Every once in a while, I think about spending a year or so living in another country — think of it like an adult version of study abroad. I would plant myself in one town and just… live life. Go to the grocery store, write blog posts, go to work, and read books. Just in another place.

I have places I would like to do this, but those places aren’t keen to have people just plop down and rent a cottage for a year. So I always bookmark articles that I find that talk about this concept for a place I may not have considered.

Enter Croatia.

I have not given a lot of thought to Croatia as a place to live for a year.(Visit, yes. live, no.) But Croatia has a program where if you pre-pay your rent for a year, you can stay for a year.

Croatia offers a little-known “apartment visa” that allows foreigners, including Americans, to establish residency simply by showing they own residential property or hold a long-term rental lease. Applicants also need to demonstrate sufficient funds and health insurance. The visa is generally valid for a year.

It doesn’t say it in this article, but more poking around turned up multiple spaces that said you need to pre-pay the rent for the year. There are likely other rules, but it was an interesting idea.

Many museums limit the size of the bag you can bring into exhibits to an A4 sheet of paper, or approximately 21 x 30 cm (8 inches x 11.5 inches… ish). My daily bag comes from Tom Binn, and I love it, but it’s 26.5 cm x 30 cm. It’s a small difference, but I get stopped and told the bag cannot come inside.

My other option is a 20 cm x 26 cm bag, which is always allowed in, but is a bit cramped. I carry a 12 cm x 21 cm notebook with me, and while it fits, the padding inside the bag means it often gets wedged in there, and I have to take everything out to slip it out.

Do you have an A4-sized bag that you love? Extra points if it has anti-theft protection and a cross-body strap. And is fabric and not leather.

This one is a little small, but I like it. This one is also a little bit small but getting closer. This one may be slightly too big.

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Did you know you could remove AI results from Google searches or only see results from a certain domain (e.g., .gov or .org). Now you do.

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

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A person recorded a monologue in English, moving from about 450 AD to the modern day. A timeline appears on the screen, and you note the date when you start to understand the monologue. Is this video accurate? Who knows! But let’s try it anyway.

I started being able to follow along in 900 AD, missing about half the words, but could mostly catch everything by 1300 AD. How did you do?

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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 time the kids leave, I think to myself long before the moment, maybe this will be the time you do this calmly. Where you don’t cry on the walk back to the car or wail once you get inside. When it doesn’t feel as if you are being turned inside out.

I did not succeed in this again. Better luck next time.

The ChickieNob missed her train due to the snow, but miraculously got on the Wolvog’s train, so we got to have two extra days with her in addition to the longer visit we knew we were getting with him.

At least I’m not the only one who is miserable. Quentin face-planted into his bedding and looked up mournfully at me, as if it had been my choice that he didn’t have his friends. I gave him too many blueberries out of guilt.

Josh shoveled last weekend while it was still sleeting, but after three hours, he gave up and came back inside. Everything was still completely covered outside.

On Monday morning, he opened the front door to tackle the walk, and the snow was gone. Someone had cleared our snow (and everyone else’s snow) and salted the sidewalk between midnight and morning.

The Wolvog heard the person at 2 am and thought about waking us. He said he was just a guy in a high-vis vest, walking the sidewalks with his snowblower and then salting them afterward. He couldn’t see the person well in the dark, but he said it was definitely a neighbour on foot, quietly taking care of all of us while we slept. It made me cry to think about someone doing something so thoughtful for everyone and slipping away without recognition. We have zero clue who did this, though we’re trying to figure it out so we can thank them.

There are some pretty terrible people in the world, but there are also a lot of good ones.

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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.

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:

• “Toys!” (Stirrup Queens) — thank you, Phoenix!
• “So Many Kids But Not Me” (Infertile Phoenix)

Okay, now my choices this week.

No Kidding in NZ looks back on a year of blogging, especially the themes that bubble up in a year. I’ve appreciated all of the posts she has written about giving and receiving support. This made me a little teary, and it’s what I love about the blogging world: “Thanks to those who have stuck by me this year. And whether you comment or not, whether you’re a long time reader or have just stumbled across me for the first time, I want you to know how much I appreciate you.” Back at you.

Lastly, Infertile Phoenix writes about the children in her life. She writes, “It’s like I just realized that among my friends there are, like, a billion kids. And that’s what they’re all doing … I like my life. I like it a lot actually. It’s just weird to live a life that’s completely different from what I pictured and from what everyone else is doing.” It’s a thought-provoking post.

The roundup to the Roundup: Thank you to the person who took care of the sidewalk. 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 January 23 – 30) 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.