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So, I have such great intentions and then a year goes by without my blogging it seems (maybe it’s only a month, but who’s counting?). There’s always a reason, of ...
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I came across this excellent TEDx talk. It’s about a mom who recommends “hijacking” your kids’ education. To get it out of the way early, this does NOT mean homeschooling. ...
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So, a friend of mine posted this article a couple of days ago on Facebook. I read the article with much interest. But I found myself quite troubled. My friend’s point ...
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My writing assignment today is to blog about a place. It can be any place to which I’d like to be instantly transported… Each summer, we head back home to ...
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Disciplining kids is hard work. The Beans reminded me today of days when they were young. JuniorBean was very, very funny. When he would get in trouble and get a ...
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So, last week was out first week of Spring Break. Before heading in to Jordan this week (woohooo!), a friend and I went for another geocaching round of fun. She ...
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So, lately I’ve been struggling to find a balance relating to movies. There are so many movies that I remember from my childhood. They made huge impressions on me and ...
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Recently I bumped into some photo series about school lunches around the world kind of like this one. They had interesting pictures of what is included in school lunches in ...
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I’ve been watching the ongoing debate about an article haranguing the world at large for racism in calling white people expatriates and brown people immigrants. When I first saw the ...
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So, last year my book club decided to read Free Range Kids by Lenore Skenazy. I had heard of her movement through posts on Facebook and the like and honestly ...
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So today I came across this excellent article on what’s wrong with the college applications process. Mind you ButterBean is still YEARS away from college. But what I found interesting ...
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It’s funny how habits are made depending on what’s going on with you at specific times in your life. In Jordan, I blogged nearly every day for years. Once we ...
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Yes, I know it isn’t Christmas. I’m actually quite aware of it. However, it is the International Day of Peace. In honor of this, our school made Pinwheels for Peace. ...
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So, my kids’ school (along with half of the others in the Emirates I think) have joined with a major hotel chain in preparing large shoe box sized packages for ...
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Yeah, for those who came here thinking I’m an operative for a terrorist organization, shame on you. In actuality, based on some things I heard last year from families of ...
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So a week or so ago, small news in the UK turned into big news for Jordan. This isn’t the tale of Jordanian athletes gone to the UK to win ...
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So a week or so ago, small news in the UK turned into big news for Jordan. This isn’t the tale of Jordanian athletes gone to the UK to win ...
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So, the History Channel has this slogan that seems slightly melodramatic. History: Made Every Day. I mean, clearly history is made every day. It is a day by day process. ...
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Okay, so the original occurrence of this sentiment is in this awesome song by the Housemartins (so yes, you’re getting a two-fer of obscure musical references and funny pictures, ladies and gents). ...
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As you may be aware, the Beans and I spent about 6 weeks of this summer in the US. Not just the US, but ...
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So, since as a family we pretty much suck at getting out and giving the kids the chance to buy birthday presents, this year they took matters into their own ...
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Oh my faithful, hopeful, three readers. How have you hung on this long? What happened to MommaBean? Where did I go? Honestly I’m not totally sure. But, here it is ...
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With at least 4 or five serious posts waiting in my mind, I came across this picture I snapped and decided to add some levity into life today. Found the ...
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Lately, I’ve become rather disturbed by the level of what I am calling “casual cursing.” Somehow words that used to be worthy a soapy mouth have come to be no ...
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So, one of the upshots of moving to a new home and opening a new bank account (with an awful, awful bank I think I’ve talked about them before) is ...
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This weekend, the Beans and I were out for a day of fun while El 3atal was traveling. In the course of the day, we’d gotten hot and hungry so ...
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It’s another year gone by. Another anniversary of Rachel Corrie’s death. Pretty much every year I try to mark this day. I mark it for Rachel’s family and friends. I ...
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Okay, not quite, but gold has featured large in my world today. The other day as HelperBean and I were driving around doing various government required steps on the path ...
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So for years I had so much fodder for complaint that really only the most egregious of cases made it to my Jordan customer service snafu posts. In the UAE, ...
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This one has cracked me up for years. Around the world, people are eating deserts and sweating it out in the dessert. Far be it from me to ask what’s ...
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I came across this article, as usual, from a friend on Facebook. It outlines the fact that google is being sued by a Frenchman for making him the laughingstock of ...
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Today I came across an article written by the relative of a friend (you know it’s like saying she’s your third cousin’s sister in law’s aunt, once removed). It is ...
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So those of you who know me know… I hate to cook. like hate it. With a passion. That burns inside me. I find the whole process tedious and dull. ...
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Would you like some venegratre dressing with that? Personally, I’d get it on the side, because although it’s light who knows how much ratre they’ve added! Never fear, plenty of ...
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Shortly after our arrival, we headed off to visit with 3ammo and 3amti Bean and spent some time in a lovely park close to them. The sun shades over the ...
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So, seeing the uniqueness of misspellings and odd writing was one of the wonderful things about Jordan. I had worried a bit that the UAE would prove less multitudinous opportunities to post ...
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So, in our first month here, we’ve already had a livestock transport moment… I was driving in downtown and saw the sheep hanging out (and wishing they were hanging on ...
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For some of you, my faithful three readers, this is old news. But for some, it may be a shocking revelation. The Bean family has unfortunately (or fortunately depending on ...
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Okay, so many families are undoubtedly much farther along the path of assigning chores than we are. One of the (negative?) off shoots of having full-time, live-in help is that ...
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So this evening as the Beans were busy playing and I was busy… well, being busy the power suddenly dropped out. TetaBean mentioned it had happened to her a couple ...
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So Arabs have a reputation for chronic lateness. Mind you, the reputation is very well deserved. If you are having a party and list the start time as 4pm, expect ...
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Many new age-y type people constantly talk about how you need to “offload baggage” in order to “free up space” for better things. And I will tell you, honestly, that ...
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So, moms out there, raise your hands if you love being with your kids every moment of every day. Really if you spend each moment of every day excited about ...
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I came across several articles recently about parenting that I found truly fascinating. They have made me think about my own childhood and the ways I’m raising my kids. The ...
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So, in cleaning out and getting rid of things that are way too young for the Beans these days, I came across a small box of cards. They’re rather magical ...
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So, I know I’ve had Fadi Ghandour on my site back when it was on blogger. And I must say that I have nothing but respect for the guy. Both ...
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You can say many things about Americans and, trust me, people to both to us and about us. We like to think we’re unique. In fact, maybe we are. But ...
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So, participants of National Novel Writing Month consistently report that their friends and family just don’t get it. It seems to be a larger problem among the Arabs (and no, ...
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Okay, so since we first moved to Jordan, I’ve wondered what’s up with people’s translations of their names to English. I know that in the US we’re old hats at ...
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I’ve been reading debates lately on Santa Claus and how and when and whether parents tell their kids about Santa Claus. It’s an interesting conversation and honestly it’s an interesting concept. This ...
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I was going to title this missive, On Why I Will Fail At Nano This Year. But really, it’s about more than just that, isn’t it? I have pretty much ...
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So yesterday, I went on a lovely outing with a slew of foreign gals. Some are American, some Australian, some Arab, some European… basically take a microcosm of the world, and that ...
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A friend told me some weeks ago about a teenage classmate of her son’s who posted something on Facebook that was so wildly inappropriate that she felt it necessary to take him ...
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So yesterday I snapped some pictures of the Beans enjoying Jordan’s too brief, desperately necessary rainy season. We occasioned quite the confused interest from passersby and neighborhood residents. After finishing lunch, ...
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So, the trend among international schools here in Jordan seems to be focusing on delivering all classes except Arabic, religion, and social studies in English. I’ve been thinking a bit ...
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So, I came across an interesting post relating to this picture that’s been going around Facebook alot lately… In case you haven’t seen it, here it is. The post I ...
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So, for the last month or more people have been driving crazy… even for Jordan (and trust me, that’s saying something). In one day alone last week, I saw: A ...
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Okay, so in the spirit of the National Novel Writing Month (nanowrimo.org) awareness theme, I’m doing a top ten list. In Jordan, there are far too few writers. The Arab world ...
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It’s that time of year again… volumes of coffee, reams of rambling, and confusing characters. That’s right, it’s time to prepare for National Novel Writing Month! On November 1, crazed ...
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So, I was invited to a park playdate a couple of weeks ago. wanted to go but we had a birthday party and timing was too tight. As a ...
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Now that the Arab Spring has transitioned into a dull, wearying, fall, is anyone else asking the questions of the hour? We have half a year’s perspective on the Tunisian ...
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So a couple of weeks ago, we had quite the unintended excitement in the Bean family. In fact, we caused the excitement. I have been helping out a friend with ...
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So this morning I happened upon Shrek Forever After on TV. As I wasn’t the only one watching, I was a bit of a captive audience. I’m glad I was ...
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So, dying is one of those subjects we all prefer to leave for another day. After all, who wants to think about things like what will happen to the kids, ...
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Through a friend, I came across this article (click here to see it) on one family’s “experiment” in “extreme schooling.” It seems dad became a foreign correspondent in Moscow. Part ...
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Lack of originality is one of those things that drives me crazy. It seems that a hallmark here is to take someone else’s idea and copy it. Mind you, no ...
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So, my 3 faithful readers, allow me to apologize. I’ve been under the weather. Nothing big or alarming, just monthly issues combined with digestive issues combined with allergic issues. The combination produces ...
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So, yesterday’s post about poor customer service at McD’s got me thinking. Recently, we’ve been on a hunt for a new bicycle for JuniorBean. He’d outgrown the expensive but not ...
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So, last night I went to play cards with Teta and AuntieBean. So that I didn’t end up spending time at home eating, we decided to order in from McDonald’s. ...
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As long-time readers will know, annually on September 11, I post about Ramzi Doany. He is the brother I never met. He was lost in the World Trade Center. Since ...
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Well, clearly most blog posts around the world today will be about the World Trade Center events back ten years ago. It’s natural and understandable. In some ways, our lives ...
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So, in case you’ve been wondering, I’ve just been lazy. Nothing big going on, regular back to school week and such. But somehow, all of the blog post ideas I’ve ...
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So, we’re lucky. Unlike most schools we got a bit of a reprieve for new students to start so today is our last day of summer. We’ve actually been doing ...
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So this week, along with the rest of the country, the Beans go back to school. A few oddball schools out there started early, but on the whole the majority ...
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So lately I’ve been thinking about the problems the US faces with emissions and large cars. Energy guzzlers like SUVs (and even minivans) are exceptionally commonplace in the US. As ...
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Now I’ll grant you that my celebrity sighting wasn’t of the Brangelina variety. It was, however, much more interesting to me personally than such a star-studded event would have been. ...
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I have a confession to make. It’s a doozy, so get ready. I don’t return missed calls. If you call my cell and don’t get me, clearly you’ll call back ...
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So, I came across this article that struck me as really, really funny. Some friend (or friend of a friend or something) posted it on Facebook a while back. It ...
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So, today is a pretty big milestone in the Bean family. I, MommaBean, have a milestone birthday. It’s pretty interesting. El 3atal rather wanted to have a big party and ...
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I have trouble letting go of things. I come by this naturally, I assure you. MemeBean is a pack rat of the Clean House order. In the US, we moved ...
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No, not seriously. But those of us with kids in Jordanian schools… oh my goodness. The things they require and the expectations. I mean, really! Ok, sorry vent over. For ...
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During this summer/Ramadan season (well, and every summer) people who live near hotels bear the brunt of Jordan’s noise pollution. When we first moved to Jordan, we lived a block ...
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As if the other things we encountered weren’t entertaining enough in Kerak… on the way back, I made El 3atal cause a traffic jam in a tiny little town we ...
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Now I know that Jordanians are resourceful… and that they are persistent. But, even Jordanians can’t get fish from the Dead Sea. I mean, that’s WHY it’s called the Dead ...
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The Tale of Three Beans blog has been going for some five years now, as amazing as it seems to me. It’s been an interesting ride. It’s also been interesting ...
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I came across a very interesting article (read it here) about a woman who wrote an excellent book I read recently. The book is called The Help. It is set ...
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So, most of you know Ramadan is not my favorite season… not by a long shot. This is mostly owing to the attitude adopted by too many people here in ...
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So the Bean family just returned from a lovely vacation in Sharm El Sheikh. We spent 5 nights in luxurious accommodation at the Renaissance hotel. We had the ideal room. It was ...
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Well, the Beans and I are devastated. Our lovely Mrs. Turtle is gone. She, who had so happily climbed trees and slid down them, taken daily constitutionals (walks) around the ...
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So, for maybe six months, CousinBean has been sporting this new DQ-inspired swirl of hair on his head. I will say that the resemblance is something of a cross between ...
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Can I admit that this is one of my pet peeves? From a health and a cleanliness perspective I hate to see kids walking around while eating. There’s a time ...
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You know, three years ago, we had to delay a trip to the US because ButterBean’s passport had expired. I discovered it the night before we traveled. Sigh. So, since ...
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So the Bean family has been considering various vacation options. Given the many package deals available, El 3atal has been calling around trying to determine what options there are, what ...
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A friend loaned me a book by Maya Angelou. I haven’t read anything of hers previously. Now, for years I’ve collected little bits and pieces of things I’ve read that ...
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So a couple of recent incidents have me a tad worried. Just over a week ago, the Beans piled into the car and went to the Dead Sea (Al Wadi, ...
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So, typically I would say that ignorance is never bliss. I tend to like to be “in the know”. I enjoy finding out things and prefer to come into situations ...
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I have to admit something. Now keep this quiet. It’s sort of a secret. I have this love/hate relationship with authority. I mean, I definitely think that as people we ...
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Somehow the Petra Development and Tourism Region Authority (PDTRA) got it backwards. I’m not sure how, but they lost sight of a key concept. In Field of Dreams, Kevin Costner’s ...
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Lately I’ve been thinking about how many people want to move, to get out, to find a new place to live. They complain that they don’t have a social life, ...
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So, History Channel does this very interesting series of programs called the History of the US. I’ve enjoyed it tremendously. Originally I had hoped to watch it with the Beans ...
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