Category — Friday Blog Roundup

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…

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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:

• “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.

Josh and I lean more towards brick-and-mortar shopping, but there are a few things we buy online, usually ordering more than we need at the moment, so we won’t have to place another order for a few months. Last week, we submitted two such orders from two different businesses, and both orders arrived with chunks missing from the sides of the products.

Before you ask, there were no marks on the shipping boxes. They arrived without a dent. But when I opened the two boxes, one item in each box had a U-shaped hole on the side. In one case, it was hair gel that was now coating everything else in the box. In the other case, it was guinea pig baby food, which was luckily dry but had spilled out of its packaging inside the box.

In both cases, the company sent a replacement. (Though the AI bot suggested that we send back the oozing hair gel until Josh requested to speak to a human that said, “Uh, no, please DON’T send that through the mail.)

I sense that this is our future. Instead of human hands placing items in the box or even a human looking into the box to make sure the robot hands didn’t puncture the items, we will now receive packages of oozing gel and spilled-out guinea pig baby food — all in the name of technology. And companies will find it cheaper to replace the wasted items instead of employing a human to make sure the machine can do what the machine promises to do.

Call me frustrated.

*******

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:

• “Gewappnet” (Elaine ohne Kind)

Okay, now my choices this week.

No Kidding in NZ builds off Middle Girl’s idea that now is not the time for accomplishments. She explains: “There is so much I need to do, but at the moment, surviving with some sanity intact is about all I can manage. Remembering to breathe. Treading water. And that’s okay.” Accomplishments are relative.

Lastly, The Road Less Travelled celebrated her 40th wedding anniversary. It’s an enormous accomplishment always — choosing one another year after year. Congratulations!

The roundup to the Roundup: I’m not ready for the robot overlords. 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 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 feeling like crap today from a shingles/pneumococcal vaccine combo (more on that when I can concentrate) — Freedom from preventable illness! Liberty from hospital stays! Happy 4th, everyone! — so I’ll keep this brief and remind you to check your vaccine schedule and see if you’re up to date.

*******

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.

Middle Girl captures life in a few brief sentences. She writes: “I am unable to report that I’ve worked on (or better yet, finished) the story of Janice* … On the flipside, I can report that I am still chug, chug, chugging along and still trying to tame my wild and woolly salt-and-pepper mane. Take gentle care, gentle folks.” It feels like poetry, and I agree with the first commenter on it not being a time for accomplishments.

Finally, A Half Baked Life returns with an update. Even though I just saw her in the face-to-face world, it made me smile to see her in my feed reader. It begins: “So my kid tells me I don’t post much any more. Which is true. But it also means he found my blog and read it, or at least part of it.” Gulp. But it’s all good. And you get a recipe, too.

The roundup to the Roundup: Stay healthy. 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 June 27 – July 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.