Quentin freaked himself out. One morning, he decided the left half of his habitat was too scary. He refused to go onto that side of the cage, even though his water bottle was on that side of the cage. We tried to get him over his fear, gently coaxing him to the left side of the cage while we quietly told him that nothing on that side of the cage could harm him. He wasn’t swayed. He would lie down on his stomach and stretch himself as far as possible to grab things on that side of the cage with his teeth and drag them to the other side.

What does Quentin know that we don’t know?

*******

I did a massive clean-up of my TBR and Libby holds. No mercy. If there was no chance there would be a day I’d want to read the book, it moved over to my “no longer interested” tab on the spreadsheet. Hundreds of books ended up on that tab, opening up new spaces on my Libby holds list. It feels good to be organized.

*******

I now see better without my glasses than with my progressives when it comes to close-up stuff, like pouring olive oil from the larger bottle into the smaller carafe. I cannot see where to aim the olive oil (and should probably use the funnel rather than eyeball it) if I leave my progressives on. I have to take them off and look at the carafe opening, glasses-free. It’s weird not to be able to see things close to my face after a lifetime of not being able to see things far away from my face.

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

*******

I learned from a BBC article that cafes used to be called penny universities. For the cost of a penny, you could get a cup of coffee and sit and learn about local politics, world news, or general gossip.

I love this idea of knowledge being accessible. We wanted more people to be educated. To hear the news. Sure, there was a cost in the sense that you needed to pay a penny — which, on average, was about 1/10th of a person’s daily wage — but I’m paying a lot more than a 10th of my salary on each kid’s education.

*******

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.

While I’m fairly neutral about cleaning in the real world (love a clean space yet would rather read than clean), I have realized that I love cleaning games. Someone recently passed along a link to a game where the whole point is to shelve imaginary books. You are cleaning up a library. And I thought, wow – this sounds fantastic.

It is like the game 2025, which involved organizing items into lists. Cleaning up a screen? Heavenly!

I’m not sure what this says about me — that I am deeply interested in cleaning games while less interested in actual cleaning that will make my living space better.

I started leaning toward the “buy now” decision after hearing from people after I wrote the cell phone post (thanks, Internet people!). And then on Monday afternoon, the NYT announced Tim Cook was stepping down. A new twist! Do I purchase now before too much change happens with the new guy? Do I wait and see if the new guy brings better options or prices? Who knows the best move?

*******

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.

No Kidding in NZ’s post made me teary. It’s a beautiful life they have together, and she graciously explains what helps and what absolutely doesn’t help her as they face down a terminal diagnosis. Please go over and read all of her beautiful words: “We couldn’t have it all. We knew that. We couldn’t have children. And we’re not going to have an old age together … But we have had a lot. After not having children, we made the choice to accept it, and live. And our life together is not over yet.” Sending an enormous hug.

Lastly, Infertile Phoenix talks about change. Changing your life DOES take a lot of work. And I agree with her that is why a lot of people don’t do it. Why they stay in unhealthy situations. She writes: “Living in my children’s house without my children was not an option for me. Not if I wanted to stay alive. I am that serious. Staying married when I could be lonely by myself was also not what I wanted for myself. I deserved more than that.” I’m glad she took control and made those changes for herself.

The roundup to the Roundup: Trying to time a phone purchase. 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 17 – 24) 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.

I underlined a passage in Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke. The main character asks her mother how she made adulthood look so easy and effortless. The house was clean and orderly, the kids were cared for, and the mother worked full-time. The mother points out that what her child perceived wasn’t how the mother remembered things, but she tells her daughter her little secret:

“Whenever I was reaching my wits’ end, I would pause for a moment and do you know what I would do?” Her voice lowered to a conspiratorial register. “I would imagine I was being watched.”
I opened my eyes and frowned at the tiles on the bathroom floor. “Watched?”
“It’s lonely, you know. Housework. But it felt a bit less lonely when I pretended I had a little audience sitting on the couch with me. Watching me vacuum or take out the trash. Cheering me on!” (page 191)

We know that the daughter will become an influencer in the future, so she clearly took her mother’s advice one step further to get an actual audience cheering her on, rather than just an imaginary one. But it was a strange phrasing: Being watched. That you pull your shit together and present the best version of yourself because people will know if you don’t.

It gave me pause when I was reading.