Category — Friday Blog Roundup

Last week, for several reasons, we decided to watch services online rather than go in-person for the holiday. There’s a moment in the service where they blow a horn called the shofar, and it’s a mitzvah — one of the commandments — to hear it.

As the rabbi talked about the shofar (they always give people time to get back into the sanctuary so they can hear it), a family of five deer stepped into our yard. They were eating the grass a few feet away from the window.

When the man blew the shofar, the deer looked up and stared in one direction, twisting their ears. Another blast from the shofar, and they looked in a different direction, twisting their ears again. Each time the shofar sounded, the deer looked around, trying to locate the sound.

I’m not sure if it meant anything, but it felt like a sign of something.

*******

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.

A Separate Life has a beautiful post about staying in touch with people, and the difference between the letter-writing years and the instant communication made possible by the internet. She writes, “I think I’ve lived in the best of times. I had amazing formative experiences in independence. Then the internet arrived in my 30s, when I could and did easily adapt to these new technologies, using them daily for work. But I wasn’t reliant on them.”

Lastly, Infertile Phoenix has a thought that I sat with for a long time. She writes about attending weddings alone now vs. before infertility/divorce. She writes: “Interestingly, I don’t think divorce changed weddings too much for me. I loved being married. And I love being divorced … But still, my experience with marriage and divorce doesn’t change my feelings about weddings.” It made me think about attending baby-centered events without children. While I don’t think weddings have changed a lot for me — I like a wedding and don’t think about the baby stuff connected to weddings while I’m there — I feel differently about attending baby-centered events, such as showers, after infertility vs. before.

The roundup to the Roundup: Signs abound. 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 October 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.

This weekend begins apple season. Apple season is a tradition with Beorn, where we get fancy apples on Fridays and then share them with Beorn on Saturday mornings while we read. He runs around and loops back occasionally for a chunk of apple, and I like to think that his wheeks are sharing his thoughts on my TBR list.

A local farm has two walls of apples so you can mix and match. Everything along one wall is one price per pound, and everything along the other wall is a different price per pound. So we never think of writing down the types of apples we like. We just play roulette with the apples, trying a bunch of different types each weekend.

Happy apple season.

*******

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 writes about the concept of “getting over” childlessness. She explains: “Once you’re a mom, you’re a mom. It doesn’t change. Why do I feel like some people want me to ‘get over’ my childlessness? It’s a part of me. It’s who I am.” Not having kids impacts life just as much as having kids.

Lastly, The Road Less Travelled has a recurring post that I wish I had started many years ago, too, because her archive is wonderful. She recaps how life is right now; what is happening, what she is reading, how she spends her time. They’re all labeled with Right Now if you want to peruse history.

The roundup to the Roundup: Happy apple season. 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 September 27 – October 4) 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 bookstore I frequent sent me a free audiobook credit on Libro.fm for being a loyal customer. Free audiobook! Yes, please.

But which one to choose? I think I spent more time narrowing down my list and debating the merits of each option with ChickieNob than I did sleep last week. Should I choose a book I knew and loved that I would like read to me? Should I choose a narrator whose voice I love and listen to a book I don’t know? Do I aim for a wild card and choose a book difficult to get in the US but available as an audiobook?

After much hand-wringing, I opted for Rainbow Rowell’s Carry On. (1) I like the narrator’s voice. (2) I like the story. (3) I’ve checked it out from the library before, and I would like to listen to it again. (4) It was the type of story that would work well to listen to in small bursts because I’m familiar with it enough that I would remember where I was and what had happened before and after.

What would you have gotten if you could have any audio book?

*******

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.

Middle Girl captures how time passes quickly and good intentions sometimes fly out the window. It’s just the way things go sometimes. Glad she was able to return with a check-in.

Lastly, Infertile Phoenix writes about extreme burnout. She explains, “I have been very tired for a very, very long time” after detailing all of the steps that brought her to this moment. (It’s a lot.) Taking “good care of yourself” is excellent advice. And you’re the only one who can do it.

The roundup to the Roundup: Free audiobook. 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 September 20 – 27) 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 own a paper copy of Jenny Mustard’s Okay Days that we ordered from Blackwell’s in the UK two summers ago. It’s one of ChickieNob’s favourite books, and she re-reads it (sometimes several times) when she’s home. Once a week, I would check to see if they released it as a US version in the iBooks store. Once a week, I would see versions in many other languages, but the English version was only available in the UK.

But one day… when I went to do my weekly check for her… THE BOOK WAS THERE. In English. For only 99 cents. I normally check that she’s not in class before texting, but I didn’t pause, certain that it would disappear if I waited even one minute. Her reply came back instantaneously — buy it!

We are now the happy owners of Okay Days in paper and ebook.

If you haven’t read this book, go sample the first few chapters. It will remind you of being young and just starting out with plenty of wisdom still applicable in middle age.

*******

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.

No Kidding in NZ kicks off World Childless Week with a post introducing the topics. She writes: “Our voices are so often forgotten, ignored, or dismissed, how fabulous is it that we have a week heralding our stories, talking about our lives? It is there to help us all feel less alone, and more understood.” So many people are posting on the topics this week — Google and you can find them — and it’s not just for the community to come together and support one another; it’s for everyone to read and understand.

Lastly, Finding a Different Path gets a time reminder when the children of a friend from her infertility support group end up in her school. It’s not sad; it’s just surreal. She explains, “ It’s so weird to think that I could have had a 7th grader had that pregnancy been viable, or a 6th grader had I not miscarried my second ill-fated pregnancy the following summer.”

The roundup to the Roundup: Worth the wait. 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 September 13 – 20) 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’m back. Clearly. Friday the 13th feels like an ominous day to launch a new post, but it is what it is.

I find it difficult to get back into the swing of things after taking a break. It may be why I frequently don’t take breaks — because I know it will be so much harder to get started again afterward, and I’d rather not deal with this period where everything feels uphill both ways.

So, on that cheery note, what did you read that you loved these past two weeks?

*******

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 is back with some updates, including an exchange with a friend where she explains she is 100% sure she is not going to have kids. She writes: “When I feel grief, I really feel it. I let myself. When I feel joy, I really feel that too. I allow it. My grief comes from the loss of my children; my joy comes from my continuing to live anyway.” Love this.

Lastly, not IF-related but I liked this post by Swistle about how the only people we don’t look like ourselves to is ourselves. Truly, it makes sense if you click over and read the whole thing. And this: “My sister-in-law and I were discussing how we’ve both recently even found ourselves doing some distressing Age Math. Like: how many more years can we reasonably expect to live, even if all goes extremely well—that kind of math.” There is a lot here that I think about, too.

The roundup to the Roundup: I’m back. 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 August 30 – September 13) 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.