579th Friday Blog Roundup
Well now I’m glad that I kept my spelunking suit because we are about to get 6 million feet of snow. For the first time ever, I received a weather alert warning of an impending blizzard. Impending blizzard! That sounds like something that happens in Antarctica, not Washington, D.C. But I dutifully went to the food store and bought up staples like clementines and bread flour (if I’m going to be snowed in, all I’m eating is citrus and hot pretzels). And now we wait.
The only thing I’m sad about is that I intended to buy myself a decent pair of boots this winter. I wear a pair of Docs most days, but they’re not actually waterproof so they leak in the snow. I was going to buy myself actual snow boots, but I didn’t. And now I’m sort of screwed on the shoe-front despite my waterproof pants. How was I to know that we were going to have a historic snow event where we get 28 billion feet of snow?
We have books. We have video games. We actually have a pile of work to do. And we now have an open weekend since everything is going to be closed due to the 97 trillion feet of snow. I feel like I shouldn’t squander these last few minutes before the snow comes, but I have no clue where to go except perhaps the food store to replace the container of peanuts I spilled across the kitchen floor. Ha — as if there are peanuts left on the shelf.
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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 in order 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. In order to read the description before clicking over, please return to the open thread:
- “Whose Story Is It?” (Lavender Luz)
- “Our Adoption Photo Shoot” (My Path to Mommyhood)
Okay, now my choices this week.
Infertile Fantasies blows my mind once again with the questions she asked this week about her donated embryos. The other woman’s pregnancy didn’t go well and she has lost her fallopian tube. The questions are so thought-provoking, though I suspect the answers will be different from person to person. Still, these are the sorts of posts the general public needs to read to fully grasp IVF and frozen embryos and donation, et al.
Project Progeny is back with a post about the end of 2015 and the beginning of 2016. My favourite line: “This job is not my own personal salvation and I think my biggest mistake has been thinking that it was.” What incredible insight, and I wonder where else this applies in life. The things we take to heart that we could also look at with this perspective.
Lastly, River Run Dry’s post this week is especially apt due to the name of her blog. She has run dry, but she does a wonderful job of boiling down a familiar situation into its separate components and discussing how to get over the guilt and shoulds. For anyone feeling stretched thin, go over and read this post.
The roundup to the Roundup: We are getting 400 quadrillion feet of snow. 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 15th and 22nd) 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.
18 comments
Haha great. So now all I want to eat while snowed in warm pretzels…which means I MUST GO BUY BREAD FLOUR!!! Thanks for that ?
So the other evening there was a small dumpster fire in a grocery store right by my house. The fire got close enough where they had to evacuate the entire store that was packed to the roof with frantic shoppers trying to get a head start on the bread,milk, eggs, and toilet paper purchases. I can’t even imagine that poor manager and employees (which are mostly young students in the area) trying to herd crazy shoppers out before they could complete purchases.
Stay safe and warm out there.
Oh, and weren’t you around for the back to back blizzards in 2010 where we got 6 feet total that week?? Or did DC not get as much as Bmore?
Oh and also…I made my husband pick up 2 ginormous bags of peanuts at Sam’s club. So your peanuts joke was spot on!!
I’ve been thinking of you as I’ve been watching the news and hearing updates from BIL who lives in the DC area. Here’s hoping the news is overblowing this situation and that life is back to normal in a few days.
Ugh about the boots. Just ugh. The only hack I have is for you to wear thick wool socks.
And now I want to see photos of you in the spelunking suit working your way through snow tunnels.
My advice is to fill containers with water. If you lose power, you want to be able to flush, basically. There. That’s my advice. Otherwise, bake pretzels now while you still have power. Because you can lose power during blizzards. Frequently. So that’s my other advice.
The only other thing is if you have close elderly neighbors, it can be good to check on them. Sometimes they won’t turn on heat (worries about the cost) or bundle up appropriately if they lose heat/electric. Just a thought.
Will be thinking of you all!
Blizzards are just a part of life where I live, so we’re always prepared. I actually really enjoy being snowed in- makes for great family time.
Bread flour was on my grocery list for today, but now I have to double up, because after reading this, I’m craving pretzels! 🙂 A question- do you dip them in anything? Do you salt them? I actually like them unsalted and dipped in mustard!
I loved your post this week about how blogging affects your mood. It’s something I’ve been grappling with for some time, but never really thought to put it into words.
https://www.stirrup-queens.com/2016/01/blogging-affects-my-mood/
Better go get your bread and milk for the snow storm! Two close friends of mine live out that way and were expecting their first child who was almost a week over due and they just knew it would happen during the snow storm. Luckily she gave birth to a healthy baby girl yesterday and they will most likely weather the storm from the hospital.
I read a very nice post about faith and infertility from “In Due Time” (http://in-due-time.com/guest-posts/guest-post-peace-in-the-storms/) which was a guest post but a nice read and a reminder to me as things seem a little “in the middle” right now.
Posts I loved this week:
http://ahalfbakedlife.blogspot.com/2016/01/people-on-mlk-day.html thought-provoking post about teaching our children about race and equality
http://notawastedword.com/our-great-financial-sin/ Read this and the next post (and the amazing discussion in the comments of each) about finances & what it means to be middle class.
Also: I have snow boots for myself but feel like the worst because I did not buy new boots for my kids and they’ve well outgrown their boots from last year. What are the chances the one store in town that has children’s boots has any on the shelf by 5pm today? poor kids will be stuck indoors instead of snowball fights & snowman building because I didn’t plan 🙁
Why are you not out buying snow boots right now? Alternatively, you can just use the old plastic-bag-over-your-socks waterproofing trick. That works well enough until the bag slides down. Enjoy your blizzard! We only got 2 measly inches of snow – just enough to be annoying, but not enough that I could legitimately stay home from work.
Snow cave! 348 gazillion feet of snow should be good for that.
Seriously, I’m wishing all you Marylanders well. Funny coming from a Coloradoan.
I have to admit, dh & I kind of snickered when we saw the footage on TV last night of the massive traffic jam caused by ONE INCH of snow in the DC area. 😉 But 40 inches (which is what I hear you might be getting) is a massive amount, no matter where you live — it’s just that because we get more snow more frequently, we’re a whole lot better prepared to deal with it. Stay warm & safe!
Back with a couple of suggestions about women and writing:
http://www.tinhouse.com/blog/41314/on-pandering.html
https://brevity.wordpress.com/2016/01/22/on-the-terrible-efficiency-of-gaslighting
hahahaha. I love your escalating totals! Have a wonderful weekend hunkering down under 400 quadrillion feet of snow.
I’m always so honoured when you include me in your roundup. I had several very thoughtful comments this morning when I woke up, which helps.
I also want to say, though (and this may seem random), that I love you for wearing docs. Someone giggled at me the other day for wearing docs like they’re forbidden once you’re over 30 or something. You and me in the over-thirties docs club. But good luck with the snow.
Bizarrely enough, my grocery store had bread and milk and eggs, but no flour. Huh?! I guess everyone’s going to make cookies? They were also out of cilantro and coconut milk. ??!?!?!?!
Hang in there. Hope it’s not as bad as they’re making it out to be. And I’m with the “plastic bag over your regular boots” crowd, if the snow is deep enough to warrant it. Good luck, and stay safe!
Snow tunnels would be awesome! !!! And I think you should try bags over your socks. I would love some Docs again. Had a pair years ago, but they feel apart almost immediately. Returned them, got a new pair,they never fit the same.
I am convinced I had already posted on this, but it’s not showing up, so I’ll blame technology.
I don’t actually know what snow boots look like! It would be impossible to buy any here. Always fascinated by snow talk. But at least you get a warning – here we have to have supplies to survive a major earthquake, which could hit in the next twenty seconds and I wouldn’t know.
Phew. It didn’t. Maybe the next 20 seconds.
Anyway, I wanted to highlight Sarah’s post on Infertility Honesty, about getting through the holidays as an infertile woman, someone who is grieving the fact she will never have children, and trying to heal. It’s funny, it’s sad, it’s honest, and a great snapshot of where she is now. http://infertilityhonesty.com/2016/01/21/i-like-mondays/
Thank you so much for including my post in the roundup! I wrote it telling myself it doesn’t matter whether anyone reads it or not, only to find (no surprise) that it feels really good to know that someone did. A corollary to my goal of blogging more this year is to re-engage with blogland and the many old and treasured friends here.