476th Friday Blog Roundup
Do you know what doesn’t go together? The polar vortex and my muscle relaxants. People kept asking me all week if the cold was making my back feel worse. My back already feels like hell, so no, once you’re already at too-painful-to-breathe, there isn’t a big difference between terrible and horrible.
But the muscle relaxants made my mind so fuzzy that every time I heard the term polar vortex, my limbic system would send out a warning siren as a mental image of a slow-motion cloud of swirling polar bears descending over our town, sucking all the houses into its core, popped into my brain. And then I’d have to remind myself that there is no swirling cloud composed of polar bears, just as there is no Sharknado. My brain would calmly turn off the alarm until the next time I heard the term polar vortex and my brain silently screamed at me to take cover!
Other things to avoid while on muscle relaxants: beat poetry, lava lamps, and strobe lights. Oh, and Sharknado. Wait, did I also mention polar vortexes…
Polar vortex [gasp]
Take cover!!!
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For anyone keeping score at home, no, my back isn’t better. We’ve tried massage, muscle relaxants, painkillers, stretches and heat. I think I’ve actually been throwing too many solutions at the problem, making my back feel even worse. So I’m going to take the weekend to try to heal just by lying still.
And playing Hay Day.
But mostly lying still.
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And now the blogs…
But first, second helpings of the posts that appeared in the open comment thread last week. In order to read the description before clicking over, please return to the open thread:
- “It’s Not Envy; It’s Absence” (The Unexpected Trip)
Okay, now my choices this week.
Torthúil has a post about finding happiness, though the reason I loved this post is for her description of the opposite: “During the quieter times of the day and night I found myself feeling heavy. Not only because of the yummy food. I felt like I had a hollow empty space right at my center, and every day a drop of something liquid and weighty would fall into it, like a big dollop of cement.” Isn’t that beautiful? You need to read the whole post to catch lovely moments like that one.
My Scar Smiles at Me has a post about blogging and conversations. Or really, reading the blog post after having a conversation via some medium with the person. Getting to process their words on two different levels. And how reading a blog post aligns closer to having tea with a friend. I love this.
When Did I Get Like This asks if blogging is dead? She writes, “The notion of diminishing returns is also self-fulfilling, of course, because I have less motivation to post when it feels like no one is reading. But why would anyone keep checking my site when I no longer post with any regularity?” She’s going to keep writing as long as she reaches one person who values her words. There’s lots of food for thought in the post, even though it’s non-IF.
You will never look at Fawkes the phoenix in the same way again after reading Inconceivable’s “Burning Day.” It will blow you away.
Lastly, Fruitful Furbishing has a post about recent nosy, thoughtless questions. I love how the song “Let it Go” from Frozen has been applied to so many situations, and I imagine there are a lot of women walking around right now with it playing in their heads.
The roundup to the Roundup: The polar vortex is not a swirling cloud of white bears. My back isn’t better. And lots of great posts to read. So what did you find this week? Please use a permalink to the blog post (written between January 3rd and January 10th) and not the blog’s main url. Not understanding why I’m asking you what you found this week? Read the original open thread post here.
17 comments
I think they shouldn’t to something as a polar vortex if it’s NOT a swirling cloud of white bears. Hope your back is better soon…
Shouldn’t REFER to, that is.
I hope your back starts to feel better!
I can’t stop wanting to take muscle relaxants and beat poetry at the same time now.
Good luck with your back and if you do plan on laying still, continue to stretch. And play Hay Day.
Hope your back feels better!!!
I’d like to share/nominate the post “What I’ve Lost” from The Second Bedroom (http://thesecondbedroom.blogspot.com/2014/01/what-i-lost.html). It talks about what she’s lost following her miscarriage, although I think it’s easily relate-able to things lost with infertility in general. It was gut wrenching and such a moving post.
Be well, friend.
Aw, thanks Mel. It’s so exciting to be part of the round-up. So sorry to hear about your aching back. I dealt with a chronic neck/shoulder pain last year and it was a terrible drag. I hope yours goes away quickly! looking forward to reading all the great posts. And I agree with Katie re: Adi’s post from Second Bedroom.
I want to kick you back’s a$$ and tell it to get itself in gear. I want to have your back and make it be kinder to you.
<3
Thanks so much for including When Did I Get Like This? in your roundup. I would just like to say that while my blog is not about infertility, my book (of the same name) is- at least for the first few chapters. I too am a once and forever stirrup queen! Wishing everyone with IF much love and hope and faith.
Awww– Mel! You just made my day. Thanks!!! I do hope one day we might actually have a cup of tea – standing if need be, but I trust your back will be better by then.
I killed my back with rowing and then working too hard at a desk. Hope you can find some way to take breaks that works for you. Mini dance breaks with silly people remains my favorite (and the hardest to find) way to care for my back!
My pick for the week – not sure if the timing is off, but the post should be highlighted regardless!
https://www.stirrup-queens.com/2014/01/adoption-on-the-internet/
And also – http://hapahopes.blogspot.com/2014/01/sticking-it-in-bag-and-worrying-about.html?showComment=1389884737544#c2208147870069194007
I wanted to include this post in the Round Up because I’m giving away a bunch of loss/infertility/pregnancy/breastfeeding books (and covering the shipping!) to whomever wants them (first come, first serve) and I thought–the more people who see the post the better! I’d love for these books to go to people who want them.
http://esperanzasays.wordpress.com/2014/01/16/my-books-are-your-books/
Also, I loved this post.
http://nokiddinginnz.blogspot.com/2014/01/thanking-no-kidding-women.html
Wow! A little late to the game here but just wanted to say thank you for including my post in your roundup! Made my day (as did all of the resulting comments) 🙂