599th Friday Blog Roundup

Updated at the Bottom

You may think that the next Roundup is the 600th one, and I get why you may think that. I mean, you know, 600 usually follows 599. But years ago, the Roundups got misnumbered by 100, and it took another year or two before anyone noticed. So the next Roundup is actually the 500th Roundup, which feels more like a milestone number, nu?

I’ve come up with something properly celebratory that I think you’ll enjoy, and I’ve scheduled it for July 1st. Why July 1st? Because (1) I wanted to actually write a normal Roundup for the 500th one, (2) my blogoversary is coming up at the end of June, and (3) the anniversary for the Roundup is coming up in the beginning of July. So mash all those facts together, and I set it for July 1st.

Hope you enjoy it…

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Last chance.  This is it.  On sale a few more days.  Life from Scratch has been chosen for an Amazon promotion.  It’s currently only 99 cents — a fraction of a cup of coffee.  So… pick up a copy for yourself or gift to a friend and get your beach reading set?

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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 in order to find out about methods, plug-ins, and devices that help you quickly back up your data and accounts.

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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:

• None.  There were no second helpings last week.  Sniff.

Okay, now my choices this week.

Twangypearl the Elastic Girl has an update about parenting after adoption, and getting used to a new normal.  She muses, “Maybe we’re programmed to forget when we have to, so we can be preoccupied by new things? Maybe information that is no longer relevant for your survival is fogged over.”  I especially loved the image she included with the post.

Empty Arms, Broken Heart has a post about being a mum to a 16-year-old boy through adoption.  People assume that she must have been a teenage mother to have a child this old, and she unpacks how she feels about that assumption as well as wonder what to say.  It’s an interesting look at how our brain always goes toward default settings, despite our rational understanding that there are a multitude of ways of building a family.

Lastly, The Road Less Travelled has a beautiful post about how her daughter, Katie, should be about to move off into the world.  Through the years, she has always been able to picture what her daughter would have been doing at each age.  But now, the memory of her daughter moves into an unknown world.  It’s a bittersweet post about how we are always tethered to the living, and how, like all parents, even those who are grieving those who aren’t here, need to release their children to find their own path.  It’s really a gorgeous post.

The roundup to the Roundup: Celebrating the 500th Roundup milestone on July 1st.  Life from Scratch is on sale.  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 June 3rd and June 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.

Update:

Since you asked, the Truman update.  He started wheezing again yesterday morning, so the vet decided to put back in the first medication, since that was clearing up his respiratory problems before we stopped it to take the new antibiotic.  So now he is on two antibiotics, water via syringe, and critical care, a meal supplement.  His breathing is getting better this morning.  And he’s still eating while on the second antibiotic, which is good.  He’s also nudging my hand for a backrub while he eats his critical care, which is also classic Truman. (Why just eat a meal when you can combine a meal AND a massage?)