Category — Friday Blog Roundup

Last winter, we checked into a hotel and realized that it was attached to a football pitch. As we were getting our key, we asked the woman at the front desk whether we’d be able to see a game from our room, and she looked at our reservation. “Oh, yes, you’ll be able to see half the pitch, and there is a game tomorrow.” This was the best news ever.

Except we were there to do other things, and weren’t going to be near our room during game time. We missed the game, but when we got home, we signed up for Peacock so we could watch the Premier League games.

I told Josh that from now on, all we’re doing is watching games every weekend. I’m sure this will stop by the end of September — I know myself — but right now, it’s footie. all. the. time. Quentin loves it.

*******

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.

Infertile Phoenix has a new job. (Congratulations!) She recounts a conversation with a new coworker about kids, and she writes: “I used to feel so embarrassed by my infertility and ashamed of being childless not-by-choice. Not anymore. Not at all. I’m just living my life. And currently my life involves being excited for my new job working with kids!” Happy news all around.

Lastly, Scientist on the Roof has a super interesting post about going back to the town where she grew up in Latvia after 30 years away. She writes: “Walking around the streets, seeing my old apartment building, the school, the railway station – it was meaningful in ways I did not expect and that I am still trying to process.” Her kids got to see her old apartment building. It sounds like a very moving trip.

The roundup to the Roundup: Football all the time. 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 August 15 – 22) 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.

Josh was away most of the week at a conference. When the kids were little, they always got sick when he went to a conference. Things always broke. There was always… something. Don’t get me started on the time when he was overseas at a film festival, and the local government suggested that we all prepare for a dirty bomb, and I ended up at Home Depot filling my cart with duct tape and plastic sheeting.

Anyway.

Before he left, I thought to myself, whenever Josh goes away, all sorts of things go wrong. I bet I will have to deal with a cricket.

Quentin ended up having an accident in our bed while the ChickieNob and I were watching television (first time ever, which makes me wonder if he was having issues because he was also totally chill, which is not like him), which necessitated two loads of laundry late at night. I was swept up in that strange Facebook glitch, which locked people out of their accounts. (Though I thought at first that it was just me and felt all kinds of panicked.)

There was a salad dressing disaster where I tried a recipe the New York Times promised was the most amazing dressing in the world, wasted a lot of olive oil, and had an enormous clean up, and it was inedible.

And the cricket came on the last night. Our final night. All the cricket had to do was wait a few more hours, and it could have been Josh’s problem. But it wasn’t. It was my problem. And I made it the Wolvog’s problem. He sucked it up in the Dyson, but also got water in the Dyson. So now I’m drying out the Dyson for a few days and hoping it still works.

And these things happen only when Josh goes out of town.

*******

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.

The Road Less Travelled writes about her mixed feelings attending a wedding for a person who is the same age her child would have been. There is the happiness for the couple and the joy of seeing family, but there is the emotional pain of what ifs. It’s a reminder that loss doesn’t magically resolve at a single point. There can be triggers, 27 years later.

Lastly, No Kidding in NZ leans hard on lessons learned through infertility as she experiences a different difficult situation. She asks if you remember going through infertility, when it consumed your whole day and every thought. But one day you reach a point where it is not your entire day. It’s just part of a day. And then it’s only part of a week, a month, a year. She reassures herself and the reader: “It helps me to understand that it will pass, eventually, whatever the outcome, although the fits and starts might last the rest of my life. It helps too to remember the nature of grief, of worry, of irrational thoughts, and know that it is all normal.” Sending a hug and a thank you for this reminder.

The roundup to the Roundup: When Josh goes out of town… 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 August 8 – 15) 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 a new pair of glasses coming in the mail soon. It’s a weird idea to get glasses delivered instead of returning to the store, but they told me that it would be faster to do it that way, and they are the experts in their own product.

The more I think about it, the more I don’t know how I feel about it. I’m accustomed to the person handing over the glasses, looking at them on my face, adjusting them, making sure they fit properly. And now it’s all down to me; me and my complete lack of knowledge about how I should judge fit. It’s a brave new world.

I chose something completely different from the frames I’ve been wearing for many many many years. I don’t know if that was a mistake, or if I’m cultivating Melissa 2.0. Too soon to know.

*******

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:

• “A Simple Life” (Infertile Phoenix)
• “The Dreaded Box” (Stirrup Queens) — thank you, Jess and Mali!

Okay, now my choices this week.

All & Sundry gives a life update. She is in the middle of a divorce, so it is a time of endings and beginnings. It’s hard to be in this space, but she points out another truth: “I feel certain it will continue to be raw and fluctuating for a good long while and maybe forever in some ways but eventually everything will start to heal and even out and we will both be in much better places.” And I may just take her words as a new motto: “It’s time to be strong, and it’s going to be okay.” It will.

Lastly, Scientist on the Roof gives an update on Helsinki, but it made me think about all of the things you love and don’t love about traveling. Sometimes you don’t realize the things you feel neutral about at home until you realize, “Oh, this is what it is like to not have or to have this thing.” She writes: “I am not sure how to feel about people being very direct in letting you know you were doing something wrong. I thought I missed that… But it sometimes made me feel defensive.” I think it would make me feel defensive, too.

The roundup to the Roundup: New glasses… in the mail. 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 August 1 – 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.

Disney+ uploaded several first-person Disneyland ride videos to their site. I love these types of videos and often watch them on YouTube, but they’re even better on Disney+ because they filmed them when the park was empty and used optimal lighting (vs. ride lighting) for inside portions. It feels like you’re there.

Two of my favourite rides are on the list: Soarin’ and Haunted Mansion. There are also a few parades on the list. No one else in the house is as enamoured as I am with the videos, so I’m watching them slowly.

It was a fun, unexpected addition to my 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:

• “Monarchs & Infertility” (LindsayMader)

Okay, now my choices this week.

The Next 15,000 Days has a post about an overheard conversation and what the woman could have said instead. It comes down to acknowledging someone else’s words instead of launching into advice. Not every statement needs to be followed up with action items; especially action items that may not actually bring relief.

Lastly, No Kidding in NZ also tackles what is and what is not helpful when you want to support someone going through something difficult. I like this opening: “I learned what worked for me, and that is always helpful. And I learned how to support others as a result. But I’m definitely still learning, and have been far from ideal over the years, I am sure.” Again, asking the other person what would be helpful to them goes a long way. This list is a great place to start.

The roundup to the Roundup: First-person POV Disneyland rides. 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 July 25 – August 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.

In addition to having general glasses anxiety, I now have new prescription anxiety because the last eye doctor messed up the prescription. It was my first time going to her, and she refused to listen to me during the appointment, gave me the wrong prescription (which I put in new frames that I lost money returning because I could not see in them), and then refused to correct the prescription.

I got her to return the prescription on file to my old prescription, and then I had to wait a full year for insurance to cover another eye exam. If you’re playing along at home, that means that I went a full year with glasses that barely worked.

They were just good enough to get through life, but it was a daily frustration.

So now I can finally get a new prescription. I went back to my old eye doctor with a sheet where I wrote out my current (too weak) prescription, the wrong prescription from the terrible doctor, and the prescription before that just to have it. I left the office with a prescription that makes sense, but I’m going to be nervous until I put on the next glasses and see how they work.

*******

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.

Steal this note idea from Swistle because it’s brilliant. After leaving to-do lists on the counter that were ignored, she left a note for her two kids. “I said would the second of those two children to see the note please empty the dishwasher. Then I put ‘first person to see the note:,’ with a line for them to write their name. You see. This way, the motivation is TO HAVE SEEN THE NOTE.” Read what happened next.

Finally, Jess from Finding a Different Path writes about a book about periods written by Anita Diamant of The Red Tent fame and a podcast about PCOS. Both sound fascinating, so go over and read the post.

The roundup to the Roundup: Wish me luck on 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 July 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.