877th Friday Blog Roundup

Yesterday was Befana Day, and it was pretty much what you’d expect for a COVID-era Befana Day. I managed to botch the surprise gift by accidentally leaving it out the week before. And I didn’t read the recipe I wanted to make until 5:30 pm when I discovered the potatoes would take 2.5 hours. So…

But we all rolled with it.

Because that’s all you can do during pandemic holidays. They are what they are.

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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.

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And now the blogs…

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:

• “Loving My Body Again” (Finding a Different Path)

Okay, now my choices this week.

Jewish IVF says goodbye to 2021. She sums up my feelings, too: “In some ways this feels worse. A year ago we had hope. Hope that a vaccine will be the magic cure that we need to end the pandemic.” It feels like everything has been ten times harder lately. High case loads = anxiety = a wish we could grab some hope again.

Bereaved and Blessed posts her answers to Rewind 2021. It’s such a cool project, and it’s so nice to have that time capsule of words. It is long — 35 questions — capturing the highs and lows (and the everyday moments) of a year.

Lastly, the Uterus Monologues has a moving guest post about miscarrying at Christmas. The deep truth: “One of the challenges of uncertainty is that people try to cling to the flicker of hope. We are so ill-equipped to accept sadness and grief.” It’s such an important read; a good reminder that we often don’t know how our questions will land.

The roundup to the Roundup: Befana Day 2021. 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 31 – January 7) 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.