Category — Friday Blog Roundup

I’m sure advent calendars have been around forever, but I didn’t see my first one until I was in my 20s — a hazard of being a non-Christmas celebrator. But a co-worker had one, and then Martha Stewart had instructions for how to make your own matchbox advent calendar, and I made one for the countdown to Josh’s birthday that year.

But in recent years — and correct me if I’m wrong — I’ve noticed that people are moving from having one advent calendar to having multiple advent calendars. What went from opening one window and getting one piece of chocolate or a tiny toy has become opening four windows on four different calendars and getting a jar of jam + an airplane bottle of booze + chocolate + makeup. Am I correct? Have advent calendars multiplied?

It’s a fun idea, and four calendars must feel four times as festive, but is my perception correct? Have calendars multiplied? And where is the Elf on a Shelf? As advent calendar posts go up, Elf on a Shelf posts have gone down.

Or maybe that’s just my feed.

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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:

• Nothing… sniff.

Okay, now my choices this week.

Bereaved and Blessed reflects on her first pregnancy loss, 20 years earlier. She writes, “Though I don’t believe everything happens for a reason or that we need to try to find silver linings when we are grieving, I do think we can find meaning as we navigate difficult, uncertain and painful times in our lives.” A great message.

Lastly, No Kidding in NZ gives a look back on 22 years ago (if I’m doing that math correctly with 16 years + 6 years) when she was trying to figure out what came next and overwhelmed with sadness. On our hardest days, it would be so helpful to know how things look down the road. The most important point: “I don’t feel this way anymore. In fact, it has been a long time since I felt like this.”

The roundup to the Roundup: Advent calendar multiplication. 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 29 – December 6) 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.

The kids are home after super-long travel days. Thanksgiving sides have been eaten. Family seen. We’re in the quiet days before they have to go back, a moment I started dreading before they even arrived.

But it’s a short stretch this time until they’re home for winter break. Have to focus on that instead of the goodbye.

Hope you had a good holiday if you celebrate.

*******

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:

• “Acceptance Helps, Believe Me” (No Kidding in NZ)

Okay, now my choices this week.

Infertile Phoenix points out the possible difference of a neat vs messy house. The last time her house was neat, she was in a difficult marriage and trying to conceive. She writes, “My house was clean because I never cooked or created any art. I was barely alive so I didn’t make much of a mess.” I also love this line: “I’m holding on to so much because I’ve lost too much already.” I really loved this thought-provoking post.

Lastly, The Road Less Travelled has a post about the narrative around motherhood. She highlights two substacks that gave her a lot to think about. I liked this point: “The acknowledgement that motherhood is damned hard work, and it’s not all sunshine and roses, sometimes comes as a bit of a relief to those of us who get to experience neither.”

The roundup to the Roundup: Kids are home. 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 22 – 29) 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.

Last week, my friend and I went sans kids to see Frozen (the play, not the movie). I had forgotten numerous plot points, and the stage show had a bunch of additional songs and special effects. At one point, Elsa is singing about letting it go, and she throws out her arms, and she is in the ice queen dress. Snow shoots out of her hands. Olaf dances across the stage. It was really cool.

And it made my heart hurt because the little kids in the audience (and it was bonkers how many little kids were there on a weeknight) kept whispering to their parents, “The real Elsa and Anna are here!” After the final bow, a bunch of kids burst into tears, heartbroken that they were so close to the real Elsa and Anna, but they would have to leave them. There was a lot of wailing in theater lobby.

I felt pretty teary through the whole thing myself, even though I was completely delighted to see something so happy and hopeful amid all the bleak November news. I remember that soundtrack playing on a loop through a chunk of elementary school. How far away college felt back then. How it’s here now.

*******

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.

Apron Strings for Emily unpacks her thoughts on the election. She writes: “And here we are now, 8 years later … feeling like we’re back to Square One. Some may even venture to say Square Negative One Hundred.” But don’t despair — reading her post may give you a little peace of heart.

Lastly, A Separate Life’s list of favourite cities is a nice distraction this week, even though she left my city in the undecided category. Reading it made me realize that I like small cities. We tend to use a major city as a base (London) but then take day trips off of it to smaller cities. Oxford and Canterbury are still cities, right? They’re just small cities. So I am a small city lady. I like Bayeux over Paris. I like Jaffa over Tel Aviv. I like Figueres over Barcelona. Go read her list.

The roundup to the Roundup: Frozen. 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 15 – 22) 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.

The symphony sent an empty booklet with instructions. Every time you hear the symphony perform, bring the booklet and get it stamped at the front desk like a passport. Then, at the end of the season, you have the booklet as a reminder for all of the performances you attended.

Isn’t that a brilliant idea?

We’ve been tearing out the page in the program, jotting down our thoughts on the pieces in a few words, and then storing them in my notebook. Not as pretty, but it allows us to look back and download music we enjoyed.

*******

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.

Scientist on the Roof gives 10 things she doesn’t like right now, including a bit of jealousy about the way the cat spends their day. In a world that pushes positivity, it’s nice to see a calm, collected list of dislikes.

Lastly, No Kidding in NZ celebrates connections forged online. As she states: “Connection – however we find it – is so valuable to our sense of value, our feelings of belonging, and worth, to finding wisdom, and to feeling okay about ourselves.” Three cheers to this.

The roundup to the Roundup: A creative idea. 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 8 – 15) 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.

Still processing election feelings and don’t have a lot to say.

*******

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.

The Barreness captures the quiet before the results. We now know how things turned out, and while her statement worked during election day, it’s working in the aftermath, too: “I feel too many feels, thinking too many thoughts.”

The Next 15000 Days received a compliment, which she recounts after a thoughtless comment from another person, and it sums up a life well-lived: “I would like to be like Klara. She doesn’t wait for anyone – she just does things and knows how to actively enjoy her free time.”

Lastly, Finding a Different Path celebrated her Halloween anniversary, and I love their tradition of filling their yard with fake tombstones — a new one every year. And we get to enjoy pictures from some of their other traditions. Seeing this post was a sweet moment in a hard week.

The roundup to the Roundup: Post-election quiet. 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 1 – 8) 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.