Snarking

And Then It Was Time For Me To Say Goodbye

/ Ally Bean / 272 Comments

The following may come as a shock to some, less so to others, but after bouncing around in the blogosphere since 2004 I’m ending The Spectacled Bean, an almost 15 year old blog*. I feel it is time for me, a free spirit, to move on.

I need a change of scenery.

Something simple and new.

Without a doubt I’ve enjoyed being here, sharing my flapdoodle & twaddle, chatting in the comments, learning about how other people live their lives, introducing bloggers to other bloggers. I appreciate the support and attention that you, my gentle readers and kind lurkers, have shown me.

Thank you. You are awesome.

But you know that, right?

Truth is I don’t know what I’ll do next online. Maybe another personal blog with a different name and focus? I’ve seen that done successfully. Maybe a Substack? They’re a thing now. Maybe I’ll join former bloggy friends who currently post exclusively on Instagram? That’s another possibility.

No need to rush into anything.

Something will pique my interest when the time is right**.

And with that I shall formally say goodbye knowing that this little corner of the blogosphere is the best. A smart place where ideas flow and solutions abound. A magical place where dreams unfold in real time. A fun place where cool people hang out.

Do good. Play nice. Take joy.

Later, kids.

* First post here.

** Leaning into one of my favorite sayings: when the student is ready the teacher will come.

[PLEASE NOTE: I’m aware that WP comments are glitchy again. I feel this is providential, a confirmation that it’s time for me to end this blog. It’s like WordPress is saying don’t let the door hit you on your backside on the way out. 🫤]

Every Leaf Is A Flower: 6 Links To Share As Autumn Begins In The Northern Hemisphere

/ Ally Bean / 207 Comments

I am nuts. I woke the other morning and the first thought that drifted into my mind was “crisp and clean, and no caffeine.” That’s a 1980s slogan for 7-Up. I haven’t had a 7-Up in years, nor have I seen any ads for it lately. So why was I thinking about it when I woke up? This is worrying me more than it should.

I am amused. I watched the Netflix TV series Nobody Wants This starring Kristen Bell and Aidan Adam Brody. It’s a predictable romantic comedy about an agnostic podcaster [Bell] and single rabbi [Brody] who fall in love despite their differences: families meddle, miscommunication happens, hilarity ensues. It is Bridget Loves Bernie updated for 2025. Funny, yes— but also filled with stereotypes.

Little me not smiling for the camera.

I am vindicated. I’ve never liked having my picture taken. As a child I considered a camera an intrusion into my little world, a way to slow my roll. As an adult in our selfie-obsessed world, I am an outlier who doesn’t take selfies. So imagine my joy when I read about a photographer who doesn’t ask girls to smile in their pictures.  Not everyone wants to smile for the camera and don’t I know it.

I am empowered.  As a kindhearted person who struggles with how to deal with some [shall we say?] willfully disagreeable people in daily life, I found this short YouTube video, Forgive Assholes | Have a Little Faith, inspiring.

The premise, as explained by Pastor Nadia Bolz-Weber, is based on the idea: “What you did is so not okay that I refuse to be connected to it anymore.” After acknowledging this, you get out your metaphorical bolt cutters and intentionally break the chain that tethers you to that person/situation. It’s wisdom with a skoosh of badass attitude.

One orange fish drawn by adult me.

I am tickled. Have you tried this online dealio where you draw a fish then make it swim? Doing so is fun and silly and the perfect diversion when daily news gets to be too much. Some people draw beautiful fish. I am not one of those people.

I am chuffed. In honor of the arrival of autumn I made a pie using this Easy Sweet Potato Pie recipe. It was outstanding, if’n I do say so myself. My change to the recipe: I didn’t use the rum substituting 1 Tablespoon freshly squeezed orange juice + 1/2 teaspoon orange extract. Because Cool Whip is the work of the devil [my hill to die on], I topped the pie with homemade whipped cream.

QUESTIONS OF THE DAY

If you drink soft drinks, which carbonated beverage is your favorite? Do you remember its advertising slogan from the 1980s?

As a child did you like posing for a picture? As an adult do you like having your photo taken, either by yourself or others?

Can you draw a better fish than the one I drew?

Where do you stand on the controversial issue of Whipped Cream versus Cool Whip? [There is a right answer.] What culinary issue is the hill you’re willing to die on?

+ • + • +

Do Tell! Answering Your “Why Do I” Questions + A List Of Fun Friday Bloggers

/ Ally Bean / 214 Comments

Answering Your “Why Do I” Questions

• WHY DO I rarely shop at Walmart?

While you may assume I don’t shop there for some political reason because many people have strong opinions about Walmart, that is not the case.

The mundane reality is that for me to get to one I have to drive by many other grocery stores: 2 Krogers, 1 Fresh Thyme, 1 meijer, 1 ALDI,  1 Target, 1 Costco, and 1 WHOLE FOODS MARKET before I am there.

This drive takes about 20-25 minutes each way if traffic is with me. Therefore, and I’m sure you’ll understand my reasoning, in order to save time, gas, and swear less about idiot drivers, I avoid going to Walmart.

Makes sense, right?

~ • ~

~ • ~

• WHY DO I keep my blog post photos separate from the photos I share on Instagram? 

I do this because I figure that the people who follow my blog do so for the wordy stories I tell, the wordy information I share, the wordy questions I answer. After all my tagline here is: Tales, Thoughts + Tribulations of a Free Spirit in Suburbia.

Meanwhile on Instagram [find me HERE] I have a different bunch of followers, although there is some overlap. I only publish photos there when one fits my stated tagline, my thesis statement so to speak: Life is in the details. Here’s what I spy with my bifocaled eye. Patterns. Colors. Words.  

Different accounts, different goals, different followers.

~ • ~

~ • ~

• WHY DO I not write book reviews?

I majored in English Lit in undergrad. I did this because I knew I’d get to study abroad in England. I spent a term at the University of Exeter which means I accomplished my goal.

However, the downside of being an English major was that I had to write book reviews about the books I read. I HATED writing book reviews. Writing them filled me with dread because I didn’t feel like I could trust my own understanding of the book.

Even though I now trust my personal assessment of what I’ve read, I refuse to make the effort to write a book review because it reminds me of my collegiate angst.

So guess what? I don’t.

~ ~ • ~ ~

A List Of Fun Bloggers Who’ve Made Friday Their Own

What will you do with your one little spark of madness today?

Robin Williams asked that and it might be the best writing prompt ever. It frees you to embrace your own muse by doing your own independent thing, which is what the following bloggers do on Fridays.

Their posts are varied & fun— and I’m there for ’em.

Enjoy!

📌 Friday Fleurday – brought to you by Lynette at In the Net! – Pictures and Stories of Life

📌 Fridays Funnies – brought to you by Linda at Linda Lou’s Life

📌 40 things for Friday – brought to you by Laura at Riddle From The Middle

📌 TGIF – brought to you by Stephany at Stephany WRITES

📌 Happy Things Friday – brought to you by Elisabeth at The Optimistic Musings of a Pessimist

📌 Five for Friday – brought to you by NGS at The Time for Change

📌 Friday Randomness – brought to you by J at Thinking About…

~ ~ • ~ ~

QUESTIONS OF THE DAY

Where do you primarily shop for groceries?

Do you share the same photos in your blog as you put on Instagram? Why or why not?

If you have a blog do you write book reviews? If you’re on Goodreads do you put them there? On Amazon? Other?

Do you, like me, look forward to posts from bloggers who write using a self-created prompt on a specific day of the week?

Any more questions you’d like to ask me? I’ll probably answer them in the comments below.

~ ~ • ~ ~

Meandering Thoughts About Grittiness While Meandering Through A Bookstore

/ Ally Bean / 226 Comments

✅  I WAS WANDERING AROUND Barnes & Nobles enjoying the positive vibe that comes from being around people who like books when I saw a copy of the latest book about Gwyneth Paltrow. I’d read skimmed a few reviews of Amy Odell’s Gwyneth: The Biography, so I knew it existed, but hadn’t seen it in the wild.

Yet there I was face-to-face with Gwyneth’s smiling face.

Or at least a portion of it.

• • •

✅ SEEING THIS BOOK sent my addled brain into overdrive.

My first thought was decidedly practical: I wonder what brand and shade of eyebrow pencil/powder Gwyneth has on. As my blonde hair has gotten grayer on its way to, I hope, silvery white, I’ve had a difficult time finding very pale blonde/light warm gray eyebrow colors.

My second thought was happily snarky: I wonder if she knows she looks like Janice on The Muppet Show? The resemblance is amazing to me. I bet Gwyneth can play an electric guitar as well as Janice.

My third thought was idly curious: I wonder what it’d be like to be a Hollywood nepo baby who’s lived your entire life with a financial safety net under you.

Not that Gwyneth hasn’t been successful, but is it because she knew she couldn’t fail, free to give her career her best shot unencumbered by the soul-sucking tedious financial realities most people face?

OR

Is it because she’s so innately talented, filled with drive and grit that regardless of anything in her life she was destined to be a star?

• • •

✅ THIS LAST THOUGHT REMINDED ME that years ago I read psychologist Angela Duckworth’s book, Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance. According to Duckworth:

Grit is passion and perseverance for longterm goals…. Talent and luck matter to success. But talent and luck are no guarantee of grit. And in the very long run, I think grit may matter as least as much, if not more. 

I remember feeling empowered and comforted by her sensible assessment of what it takes to succeed— and how grit, something I possess, plays into a person’s success.

Back when I read the book I took a free online 10-question quiz that is still available for you to take. It is the GRIT SCALE QUIZ. From my results I learned that my Grit Score is 4.20 meaning that I’m grittier than 80% of Americans.

Discussion about whether this grittiness has helped me become the swell blogger I am today is something I’ll leave for another time.

• • •

✅ I DIDN’T PICK UP the book about Paltrow because, as you my little chickadees can probably guess, my interest in biographies of Hollywood stars is nonexistent.

Do. not. care.

But seeing it did remind me that I was in this store to buy a book and that if I was going to read a book about a real person I’d best mosey meself to the memoir section of the store where I could find books that are presumably truthful, blessedly idiosyncratic, and often inspiring.

That’s what interests me.

Thus I ended up buying and enjoying Peggy Orenstein’s funny thoughtful pandemic memoir, Unraveling: What I Learned About Life While Shearing Sheep, Dyeing Wool, and Making the World’s Ugliest Sweater.

Which, as fate would have it, also had a compelling up-close photo of a face on the front cover.

QUESTIONS OF THE DAY

Do you enjoy shopping for books in a brick and mortar store? If so, do you meander around like I do enjoying the atmosphere before purchasing anything?

Do you ever read biographies? Or memoirs?

Thinking back to where you were 5 years ago when we first started grappling with + adapting to the new Covid 19 pandemic realities, what did you do to keep yourself sane, assuming you stayed sane?

If you took the quiz, how gritty are you?

+ • + • +