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

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I am normally NOT a fan of timed games – I prefer to relax and think and not worry about moving quickly – but Outlier is a lot of fun. You get a block of nine “things,” and need to figure out which one is not like the other. That one becomes a hint because it’s the theme of the next block of nine. For instance, if you had eight vegetables in the first group and a lemon, then lemon (and either fruits in general or terms for something that doesn’t work, etc) would become the theme of the next block.

You can only make nine mistakes, and you need to complete it before the time runs out. The nice thing is you can play the archives.

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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.

Is it more painful to shove all errands into a single day and take the other day of the weekend to rest, or is it better to spread out the errands between two days?

We decided to find out yesterday by shoving a trip to IKEA (Yes! And setting up the IKEA purchases — an equally terrible step), the eyeglass store (to choose new glasses), two grocery stores, and a hardware store (and installing all new smoke detectors and carbon monoxide detectors because we couldn’t remember how old they were) into a single day along with house cleaning, decluttering, cleaning up Quentin.

Happy weekend?

Disney+ uploaded several first-person Disneyland ride videos to their site. I love these types of videos and often watch them on YouTube, but they’re even better on Disney+ because they filmed them when the park was empty and used optimal lighting (vs. ride lighting) for inside portions. It feels like you’re there.

Two of my favourite rides are on the list: Soarin’ and Haunted Mansion. There are also a few parades on the list. No one else in the house is as enamoured as I am with the videos, so I’m watching them slowly.

It was a fun, unexpected addition to my week.

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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:

• “Monarchs & Infertility” (LindsayMader)

Okay, now my choices this week.

The Next 15,000 Days has a post about an overheard conversation and what the woman could have said instead. It comes down to acknowledging someone else’s words instead of launching into advice. Not every statement needs to be followed up with action items; especially action items that may not actually bring relief.

Lastly, No Kidding in NZ also tackles what is and what is not helpful when you want to support someone going through something difficult. I like this opening: “I learned what worked for me, and that is always helpful. And I learned how to support others as a result. But I’m definitely still learning, and have been far from ideal over the years, I am sure.” Again, asking the other person what would be helpful to them goes a long way. This list is a great place to start.

The roundup to the Roundup: First-person POV Disneyland rides. 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 July 25 – August 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.

This is a monthly series, published near the end of the month summarizing what I found, ate, watched, googled, and felt this month. New categories added from time to time.

Books Added to My TBR (e.g., books I just learned about that I’m excited to read… maybe)

• My Husband’s Wife (Alice Feeney)
• Vera, or Faith (Gary Shteyngart)
• Moderation (Elaine Castillo)
• Bring the House Down (Charlotte Runcie)
• The Goldens (Lauren Wilson)
• The Ending Writes Itself (Evelyn Clarke)
• The Compound (Aisling Rawle)
• The Game Is Murder (Hazell Ward)
• The Greatest Possible Good (Ben Brooks)

Notable Meals (new recipes, old favorites, and restaurant items we ate this month)

• Miso-sesame noodles (tweaking this recipe to make it less slaw and more noodle-y)
• Stanley Tucci’s marinara sauce (tweaking to use passata instead of whole tomatoes)
• Jamie Oliver’s tomato risotto
• Recreating Burger Fiancé’s vegan chicken sandwich, to the best of my ability. If you are ever in Montreal, this is our favourite restaurant

Television, Movies, and Music (watching and listening)

• Our experience with Australian Traitors lasted two episodes. We were really upset by the stuff with Chloe, and we decided to stop watching and switch to the U.S. Traitors. We don’t love it as much as the UK Traitors, but it’s a close second. We watched Seasons 1, so far.
• We started Department Q. I read the first two books and loved them but worried that seeing it on the screen would be too scary. The episodes are intense, but it’s well-done.

Added To My Ongoing Mix Tape

• “Cult of Personality” (Living Colour)
• “December, 1963” (The Four Seasons)
• “New Slang” (The Shins)

Tabs I Left Open (things I Googled and left up on the screen)

• The best time to book train tickets.
• Come See Me In the Good Light Wikipedia page.
• Trying to figure out what the KONO signs (with a violin) mean. We see them on telephone polls all the time.
• A recipe for Philly tomato pie, which I read about in an article.

Micro-Joys

• Josh has been joking for more than 20 years that I have an unusual love of primates. Joke was on him when Wordle made “loris” the answer on July 18, and I got it in three guesses.
• Our waitress at a restaurant told us it would help them a lot if we left a review. Happy to help out, especially because she went above and beyond, allowing us to sit outside for our meal. After I left a review, I wrote one for every place we enjoy in the area. The exercise reminded me that we know a lot of awesome places.
• Drew Petersen was the solo pianist at a Gershwin performance, and he was invited back on stage for an encore and shyly dedicated the performance of Gershwin’s “The Man I Love” to his boyfriend who was in the audience. And you know how old the crowd was when you collectively heard 1,800+ people touch their chest and let out an “aaaaaaw” in the face of young love. It was awesome to celebrate happiness.

Mood

• Feeling a little melancholy with the end of summer.

What about you? Let me know what you’re eating, seeing, listening to, googling, feeling this month.

We are slowly turning into the end of summer once again. Or, if not the end of the actual months of summer, the end of the twins’ break from college.

In May, I told myself not to think about it until August, but now that it’s almost August, I am thinking about it. A lot. We’ve already plotted out the fall visit, and they’ll be home for Thanksgiving and winter break. But it is hard to mentally stay in the now.

I love it when the kids are home. I love having them around and hanging out with them at night or on the weekends. They are the best company. And while I love catching up with them via FaceTime when they’re far away, it’s different knowing I can walk into a room and give someone a hug.

Two years into this, and I am still so sad.

But that is only because they are such cool human beings.