Beyond some halfheartedly-watched cooking competitions ten years ago, I’ve never gotten into reality television competitions, but I had read about the Traitors, and when we walked past a billboard advertising the show while in Norwich, I asked everyone if we could try it the next night.

We were coming in mid-season, and I couldn’t connect with it. The people were overly enthusiastic about some pretty annoying tasks and overly dramatic in the face of non-danger. When we turned it off, I said that I didn’t need to give it a second chance.

But then I couldn’t stop thinking about it the next day, and when someone suggested we give it another try, we ended up watching another episode. And by that point, I was invested. I wanted to see who won.

When we got back to the US, we bought a year of Peacock so we could watch through past seasons while waiting for the current season to reach the US. Once again, I started out feeling pretty meh about the whole thing and then convinced Josh we should give up our afternoon plans and watch three episodes in a row. Plus a little of the next episode because we couldn’t end on the cliffhanger.

I’m unsure what appeals to me because I would never want to be on it myself. I wouldn’t want to be a faithful OR a traitor. Maybe it’s just interesting to watch truthful people have to convince people they are being truthful, sort of like the opposite of the Turing test, where humans would have to convince people of their humanness. Which, now that I think about it, is going on now as people are not using AI but are accused of using AI, and they have to prove a human wrote something.

We haven’t tried the US, Australian, or New Zealand versions yet, so we have many seasons to get through before we run out of Traitors episodes.

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

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There was a great essay written while I was away, and I just got a chance to read it. Catriona Innes puts the thesis in the title: “All my life, society has told us to be mothers. How can we break free from that conditioning?”

Describing it as conditioning drives the point home. “There are things we want, then there are things we don’t want and then there are the things we’re not sure we want, but are told we should.”

It’s really a great piece on the ache and the joy in her life.

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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.

Whenever we go anywhere far away — let’s say an airplane ride away — I feel the need to do all the things. See everything. Go everywhere. Check it all off the list in case we don’t have a chance to come back.

It’s an impossible task unless there are very few things you want to do in a place.

This past trip to the UK, I quickly became obsessed with trying to fit in a few days in Cornwall. If we were going to be in Cornwall, I wanted to also go out to the Isles of Scilly. And if we were doing all of that, we might as well slip into Wales. (Oh! And throw in Tintagel Castle on the way there.)

Josh kept saying, “Okay, but what are you taking out?” Nothing. That is what I am taking out. I am going to do everything we have planned, AND I’m going to somehow traverse several more areas.

We ended up not crushing several more places into a packed schedule, but it hurt my heart to be so close and miss out. Who knows how the world will change? What if I never get back there?

I get that is just life. Life is a series of things that are left undone.

Usually, when we go away, my parents babysit Beorn, but we both will be out of town at the same time, which means… Guinea Pig Roadtrip.

First, we had to confirm with the hotel that they would be fine if we brought Beorn. They were just thrilled to be asked vs. having us show up with a guinea pig, so they said yes. Next, we went out to get Beorn a bigger carrier.

His current carrier is perfect for car trips because he can’t move around a lot and get hurt, but he can’t sleep in it. So we got him a second carrier — meant for a small dog — and tricked it out with a new water bottle, food dishes, and a hay bowl. We placed him inside, and he walked around a bit, checking out the space and testing out the new water bottle before settling down inside the carrier for a FaceTime call with the Wolvog.

I hate being apart from him for even one day, so I’m kind of thrilled that we can bring him with us. I hope he likes the new carrier and the trip goes well so we can kick off a series of grand adventures. I have already Googled whether guinea pigs can travel to Canada. International pig!

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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.

Scientist on the Roof talks about walking the line between going bonkers for someone’s birthday vs. not doing enough. I struggle with finding this line or feeling like I’ve done enough to make the person feel special without depleting myself in the process.

Lastly, Infertile Phoenix highlights “it’s the little things that are the big things” because she can finally unpack boxes she packed up years ago. I completely agree with this: “When you’re going through infertility or grief of any kind or debilitating stress of any kind, it massively affects your ability to function. It’s amazing that we can do anything at all.” Here is to getting things done when the energy (and space) returns.

The roundup to the Roundup: Guinea pig roadtrip. 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 Jan 31 – Feb 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.

A few weeks ago, I was appreciating insights from Mali’s extremely
long trip to the UK, and I commented that I would write our travel tips. Her post and writing down my own made me realize that how we travel (what is important to us when we go somewhere) is so personal that what works for one person probably won’t work for another. But in case this helps anyone:

• We have a master packing list that we use for every trip. It has everything we need for a weekend at the beach or three weeks in France. When we’re going on a trip, I hit duplicate and delete things off the list that we don’t need, such as a passport at the beach. It’s a streamlined list, so I never overpack or forget anything. I used every piece of clothing on this trip, but I also fit all in a carry-on.
• Speaking of which, we pack all clothes and non-liquid toiletries in carry-on bags. Then we pack a duffle bag inside a suitcase and check it. Our plane tickets often come with one checked bag each. The checked bag has our meals (see below) and toiletries. During the trip, the large suitcase collects dirty laundry, and when we pop out the duffle bag at the last stop, it gives us an extra bag for things we bring back with us.
• No matter where we go, we bring breakfast, coffee, and lunch with us. Those meals don’t matter to us, and we save a ton of money and time that way. I have a scoop of peanut butter and VIA coffee in the room, and usually a kind bar for an early lunch. Then we get a snack and dinner out.
• We also sometimes do what the kids call grocery dinners. Instead of getting takeaway, we go to the grocery store and get veggies and yogurt and crackers or prepared foods. Can you tell that meals don’t really matter to us unless it’s a favourite restaurant?
• We record a family audio journal every night. We started doing this when the twins were eight (when I first got a recording device), and we only do it for longer trips (vs. a weekend at the beach). By talking through the day for 10 – 15 minutes every night, we capture all the details and everyone’s memories, and we go back and listen to them and remember things we’ve forgotten all the time. We weren’t great about getting everything down in a written journal, but the audio journal has been a low-lift with a big pay off.

What are your best travel tips?