Category — Friday Blog Roundup

Back in the day, I had a massive Candy Crush addiction, which was my gateway into other match-3 games. I got up to a disturbingly high level in Farm Heroes. It’s a little embarrassing. And then, like a fever, the hold that match-3 games had on me broke, and I was left shivering and wondering where all of my time went.

For whatever reason, many many many years later, I decided to Candy Crush Soda and start at the beginning. After downloading, I tore through the first 31 levels and finally made myself stop and read a book. It’s terrible. I’m glad they limit me to five lives.

*******

Stop procrastinating. Go make your backups. Don’t have regrets.

Seriously. Stop what you’re doing for a moment. It will take you fifteen minutes, tops. But you will have peace of mind for days and days. It’s the gift to yourself that keeps on giving.

As always, add any new thoughts to the Friday Backup post and peruse new comments to find out about methods, plug-ins, and devices that help you quickly back up your data and accounts.

And now the blogs…

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But first, second, helpings of the posts that appeared in the open comment thread last week. To read the description before clicking over, please return to the open thread:

• “The Priceless Gift of Being Part of Someone’s World” (The Next 15000 Days)

Okay, now my choices this week.

Apron Strings for Emily is back with a story about a new dog (and a seal) after losing her sweet Kirby. She explains about that earlier loss: “Kirby found us at the time when Hubby & I were finally able to fully accept that human children were not in our future. I’ve said it before, but Kirby was the son I never had.” It is a very sweet post. Welcome, Kona.

Lastly, Infertile Phoenix points out that how you present information plays a big role in how people receive it. She tells a great story of a time when someone acknowledged her as the listener before sending a photo.

The roundup to the Roundup: Why did I restart Candy Crush? Your weekly backup nudge. And lots of great posts to read. So what did you find this week? Please use a permalink to the blog post (written between May 29 – June 26) 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.

Even though I love blogs because I love personal stories, I don’t read a lot of nonfiction. And I especially don’t read true crime. I love fictional mysteries, but not real-life mysteries. I felt uncomfortable when I listened to the first season of Serial. That was a real girl who was killed. That is a real boy (now man) in prison.

But I got sucked into London Falling by Patrick Radden Keefe, which is a true story about a British boy who pretended to be the son of an oligarch, fell in with the London underworld, and fell to his death into the Thames. The story intersects with the Brink’s-Mat theft, which Josh and I learned about from watching The Gold on PBS, and the string of Russian deaths, such as Litvinenko. I’ve been alternating between the audiobook and the e-book. Both are amazing pieces of storytelling.

But there is a part of me that feels uncomfortable enjoying the experience of listening/reading this story. It is this family’s worst moments, captured in words, and I’m gutted for them because there are so many “what if” moments where their story could have continued differently. I don’t know. I feel like I’m processing the story on two levels: the story itself and then the act of consuming the story.

We need a word for the feeling of discomfort that comes from the enjoyment of reading nonfiction that depicts a terrible moment.

*******

Stop procrastinating. Go make your backups. Don’t have regrets.

Seriously. Stop what you’re doing for a moment. It will take you fifteen minutes, tops. But you will have peace of mind for days and days. It’s the gift to yourself that keeps on giving.

As always, add any new thoughts to the Friday Backup post and peruse new comments to find out about methods, plug-ins, and devices that help you quickly back up your data and accounts.

And now the blogs…

*******

But first, second, helpings of the posts that appeared in the open comment thread last week. To read the description before clicking over, please return to the open thread:

• None… sniff.

Okay, now my choices this week.

Pics and Posts has a great reminder (through flowers) that your history is not your destiny. That just because something is one way now does not mean it will be that way forever. That something not working out in the moment doesn’t mean that it will never work out. There’s always next year for her lilies.

Lastly, every once in a while Grumpy Rumblings releases an old blog draft. This week, there were ideas from 2015. They’re little time capsules for what was occupying their brain at that time, and I snickered at a post about things they don’t understand because I also don’t understand the point of “3 course ‘quick weeknight meals’ that take more than 30 min to prepare.”

The roundup to the Roundup: Processing how I feel about nonfiction. Your weekly backup nudge. And lots of great posts to read. So what did you find this week? Please use a permalink to the blog post (written between May 22 – 29) 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.

The children are home… for a few days. We went up early in the week to help them move from their college spaces, and drove back so they could spend a few weeks here before they trot off to their summer plans. I feel lucky that I get a few weeks with them. I feel sad that the long summers where they are here for months may be coming to an end.

But I’m trying to put off feeling sad about that and instead enjoy the time I do have while I have it.

See, progress.

*******

Stop procrastinating. Go make your backups. Don’t have regrets.

Seriously. Stop what you’re doing for a moment. It will take you fifteen minutes, tops. But you will have peace of mind for days and days. It’s the gift to yourself that keeps on giving.

As always, add any new thoughts to the Friday Backup post and peruse new comments to find out about methods, plug-ins, and devices that help you quickly back up your data and accounts.

And now the blogs…

*******

But first, second, helpings of the posts that appeared in the open comment thread last week. To read the description before clicking over, please return to the open thread:

• “Finally Doing Less” (Infertile Phoenix)

Okay, now my choices this week.

A heavy week.

My heart hurts for Dear John, who lost her brother-in-law to suicide four years after her husband took his life. There are no words, but please go over and give support.

Lastly, The Barreness writes about caregiving: “I am overtaxed, overwhelmed, over run with emotions and haggard,” which led into her birthday, which was literally a journey of emotions. I cried with her. That’s the power of words.

The roundup to the Roundup: Welcome home. Your weekly backup nudge. And lots of great posts to read. So what did you find this week? Please use a permalink to the blog post (written between May 8 – 15) 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.

Our soccer team — Tottenham Hotspur — has been teetering on the edge of relegation for weeks… months?… definitely weeks. We were in the drop zone, then came out of it, and now we’re waiting to see what happens with West Ham this weekend, as well as with our own game. It is all kinds of stress.

On one hand, I keep telling myself that nothing will happen to fans if the team is relegated. It will be harder to watch games in the US, but not impossible. We will continue to cheer for our team and hope they’re promoted back up to the Premier League at the end of next season. And relegation may not happen at all. I could be worrying for nothing.

But on the other hand, relegated teams break up. There is always a movement of players from one team to another, but it will happen on a larger scale if they drop down to a lower league. That’s the part that makes me sad. The idea that we’ll watch the game, but all our favourite players will be on different teams.

It kind of feels like the end of college, where you knew it was unlikely that you would have everyone together in the same place at the same time ever again.

I’m bad with change. I probably shouldn’t have started rooting for a team.

*******

Stop procrastinating. Go make your backups. Don’t have regrets.

Seriously. Stop what you’re doing for a moment. It will take you fifteen minutes, tops. But you will have peace of mind for days and days. It’s the gift to yourself that keeps on giving.

As always, add any new thoughts to the Friday Backup post and peruse new comments to find out about methods, plug-ins, and devices that help you quickly back up your data and accounts.

And now the blogs…

*******

But first, second, helpings of the posts that appeared in the open comment thread last week. To read the description before clicking over, please return to the open thread:

• None… sniff.

Okay, now my choices this week.

Infertile Phoenix noticed something with her clients who have children who move between their house and another person’s home. When their kids are there, they take care of themselves. When their kids are not, they don’t. And she related because she often sensed that having to accommodate a child’s schedule would have motivated her, too. She writes, “I’ve been thinking a lot about motivation lately. Why do we sometimes do what we don’t want to do in order to get the things we want? Why do we sometimes just think about what we want but never do anything differently?” They are great questions because there are plenty of things I want to do but don’t get started, and other things that I have no trouble doing, even though I’m not super invested in the outcome. Food for thought.

Lastly, Scientist on the Roof writes about forcing herself to daydream (vs. distract herself with an audiobook) while on walks. I loved the stream-of-conscious thoughts, and it’s a good reminder to let yourself notice the world around you.

The roundup to the Roundup: Come on you Spurs. Your weekly backup nudge. And lots of great posts to read. So what did you find this week? Please use a permalink to the blog post (written between May 1 – 8) 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.

Ted Lasso is one of those shows that get better and better with each viewing. There were so many things I noticed the second time I viewed the series, or lines that landed differently the third time through. I’m currently watching the entire series for a fourth time to get ready for Season 4 on August 5.

The world feels really hard. Watching Ted Lasso feels good. They fix their bad choices, apologize for their mistakes, and bring their humanness to every scene.

Will you watch?

*******

Stop procrastinating. Go make your backups. Don’t have regrets.

Seriously. Stop what you’re doing for a moment. It will take you fifteen minutes, tops. But you will have peace of mind for days and days. It’s the gift to yourself that keeps on giving.

As always, add any new thoughts to the Friday Backup post and peruse new comments to find out about methods, plug-ins, and devices that help you quickly back up your data and accounts.

And now the blogs…

*******

But first, second, helpings of the posts that appeared in the open comment thread last week. To read the description before clicking over, please return to the open thread:

• • None… sniff.

Okay, now my choices this week.

Scientist on the Roof is having major bird drama, and I am here for it. Go pop some popcorn and see who wins. Are you Team Bluebird or Team Chickadee? This made me laugh.

Lastly, it was NIAW, which used to be a huge deal in the ALI blogosphere. Finding a Different Path writes about inclusive infertility awareness. After her former clinic collects thank yous on their post, she writes, “But when I saw comment after comment thanking the clinic for the existence of children, I felt like the narrative was skewed. And of course it is — who is going to thank them for not succeeding?” She did because there is a lot to say about the process itself and your experience on it separate from the outcome. I love this post for everything she points out.

The roundup to the Roundup: New Ted Lasso season in August. Your weekly backup nudge. And lots of great posts to read. So what did you find this week? Please use a permalink to the blog post (written between April 24 – May 1) 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.