I want this.

I rarely read an article or see an ad and think, “I want this.”  Sometimes I look at something and say, “Oh, that’s nice.”  But I never bookmark it or write it down.  I don’t buy many things — I don’t like shopping and I really don’t like clutter — so the fact that I bookmarked this, wrote down a note, AND am now telling you about it means that I am working far outside the boundaries of my personality.

I want a 15-pound blanket.

(You were probably thinking the item was going to be much cooler than that, but you forget that I’m not cool, therefore I probably don’t want cool things.)

I don’t need that blanket, per se, but I love the idea of a weighted blanket.  I got the twins sleeping bags a few years ago and they left them in the living room for a day or two.  When they went to school, I unrolled one of the sleeping bags and cocooned myself inside to think for a little while.  I’m aware that the sleeping bag isn’t like this at all, but in my mind, liking one means liking the other.

Has anyone tried a weighted blanket?  Do you like it?

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

*******

I read about this great idea recently.  You know how people host LuLaRoe and Stella & Dot parties?  Well, this person helps you host a CPR party.

You get the friends together and put out some fun snacks, and they bring the trainers and dummies.  Everyone in the room learns CPR.  You go home with knowledge that could save another person’s life.  Isn’t that brilliant?

Is it as thorough as a formal training?  No.  But any knowledge is better than no knowledge.  It’s a little expensive considering our local hospital offers CPR classes for free, but it’s a cool idea for a social event.

Would you host a CPR/First Aid party?

*******

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.

One of my biggest pet peeves is when other people foist their ideas about money or time well spent on another person.  I have a pretty good sense of myself; of what I like and don’t like.  I like indoor activities, flat land, bleak beaches.  I dislike outdoor activities, mountains, and heavily populated events or cities.  If the idea being offered up is not an indoor activity (with few other people joining along since I don’t like crowded spaces) on flat land or a bleak beach, it’s just not likely that I’m going to enjoy it as much as the speaker.  I think it rocks that they like X, Y, or Z, and I’m excited to hear about X, Y, or Z, even if it isn’t my cup of tea.  It only oversteps the line when the person tells me that I would love it too.

What set off this string of thoughts?  A blog post where the writer admonished those who don’t travel with their kids.  She actually starts out the post stating that she hates people judging her for spending a lot of money on travel, but then she continues by judging everyone for NOT spending money on travel.

If they have money to purchase a new flat screen television, then they’re selfishly spending their money on a box they all stare at instead of filling their children with memories.  Don’t they realize that travel makes families bond together, and physically moving to a different location is the only way to make families bond together?

It annoyed me.

I like traveling.  Mostly.  (I’m sort of a reluctant traveler; someone who prefers to be home but is happy once Josh has pried my fingers from the door knob and the trip is underway.)  I like traveling with my kids.  Meaning, if my kids weren’t like my kids, I may not like traveling with the small alternate humans in this theoretical situation.

But it stops there.

I don’t know if you travel with your kids the same way I travel with my kids or if you travel with your partner the same way I travel with my partner, therefore I would never recommend that you travel with your kids or partner.  Because I have zero clue if you enjoy it or if it’s just a big stressor.

My only life recommendation is that you do what matters to you.  And not tell other people that what works for you should work for them.

That’s my pet peeve of the day.  What is yours?

This week I taught the youth of America what it is like to be a writer for Career Day.  I am always shocked when anyone asks me to talk about anything.

The kids begged me not to add into my presentation how much time I spend bouncing ideas off of Linus the Guinea Pig.  I did admit that one of the best reasons to be a writer is that you are at home with all of the Halloween candy.  The second best reason to be a writer is that you know multiple definitions for words like sanguine, so you’re helpful when other people are doing the crossword puzzle on the Metro.  The third best reason to be a writer is for that moment when you open the box with copies of your book.

And you get to spend your day with characters who interest you (that you hope also interest everyone else).

Maybe I planted a little mental seed for someone at the school and they’ll tell me about their book one day.

*******

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 in order 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.  In order to read the description before clicking over, please return to the open thread:

• “Waiting at the Clinic” (Countingpinklines)
• “10 Years Down the Road Less Travelled” (The Road Less Travelled)
• “The Weight of the Moment” (Stirrup Queens) — thank you, Cristy!
• “Her Son is Only Hers. She Can’t Bear to Think Otherwise” (Lavender Luz)
• “Knowing What is Important” (No Kidding in NZ)
• “#MicroblogMondays: Flip” (Searching for Our Silver Lining)

Okay, now my choices this week.

In Quest of a Binky Moongee has a post about her mother slipping into the role of grandmother.  It is a sweet post about life after a long, family building wait.  She writes: “Of course she knows that they have no genetic connections to her. And of course this fact makes no difference in her love for them. My mother is truly an inspiration for me to learn how to be patient with my babies when sleep is lacking and crying and whining become frequent.”  I got choked up reading it.

Countingpinklines charts out her last IVF cycle, passing it along to anyone who wants to see because it’s exactly what she would have wanted before she started this process.  She explains, “From what I’ve read, it doesn’t seem like IVF cycles are very different between individuals. Meds and doses vary but the time frames are roughly the same. I wish I had this diagram before doing the whole process. It would have helped me wrap my mind around what was going on much more.”  This is what I love about our community; our impulse to pass along anything we know.

Lavender Luz has a post about a parent and child joking about adoption.  She realizes in the moment that they’re not being cruel.  “It’s just that they’ve never thought of the implications of treating adoption as a joke.”  She opens up a conversation about it, speaking without judgment but merely giving the mother food for thought.  It’s a really great post about thinking on your feet.

Lastly, holding One Step at a Time in my heart after the death of her father.  She has a very moving post about his last days.  It opens: “My father took his last breath while I was on the beach with Nicky. Nicky was running back and forth in the water with his hands up like a traffic officer, telling the waves to stop rolling in. “You can’t stop the waves from coming, Nicky.” You can’t stop death from coming either.”  Please go give her a hug.

The roundup to the Roundup: Not messing up Career Day.  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 November 3rd and 10th) 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 am often shown ads for the New York Times even though we already have a subscription to the New York Times.  (I’m pretty sure that is not how targeted ads are supposed to work.)  Anyway, one of the recent ads linked to an article from 2016.  Odd choice except that I clicked on it.  (That is the way targeted ads are supposed to work.)

It was about the 13 questions I was supposed to ask Josh before we got married.  I’m going to be honest: it’s a little late for us.  We’re 16 years into this marriage thing.

I asked them anyway.

And then answered a bunch of questions for him because I’m nice like that and wanted to save him time.

They’re all good questions, and I think people should discuss everything on this list before they commit.  But as I was reading it, I thought about how you can’t really answer a bunch of these questions until you’re in the moment.  Like there are the answers you give from the sofa when you’re not in crisis because it’s how you think you’ll feel down the road.  And then you’re actually in a stressful situation and things change.  Suddenly it’s not a hypothetical, it’s an actual, and you need to live your words.

I guess because marriage isn’t neat.  Melding two lives isn’t neat.  I mean, it’s wonderful and I love Josh.  We’re about to celebrate our 16th anniversary, and I think we mostly have this marriage thing mastered.  It hasn’t felt like work, per se, but we’ve both made compromises.  It’s a little weird to let parts of yourself go in order to have others.

Maybe I also wish the questions weren’t quite so rosy.  (Will we have children? especially raised my eyebrows considering no possibility was listed for what happens if you can’t have children.)  I don’t know what I would add, but it would probably skew towards the worst case scenarios.  Not just so you could discover your partner’s thoughts, but because acknowledging those scenarios means that you can start formulating a plan.  Sometimes it’s just good to start thinking through the Plan B even when you’re hoping the Plan A works.

What would you add to their list?  Information you wish you had known before you committed?