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

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Prior to the pandemic, Stanley Tucci flew under my radar. I knew who he was — as in, if someone said his name, I could conjure up a mental image of his face — but I couldn’t name most of his films. But early in the pandemic, I read a great essay where he recounted a day in his life during lockdown. It was such a great moment of art making me feel less alone.

Later in the pandemic, we watched Searching for Italy and enjoyed dreaming about a time when we’d be able to travel again. And now, finally, the ChickieNob and I are listening to his new book, Taste, as we walk. His stories make us lose track of how long we’ve been exercising. He has been such a bright spot every time he loops back in front of us during the pandemic.

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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 that are connected to businesses or are sponsored post.

I didn’t make a resolution this year, even though I am mostly keeping up with #15Best, though I now do a mix of word games, reading, and (at least) ten minutes of meditation. I guess this is the fourth year of that, and I do like that by next December, I will once again be able to say that I spent 6,786 minutes of the pandemic feeling good.

Anyway.

I read this and liked it as much as #15Best — the idea of setting more or less intentions. As in, “I want to do more of X,” or “I want to do less of Y.” I want to read more. I want to worry less. I want to call friends and family more. I want to mindlessly scroll through Facebook less. I like that this one is drawn, too.

Our week has been dominated by the idea of toilet rats. I blame Lifehacker for introducing us to this concept. (And you can blame me for passing on the favour.)

Lifehacker asked: “How Often Do Snakes, Rats, and Spiders Really Crawl Up Your Toilet Pipes?” Um… how often, indeed? It turns out not often, but the article sent me on a Googling spree about toilet rat guards. A word of caution; do not repeat my mistake. ChickieNob and I have not been able to get the drawing of the swimming rat out of our heads. The Wolvog smartly avoided the web page.

But now that I knew that rat guards existed, how could I continue to live without this flap to keep rats out of my toilet? I mean, if we ended up with a toilet rat, wouldn’t it kind of be our fault for not installing this? Josh refused to call the plumber and ask about toilet rats. Or toilet snakes.

But in a twist of fate, we ended up needing to CALL THE PLUMBER THIS WEEK. Which means he will soon be in my home, fixing a pipe. And I will be hissing at Josh to just. please. ask. him. about. rat. guards. and. the. frequency. of. toilet. rats.

Why does Josh have to ask instead of me? Because I don’t want the plumber to think I’m bananapants. It’s fine if he thinks less of Josh.

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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.

Pages, Stages, and Rages is back as is The Evolving Engineer (old blogger, new name). The best part about a feed reader is that when people brush off their blog and start writing again, you know instantly. Welcome back.

Hopelessly Infertile and Surrounded by Fertiles tells the story of hate mitzvahs. Mitzvot are commandments — things you must do — so hate mitzvahs would be doing the right thing but complaining through it. Or seething with rage. That sort of thing. She asks: “I wonder if there’s really a such thing as a hate mitzvah. Like do you need to do a mitzvah from a pure and loving place or is it sufficient that you’re doing the mitzvah.” It’s an interesting idea — do you have to have loving, happy intentions if you’re doing something good for that thing to be… good? Like attending someone’s baby shower (good deed) when you really don’t want to be there and feel enraged (hate mitzvah)?

By the Brooke points out the pitfalls of light internet memes like the 10-year challenge. She explains, “Ten years ago, I still clawing my way out of deep, dark, despairing grief. Ten years ago I skipped Christmas because the death of my baby also killed any desire I had to celebrate anything.” It’s a beautiful post about what we don’t see in photographs.

Lastly, Finding a Different Path and I came to the same realization recently when the twins did their first at-home COVID test. They look like… pregnancy tests. I also cracked up over her wondering if “the first snot of the day yields stronger results.”

The roundup to the Roundup: Toilet rats. 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 7 – 14) 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.

As I say every month, I’m shamelessly stealing this idea from Jessica Lahey. She has a recurring monthly date where she reviews all the books she read that month. Book reviews are important for authors, and I want to get better about doing this.

So. I’m going to review them here and also online, but I’m going to do it a little differently. I’m only going to review the stuff I really liked. I don’t see a reason to spend my time writing about something I didn’t love; it’s just using up more of my energy. So only positive reviews.

These are the books I liked (or mostly liked) from December.

My Lovely Wife (Samantha Downing): This book was bananapants, in the best possible way. It’s about a suburban husband and wife who… murder people. WAIT! Before you reject this book, it is such a bizarre and interesting story filled with wonderfully terrible people. Downing makes you want to keep returning to the story to find out what happens next. This is my second book by this author, and she is great at creating horrible, fascinating characters.

The Killings at Kingfisher Hill (Sophie Hannah/Agatha Christie): Hannah does an amazing job of sliding into Christie’s style and resurrecting Poirot. It was a clever book with a classic Poirot reveal at the end. Totally enjoyable if you already enjoy Christie.

Not a Happy Family (Shari Lapena): This was my first book by this author, and it was kind of the verbal equivalent of potato chips. Even though I guessed the murderer early on, I felt compelled to keep reading and reading and reading. It’s a super quick read because the sections are brief. It would make the perfect beach read because it’s easy to jump in and out of the story.

Good Omens (Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett): ChickieNob and I listened to the audio version while we walked. Martin Jarvis is amazing at doing voices. I always knew which character was speaking from the first second of the chapter. And the strange thing is that the voices he did — many years ago — matched the voices of the actors from the recent television show. Bizarre.

Dava Shastri’s Last Day (Kirthana Ramisetti): One of my favourite books of the year. It’s about a woman tech giant who is dying and decides to announce her death a day early so she can read the obits. But… she learns that instead of basking in her accomplishments, people discuss her secrets. And now she needs to make peace with her kids who learn about these secrets while she’s still alive. I had to slow down towards the end because it is a painful read about loss. But the book is also filled with hope and love. Because family can be complicated, and while you will not always like the characters, you will love them and hurt for them. A lot of tears reading it — but good tears.

What did you read last month?

I do not get haircuts often. As in, I feel like I’m really on top of things if I get one haircut per year. But when the cases started to tick up from omicron, the ChickieNob and I made a rash decision to grab two back-to-back appointments with our hairdresser and chop. it. off.

Okay, not all of it. But a lot of it.

We pulled masks tight over our face and told her that we were good with anything. “Three inches?” she asked. “Four inches?” Anything. Just be quick.

She trimmed a little over three inches off of both of our heads in under 15 minutes. We overtipped knowing we wouldn’t see her again for a while and ran home with the thought “What have I done?” echoing in my head.

But for the first time ever, I had a happy haircut. I showered and restyled my hair when I got home. It felt short — at my shoulders instead of down my back — but also lighter and less trouble. I didn’t realize how much my hair was weighing me down until it was gone.

Pictures coming soon when I have a day where I’m wearing it down vs. twisted in a knot.