sits on my kitchen counter.

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All of which brings me to the crux of our discussion.  To the real reason that I’m taking the time to write this post even though my brain is foggy from lack of caffeine and my morning appears to be shot to heck.  Here is what I want to ask you, my gentle readers:

If you had to buy a new electric coffee maker, which one would you get?  And why?

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If The Fates Allow

/ Ally Bean / 25 Comments

I don’t feel like telling any stories today.  Instead, here are a few of the thoughts that are swirling through my head.  Keep in mind that Christmas is not my favorite time of the year, so if I sound cranky here it is because I am.  And quite frankly, why aren’t you cranky too? 

::  I haven’t started to address and sign our Christmas cards yet.  I thought that I’d leave that task until tomorrow when I have the morning to devote to it.  I like to send cards because they are personal– or at least they can be when done right.  The right way according to me?  Hand signed.  Group photos, if included, have the names of the people on the back.  A newsletter, if included, is succinct.  If someone does not abide by the above, then I tend to doubt that he or she is sincere when sending the Christmas card.  And I remember this.

::  I spent the weekend cooking.  On Saturday I tried a new recipe for roasted chicken with root vegetables that was a failure.  The only thing that we could salvage from it was the roasted red beets– the rest of it never cooked right.  On the other hand on Sunday, I jazzed up an old tuna noodle casserole recipe.  I turned a plain dish into a grown-up feast by using WW pasta, adding some white wine, throwing in some smoked paprika, topping with panko bread crumbs spicy chipotle pita chips + gourmet parmesan cheese.  *yum*

::  Anyone else finding the incessant Christmas music in all the stores to be especially annoying this year?  I dislike it to begin with, but in light of the Sandy Hook Massacre I find the jolliness of it to be inappropriate… rude… disrespectful.  Live music has heart, but this stuff is just wrong.  We are a nation in mourning this Christmastime.  And the music, which can easily be changed, needs to reflect this.

::  There is no sign of snow around here;  instead, we have lots of rain and lots of gray skies.  Some years December is like this.  It makes for a less than festive atmosphere during what I am told it the most wonderful time of the year.  While at night I enjoy the contrast of the bright outside lights juxtaposed against the late autumn gloom, during the day the grayness overwhelms me.  Any thoughts that I might have of Christmas merriment dissipate into the bleakness.       

::  We don’t exchange presents with very many people.  When it comes to family, all anyone wants is gift cards/cash so that’s what we get them.  EZPZ, no?  I so enjoy giving the gift of shopping to other people who enjoy going shopping– unlike me.  And as for the rest of our holiday gift giving, I am only beholden to find some small items which I either put into pretty bags with cheery tissue paper or wrap in simple paper with a wisp of ribbon.  For us, gift giving is the easiest holiday thing that we do. *hallelujah*