Category — Friday Blog Roundup

It’s the first Roundup of 2021, looking back on the final week of writing in a truly bizarre year.

Happy New Year.

Once upon a time, I would have had a crisis with this day—do I post a Roundup if I’m posting the Creme de la Creme? Do I post the Roundup a day early? Late? But… alas… no Creme de la Creme this year. I miss that.

*******

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 in order 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. In order 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 captures the strangeness that was Christmas 2020. I laughed about the breaded cod patties. That was so 2020. Unfortunately, I fear that we’re still going to be saying everything is 2020 in 2021. But! That’s not the point. The point is that people made the best of it and celebrated the holiday. As she says: “I said to dh that if we HAD to stay here, by ourselves, I wanted it to be at least a little special (i.e., not just another day at home) — and I think we managed that, even with COVID to work around. I hope you can say the same!”

Open Step at a Time also reflects on the year. I love the hope she captured in this post. Would anyone choose this pandemic? No. But as she says, “On the whole I am profoundly grateful for this year because it was a year of learning, growth and building. Everything I have learnt during 2020 is something I can build on for the future.” If nothing else, the pandemic revealed who we are—to ourselves and to others.

Lastly, No Kidding in NZ recounts a conversation she had with her sisters during Christmas. They spoke about her not having children, and she writes: “We talked about it in a matter-of-fact way, and it was just nice. Nice to know that my situation was recognised by them both, to feel seen. Nice to be able to talk about the occasional reality of my life. Nice to be able to move on to the next topic without feeling we needed to out of awkwardness. Nice to know that they saw it was a part of me, but not all of me.” Click over to read about the conversation.

The roundup to the Roundup: Happy New Year. 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 December 25 – Jan 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.

Merry Christmas if you’re celebrating. (Or, if you’re not, Happy Friday, as we like to say in our home.) I am currently the winner of the Little Drummer Boy Challenge. It turns out that if you’re not Christian and therefore do not listen to Christmas music in the home, and you are not going out and therefore never encounter it at a store, it is pretty easy to win the challenge. But, you know, it still feels good to win.

I am spending the day reading a Jasmine Guillory book with Beorn. He’s in suspense. Will they hook up? Will they not? I’ve reassured him that the book will have a happy ending because these types of books always do, but he’s not so sure. He runs back to look at the book every time I turn the page. He just wants Vivian and Malcolm to make this work and snog under the mistletoe. Is that too much for a guinea pig to ask for?

I hope you are having a relaxing day. I know this holiday is different. Hopefully, everyone will agree to a redo after vaccine completions hit a critical mass, even if it means having Christmas in September and then again in December. No rules in 2021.

Much love and hot chocolate.

*******

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 in order 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. In order to read the description before clicking over, please return to the open thread:

• “Stop Giving Child-Free Women the Side-Eye” (Atta Girl/Medium)
• “To the Childless Woman at Christmas – I See You” (Gateway Women)
• “Yes, We Can!” (The Road Less Travelled)

Okay, now my choices this week.

My Lady of the Lantern has a tiny post on something she’s learned about herself this year, and it made me stop and think about what I’ve learned about myself, too. Things I probably would have said, “I can’t” to last January and yet did by the time March rolled around. Or discovering needs or boundaries. I really love this little post.

Infertile Phoenix wants to ask less of herself this year. (Smart!) Fewer obligations. Fewer demands. Fewer shoulds. She writes, “Obviously, I am depleted. I’ve been giving more than I’ve been replenished. I need to take a break. I want to make a conscious effort to do less, think less, expect less. When I do find myself thinking, I want it to be reflections on all the ways that I kicked ass this year, showing up and not shying away from life.” It’s a great gift we can give ourselves, as she points out.

Lastly, The Barreness has a post in two parts: one section written at the beginning of the month, one section looking back on it and reflecting. I love this part: “I guess this year has made it harder to see things in the future, dreams that were once easy to imagine are now muted with doubts and wonder if I can go far away again. I will think on my dreams, the ones I can’t imagine for myself and maybe something, somehow will manifest for the future.” This post made me sigh; the capturing of the passing of time and the passing of thoughts. Plus, I love how the words form a little Christmas tree at the end.

The roundup to the Roundup: Merry Christmas, if you celebrate it. 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 December 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.

Google introduced AR animals. When you Google the animal from the Google app on your phone, it gives you the option to see it in 3D. Once you click on that, you see a 3D version of the animal moving around on a blank, white background. It asks if you want to see the animal in AR, and if you click “yes” and give it access to just about everything on your phone, it will allow you to see a quokka hopping around your living room.

I went from being so-beyond-excited-I-cannot-stand-it to being super disappointed once I learned the only way you can get this to work is to give it access to your microphone (why?), camera (that makes sense), and camera roll (why?). Which I’m not going to do.

But if you have the Google app and have given it access to everything on your phone, you can have a virtual koala friend hang out next to you while you watch television.

*******

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 in order 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. In order to read the description before clicking over, please return to the open thread:

• None… sniff…

Okay, now my choices this week.

Hopelessly Infertile and Surrounded by Fertiles begs the people of the world to know their audience. A case in point: She doesn’t need to see pictures of new babies or hear people go on about how thrilled they are not to have babies anymore. No one knows what another person is going through, but there are certain topics that perhaps should only be discussed if you are certain about the other person’s situation.

Kveller asks us to remember infertile people during Chanukkah. The author writes: “But once I started trying to conceive — and subsequently endured three years of miscarriages and expensive fertility treatments — the holidays transformed from a period of celebration into a time to hide. I wanted to avoid people asking me what was going on (nothing! I was either trying to get pregnant or getting over a lost pregnancy), to steer clear of other pregnant women (I was jealous!), and to dodge triggering sights (basically everything).” You don’t need to be Jewish to get a lot out of this post.

My Path to Mommyhood talks about joyscrolling—the opposite of doomscrolling. It’s a website. And it’s relaxing fun. (Except when you think about the fact that you can’t go to Iceland right now.)

Lastly, No Kidding in NZ takes apart the word “failure.” She points out the need to separate the individual from the situation. “And that’s because we personalise it. It failed – the medical technology, or the adoption process, or broader society failed. It doesn’t mean that I am a failure. It might be my body that technology couldn’t help, but I personally am NOT a failure. And neither are you.” It’s a beautiful ode to resilience.

The roundup to the Roundup: Virtual animal friends. 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 December 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.

Chanukkah started last night. I am notorious for missing lighting the chanukkiah several nights each time the holiday rolls around. (Fun fact, all chanukkiahs are menorahs, but not all menorahs are chanukkiahs.) In my defense, you have to keep it up eight nights in a row, and keeping a streak going eight times is hard. But we’re not going anywhere, clearly, so I have zero excuse this year. It may be my first time using every single candle in the box.

The only thing I like about this holiday (it really is my least favourite holiday) are sufganiyot, which are jelly doughnuts. There are places around here that are making sufganiyot, but I can’t really justify going out for a doughnut. And I don’t make doughnuts. So we’ll skip sufganiyot this year. I don’t think anyone cares.

I’m sort of hoping that one day the twins decide they love Chanukkah, and they drag me into the spirit of celebrating it. But four people meh about Chanukkah means that we all stay meh about Chanukkah for another year.

But I will light the chanukkiah all eight nights. I think.

*******

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 in order 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. In order to read the description before clicking over, please return to the open thread:

• “Twilight” (Infertilityhonesty)
• “A Tribute to Mrs. Patmore” (The Road Less Travelled)

Okay, now my choices this week.

I had the tribute to Mrs. Patmore by The Road Less Travelled on my list for this week. She touches on all of the people Mrs. Patmore nurtures and mothers throughout the many seasons of Downton Abbey. She’s one of our favourite characters, and I loved reliving the show through this lens. She is the heart of that kitchen, and she cares about everyone who moves through it.

The Next 15000 Days has a very tiny and sweet post about the point of the valleys of life. They make you notice those peaceful moments.

Lastly, By the Brooke writes about the day after the ten year anniversary of Eliza’s birth. She explains: “One thing about writing about grief is that it is really hard because it always seems to come out as More Than or Less Than. Even when it’s exactly what I’m feeling in the moment that I write it down, in the next moment (or the next day) it feels like Too Much or Not Enough to really describe what I’m feeling.” Yes to that. You can’t hold it or describe it because it’s too nuanced to be captured completely and conveyed to another person.

The roundup to the Roundup: Will I remember to light the chanukkiah all eight nights? 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 December 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 rounding into the end of my ninth month at home and starting my tenth month in a few days. At this point, staying home and not planning life feels more normal than going out to a restaurant or meeting up with friends.

I haven’t seen my friends in nine months.

I spend most of my time in neutral—it is what it is—but veer sometimes towards sad (“I haven’t seen my friends in nine months”) and sometimes towards angry. I spent a lot of this week feeling angry. Angry that people traveled and entered houses for Thanksgiving break despite hearing all the same warnings that I heard from the CDC. Angry that the numbers are steadily rising in our state. Angry because it is abundantly clear that we’re not all in this together, despite all the promises of that last spring.

Like Barreness below, I am a rule follower because I believe there is a point to the rules. They are there to help us avoid situations such as our hospitals being 90% to capacity.

But now we’re here. I really fear the numbers in the next few weeks.

*******

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 in order 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. In order to read the description before clicking over, please return to the open thread:

• “On Thankfulness and Grief” (My Path to Mommyhood)

Okay, now my choices this week.

The Barreness has a post that matches my mood. She writes of a mediocre Thanksgiving meal, “Why is this different? We have been cooking from home since MARCH. Making food and trying recipes for months… Why do we think that Thanksgiving is different?” As someone who has been going through new cookbooks at a quick clip, trying to make dinner as exciting as going to a restaurant, this spoke to me. I too am tired of being a rule follower, but I don’t think the answer is to not be a rule follower. And I love the good news at the end of the post.

Infertilityhonesty writes about the life she has now, and how is differs from what she thought it would be when she made her decision. She writes, “At the time I couldn’t, in actuality, see into the future but yet there was this supposed new life dangling in the corners of my blacked out soul.” Instead, the metaphor of the eucalyptus tree in the post gets closer to the truth. And I love, love, love the closing conversation with her inner monologue which includes: “That doesn’t exactly sound like nowhere to me.  As a matter of fact, that might sound like everywhere.”

Lastly, Citizen of the Month looks back on an internet project that points to a very different blogosphere. Having watched every year and knowing many of the people in the old videos, the whole thing made me nostalgic and wistful and really really really glad that I got to live through this great part of the internet.

The roundup to the Roundup: Sometimes I’m angry. 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 November 27 – Dec 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.