Category — Friday Blog Roundup

I spent the night before getting my progressives feeling like I made an enormous mistake. I imagined I would put them on, the world would be blurry, and I would promptly vomit in the store. Okay, perhaps not vomit, but not be able to function.

I walked into the store with my stomach in knots.

But they weren’t as bad as I feared. They also weren’t as good as I hoped. I was getting accustomed to a new prescription and the progressives at the same time, which possibly made it harder than it would have been if I had spread out the transition process. The world was blurry on the edges, and I felt seasick every time I moved my head. But when my eyes were pointing forward, I could see far. And when I looked down, I could read my watch — something that hasn’t happened with my glasses on in years.

I decided to wear my progressives from 9 to 5. Then I would switch into my distance glasses. If we went out, I would wear distance glasses. I gave myself the first hour of the day in my old distance frames, and the rest of the day (except for when I was wearing progressives) in the new distance frames.

The result is that three weeks in, I’m feeling okay with the progressives. I can keep them on to read brief things, though I still like to take them off to read books. Headaches from the new distance prescription have mostly stopped. I can see the world again. I probably should re-read this in the future the next time I’m dreading something.

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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.

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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.

Cup of Jo has an essay from a person who was born after her parents experienced two children born still. I’m accustomed to hearing about loss from the parent’s perspective, and it was interesting to hear how a child (now an adult) processes the space that exists between her older sister and herself. She writes: “The babies: this is what we called them. The babies. We — our eventual family of four — knew them as one, though they hadn’t come as one. They were never going to grow up to be anything other than the babies, the big brother and sister I never had.” It is such a powerful piece about loss and families and how we take care of each other and hold memories.

A Separate Life has a most excellent rant about the portrayal of women over a certain age. Think granny. And not even spry granny. She writes: “Over and over again, we see this on our screens; the grandparents of young children are almost always portrayed as extremely elderly. Yet the reality is that most young children have active grandparents in their 50s (give or take a decade).” It creates a weird phenomenon where 60-year-old women are aged up to portray 80-year-olds.

Lastly, Infertile Phoenix gets through a hard month and can breathe easier in April. She writes about something I rarely see discussed: how do you know when you need help? She explains: “There were a couple of times where I wondered if I needed to bring in some more support. I am not afraid to ask for help, but I’m not always aware of when I reach that point. I informally assessed my life but determined I was still functioning. So I just continued to feel and process.” Food for thought.

The roundup to the Roundup: Adjusting to new glasses. 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 1 – April 8) 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.

It’s the most terrible day of the year. Fine. There are holidays that are emotionally hard to get through. April Fools Day isn’t that, but it makes me so cranky. Especially fake pregnancy announcements.

I am avoiding social media as much as possible today so I don’t have to whisper, “I hate you,” under my breath as I scroll on.

My glasses saga also continues. I had to return one of the pairs of distance glasses. The frames were too small for my face, which I probably would have noted if I had been given longer than three minutes to commit to a pair of frames. I learned what all of the numbers mean on the temple of the glasses, and now I am armed with the numbers from my favourite pair and trying to replicate them in a new frame. Like April Fools Day, I feel really done with eyeglass shopping.

Done.

That is the theme of this week.

*******

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:

• “Putting Our Yearning on a Shelf” (No Kidding in NZ)
• “Can’t Stop Won’t Stop” (Infertile Phoenix)

Okay, now my choices this week.

The Cut has a photo essay about miscarriage. A warning: it is graphic. But I’m including it because I found it very moving. Especially the accompanying words: “I remember being annoyed with Casey for taking pictures. What I didn’t realize was the whole time I was bleeding, being operated on, and recovering, he was photographing. This was his love language, his way of saying, ‘I’m here, I see you and your pain.’” Click over and read it if you’re feeling up to it.

Lastly, Uterus Monologues has a post about Mother’s Day. (UK Mother’s Day is earlier than the US version.) She encourages you to feel whatever you’re going to feel. She writes: “My relationship with this particular day has shifted since I started writing this blog. Every year, my feelings have been slightly different. Every year, I’ve been confronted by something else. And every year, I’ve learnt something.” Love this thought.

The roundup to the Roundup: Don’t get tricked. 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 25 – April 1) 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.

888 Roundups! (Okay, really 788 Roundups due to the misnumbering years ago, but still.)

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I’ve been calling this Big Sleep Weekend. It’s probably only Big Sleep Saturday because I have to clean the house on Sunday and I have a call with friends in the middle of the day. But the point is that I scheduled in sleep, reading, and watching television for 24 hours. A salad for dinner that will take no time to pull together.

I cannot wait.

*******

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:

• “What I Learned From Blogs” (Stirrup Queens) — thank you, Phoenix and Mali

Okay, now my choices this week.

Dubliner in Deutschland is dealing with COVID. The remarkable thing is the way the posts have changed over the two years. By which I mean, the way we talk about COVID has changed. Glad they’re all on the mend, though bummed that she missed St. Patrick’s Day again.

A Blank New Page unpacks some thoughts about Ukraine. She begins, “It seems so inappropriate to talk about me, my lost future as a mother, and my problems with my childless life while a terrible, cruel war is raging in Europe.” It’s a heartbreaking post; giving perspective.

The Road Less Travelled talks about the new designation of prolonged grief disorder. She says it perfectly: “Grief needs to be normalized, not pathologized.” The fact that the designation is being made for insurance purposes is maddening. Grief demands that we allow it to take its own time, it’s own shape.

Lastly, Counting Pink Lines talks about the waiting. She writes, “I forgot how much of TTC was waiting — either for periods to come or to not come.” Especially that period before the period (no pun intended) where you feel like it’s coming any moment… and then doesn’t arrive.

The roundup to the Roundup: Big sleep weekend. 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 18 – 25) 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.

Just as Bea was telling me about Encanto, I received an email from Hulu asking if we wanted to add Disney+ for a teeny tiny amount. Years ago, I said I would never give in and have streaming services. And now, suddenly, we have several of them. I’m not sure where this train jumped the track.

Part of me likes the streaming life. I don’t feel cluttered, though I have access to tons of entertainment. And part of me feels like I want clutter. I want to feel weighed down. I want to pay for something once and own it.

It is hard to feel such different things at the same time.

I am leaning towards accepting the Disney+ offer because there is a movie with a red panda in it. And red pandas are kind of my heart along with quokkas, foxes, puffins, bears, otters, and 3000 other animals I’ve told you are my heart over the years. But I also kind of feel like I need a good talking to about this.

*******

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:

• “In Our Own Time: One Couple’s Fertility Journey” (McSweeney’s) — don’t get confused about it being on a funny site. A (the commenter) found this, and it’s a beautiful series
• “Empathy: The Glue That Holds Humanity Together” (Silent Sorority)

Okay, now my choices this week.

Many people marked the two year anniversary of the pandemic. Family Building with a Twist reflects on the last two years. She lost her husband during this time period as well, and she writes, “Jimmy did not die from COVID, but I don’t think I’ll ever be able to separate his death from the last two years. It’s all tangled up together and part of my pandemic experience and memory.” It made me think about how much our personal history gets tangled together with the collective history, and we live these two realities at the same time.

Infertile Phoenix also looks back on the last two years. She has a profound thought about restaurants at the start of the post: “It represents that every routine and element of structure in my life changed entirely. Over a weekend. It’s a lot for all of us to absorb, process, and endure.” Yes. I mean, on one hand, it’s just a restaurant. But on the other, when I ate my last meal out, I didn’t realize that two years later, the closest I’ve gotten to a restaurant is eating takeaway in the car. Her year contained other moments including a toxic co-worker (three cheers to not explaining yourself), but I kept thinking about the restaurant line.

Finding a Different Path learns how her story has helped others as friends use what they learned from her. It’s a powerful feeling to know your words have helped another person. She writes, “I’m pretty damn happy with where we landed, how my story has evolved, and how it’s used for a good greater than me.” She should be!

Lastly, No Kidding in NZ writes about making bread, turning it into a metaphor for life. She explains, “Even decisions over which bread am I going to make are influenced by the fact that I don’t have children. Okay, I know realistically any kids I might have had might not be living at home any longer. But I could have had years of baking bread for them or with them before they set off for university or careers or travel or love.” I hope she made the bread, and I hope it was delicious.

The roundup to the Roundup: Mixed feelings on streaming services. 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 11 – 18) 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.

Even though every single book says it is the most anticipated book in 2022 (seriously, there are zero books on GoodReads that are not listed as the “most anticipated book”), ChickieNob and I really are anticipating Hannah Gadsby’s book, which is out at the end of the month. She reads the audio book version, and you can hear the first five minutes or so on iBooks right now. We laughed so hard that we had to restart it and listen again.

This is what we need right now.

*******

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:

• ““Do You Have Children?” – How This Question Affects Me” (No Kidding in NZ)
• “Ukraine” (The Next 15000 Days)

Okay, now my choices this week.

The Next 15000 Days shares an article from 1950 that sums up how she’s feeling right now. She writes, “He taught his children that we should consider the world’s children our own. That’s how I feel about the children of Ukraine.” I think a lot of people feel this way, too.

Hopelessly Infertile Surrounded by Fertiles explains what kindness looks like. It’s not just what you do when it’s easy. It’s what you do when it’s really really hard. She explains: “The Rabbi who is running the class said, ‘Can you imagine that level of kindness, to pray for someone to get what you yourself have not been blessed with?’ talking about Sarah and how her overriding characteristic, in general, is kindness.” There is also a deep kindness in ensuring all people are seen and heard.

Lastly, Countingpinklines is back in another cycle. I love her mentality of literally taking it one day at a time. She writes: “That’s how I’m trying to approach the FET as well. Today is ‘take Lupron and remember how to give myself injections’ day.” It’s getting through one thing and one thing only rather than feeling the weight of everything all at once.

The roundup to the Roundup: Hannah Gadsby’s book! 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 4 – 11) 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.