Category — Friday Blog Roundup

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…

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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:

• “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.

Purim crept up on me this year. When the kids were little, I started Purim planning and baking by January. But we stopped our big baking sprees during the pandemic, and now it’s just two kinds of cookies baked over one weekend. Apparently, this weekend. I just didn’t know until I turned the calendar and saw, “Oh, I should get on that.”

It’s natural for things to ebb and flow, to be super important at one point in your life and less important at others. But there is something bittersweet about seeing something that once took up a lot of my mental bandwidth between winter and spring shrink down in size. On one hand, it leaves me with more time to bother the guinea pig and teach him new tricks. On the other hand, I miss the chaos of packing dozens of boxes with treats.

Happy Purim next week if you celebrate.

*******

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:

• “Lichtblicke” (Elaine ohne Kind)

Okay, now my choices this week.

Woulda Coulda Shoulda is back with an update. There is a lot of illness dealt with in the post, but her words stayed with me for the story about the hairdryer towards the end. Especially this: “Believe me when I tell you that I had examined the handle and the intake multiple times, always concluding it must be immovable, always following that conclusion with a hearty round of self-flagellation for my inability to FIX IT. It may not be a sign from the universe—or maybe it is; I rule out nothing at this point—but I just couldn’t see the solution, until I did.” May accessible solutions reveal themselves for all problems.

Lastly, I deeply appreciated A Separate Life’s breakdown of cruising — its pros and cons. I have never been on a cruise, and it was helpful to see it written out in this way to judge whether cruising is for me. So many people just say, “Go, you’ll love it!” but what they mean is that they love it. And this was helpful for a person to judge whether they would love it. So thank you.

The roundup to the Roundup: Purim baking this 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 February 20 – 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.

Every afternoon or evening, I walk indoors and watch 20 minutes of The Crown. I’ve been doing this since the beginning of the pandemic, though it hasn’t always been The Crown on a continual loop. I’ve watched muted first-person walking videos on YouTube and listened to audiobooks. I’ve watched documentaries. But for the most part, it has been either all six seasons of The Crown, sometimes interspersed with the single season of One Day.

I am in the final episode of the final season of The Crown, and it’s time to make a decision. Do I jump back to the beginning and watch a young Elizabeth age over the next few months? Or do I pause and mentally jump back to college with the start of One Day? I’m going to have to make a decision this afternoon.

I don’t know what I’ll pick. I guess it will become a walk-time decision.

Is there anything you continuously rewatch?

*******

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.

No Kidding in NZ has a post about managing your boundaries and energy, something I am terrible at doing and often feel frustrated with myself over. These words made me feel less alone: “But it’s really hard when there are several active crisis rings in my life, and I’m at a different place in each of them. As are my family and friends. There are no rules or maps for navigating that. And no extra spoon/energy allocations for any of us.” I’m sending a hug but also a big thank you for voicing this.

Lastly, the Barreness talks about feelings around a complicated situation. What happens after a death when you were estranged from the person? When that person stands for things you find abhorrent? She writes: “Short term: We give. We continue to give and give as that is what makes sense to us. Kindness and love.” It’s a hard situation, and as she says, they are muddling through.

The roundup to the Roundup: The joy of rewatching something. 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 13 – 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.

Back in elementary school, the kids had to fill out a Valentine’s Day card for everyone in their class. Each kid also decorated a box, and then, before the classroom party, they would walk around and deliver their Valentine’s to each other by dropping it in the other person’s box.

Choosing your Valentine’s Day card design was high-stress because you were limited by the options, time had to be considered (making your own card made it unique but took a long time), and there was fierce competition for the best cards.

We always had a few leftovers that I shoved together into one of the earlier boxes (Spy Ruby Decoder Valentines), and it’s bittersweet to shuffle through the cardboard greetings.

Which is a long way of saying Happy Valentine’s Day one day early. And Happy Friday the 13th, if you celebrate that sort of thing.

*******

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:

• “Gelebtes und Ungelebtes” (Elaine ohne Kind)

Okay, now my choices this week.

Speaking of Elaine, The Next 15000 Days pairs a quote Elaine gave her with a photo taken during a walk in the Julian Alps. It’s a simple quote, but I thought we could all use a reminder of kindness these days.

Lastly, Infertile Phoenix writes about the impact of other people’s writing. She explains, “It has taken years to develop the habit of asking myself what do I want and what do I need before considering what others want and need.” So she understood the what, but she didn’t understand the how and why. Until she read something and understood herself (and others) better. I love this.

The roundup to the Roundup: Happy Friday the 13th and Valentine’s Day (a day early). 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 6 – 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.

A and I were talking after I wrote about the toys, and she wanted to see Quentin in action, so I filmed him last weekend as he solved his wooden puzzle.

It usually takes him about 3—4 minutes to get all the treats now. He likes to check a few times during each session as to whether I’m going to move the pieces and hand him the treats, which I did early on when he would quit trying. But he always runs back to the puzzle and keeps going.

Ignore the dust in his fur. Right before I filmed him, he rolled around in some old bedding, and I didn’t notice and brush it off until after filming.

Isn’t my pig brilliant?

*******

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’m a little late, but I read this last Friday. Dear John sends birthday wishes to her husband on what would have been his 55th birthday. It’s a quiet letter, but this part made my throat ache: “There’s a Robin Williams special on HBO – I was going to watch it today but didn’t quite feel up to it. I still have your picture with him hanging in our bedroom, even though looking at it sometimes reminds me of how you both died.” Sending a hug.

I love this guest post by Half Baked Life about her trip to India. It was her second time in India, and the two trips were very different. The trip was essentially a gift, and I love what she says about gifts at the end: “There’s an anthropologist who says one of the essential qualities of a gift is that it must ‘move,’ that if gifts aren’t passed on, that they lose their tranformative abilities and become just things.” Isn’t that a beautiful idea?

Lastly, All & Sundry goes through all of the big and little things she wishes were different, from the personal to the universal. The story about her patient, Isabelle, stayed with me for hours after reading the post. It is so hard only to be able to move forward in this world, moving to the next minute instead of being able to redo the moments that didn’t go quite right.

The roundup to the Roundup: Look at my smarty-pig. 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 30 – February 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.