Category — Friday Blog Roundup

March 9th is coming up, and if you’ve been part of the ALI (that’s adoption, loss, infertility) community for a while, you know that March 9th is Random Act of Kindness for Thomas day. Thomas would have been 17 this birthday, and you can celebrate him by putting good into the world. Everything is hard right now. The news is awful. We’re still dealing with the pandemic. Take a moment to do something kind, just because. And do it in his name.

As she writes on her page — and click over to understand the owl reference: “We aren’t trying to reach a specific goal in 2022, but we are still hoping that a huge flock of owls will once again take flight and help us spread kindness on March 9.” So I know what I’m doing March 9.

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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:

• “Saying Something in the Moment” (Infertile Phoenix)

Okay, now my choices this week.

No Kidding in NZ explains how she feels when someone asks her if she has children. She talks about everything that goes through her mind, including: “But when I tense myself on hearing the question, and go through all those options for replying, what I am really doing is remembering previous, difficult moments, and hoping to avoid them this time.” But most striking, while people ask the question and want the answer, she points out that they simultaneously “don’t really want to listen to my discomfort over the question.” Food for thought.

PocoBrat laments the size and excitement of birthday celebrations past. She writes: “I’ve been yearning for one of those all-out bashes that used to happen–usually planned and hosted by someone else.” It’s not just the pandemic. It feels like those big birthday bashes dry up in middle age or are only held on milestone birthdays.

Lastly, Movable Type talks about the pond of her mind, “kicking up detritus and sediment to swirl murkily under the serene surface of lily pads and lotus. I remembered a story a friend told me years ago, when we were in college together in the upper Midwest.” It is a moving story that will stick with you as she continues on, explaining how we all have those bruised parts. I love this post.

The roundup to the Roundup: Be kind on March 9. 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 25 – March 4) 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.

We kind of forgot to watch the Olympics. We watched the opening ceremony, and then we had good intentions to watch events when we received alerts about medals or remarkable performances. But by evening, we’d forget again. And then we were listening to NPR in the car last weekend, and they mentioned the closing ceremony and I realized that we forgot the whole thing.

It’s not like we had something better going on. I think it just comes down to our attention being so fractured between the internet and all of the streaming services. Once upon a time, the only evening television would be the Olympics or a movie. Now, we are drowning in a sea of content, and we don’t know where to focus.

I’m sad that I missed it. I like skeleton and luge. I caught half of Nathan Chen’s winning routine on YouTube before I was interrupted. I’m sure I could Google and see some more. But… it feels like I not only missed this part of the zeitgeist, but that the zeitgeist itself sort of missed the Olympics, too.

Did you catch more than I did?

*******

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.

Grumpy Rumblings allows the person who leaves the most comments during the year to direct a donation. I love this because it feels like such an OG blogging moment — the sort of thing we used to do because our platforms could make a difference. I am grateful to bloggers who keep the spirit of the space.

Jewish IVF gives a pregnancy update, but includes a thought towards the end that I found so interesting. She writes, “Not getting my tubes tied just yet but along the lines of wanting the freedom to travel, I think part of me is wanting to dissociate from the ttc stage of life. I’ve prioritized family building for the vast majority of the past decade. It feels normal to want to clear some space for something new.” It not only makes total sense, but the action can give you true closure; something I’ve always found lacking on my journey because we stopped in the middle of things.

Lastly, The Road Less Travelled writes about the idea of not being able to read while you’re in grief. This idea frightens me because reading is my self-care. She writes: “Coping with our own situation is taxing enough without taking on someone else’s, even when they’re just characters in a book.” So I definitely understood and anticipate I will one day be in a place where I can’t read. But it really freaks me out.

The roundup to the Roundup: I missed the Olympics. 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 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.

Globle turned out to be the Wolvog’s gateway game. Initially, he was meh about Wordle, but once A told me about Globle (where you have to guess the country), his geography-nerdy heart exploded, and he got sucked into the Wordle world. We now all play Wordle, Globle, and Worldle, which is like Globle except you get the country shape and then the kilometer distance with each guess. We all play the three games in the morning, but then need to wait until dinner to discuss our guesses.

I save Guess My Word, Nerdle, and a few open-ended Wordle-like games such as Absurdle or Hello Wordl in the evening.

It’s like a second job by this point.

*******

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:

• “Change of Perspective” (A Blank New Page)

Okay, now my choices this week.

No Kidding in NZ has a post about marking milestones. These milestones may be personal to each person’s journey, but you know them when you encounter them. They indicate a level of change. She writes, “But we can grieve loss AND embrace growth, mourn something that is gone at the same time hoping for something new, and in doing this, we can begin to look forward.” I love that.

Family Building with a Twist proposes a thought experiment that includes two brilliant questions, “What do you think your 16-year-old self would think of the life you have?” and “How do you think you would feel if you lived the life your 16-year-old self envisioned?” Like her, my 16-year-old self didn’t know a lot about infertility. But she would definitely be thrilled to discover that she will have twins. I love these questions.

Lastly, The Barreness checked in with an update. This post is why I love blogging, and why I still read blogs over all other forms of social media. Her stream-of-conscious processing of a life is more interesting than a snappy meme on Twitter. She asks at the end of her update: “Is anyone else feeling this too?” Again, that is blogging. To hear the echo, yes, we feel this, too.

The roundup to the Roundup: Globle and Worldle. 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 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.

I have the saddest discontinued product story. I once bought a box of Wilhelmina mints on impulse when we were checking out of Trader Joe’s, simply because it had a picture of Queen Wilhelmina on the box, and I thought the ChickieNob would like it. Fast forward to today, and all four of us are addicted to these mints. We go through so many boxes per month.

We were running low, so Josh and I ran out to Trader Joe’s where there were zero boxes in stock. Panicking, we went home and looked online to see if we could order them. There were two versions — a blue box that is not vegan and a white box that is vegan. We ordered 12 of the white boxes and waited for our shipment of mints. Crisis averted.

OR SO WE THOUGHT.

The box arrived filled with the non-vegan version. We were able to get our money refunded, but poking around the internet, we discovered that our mint has been discontinued. They’re still making the non-vegan version with gelatin, but they are no longer making the kind stamped vegan.

It’s a heart breaker.

We’re currently sampling vegan mints from various stores, trying to find one that makes us happy. Perhaps not as happy as the vegan Wilhelminas but happy enough. The candy world is a hard space for vegans.

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Speaking of creating things, Life from Scratch is still on sale. Just 99 cents. Tell your friends, tell your family, tell your neighbours. Buy a copy for everyone you know and love.

*******

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.

Finding a Different Path has a story about her recent mammogram. (Asking a fantastic question: “Why must everything women’s health be squashing and poking and stretching and undignified?“) But moreover, it was a great moment where a conversation that could have gone sideways stayed on course and the technician said (or didn’t say) all the right things. Here’s to good mammograms. (Or, at the very least, not bad mammograms.)

Infertile Phoenix rested in January. She writes: “Who cares, I keep reminding myself. It’s a pandemic. It’s burnout. It’s existential fatigue. Who cares about my made up plans for myself. There is no To Do list police.” She is still processing her CNBC story, and it’s a good life, she reminds herself. I liked this quiet, snowy post.

Lastly, the pandemic has gotten us thinking about our social networks. The Road Less Travelled loops through this topic, too, pointing out that even having family nearby doesn’t necessarily buffer you completely. COVID has interrupted our social lives and all the channels we would have tried to make connections. It’s an interesting topic, and everyone has a slightly different take as they look at their surroundings.

The roundup to the Roundup: No more mints. 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 February 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.

I am happy for the Wordle guy — not just because his desire to entertain his partner brought him over a million dollars but because he sounded overwhelmed by the success of the game, and the purchase means that someone else (or, something else) will take over the maintenance of it. I’m hoping for a smooth transition over to the New York Times, and I trust that they will treat it like their mini — free for anyone to play once a day.

But moreover, it’s nice to hear a happy story right now. The world feels so heavy and overwhelming. I like hearing about a person who made something just because and everyone loved it and they lived happily ever after.

And I’ve gotten 78+ rounds out of it so far. For free. How can I complain?

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Speaking of creating things, Life from Scratch is on sale. Just 99 cents. Tell your friends, tell your family, tell your neighbours. Buy a copy for everyone you know and love.

*******

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.

A Half Baked Life has a post about friends and health and reaching out. I related to this: “The other morning, seeing a photo post from one of those friends of a group of women eating and being silly and just enjoying each others’ company, I confess I felt sad and lonely. I don’t have a group like this, a group that I hang out with or go on adventures with or even eat a meal with when I’m not with my family.” And I think a lot of people will relate to it because group friendship is a different beast and (likely) not as effortless as people make it seem from the outside.

Res Cogitatae has a post about burnout, and while I was holding her in my heart, I also had to comment on this brilliant analogy about the impulse to stop testing and tracking COVID cases: “E. called the premier’s office to explain to them that stopping testing was ‘just like if you told everyone not to call the fire department. It wouldn’t keep any houses from being on fire, it would just mean that no one would know which ones were burning’.” It is so hard right now. The mental load is too heavy right now. But hang in there and vent it out.

Lastly, Grief Is the Word has a post about waking up to loneliness and fear. She writes, “Sometimes I feel like a different species – my life has veered off course so dramatically. I can’t even imagine what it must be like to have the kind of life most of my friends and family are leading.” Sometimes we need to feel arms around us. Humans need to feel anchored.

The roundup to the Roundup: Good on you, Wordle Guy. 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 January 28 – February 4) 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.