622nd Friday Blog Roundup

I just had the most relaxing, non-brain-taxing, fun read in a long time.  If you are also stressed beyond the point of being able to function and feeling increasing despair when you go online because you confront the news (or people discussing the news), I’m going to recommend The Royal We by Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan.

The ChickieNob informed me that I took this book out of the library twice.  The first time, I returned it after reading a few pages.  I guess I thought I wasn’t going to like it.

The second time, I grabbed it in a panic when I had exactly three minutes and six seconds in the library to make a selection and pick up the kids from school.  When the ChickieNob saw it, she told me that I had checked it out weeks earlier and returned it weeks earlier.

Really?

Because while it may not have appealed to me pre-election, this book definitely was the greatest escape post-election.  It’s a reimagining of the British royal family with a Will and Kate-type relationship story.  It is (1) so much fun, (2) has really likeable characters, (3) made me feel like I actually knew what Buckingham Palace looked like beyond the public rooms, (4) did I mention fun?  It was really fun, unless you’re actually in the royal family, and then it probably would not be fun.

But none of you are in the royal family, right?

Juxtapose that with watching The Crown at the same time, and it was perfect escapism.

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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:

• “Don’t Send Them to The Wall…” (Seattle Times)
• “I Got Jackassed.  Twice.” (Lavender Luz)
• “Are People Actually Good?” (Stirrup Queens) — thank you, Cristy!

Okay, now my choices this week.

Searching for Our Silver Linings had a post that I needed to read this week about still seeing the good.  I’ll admit that my attention has been much more focused on the loud moments of hatred bubbling up around me, but her post is a rallying cry to give just as much weight to the quieter acts of kindness.

Hope Floats Among the Cherry Blossoms has a very real and very raw post about thoughts she has had about trying to conceive.  I highlight it not only because it is well-written and an interesting read but because I suspect that she is not alone with these thoughts as she looks left and right to a future with or without children.  As she grapples with her fears and questions, I also don’t want to lose my favourite part of the post: “I loved my mom and felt so loved by her that I wanted to be a mommy and take care of a child so they could feel as loved as I felt as a little girl.”  Me, too.

Lastly, Project Progeny has a post about meeting up with another IF blogger.  I love this post because meeting people face-to-face after reading them online is one of my favourite things, and this is doubly so when we’ve understood each other through the lens of infertility.  Not only do I remember the blog exchanges she mentioned, I participated in some of those blog exchanges.  And I feel the same way as this: “We talked about making connections through blogging, and what that had meant for each of us during our years of actively working to build our families, through the pain and grief and fears of infertility. Neither of us is actively in that stage anymore – no more two-week waits – but there is something about feeling known and understood and accepted that we both miss about the ALI blogging community.”  Yes, I believe that she can slip back down into blogging as she states at the end of the post.  Go read the whole piece.

The roundup to the Roundup: A good escape novel, unless you are in the royal family.  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 18th and 25th) 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.