Category — Microblog Mondays

Not sure what #MicroblogMondays is? Read the inaugural post which explains the idea and how you can participate too.

*******

I’m usually pretty reluctant to buy myself something when I have another tool that can do the same job, but I bought myself a whistling tea kettle this week. We have a kumkum for boiling water — a one-cup kettle — but while it feels very Tel Aviv apartment, it doesn’t feel cozy British mystery. And… well… frankly, the ChickieNob and I live in a cozy British mystery world and would like to have our tea ready at the same time.

While knee-deep in retirement planning, I found an article on money wasters. The list contained some sound advice — I personally don’t need new clothes, fancy cars, or shoes that match every outfit — but it really felt like one person’s money waster (tea kettle when you own a kumkum) was another person’s priority.

What are your money wasters, and what do you disagree with from the list? My big one was travel. It doesn’t have to be extravagant, but if you can afford it (and like to do it), it’s educational and mind-expanding.

*******

Are you also doing #MicroblogMondays? Add your link below. The list will be open until Tuesday morning. Link to the post itself, not your blog URL. (Don’t know what that means? Please read the three rules on this post to understand the difference between a permalink to a post and a blog’s main URL.) Only personal blogs can be added to the list. I will remove any posts that are connected to businesses or are sponsored post.

Not sure what #MicroblogMondays is? Read the inaugural post which explains the idea and how you can participate too.

*******

I guess fall doesn’t technically begin until September 23rd, but Labour Day always feels like the last day of summer. Maybe it’s because school begins this week or because people expect vacations to wrap up by this evening. But it feels like the last day of summer.

The school supplies are purchased. The pencils are sharpened. The suitcases are packed away for a little bit.

What are you looking forward to this fall?

*******

Are you also doing #MicroblogMondays? Add your link below. The list will be open until Tuesday morning. Link to the post itself, not your blog URL. (Don’t know what that means? Please read the three rules on this post to understand the difference between a permalink to a post and a blog’s main URL.) Only personal blogs can be added to the list. I will remove any posts that are connected to businesses or are sponsored post.

Not sure what #MicroblogMondays is? Read the inaugural post which explains the idea and how you can participate too.

*******

I just learned the term EDC–everyday carry. It’s the stuff you always have with you when you leave the house. Though I realized that I have a core EDC and then an extended EDC. Like if I’m just running to the library, I have my core stuff with me, and if I’m going to a restaurant, I have my core and extended with me. But I think of it as something deeper than “what’s in your purse?” Because some items in my purse change, depending on the day. My EDC is always the same.

So my EDC is a book (almost always a paper book, but for small outings, I may only have an e-book on my phone), lip balm, tweezers (useful it so many different situations), wallet, phone, Tylenol/Tums (again, so useful), band-aid, extra tampon (am I the only person who constantly encounters women in public restrooms asking if you have an extra tampon?), bullet journal, library card.

I also have my library card memorized in case I’m ever in an emergency library situation where they can’t scan my card but I can check out a book if I know my number.

Priorities, people.

What is your EDC?

*******

Are you also doing #MicroblogMondays? Add your link below. The list will be open until Tuesday morning. Link to the post itself, not your blog URL. (Don’t know what that means? Please read the three rules on this post to understand the difference between a permalink to a post and a blog’s main URL.) Only personal blogs can be added to the list. I will remove any posts that are connected to businesses or are sponsored post.

Not sure what #MicroblogMondays is? Read the inaugural post which explains the idea and how you can participate too.

*******

Robin Sloan (the author of Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore) sends out a weekly email containing a mishmash of thoughts. In a recent one, he talked about the Gutenberg Parenthesis and the whole idea of recognizing when you’re living between parentheses.

Or, as Sloan states: “Here’s a question you should ask sometimes, about the story of the world and your place in it: am I living inside the normal body text now… or a phrase offset by parentheses, set to close?”

Mind blown.

I think there are our personal parentheses and then there are societal/historical parentheses. And as Sloan says, the point isn’t to prove the theory. It isn’t to find proof that it is or isn’t happening. It’s to ask yourself the questions and simply wonder whether you’re “living (or reading books, or participating in the economy, or or or) at a point along a ‘normal’ historical continuum, or inside a bubble of strangeness?”

Life if pretty strange right now. Do you think we’re inside parentheses or is this just part of a new normal?

*******

Are you also doing #MicroblogMondays? Add your link below. The list will be open until Tuesday morning. Link to the post itself, not your blog URL. (Don’t know what that means? Please read the three rules on this post to understand the difference between a permalink to a post and a blog’s main URL.) Only personal blogs can be added to the list. I will remove any posts that are connected to businesses or are sponsored post.

Not sure what #MicroblogMondays is? Read the inaugural post which explains the idea and how you can participate too.

*******

The twins are both named after great-grandparents. We didn’t struggle with their names at all. We knew we wanted to name the kids after these two people, which greatly limited our list of possible names and made the choice pretty straight-forward.

The ChickieNob’s name was one that I floated very early on in our relationship as the name I would use for any daughter, and Josh agreed. The Wolvog’s name sprang into my head one day — long before we were pregnant — and I told Josh that if we ever had a boy, that would be his name. And… well… he agreed again. Then we had to work for years to actually have the kids so we could use the names, but the names themselves weren’t a struggle.

I like being named after someone. I think the kids like being named after someone, especially when we come across pictures or objects or stories we can tell them about those people. Most of my friends and family members are named after people, too. But my friend list skews heavily towards Jewish, where naming your child after someone is common practice.

Are you named after someone? Did you know the person?

*******

Are you also doing #MicroblogMondays? Add your link below. The list will be open until Tuesday morning. Link to the post itself, not your blog URL. (Don’t know what that means? Please read the three rules on this post to understand the difference between a permalink to a post and a blog’s main URL.) Only personal blogs can be added to the list. I will remove any posts that are connected to businesses or are sponsored post.