521st Friday Blog Roundup
Happy IComLeavWe!
So I kept checking the IComLeavWe form daily, but I never saw anyone to add. Which was odd, but I thought maybe people were caught up in Thanksgiving plans. But then I started to get emails from people wondering why they weren’t being added, and I kept saying, “well, because you never added yourself to the list.” Finally, I got enough emails that I tried the form myself and realized that my entry wasn’t showing up, either.
I Googled around and saw a piece of advice to scroll down on Google forms if you’re not seeing entries. Sure enough, there were dozens of entries about 200 spaces down on the list. I would have never seen them if I hadn’t scrolled down.
So thank you to everyone who wrote!
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I am so cold. I’m sitting in the living room wearing my Ravenclaw robes. Not because they help me think but because I am so cold. Did I mention that I’m cold? And that we had the windows replaced so there is no draft? And I’m hugging a hot water bottle, which is giving me terrible posture while I type? And that the heat is up as high as Josh will let me take it before he starts rolling his eyes and talking about my wimpiness.
Maybe I am a wimp. I wear jeans all summer. And sometimes long sleeves, too. I am perpetually cold, even in summer.
And then we have a frigid November and my body whispers, “I’m giving up, okay?”
This is just the start, people. Just the start. 5 more months of coooooooooold.
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We are under one month away from the Creme de la Creme list CLOSING.
The 2014 Creme de la Creme list is open for entries until December 15th. No one will be added after December 15th. Read the post to see how to be a part of the Creme de la Creme, which is open to every member of the ALI (adoption/loss/infertility) community.
Consider that your weekly reminder.
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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:
- “Three Ways Adopting Prepared Me For Future Life Experiences” (Portrait of an Adoption)
- “Come Sit with Me” (Waiting for Baby Bird)
Okay, now my choices this week.
No Baby Ruth writes about how things are different this time around with her second child. She reaches the same milestone — 9 months outside the body — and she looks down at the words she wrote years ago when she had reached this point with her first child. While she honours that she felt that way at the time, she can’t believe that was what she thought when she was in that moment. It’s a wonderful post about reflecting and how things are not always as we fear.
Infertile Girl in a Fertile World has a post about not being able to cry and wonders if she’s saving her tears for something else. You’ll have to click over and read the whole tiny post to find out what that is…
Lastly, River Run Dry has a two–part post about teaching her child what to do in case of an emergency at his school. While his school is leading them in drills, she worries that he doesn’t get how far he needs to take hiding. Sure enough, she writes, “So I ask him, neutrally, what he’d do if a stranger came into his classroom during lockdown – not a teacher, not a fireman, not a police officer. I think, he says, I’d whisper to him. He has no idea what could happen.” Is it a difficult read? Yes. But it’s an important read about talking to your kids about what to do if the worst thing happened.
The roundup to the Roundup: Happy IComLeavWe. It is so cold! Your friendly Creme de la Creme reminder. 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 14th and 21st) 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.
14 comments
I’m with you on the cold. Flippin’ 5 more months!
Loved this post: https://www.stirrup-queens.com/2014/11/do-you-need-to-plot-out-a-novel-before-you-start-writing-it/
This!!! http://www.themakingofbabyben.com/2014/11/tales-from-birth-suite-2502-and-our.html If you’ve followed their story at all, this should bring you to tears!
This one might be a week off, but thought it said a lot. http://thelewisnote.blogspot.com/2014/11/if-you-wouldnt-say-it-to-pregnant-woman.html
Thank you for the shout out! Took me a minute to figure out where all the traffic to my blog was coming from 😉
You should get some hand and feet warmers… Do you have Costco? You can get a big box and each warmer lasts for hours. Put them in your socks, mitts, pockets, tuck ’em in your tights!
My coworker was just laughing at me, as I am sitting at my desk struggling to put on my sweater over my turtleneck and fleece sweatshirt as I huddle in front of my space heater. At least at home, I can curl up under a blanket with my laptop on my lap. So glad the heating at our new lab is sooooo efficient and effective. Grrrrr. And the worst part is…I prefer to have it cooler in the winter, because I can’t stand too much heat blowing on me!
Great posts!
Being cold is awful. Wrap yourself in a pile of warm woolies! (I drawers of sweaters and slippers.)
The post “Snippets” from A Half Baked Life made me catch my breath:
http://ahalfbakedlife.blogspot.ca/2014/11/snippets.html
OMG the cold thing. I cried uncle this year and threw money at it. Not heating, because we’d go broke if I actually turned up the heat. But I was so miserable last year that I could not deal with the fact that winter was coming. I started obsessing about it in September. I had to do SOMETHING.
So this is what I bought. (And no, I’m not kidding.)
– A space heater for under my desk,
– fingerless gloves which I stuff with those disposable hot hands hand warmer thingies when it’s super cold,
– an electric throw blanket,
– darn tough wool hiking socks – the kind with the extra padding on the bottom,
– a LLBean wool base layer, even though wool makes me ITCH by the end of the day,
– cinnamon tea (and gum). Cinnamon is warming, and it seems to work really well for me when I’m cold.
Hands down the best investment was the space heater and the electric throw blanket. Because my feet/legs are warm AND I have it draped over my shoulders.
So, in closing , print this comment out and give it to Josh. Because I think you need a few things for Hanukkah. Your heating bill will thank you. 🙂
I’m excited to participate in my first IComLeavWe since long before my babies were born. It’s been way too long. I want to say thank you for all the work you do to make connections in this blogging community. You are WONDERFUL! Probably can’t hear that enough, right? 🙂
I also want to thank all of those ICLWers who e-mailed you. I just assumed I filled the form out wrong, as I’m apt to do when it comes to anything technology-related, and figured I’d catch it next month instead. I’m very excited to be participating in ICLW this month!
I would like to submit this gem about the quirks of writing a birth plan when your baby is being carried by a gestational surrogate: http://jasonandkerri.blogspot.com/2014/11/birth-plan-schmurf-plan.html
I’m a total cold wimp, too! And I don’t even live in an area where it snows.
Happy ICLW!!! I like that it lines up with Thanksgiving this month. I know everyone is busy but it’s a time of year to be thankful and I’m so thankful for this community! It really makes a big difference in my life and the support is priceless 🙂
About the cold…I live in Phoenix and wear jeans through the summer and freeze in the A/C. If it’s cooler than 75 degrees, I’ll start shivering. Low blood pressure I think. I found these really awesome “slippers” called Hot Booties that you can microwave and wear on your feet and they are a lifesaver in the winter time! I wish more clothing was microwaveable.
Thanks to Torthuil for the shout-out here. xo.