The game This Image Does Not Exist is super hard. Four is the most I’ve gotten correct in a row.

You’re being shown 30 images like this:

And then you have to click the robot if you think it was generated by a machine or the artist if you think it was generated by a human.

Which one did you guess for the one above?

(It was machine-generated)

My end score for that round was 17 out of 30. What’s your score?

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

*******

I often struggle with how to say “no” when I know that I need to say, “no.” And when I get it right (or I feel like I’ve nailed a good “no”), I drop the text into a document that I can look back on in the future. The email is rarely helpful a second time, but you never know.

Someone passed along this canned response gallery of “how to say no,” and now I pass it along to you in case it is helpful. A lot of these situations are not ones I struggle with, but I still bookmarked it for inspiration. Maybe they’ll pad it out with more situations in the future.

*******

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.

I bought myself a new toy — a jewelers loupe. It magnifies things 10x, and you can attach it to the back of the phone with a rubberband and take detailed pictures, like this:

You can look at anything with the loupe, but it’s clearly fun to look at jewelry upclose. The ChickieNob and I spent an afternoon reorganizing my jewelry and looking at all of the pieces. It was surprisingly emotional, especially to find a microscopic hair left behind on a piece of inherited jewelry or to see something you’ve worn daily in a whole new light.

One necklace had been put back incorrectly in the box, and the chain was knotted. The ChickieNob and I used the jewelers loupe and a sewing needle to gently pry the knots apart. It was exhausting work, somewhat pointless because I didn’t even wear this necklace. But I hated the idea of putting it back with knots.

When we were down to a single knot, I pulled on the chain roughly and felt it snap in my hand. We all sat an stared at the broken chain, now useless. It felt like metaphor for something.

Every two weeks since the pandemic began, we’ve made a meal list. Everyone chooses between three and four dinners they want me to make, I compile the list, make a PDF of recipes, use it to write up a shopping list, and… well… as you’ve probably guessed, cook the meals. On one hand, it’s super useful. I’m never scrambling to figure out what to make in the afternoon. We limit trips to the grocery store. We have little food waste because I jenga the meals together so I can use up a rare ingredient the next day. It works. I mean, until it doesn’t work.

I’ve hit a wall of decision fatigue. Making the list has become my most dreaded task. I don’t know what I want to eat days in advance. No one else knows either. It has seeped into the rest of life. I am so tired of making decisions.

The solution is to give up the list making for a week or two. Allow myself to become more annoyed by the lack of structure. Go back to appreciating the system that has served us well for over two years.

Anything goes. Cereal for dinner. Pasta four days in a row. Cucumbers three meals per day.

*******

Apart at the Seams is on sale until July 15th for just 99 cents. A story that will occupy you for hours for less than a dollar? One click, that’s all it takes to have it on your Kindle. Tell your friends. Tell your family. Tell random people in the grocery store.

*******

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.

We are all talking about Roe. Family Building with a Twist sums up what many of us are thinking/feeling: “Like many, I am appalled, devastated – choose your adjective – about today’s ruling by SCOTUS. And I wasn’t surprised. I read the released draft ruling and I knew how this court was going.” Just because you know something is coming doesn’t mean that you don’t feel it down to your bones when it happens.

Lastly, The Road Less Travelled has lots of odds and ends, but also links for the Childless Collective Summit. It’s online, and she provides a link to a review of last year’s summit. Go check it out.

The roundup to the Roundup: Decision fatigue. Apart at the Seams is on sale. 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 24 – July 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.

The last day of school brought the end of another childhood ritual. For 12+ years, I’ve been picking up the kids from school or meeting them near the bus stop. But they can now drive themselves, so I had to release yet another ritual on the second to last day of school.

I both love and dislike this ritual. I love the time in the car, unpacking the day. I dislike being pulled out of a task to run to pickup and have to pick up the thread again when I get home. I get back 15 minutes of my day. I lose 15 minutes of connection.

I cried hard after they drove off to school for the first time. And then I cried because I don’t know how I’m going to get through all of the “lasts” if I was having trouble with school pickup. Very soon, we will have a final first day of school. And then a final last day of school. And then a final last day of summer. And then a college arrival. And then a college drop off and drive away. And I will have to get through each of these moments. And right now, I don’t know how I will do that.

I will miss them and this time so much.

I don’t see a lot of posts like this. Most of the time, I see parents excited about their kids moving on to college. Excited for an empty nest. Maybe a little sad, too, but not expressing anything more than the fact that they’re a little misty or released a few tears at graduation. Every time I see anything more than that on Facebook, I bookmark the post so I can re-read it and not feel alone. Maybe I’m putting this here, not just for myself, but for anyone else who doesn’t know how they will get through all of the “lasts” and “firsts.”