A few days ago, I missed the 1000th time closing all three rings on my watch in a row. I looked down when the notification came in that I had done this 1001 times and realized I hadn’t seen the notification from the day before. It was such a stupid thing to care about, but I felt like I missed a reason to party and undo all the hard work I’ve done exercising 1000 days in a row.

Like eating a whole cake. That was my grand idea.

In any case, the ChickieNob is a little more than a week behind me, so I’m glomming onto her celebration. We can split a cake.

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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.

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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 reflects on a Christmas past during a Christmas present. When carol singers come to the door, they sing the song she thought about the Christmas after her daughter died. She writes, “I will admit that as I looked at that adorable little girl in her mother’s arms, staring in wide-eyed wonder at the people singing to her, I had tears stinging my eyes. But only briefly.” Sending a hug.

Lastly, Hopelessly Infertile and Surrounded by Fertiles has entered a time in life where she finds herself going to a lot of funerals. I feel exactly the same way: “I’m not ready to say goodbye to anyone. I don’t exactly care to get ready. I prefer planning in the very abstract.I’m not ready for the season of death.” She said it perfectly.

The roundup to the Roundup: 1000 times closing my rings. 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 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.

I finally have both kids at home. They returned on different days because their final exams ran at different times. They’ll also return to school on different dates, so I have to go through the goodbyes twice, which are more difficult than staggered hellos.

I counted down the days until they would get home, but a part of me also kept thinking that the moment they stepped into the house, the clock began running toward the goodbye next month. I know this thinking isn’t helpful, and it certainly doesn’t keep me in the moment, but I can’t stop myself from doing it. I dread them leaving so much because having them here is such a joy.

Trying to stay in the present for the next few weeks.

We are currently in Slow Season, which is much less catchy than Noah Kahan’s Stick Season. Slow Season begins in mid-December and continues until the second week of January as people finish up projects and mentally check out at the end of the year.

I’m not great with Slow Season, mostly because I dislike slowing down. I like to keep going. While other people have a reason to slow down, I don’t. So my slowdown isn’t filled with something else. It’s just emptiness, waiting for the energy to flow back into the workplace.

I keep myself busy during Slow Season, and it helps to know it is coming and plan accordingly. I have the twins home, so they fill the space. And I left a big project for myself to start, so everything will be in place when work returns to normal.

Slow Season feels a little like a waiting room.

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

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Ann Friedman has a popular newsletter. While she has been off on maternity leave for the past few weeks, she is telling the story of her thoughts about pregnancy and parenthood with deep honesty. I have wondered how her child will feel in the future reading the essays, but in the here and now, they are a frank depiction of a person who doesn’t know how she feels about becoming a parent. It’s full of thought-provoking statements, such as, “Freedom, I think, is choosing the people you will be responsible for and to. This potential kid is a wild card. I’m choosing a type of responsibility, but not the actual person.”

She is currently on Part 5, so begin with Plot Twist.

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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 connected to businesses or sponsored posts.

Every once in a while, the publisher puts my books on sale. The e-book for Apart at the Seams is currently 99 cents from December 16 until December 31, 2023. And then, in January, Life from Scratch is on sale for 99 cents from January 1 until January 15, 2024. Happy reading.