524th Friday Blog Roundup

This week was Hour of Code.  I ran it again for every class in the twins’ school.  Kindergarten and first graders worked with a Lego WeDo.  The second and third grades did projects in Scratch.  And the fourth and fifth grades programmed their own interactive fiction games.  They all learned how to write their name in binary (along with learning the point of binary).

I love doing this because it means I get to see every kid in the school and I miss teaching.

One first grader informed me while I was working with his class that I am very popular, and the other kids nodded in agreement.  That made me feel good because when I was in elementary school, I was not-popular.  I wasn’t exactly unpopular, but I certainly wasn’t anything close to popular.  So, you know… I may be 30+ years late, but I’ve arrived.

As someone who works from home all day, being around people and talking for 6.5 hours every day was like a non-runner trying to complete a 5K.  It can be done, but it doesn’t look pretty.  I know I would relearn the ability to be around humans if I worked outside the house, but there would be an adjustment period I would go through to recapture my high noise threshold.

And yet, on the other hand, I felt such a deep sadness today over the idea of not going to school.  I will have to go the whole school day without seeing the twins.  Or bothering their classmates.  (I swung by their lunch table every day this week.)  I volunteer at the school at least once a week, so it’s not like it’s over, over.  But it’s weird to not be there today after being there for so many hours in a row.

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Thank you for all the book suggestions!  I’ve checked some out of the library, put others on hold, and put a few on a to-read list for the future.  It also made me think that I should re-read all my Jasper Fforde.  I love his books.

I met Jasper Fforde a few years ago.  I still haven’t read the congratulations book.  That event (I’m sure you can guess what I wanted it to be) hasn’t taken place.  I guess if it doesn’t by 45, I will close that door in my heart and read it.

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We are a few days 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:

• “Perspective: Perfect Woman” (Dreaming of Diapers)
• “Thoughts from the Barren” (The Barreness)
• “‘Hope’ and ‘Not Giving Up’ in the Infertility Community” (A Few Pieces Missing From Normalcy)
• “Dear Simon” (The Unexpected Trip)
• “Adios, ‘Meant to Be’” (Infertilityhonesty)
• “Wearing Her Shoes” (Waiting for Baby Bird)

Okay, now my choices this week.

Infertile Girl in a Fertile World is marking her one year blogoversary, and she reflects on the year she has had, trying to conceive.  She takes a good, long look at herself in the mirror and notices how she has changed. “As I examined my face I concluded that I look the same (more or less), and yet different. More tired. Less youthful and naive. The excitement for life has dulled in my eyes, my mouth doesn’t smile as much as it used to. I’ve built up a wall, and perhaps that’s why I no longer recognize myself.”  Go read the whole post AND wish her a happy blogoversary.

Lavender Luz highlights a new adoption book aimed at adoptive parents.  She wrote the foreword for the book, and if the foreword is a taste of the type of helpful information you’ll find in the body of the book, it seems like a must read.  Like this brilliant point: “Anything that strikes you strongly (and dare I say that could be every single powerful chapter?) is resonating for you, either positively or negatively charged, and indicates there is something there for you to look at—within you and from your own experiences.”  Applicable to life outside of adoption, too, no?  It’s a book about how to listen, how to be open, and how to understand another person’s experience.

A+ Effort has a micropost about slowing life down.  It has the most perfect analogy for when life feels good but busy: “I see the roses, but I can’t smell them from this freight train.”  I love this post.

Lastly, Looking for a Little has a tiny post about the “are you pregnant” question that appears on many a medical intake questionnaire.  With just a few sentences, she captures the sadness of having to check no.

The roundup to the Roundup: This week was Hour of Code.  Thank you for the book recommendations.  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 December 5th and 12th) 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.