Category — Friday Blog Roundup

We’ll watch some of Harry and Meghan’s documentary this weekend. Part of me feels dirty watching it — like reading a tabloid or listening to someone I don’t know well complain about their family (which, I guess, is exactly what this is). The other part of me feels like it’s a counterbalance to hear their voices when you can’t help but pick up on the media’s hot take while scrolling past headlines.

In any case, a decision was made. We’re watching.

*******

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:

• “Community and Support Groups” (No Kidding in NZ)

Okay, now my choices this week.

PocoBrat has a post about donations and giving people what they need. It’s a good reminder about food banks: “Giving to food banks is not supposed to be about how it makes me feel. So I’ve been good about cash contributions.” But I think it’s a good reminder about giving in general. When we give, the point is to give the other person what they need or want, not what we want to give. And the best times are when those two impulses line up.

Lastly, Slaying, Blogging, Whatever… has a post about thankfulness. I felt the same way about returning to the theater: “Something about LIVE performances, and being THERE with them as both the audience and the actors/crew putting on the show are in the moment and ENJOYING being there and in the moment. It was like coming home.” Perfectly said.

The roundup to the Roundup: We’re watching Harry and Meghan. 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 27 – December 9) 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.

Josh and I have a hot date planned in December to renew my library cards. Plural. Because that’s how I roll. I belong to more libraries than you have fingers to count them, and they all have different renewal dates. Some are indefinite — set 100 years in the future. Others need to be renewed every two years.

So off we go, driving to all the libraries with cards that expire in December and renewing them at the desk because it’s impossible to renew over the phone.

Pre-COVID, I had big plans to collect cards from all of my reciprocity libraries and then get a portrait done surrounded by my cards. (Dream big.) But that plan fizzled during the lockdown. Maybe returning to the buildings to renew will spark it again because one of my big retirement plans is fundraising for the various libraries in my stuffed wallet.

Just kidding: I crocheted a special bag to hold all of my library cards.

And that sums up December.

*******

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…

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:

• “Another Take – Why I Don’t Have a Gratitude Practice” (Afterward Honesty)

Okay, now my choices this week.

Infertile Phoenix is happy and sad at the same time. Holidays have a way of doing that. She writes: “As resolved as I am about my CNBC situation and as happy as I am in the awesome life I’ve created for myself, it still hurt to see proclamations of gratitude for what I will never have: a family of my own.” Sending a hug.

Grief Is the Word writes about a grief hierarchy; a branch of the Pain Olympics. She explains: “ I’ve often felt a sense of being a fraud while speaking of my own losses, my own grief, particularly when in the company of someone who has suffered miscarriages or been through the trauma of IVF. All I have to offer as my story is emptiness.” She has a powerful final line, and I hope she reaches that day.

Lastly, The Uterus Monologues unpacks a recent study about conceiving after a miscarriage. This is so true: It’s mind-boggling “how much high-stakes decision-making we’re expected to do – as people going through pregnancy loss or infertility, but also as women more generally – without adequate information about the ways our bodies do and don’t work.” Research matters.

The roundup to the Roundup: I learned a lot about websites this week. 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 18 – 25) 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.

I kicked off this week with a spot of malware. THAT was a huge pain to clean up, requiring a lot of desperate question-asking and deleting while holding my breath. It was such a frustrating experience, though my friend, Josh, held my hand during the clean-up, and we got everything back online. I wrote down notes in case this happens again, and another friend helped me close a few potential open doors. I am grateful that I have nice, smart friends.

Thank you to everyone who checked in to say, “Uh, where is your site?”

*******

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…

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.

Risa Kerslake writes about getting pregnant after two donor pregnancies. Her reaction is not what she expected, and she’s trying to process the news. She writes: “Everyone who’s gone through fertility treatments has to think about this, right? What would it be like to puzzle over symptoms, take a pregnancy test without any prior knowledge? To actually be shocked? To actually tell your partner you’re pregnant and see the surprise on their face?” It’s a post about navigating a what-if for real.

Lastly, Jewish IVF writes about looking at fertility clinic reminders when you’re not cycling. She realizes how much mental space cycling took up in her brain. She admits, “Getting that reminder brings some comfort. And relief. And renewed sense of appreciation for the helpers that got us to this point.” Three cheers for the helpers.

The roundup to the Roundup: I learned a lot about websites this week. 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 18 – 25) 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.

We started the new season of The Crown. Every time they switch the cast, I say I dislike the new season, but I know I’ll like the show again once I’m accustomed to the new actors. I’m waiting for that second watch-through because I usually come to that peace with the new cast in the second-to-last episode.

That aside, it’s fine. I’m less enamored with this season because it’s about their drama with each other. Whereas the other seasons certainly had personal drama, but it usually had implications outside the relationship. So I’m not as into watching Charles and Diana fight as I was watching Margaret and Peter Townsend not being with one another and the concept of having a public marriage (and how that marriage impacts the monarchy) or how marriage choice can be curtailed.

So I like it more than many other shows, and we’ll finish the season and watch the next one if there is another, which it sounds like there will be.

What do you think so far? Are you watching it? And have you finished?

*******

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…

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.

Finding a Different Path answered a call for pitches and wrote a piece about labeling women. She explains: “I wanted to write about how it felt to confront those labels and then where I landed, and how perhaps we shouldn’t be so interested in the labels but instead look at the value that women bring REGARDLESS of whether they are parents or not.” The pitch was accepted, and the article was published! Go over and read it on Insider.com.

Lastly, Searching for Our Silver Lining has a post about surviving layoffs. It’s about knowing the otherwise and therefore not feeling “safe.” She captures this one good thing: “One silver lining is the support people are giving one another as they find themselves hunting. The stigma of finding yourself unemployed is being challenged as people offer connections, recommendations, and general support.” It is such a painful place to be right now, and I’m glad there are good people out there.

The roundup to the Roundup: What do you think of this season of The Crown? 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 11 – 18) 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.

We do not play the lottery or live in California, but I still outlined everything I would do if I won Powerball. First and foremost, I would set up a foundation that funds projects close to my heart: food insecurity, animal protection, literacy, and fine arts. That would take care of over half of the money. Plus, I’d have to hire a few people to run the foundation.

Then, I would give away a chunk to various family members, yadda yadda yadda, AND THEN I would work with Blackwell’s in Oxford and Politics and Prose in DC to send me one of every book that comes into their stores. Just do a weekly box-up and send me one of every book. I know what you’re thinking: Melissa, some of those books would not interest you. I KNOW. That is why I would also have a little free library (except it would be a big free library) where I could give away all the books that don’t appeal to me as well as copies of books I do like once everyone is finished reading them.

The kids told me winning the lottery would ruin me, but I think a box of books delivered straight to my door every week would be pretty awesome.

What would you do with the money?

*******

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…

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.

Infertile Phoenix laments that some people don’t change, and in those cases, it’s okay because she has changed. She writes, “What used to make me angry now makes me annoyed. What used to hurt me now shows me what’s in other people’s hearts and minds. Others’ rudeness, meanness, and inconsideration have nothing to do with me. It’s not my fault, and it’s not my problem.” Your mouth will drop open over the insensitive comment she received that kicked off the post.

Lastly, No Kidding in NZ has a thought-provoking post about how infertility changed her feelings about risk. She is more aware of life’s uncertainty and that some things are not givens. She explains: “My assessment of risk might be a bit more brutal … But my appreciation of my life, and what I am able to do, is stronger too, along with the confidence of knowing that I can cope with adversities that might confront me.” I love this insight into life.

The roundup to the Roundup: What I’d do with billions. 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 4 – 11) 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.