Category — Friday Blog Roundup

A few weeks ago, I was in Cornwall. You know, the place that just experienced a 95% solar eclipse. It wouldn’t have been difficult to get to Spain from there or somewhere else that was in the 100% covered path.

I know I wasn’t going to hang out there for an additional six weeks, and we couldn’t move the trip because it aligned with the twins’ programs this summer. Plus, while I technically knew about this eclipse because after the last solar eclipse (my niece and I looked up all the upcoming solar eclipses and said we should all go to Spain for this eclipse), I didn’t remember there was going to be an eclipse until the BBC started posting on Wednesday about how Cornwall (remember, that place I just was) was experiencing a 95% solar eclipse.

I need to write these things down.

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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.

It has been two months since Slaying, Blogging, Whatever’s father died, and she reflects on the time between that loss and now. She writes: “It feels bizarre how time goes slow/fast through our lives … A little over two months ago I was on the most strange and sad and nice road trip with my brother to North Carolina.” Time moves strangely with grief. Sending a hug.

Lastly, No Kidding in NZ also reflects on the time between her husband’s death and now. She explains: “I’ve always said writing helps. And it really does. But in the absolute depths of grief, writing has been, and still is, too hard.” Everything reminds her of her husband — she carries 40 years of memories with her as she moves through her day — and holding it together takes a toll. Sending peace of heart.

The roundup to the Roundup: Summer slow down. 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 August 7 – 14) 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.

Welcome back, Ted Lasso. I don’t care if the first episode was a little rough around the edges. It will get better, and I got to see my tv friends again. I didn’t just feel weepy. I got weepy. I cried seeing all of them in Kansas City, even if that is not how people make job offers.

We went to Richmond during our last trip to London so we could walk the waterfront, and I also got choked up seeing Ted’s street, the bench, and the pub. We went into a pop-up shop selling Ted Lasso souvenirs, and when I turned around, I saw they had placed the Believe sign above the door.

Sometimes the world feels so hard, and it’s just nice to have something out there that reminds you to also notice the good. Thanks, Ted.

Who else is watching?

*******

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 writes about feeling drained. This spoke to me deeply: “How does anyone get anything done? What is this world that we have created? I keep thinking how dumb and impossible it all is. I’m usually pretty positive. But I’m also very real.” Things feel unfamiliar for her, but she’s rolling with it and figuring it out.

Lastly, Finding a Different Path writes about the feelings that bubble up when you fill out medical paperwork. All past surgeries? She explains: “I started just lumping 2010-2015 together, because of all the hysteroscopies, egg retrievals, and the pericentesis when I had OHSS. It hurts less that way.” Here’s to deactivating your own grief bombs. (And glad you found a good PT situation.)

The roundup to the Roundup: New Ted Lasso season. 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 31 – August 7) 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 now have both kids back for a short time before they go back to college. The Wolvog boarded a flight while I was doing yoga, and I got to watch him cross the sky during the workday via a flight tracker. My heart cracked open when he bounced up the steps to give me the biggest hug.

He can now commiserate with his sister about being bummed to be back in suburbia vs. make her jealous because he was still overseas, wrapping up in-person work in his lab before transitioning to remote work on the project.

I didn’t think I’d survive having them that far away, but I did. They matured and grew more into themselves and impressed me beyond measure. I love watching them figure things out.

*******

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.

I found Bereaved and Blessed’s post on using the last of her parents’ floss stash very moving. She writes, “This week, three years after my mom’s death and five years after my dad’s, I finished the last container. It’s another bittersweet reminder of both what I’ve lost and what my parents left me through their deaths.” When they bought it, they had no clue how their daughter would come to think of them every time she flossed her teeth.

Lastly, Kmina’s Blog returns with an update. She says what so many of us are thinking: “Adulting sucks. I want my money back, I was sold a chimera that does not fit in any way what reality is now. I am not older and wiser. I do not have things figured out. I cannot have it all. Being slim and healthy and fit is very hard.” The post is hard because life is hard. Go give her a hug.

The roundup to the Roundup: The Wolvog is 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 24 – July 31) 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.

Tuesday was the 20th anniversary of the Friday Blog Roundup. 52 x 20 = 1,040, so how could there be 1,093 Roundups? Because this is actually the 993rd Roundup. Remember, they were misnumbered by 100 many many years ago? So that means in 20 years, I have missed writing this 47 times. About twice a year. 50 other weeks out of the year, I note what stuck with me after I closed the tab.

I used to read hundreds of blogs per day. Now that number is much smaller. It is what it is. Things change.

But I’m really grateful to everyone who still reads this, and even more grateful to everyone who still writes.

*******

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.

Middle Girl recounts an intriguing recurring dream involving a cat and a tiger. If cats represent creativity (according to the ultra-scientific online dream dictionary) and tigers represent fears, is she grappling with creativity parading back and forth, out of reach? Come for the dream interpretation. Stay for the art.

Lastly, The Road Less Travelled is marking 25 years of childless living. She writes: “25 years ago today (!), while licking the wounds (physical, mental, emotional) inflicted by five-ish years of trying and failing to conceive a baby … I posted my story on the Childless Living message board on a now-defunct site called iVillage.” Grateful her voice is in this world.

The roundup to the Roundup: 20th anniversary of the Roundup. 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 17 – July 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 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.

*******

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.

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.