Category — Friday Blog Roundup

Sometimes I feel sad when I read Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland because she has this incredible experience and then has to go back to normal life. It’s one of the things that made me love the Magicians trilogy because Quentin addresses this multiple times: Why did the Chatwin children have to leave Fillory? Which is really why did the Pevensie children have to leave Narnia? Which is just another form of why did Alice have to leave Wonderland.

I recently returned to a project I worked on years ago, and it is exactly like getting to return to Wonderland. My March Hare and Mad Hatter and Queen of Hearts are all still working on the project, too, and I get to spend every day down the rabbit hole, remembering past work and thinking about pathways to future work.

I’ve been back to places I’ve left, but most of the people have been different. And I’ve seen people I’ve known a long time in different spaces. But it’s rare that you get to go back after many years and have the people and place together in the same formation. I feel very lucky.

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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.

The Road Less Travelled writes about a blast from her past. I have had my own old television show in my head this week, so this spoke to me even though I don’t know her show. I can imagine it based on Mr. Dressup’s connection to Mr. Rogers. But while she may take you down memory lane, read all the way to the end to get her personal connection to the performer. Love that.

Lastly, reading All & Sundry brings you back to the old blogosphere, where posts were raw and either you saw the world in a new way or you whispered, “me too.” She is currently writing about life after her divorce. She explains: “The truth is that it was tough, it still is tough, it’s going to be tough. This is tough and that’s okay. It’s okay for things to be hard because sometimes things are hard. Pain does not automatically mean I did something bad.” She processes her story for herself, but in doing so, she writes in a way that makes people feel less alone.

The roundup to the Roundup: Going back to Wonderland. 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 March 27 – April 3) 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.

Remember how I told you that Quentin was burying and urinating on the pea flakes to show me how much he hated them, and then he was grudgingly taking them and unenthusiastically eating them? He has catapulted past gusto into frenzy.

He now stands and watches me move through the room (it’s a little unnerving, to be honest), and if I go anywhere near him, he starts wheeking frantically and will not stop until he gets multiple pea flakes.

I know it’s what I wanted, but now he cannot calm down enough to learn a trick. He is so focused on the pea flakes that he won’t perform any action beyond shrieking for pea flakes. Maybe this is another stage? And he’ll get through this and then calmly consume pea flakes?

On the flip side, at least we know we’ll be able to get rid of 8 ounces of treats.

*******

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 writes about a parenting fail. After going through middle school with two kids, she finds that she knows enough by now to know what she can skip. But everything is shiny and new for her child, so she has to go through things a third time. It’s hard to be the youngest kid.

Lastly, Infertile Phoenix captures within the personal what so many people are feeling collectively; there is too much upheaval. She is going through too much change, too much uncertainty, too many unknowns, and without the cushion of feeling stable, she can’t catch her breath. She writes about her last move, “I already knew it was going to be hard. I didn’t need to know how hard it was going to be before it even started.” Send her a big hug.

The roundup to the Roundup: From rejection to obsession, a guinea pig’s tale. 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 March 20 – March 27) 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.

If you peruse the “guinea pig tricks” online forums as I do because MY PIG IS A BRILLIANT, PUZZLE-SOLVING MACHINE, you know that pea flakes are one of the tools you use to train your pig to be an adorable, curious, trick-performing lump of pure love. Pea flakes are dehydrated, flat peas, and other guinea pig parents promised that they were catnip for pigs.

The bag with the best label art at Chewy only came in an 8-ounce size. Not a problem. Our pig was going to love these flakes, and we were going to be thrilled that we had a stash of flakes equivalent to about 6 bags of dehydrated blueberries at Trader Joe’s.

I couldn’t wait to open the bag when it arrived. I had talked about these pea flakes with Quentin nonstop. I had to deliver the goods.

He hated them. Absolutely hated them. Took them in his mouth and buried them in his bedding and then urinated on them. I tried breaking them into smaller bits (hard to do because they’re already tiny) and mixing them with his dried food. He ate around them and then dumped out the remaining flake dust on the ground. I even pretended to eat one while I said, “Mmmmmm, this is great people food.” But the pig refused to try it. He liked taking them in his mouth, allowing them to dangle from his lips, and then dropping them. Just to waste them.

I’m glad we committed to housing a mountain of pea flakes.

*******

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.

In Search of Motherhood broke my heart (which was, admittedly, already broken, too) with her post about a lie we tell our kids. She writes: “Tomorrow I will lie to my children. I will tell them that they are safe, that the terrorist attack can’t happen at our shul or at their Jewish day school, that our security is tops.” It is on my mind every single day, and it is exhausting and depressing.

Lastly, No Kidding in NZ writes about a book from one of my favourite authors — David Nicholls. It is admittedly in third place, but third place David Nicholls is eons beyond other writers. She writes, “How nice to see ourselves reflected in a book in a calm, non-histrionic way, when childlessness was not the central feature of the book, but it was a very present, talked about, and acknowledged feature that contributed to the richness of the characters and story.” You Are Here is a great book if you’re looking for something that will transport you (and maybe transform you?)

The roundup to the Roundup: Quentin rejects pea flakes. 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 March 13 – March 20) 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 need to make a note for myself for next year: my body has a hard time adjusting to whatever we call the time change last weekend. The beginning of daylight savings? The end? I am a little fuzzy on the details.

I’m fine in the fall. (Is that the end? The beginning?) I take my extra hour of sleep and run with it. But spring is a different story.

I am fine on Saturday into Sunday when we lose an hour. But I wake up ten or more times per night from Sunday into Monday. I wake up a handful of times from Monday into Tuesday. And I’m usually okay-ish by Wednesday. But those two days are brutal for sleep, regardless of what time I go to bed.

This makes no sense because I have an easier time handling time changes when we travel than I do the spring time change. It’s just one hour. How could my body possibly know the difference when there is a wide range of times that I go to sleep or wake up?

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As always, when it’s Friday the 13th, I say that it’s Friday the 13th. It’s Friday the 13th.

*******

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:

• “Snowflakes Bouquets” (The Next 15000 Days)

Okay, now my choices this week.

The Road Less Travelled has a post about holding her tongue. When her nephew’s wife tells the story about a high-risk pregnancy in her family. She writes: “I don’t want to be the dark shadow, the voice of doom. And so often, these things DO turn out all right. Most people do get their ultimate happy ending. But I’m living proof that sometimes (more often than most people think or want to imagine) they don’t.” It is hard to hold that balance. Sending good thoughts to the whole family.

Lastly, on the same theme, All & Sundry talks about the questions that open the door to conversations you don’t necessarily want to have, and how those answers grow easier with time. She explains: “At first it felt too intimate somehow, like I was letting someone have a real good look at a fresh wound and having to be like, Oh no it’s fine! … Now it just feels like a fact of me, like having brown eyes and three tattoos and preferring whole milk to skim. Also I am divorced, and I live alone.” Go for the profound thoughts. Stay for the kitten stories.

The roundup to the Roundup: Daylight savings woes. 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 March 6 – March 13) 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.

Every night, I sum up my day in one sentence in my bullet journal. I have a separate one for work, so I try to keep it about non-work things. But because work takes up such a large chunk of the day, I sometimes stare off into space, trying to think of something remarkable to put in that space.

Each notebook spans one or two years, so sometimes when I’m stuck, I’ll peek back and see what I wrote on that day the year before. That happened this week, and I realized it had been almost one year since I lost Beorn. March 2025 was marked by vet appointments, worry, small wins, and big setbacks. He died in April.

I miss his furry face every day. Quentin has a very different personality, and I love that personality, but Beorn was my pandemic pig. He was cautious and quirky. He was my best companion.

My heart hurts when I think about it too much.

*******

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:

• “Twenty Years Since the Glacier Taught Us to Breathe Again” (The Next 15000 Days)

Okay, now my choices this week.

Finding a Different Path is going glamping. The post is about the vacation, but it’s also about finding and trying something new that fits who you are and stretches you into new spaces. This made me laugh: “It’s something different, but not too scary. It sounds like all the best parts of being in the woods and being in a fancy hotel. I’m excited to try the least rugged camping ever.” Have a great trip!

Lastly, The Road Less Travelled writes about being childless and motherless. It’s a very moving post. She writes: “Mom’s funeral reminded me of just how precious it is to be surrounded by people who share your memories and experiences… not just parents and children and siblings, but extended family members and friends too.” She give me a lot to think about, and I’m holding her in my heart.

The roundup to the Roundup: Almost a full year without Beorn. 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 February 27 – March 6) 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.