Category — Friday Blog Roundup

It has been quiet this week online, so I decided to push the 675th Roundup off one week to next Friday.  I feel weird when I do this — I’ve been writing the Roundup since 2006, and I only skip it once or twice a year (and some years, not at all) — but it’s probably good to take a break once in a while, right?  Play a little sudoku.  Try out new vegan brownie recipes.  Clean all the post-it notes off my desk.

Or let’s try this: I’ll leave the Roundup up to you.  Leave links below to the best posts or Tweets or Instagram photos you saw this week.  We can all comb through them while we drink hot chocolate, and then regroup for a normal Roundup next week.

Sound like a plan?

Dirk Gently was cancelled, and I’m bummed.  We watched the season finale on Monday night.  I tried to convince Josh that we should save the last episode and savour it because it would be months before the new season began.  But, no, he haaaaaaaad to watch it and find out what happened with Wendimoor.  And then Tuesday, I found out the show was cancelled, so the season finale became the series finale.  It was the best thing on television and now it’s gooooooooooone.

Dirk Gently, you were a spot of happiness on a dreary day.  You were always good.  You were always funny.  You always filled up my heart.  I’ll purchase the show in iTunes so the twins can watch it in the future.  And now I have to go back to weeping.

It is easier to be bummed about Dirk Gently than it is to wrap my brain around the state of the world.

*******

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:

• “What I Know, What I Suspect” (Pages, Stages, and Rages)

Okay, now my choices this week.

Searching for Our Silver Lining has an update about her job situation as well as lessons learned from infertility.  It is… sadly… a framing that actually brings peace of mind.  “One major benefit of infertility is you learn that the fear of failure and breaking is always worse than it actually happening. Though each miscarriage and failed cycle left indelible scars, the fear was always far more crippling.”  It’s true because I think the moments beforehand break you and break you and break you.  By the time you get to the actual breaking, you’re already in pieces.  And sometimes a break — breaking free of what you think you should do, breaking tradition, breaking up with something that isn’t working — is exactly what you need.

By the Brooke has a post about flowers she purchased in Eliza’s memory for a church service.  Seven red roses for a daughter who should be seven.  She explains, “Having people know about Eliza, know that I had a baby who died, makes me feel vulnerable. But if they don’t know, I feel a little bit like a fraud, or at least like I’m only connected to them in the most superficial way possible.”  Now they know.  But she also knows something, too: “December will never not be sad for me, but seven years in, I’m also grateful that I can find the hope in the dark.”

Lastly, Not a Wasted Word asks where is her aha moment; that moment of clarity where her life falls into place?  Will we all have one, and if not, why do some people have their mental light bulb spark on while others fumble around in the dark?  She writes, “I’ve done all the things everyone tells you to do, and I’m still, YEARS LATER, making the same mistakes, unable to change.”  I don’t have answers, but it’s a very interesting question.

The roundup to the Roundup: Bummed about Dirk Gently.  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 15th and 22nd) 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.

As hard as it is to talk about my own books, I’m finding it ten times harder to talk about the twins’ book.  It is slowly making its way to people’s homes and bookstores, and we’ve been getting excited messages from people telling us that it arrived.

It is a gorgeous book; thick pages and densely packed information.  Sometimes when they’re at school, I take one of the author copies off the stack in the living room and thumb through it and think, “Holy shit.  My kids wrote this.”

If you are currently stressing about a gift to give a child between the ages of… oh… let’s say 8 and 16 (you probably couldn’t be younger and read it, but you could certainly be older and still get a lot out of it), may I suggest Hello Scratch?  It’s smart and clever and you’ll make fun games PLUS you will actually understand computer science once you’re finished reading it.

But wait!  What if you don’t have anyone in your life who likes computers?  What if everyone you’re buying a gift for is a computer hater?  You can still support the twins.  Tweet about their book, Facebook about it, recommend it to a friend, tell your local school library they should get a copy.  Scream about it on a street corner.  It all works.

*******

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:

• “BATNA and WATNA” (Stirrup Queens) — thank you, Cristy!
• “Microblog Mondays: Walking Away” (My Path to Mommyhood)
• “This Life: Her child died, and now she heads a club that no one wants to join” (Washington Post)
• “Don’t Count on IVF or Adoption” (Infertile Phoenix)

Okay, now my choices this week.

Look No Tubes is writing about pregnancy after infertility.  The little things that many women never think about, like how scar tissue can affect ultrasounds.  The research skills that got her through infertility are still serving her well through pregnancy.  We really do end up knowing our bodies like old frenemies.

My Path to Mommyhood has a heartbreaking post about her donated embryos.  They did not survive the thaw.  She writes, “And just like that, the last dream of hope has died.”  It is a post where she peels back many layers of grief.  Her words made me wish I could be in the same room, holding her hand while she cries it out.

Bent Not Broken has a moving post about decorating the tree.  As she unwraps the ornaments, she is flooded with memories.  She writes, “I had a good cry as I hung them all on the tree. I let all of the hopes and dreams and changes in plans from the last ten years wash over me.”  If you are having a hard time this holiday season, go sit with her next to her Christmas tree.  There are people out there who get it.

Lastly, Today’s the Day had great results with last year’s defining word, and she has set forth her new word for 2018: balance.  I especially love the last thought because balance is something that you only have if you create it.  I took some steps recently to regain some balance in my own life, so I may join her and share the word.

The roundup to the Roundup: Support the twins!  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 8th and 15th) 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 got a winter coat.  I’ve been getting by with a Polartec pullover for the last 20+ years.  When I say “getting by,” I mean, not going outside because it’s too cold.  But here’s the thing: I also didn’t believe that a coat would make a big difference.  You see those pictures of scientists working at the South Pole and they are all wearing coats but look very cold.  Like ice-crystals-in-their-beard cold.  Even with a coat AND a hat.

But I’ve had my mind changed by currently-nameless-but-you-know-I’m-going-to-name-it coat.  It’s ultralight and silky.  Like I’ll be talking to people and the Wolvog will point out that I am mindlessly rubbing my hand up and down my arm because it deliciously feels like I’m wrapped up in a wearable sleeping bag.  And it’s warm!  I guess I forgot that DC isn’t as cold as the South Pole so the average coat probably does keep a person warm in this climate.

The best part about my coat?  It has this zipper that you open on the inside of the coat, and that pocket turns into a little pouch.  When you enter a building, you can stuff your coat into the attached pouch and the whole thing becomes small enough to throw into your purse.

I’d like to apologize to my mother for agitating her for the past 20 years by showing up in a Polartec pullover.  I’ve been converted.  I’m a coat-wearer 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 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:

• “Don’t Make Me ‘That Story’” (Unpregnant Chicken)
• “Winning the Pain Olympics” (Searching for Our Silver Lining)
• “What Stoicism Is… and What it Isn’t” (Too Many Fish to Fry)
• “This is What Grief Feels Like Now” (By the Brooke)
• “Being a Childless Mother” (Still Mothers)
• “Taking Other People’s Bad Days” (Stirrup Queens) — thank you, Jess!

Okay, now my choices this week.

If you only read one thing this week, please let it be this essay in the Washington Post about the loss of a child from an accidental overdose.  Did you know that time-release pills will slowly continue to affect a person even if she throws them up?  I didn’t.  That due to the nature of the pills, the person could look fine for hours and no one would suspect what happened?  I am a careful person — an overly careful person — but not when it comes to medication.  Until now.

Not a Wasted Word has a post about the weight of words unsaid.  She writes, “I cried, and I felt ashamed for the tears I shed. I hadn’t realized the weight of so many things left unarticulated. There is much I don’t say, for fear… of what exactly I do not know.  The fear you cannot name is the most terrifying of all.”  It’s a well-said statement of words released.

Lastly, No Kidding in NZ was interviewed last Saturday in a newspaper magazine feature as well as an online copy.  It’s a fantastic magazine cover, and if you click over, you get to hear Mali’s accent.  What?  Is that shallow that I relished the important message of the piece AND her accent?  In any case, it’s a very well-written article.

The roundup to the Roundup: Coats really work!  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 1st and 8th) 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.

Meghan Markle, I feel like I know you.  The ChickieNob delivers dozens of little tidbits about your upcoming nuptials throughout the day, including commentary on your ring, choice of church, and how Prince Harry proposed.  My brain used to be filled with other information, but now I only have room for royal wedding facts.

The one nice thing about her engagement is that the ChickieNob is jumping out of bed in the morning to (1) check the news and (2) sometimes write a blog post.  The ChickieNob is not a morning person and usually requires much cajoling and a few threats to move from her bed, so this has been a welcomed change.  I want to ride this new morning routine straight to that May wedding date.

My world is full of exclamation marks right now because this! is! so! exciting!

*******

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:

• “Month Three” [it doesn’t have a title, but that’s what I’m going to call it] (The Gayby Project)
• “#MicroblogMondays: Quote, Counterquote” (My Path to Mommyhood)
• “2017 Thankfuls” (My Path to Mommyhood)
• “Born to Sparkle” (Searching for Our Silver Lining)
• “To My Little Embryos” (Countingpinklines)
• “Misconceptions About the No Kidding” (No Kidding in NZ)
• “I Know Something I’m Not Supposed to Know about My Child’s Birth Mom” (Lavender Luz)

Okay, now my choices this week.

My Path to Mommyhood has a post about a truly baffling phrase and a question: “Is your death sadder if you have children?  Is your life worth more because of it?”  Yes, I’m going to make you read the whole post to understand the questions because I’m sneaky like that.  But the answer is no.  (Though I totally wish she had delivered the snarky response at the end.  Mwaaaah ha ha.  That was my typed of version of the laughter.)

Countingpinklines has a post about friendship.  She writes, “the only people I’m capable of maintaining a friendship with these days are those who listen to me” but she also unpacks an interesting situation with a friend that she has pulled away from after the friend’s pregnancy.  Plus there is plenty of food for thought on pausing friendships.

Lastly, The Road Less Travelled made ME cry with her post about crying over the royal engagement.  There is a little hop of the heart when you think about how far we’ve come.  But it’s also that other side of watching a young couple come together and hope that they get to have a lifetime of happiness with each other.  Sniff.

The roundup to the Roundup: An American is marrying into the royal family.  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 24th and December 1st) 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.