Josh has wanted a new mattress for a long time. I have not wanted to change mattresses. I like our mattress enough. If he had never brought it up, I would have never thought anything about it. The mattress just is in my brain. But I do have fears that we will end up with a worse mattress. I have certainly slept on enough mattresses to be able to identify a bad one. So I am content with the mattress I know over an imaginary better mattress, which may or may not exist.

But then we got a hotel upgrade.

I have no idea why we were chosen for an upgrade, but when we checked into a hotel, we were given a better room. And the better room came with a better bed. Like a noticeably better bed. As in, I’ve never slept in a more comfortable bed.

We took apart the bedding to see the mattress because it was so good that I would have bought that mattress on the spot. It was a Hypnos mattress, which has a royal warrant. They supply beds for all of the royal residences.

Oh.

We have been trying to track down a Hypnos mattress in the US. There are suppliers who say they carry the mattress, but we’re unsure if it’s the same one we slept on or some made-for-the-US model. And then cost because we’re seeing anything from normal (a few thousand) to the abnormal-for-a-mattress (the cost of a car). Our nearest options are a day trip from home.

The bed was just that good.

Not sure what #MicroblogMondays is? Read the inaugural post which explains the idea and how you can participate too.

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I can’t believe I haven’t yet written about Metazooa, but it’s one of my favourite evening games. You guess an animal (I always start with a guinea pig), and then it tells you the taxonomic rank to get you closer and closer to the animal of the day.

I was terrible at first, but you start to remember which animals are classified together and start making educated guesses over which two birds would have more in common than other birds, for example.

Enjoy.

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Are you also doing #MicroblogMondays? Add your link below. The list will be open until Tuesday morning. Link to the post itself, not your blog URL. (Don’t know what that means? Please read the three rules on this post to understand the difference between a permalink to a post and a blog’s main URL.) Only personal blogs can be added to the list. I will remove any posts connected to businesses or sponsored posts.

This essay was like a lightbulb for me, and you can replace workplace clockspeed with any influencing clockspeed. Your family has a clockspeed. Your partnership has a clockspeed. Whatever you allow to influence you has a clockspeed.

So if you have been working for a company that moves at X pace, and you’ve been laid off, your brain tells you that you need to have everything figured out within X pace. Even if you could figure it out at a different pace. Your brain has been wired to think that you need to move faster or slower than you technically need to move. Part of your job, once that job is done, is to uncouple your brain from that job and remember your pace.

The same goes for marriage or any breakup. You don’t have to figure out your next move at the relationship’s speed. You need to move at your own speed. If you’ve been making family-building decisions quickly to be ready for the next cycle, when you take a step back, you also need to take a step back from that decision-making pace.

See if it resonates with you.

I have one kid back! The ChickieNob came home this week, and while a little jet-lagged and definitely missing handling rare books for research purposes and going to medieval sites, I am thrilled that I can bother her in real time. Quentin is also happy to have a new source of backrubs and treats.

Long story short, I didn’t need to be worried because she totally rocked the experience.

But I’m so glad she’s home for a few weeks before heading off again.

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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:

• None… sniff.

Okay, now my choices this week.

Please circle the wagons around No Kidding in NZ, whose husband died after a long illness. She explains: “We were together since our university days. We grew up together. We shared everything. Together we learned and explored – ideas, activities, and the world – in ways that we might not have done apart. I am who I am because of him. But now I have to learn to be alone.” Alone but together with a network of friends and family around the world. Sending a hug.

Lastly, A Half Baked Life writes about an energy shift; change after change after change. I loved the story about finding the front of the pin and also think it’s a sign from the universe, but this made me laugh (and cringe?) and feels like a metaphor for something: “I was cleaning out the fish tank in the office, and it seemed like everyone was standing around chatting, completely oblivious to the fact that my hands were full of fish poop and that it would have been nice to step in and help me out.” May we all find helpers when we’re coated in fish poop.

The roundup to the Roundup: I have one kid back. 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 July 10 – July 17) 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.

As I say every month, I’m shamelessly stealing this idea from Jessica Lahey. She has a recurring monthly date where she reviews all the books she reads that month. Book reviews are important for authors, and I want to get better at doing this.

So. I’m going to review them here and also online, but I’m going to do it a little differently. I’m only going to review the stuff I really liked. I don’t see a reason to spend my time writing about something I didn’t love; it’s just using up more of my energy. So only positive reviews.

These are the books I liked (or mostly liked) from June.

The Last Graduate (Naomi Novik): The second book in a (so far) great series. That ending. You kind of knew that was going to happen, but it’s still a gut punch. What a great story. It can be slow going at times because of the density. Dialogue speeds things along. But it’s still a perfect story.

The Magicians (Lev Grossman): Sometimes I’m in a continuous read of the three Magicians books. Sometimes I’m in a continuous listen. This time, I’m going through the audio books again. I love the narrator. I love how he captures the way Quentin changes (and sometimes stays the same) over time. These are my favourite books.

Acts of Cupidity (E.S. Drake): I adored this book! It has major Good Omens vibes, fantastic world building, lovable characters. The mystery is not much of a mystery, but who cares because the relationships are really the heart of the book. I ordered the second book in the series the moment I finished.

Close to Death (Anthony Horowitz): Mr. Horowitz always writes a fantastic book. This one was super clever, with great character development, to boot. I love that there are Horowitz books in the world, which never disappoint and leave you knowing you spent time with a great story.

What did you read last month?