Scattered Hither And Yon

February 27, 2012January 25, 2024 / Ally Bean / 14 Comments

“God is in the details.” ~ Ludwig Mies van der Rohe

I’m an organized person, but I am not a tidy person. There is a difference. The reality is that I know what I need to do to make things look tidy– and when my heart is in it, I can get things looking pretty darned spiffy. If I do say so myself.

However, this past weekend when I attempted to get some of the more {how shall I say this?} egregious messes in our house under control, the Fates were not on my side.

• For instance, I knew what I needed to make the bookshelves in the TV room look great. But the shelves are so shallow that almost no baskets or photo file boxes or office-style charging stations now available will fit on them. Except for one lovely wooden desktop organizer from Ballard Designs… that isn’t available for shipping until April.

*growl*

• In the bathroom I had a very cute idea, gleaned from Pinterest, about how to make my make-up and other stuff look organized… but I need a tray of a specific size to make it happen.

So I tried Hobby Lobby, Meijer, Pottery Barn, Ikea, Crate & Barrel, Kroger, Kohl’s, Tuesday Morning & who knows how many places online. And here’s what I learned: that size of tray doesn’t seem to exist, rather like a unicorn.

*humph*

• Meanwhile in the un-bedroom, the project stalled over the size, style and cost of the frames I need to create a gallery wall behind the chairs. The beautiful floral drapes from Pottery Barn dictate the color scheme in that room.

But now I can’t find any images to put into the theoretical, yet-to-be purchased frames that won’t fight with the drapes, while gracing the wall behind the stylish and comfy chairs… that we bought at Crate & Barrel just last winter.

*loud sigh*

• And then there is my perennially not-so-tidy desk in our home office… where I shuffle little pieces of paper and catalogues and pens and file cards all over the place. Never quite sure what to do with all the notes I make. Never quite able to file things properly in file cabinets or in computer files. Always aware that my way of organizing, such as it is, would give Leo Babauta nightmares & David Allen fits.

*oh well*

All of which brings me to the following conclusions:

Decorating a home is much more difficult than I once believed– and makes me understand why so many people don’t even try;
I do not enjoy the process of making a house pretty, but know, from experience, that I will love living in it after it’s all finished; and
That when this home redecorating project is over I might never, ever change another thing in this house again. Ever.

Okay, Let’s Be Clear Here

November 22, 2011January 28, 2021 / Ally Bean / 11 Comments

I was shopping in the Lands’ End section of Sears last week. Working in the section were two friendly woman who helped me find sizes and colors. They were great.

Because of their help I found lots to buy– which meant that it took them a long time to take the shoplifter tags off my clothes, to fold the clothes, to swipe the price tags, to subtract the sale discounts, to re-calculate the total, and then to put the clothes into the shopping bags.

Naturally we got talking while all this was going on.

We agreed that Lands’ End 100% cotton tops– of all sorts– are just about the best thing ever. I mentioned that most of my Lands’ End tops are for daily wear, but that I also buy a few larger ones to use a tops with flannel jammie bottoms. I find that the turtlenecks, in particular, are very cozy in bed at night in the winter.

Well, both women began to laugh– and out came a story.

Earlier that day a customer had said the same thing that I did… and then she had gone on to explain in-depth why she liked to wear these tops to bed. Apparently, she liked the Lands’ End 100% cotton tops because that meant when she got up in the morning she didn’t have to get dressed.

Instead, she just put on a large sweatshirt over her sleeping ensemble, added shoes and a coat– then went out the door on her daily errands to places like the grocery, drug store, post office. In fact they told me, she said that winter was her favorite time of year because she could wear the same clothes for 24 hours straight!

Eww.

People tell me lots of stuff, and usually I kind of have an inkling of where the story is going, but this one caught me unawares. I started laughing wondering if these women thought I might be doing the same thing! I couldn’t talk fast enough to assure them that I don’t wear the same Lands’ End 100% cotton shirt around the clock.

Nope, not me. I, at least, keep my Lands’ End 100% cotton shirts divided between daytime wear– and nighttime wear. ‘Cuz I’m classy like that.

[Hello FTC! Long time no see. As usual I want to assure you that I didn’t receive any monetary consideration for writing about something that I just happen to like. So you need not concern yourself with me and my sweet little bloggy. Okie dokie, then?]

Dull. Duller. Dullest.

November 8, 2011November 8, 2011 / Ally Bean / 13 Comments

One of the reasons that I don’t post to my blog every day is that I have nothing interesting to share with you, my gentle readers. If something happens to me or if I have an epiphany of some sort, I post to my blog. Easy, peasy– mac & cheesy. And if nothing happens, then I say nothing.

It’s a simple plan, and under normal circumstances I wouldn’t bother you with a post about nothing. BUT THESE ARE NOT NORMAL TIMES, my friends. No, this is the month of November and I’ve committed before God and all of the internets that I’M GOING TO POST SOMETHING to my sweet little bloggy EVERY DAY OF THIS MONTH.

Hence, I give you this update re: my day thus far.

1) I had routine blood work done today. I fasted for what turned out to be 14 hours beforehand. Breakfast tasted very, very good. {Dull}

2) I voted today. I went all Nancy Reagan and just said NO. Our state is run by a bunch of idiots right now, so not letting them do the things that they want to do is a good idea imho. {Duller}

3) I went to Lowe’s today. I found, in one place, all the clip rings that we need to hang our new drapes in the eat-in part of our kitchen. Let the spiffication begin. {Dullest}

And that’s all I have to say now. I’ve done what I’d said that I’d do— both in the blogosphere and in my real life. So LET’S CALL TODAY A WIN and move on to tomorrow where I know something interesting will happen. I hope… if for nothing more than the sake of my blog posts.

Messy Store, Happy Me

October 19, 2011October 20, 2011 / Ally Bean / 6 Comments

I stopped at Barnes & Noble the other day.

As soon as I stepped inside the store I realized that the entire bookstore was in the process of a major re-do. All the main aisles had long tables extending lengthwise down the middle of them. All the smaller side aisles had push carts piled with books. The place was a mess.

And I couldn’t have been any more pleased.

So, slightly giddy with the sense of adventure that comes from exploring the unknown, I started on a Treasure Hunt— looking at the 80% off books on the long tables. It was like browsing at a library used book sale where you never know what you might find. Naturally I found a few books I needed.

Then I decided to search with purpose for the books that I’d come into the store to buy. That’s when the real fun started as I began my own little game of I Spy.

On the walls were the old signs that told me what used to be in each section of the store– with the new, different books underneath each sign. Which meant that…

I found Humor under Cookbooks. Well, yes… I have made a number of miserable meals that elicited laughs.
I found Sports under Photography. Which, considering how much bending and leaning I do to take a good photo, seemed somewhat accurate to me.
I found Home Decor under New Age/Philosophy. Which sort of made sense to me… in a very existential, post-modern, Unhappy Hipsters sort of way.