For years, I avoided natural peanut butter because I hated how the oil separated and you had to stir everything together. Then I learned that if you store natural peanut butter (or any nut butter) upside down, when you take it out of the refrigerator and flip it the correct way to open it, everything stays somewhat mixed together. You barely need to stir it, if at all. I’m sure there is a simple explanation about solids vs. fats and heaviness, but I care less about how it works than that it works.

We tried this first with Trader Joe’s almond butter. Excited to try it with the peanut butter.

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I started switching to paper books right before bed, and it has helped me fall asleep and stay asleep. I read ebooks until 11ish, then I get ready for bed and tuck in Quentin. He has a very long, joyful bed routine. Then I get in bed and read a paper book while lying down until I feel myself get tired. If it happens too quickly, I’ll read a few extra pages just to make sure I really am tired enough to fall asleep, but it’s usually somewhere between 15 and 45 minutes. Then I set down the book and turn off the lights.

Not only am I getting better sleep, but I now have an excuse to buy more paper books.

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

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We are in the middle days of early voting in my state (Oct 22 – 29). Once upon a time, I only wanted to vote on Election Day because I wanted to be part of that energy. But early voting has been pretty appealing the last few elections, and we’re doing it again.

Early voting reflects my desire to keep participating in life while avoiding drama. Sort of like being online but not doomscrolling. The moment I see a headline I can tell was written to foment anxiety or anger, I hop offline. And voting this week means I get to participate while avoiding the cacophony of Election Day.

I saw a great post last week that said something like, “If 3 people vote to drive the car off a cliff, 2 people vote against driving a car off a cliff, and 5 people don’t vote, you’re all driving the car off the cliff.” Whoever said that, thank you. I think it sums up perfectly why you should vote.

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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.

Shangrilogs asks a super interesting question about where the impulse to redecorate a space or change our wardrobe comes from. Obviously, there are times when we need to replace an item (furniture, clothing, etc.) because it is worn out or no longer functions as it once did. But if you have a functioning chair or a perfectly comfortable sweater, what makes us say, “You know what, I think I’ll get rid of that chair and get one that looks different” or “This sweater keeps me warm, but I think I’ll stop wearing it and get a different one.”

The reason is that it’s about trying to recapture the excitement that comes from newness. “A new object can make an old room feel unfamiliar for an afternoon, like a place where something could happen, where maybe you are evolving into a more refined, more adventurous, more something version of yourself.”

I love the six sections of questions at the bottom of the post that you can use whenever you start thinking you need something new. The point is not to get something new, but to ask yourself why you have an impulse to change things around. And you don’t have to answer all of them, but it was interesting to see which questions sparked thoughts and which ones I struggled to answer.

It has been super quiet on the Internet this week. My feed reader contains very few blog posts.

Maybe we’re all a little uneasy at the moment. Or is that just me?

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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:

• None… sniff.

Okay, now my choices this week.

Grumpy Rumblings posts random bullet points each week, which are not always random bullets of crap BECAUSE more than one made me pause and go, “huh.” Specifically, Taskmaster and spaghetti. I, too, have these thoughts about spaghetti with tomato sauce. (Assuming it was tomato sauce.)

Lastly, The Road Less Travelled has a review of The Women, but it’s followed by her own memories about Vietnam, including a story about a boy MIA from her mother’s hometown. It’s a sad story with closure, and she writes: “His name is inscribed on the memorial wall in Washington, D.C. If & when I ever get there (as I have wanted to do, ever since I was kid), his is the name I will look for. I won’t be able to tell my mom I was there… but I know she’d like that.” I found that really touching.

The roundup to the Roundup: It’s very quiet. 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 October 16 – 23) 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.

In answer to emails about Canadian Halloween candy, we got it at Canadian Costco. I love going into grocery stores when we travel to see what is different and what is the same. We often grab dinner there when we’re in a hurry, and those are my favourite meals outside the country.

My friend commented that her mother always visits Costco when she comes because they have different things from the US. We didn’t need anything, but it’s hard to resist the siren song of seeing a whole aisle of bulk hockey equipment. They have poutine in their food court. They have enormous bags of All Dressed chips.

We went up and down every aisle and ended up getting the Halloween candy, an extra box for the kids, and six-packs of Roots socks. No hockey equipment, unfortunately, or the 18-bar Kit Kat. But still, happy things to bring home.

But the best was that we also went to a normal grocery store and they had real De Cecco stellette pasta, which we can’t really get here anymore. Our store carries acini di pepe, which is close, but not really the same thing. I bought six boxes so I could make my favourite Mary McCartney soup.

And now I’ll get to think about that weekend every time I eat it.

What is your best out-of-country grocery find?