Category — Friday Blog Roundup

Summer is wrapping up. We just got back from a trip (more on that soon). The twins are preparing to return to college. Two weeks before they came home, I woke up feeling like I was awakening from hibernation. I had so much energy. And now we’re winding down, and I’m returning to that quiet space.

I told myself all summer that I couldn’t be sad until August. But once August hit, I could feel whatever I needed to feel. I’ve been feeling all of the feelings this month.

A little bit comes from not knowing if I’ll have everyone home next summer or if they’ll be away on internships or jobs. I just have to live in the waiting zone until I know. So the second year is the same but different: I know more about how it will feel to be far away from them, which is a good thing (knowledge is power?) and a bad thing (now I know how much my heart will hurt).

*******

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 and I read the same book and went through the same emotions about the infertility subplot. She writes: “It’s funny how time changes you as a reader. This is a book that, had I brought it on vacation even 5 years ago, I would have DEFINITELY thrown across the room and then put on indefinite pause within the first 25 pages.” I highlighted many of the same quotes (and many others), and I started plotting out a trip to Newport, RI because I was so moved by the story.

The Road Less Travelled will be presenting a webinar on September 16th for World Childless Week. It’s a beautiful tribute to the purpose of genealogy and why we should be interested in our family tree. She writes: “Hearing my parents talk about their own extended family members and what they’ve learned from them gives me hope that perhaps someday our nephews and great-niblings will remember us and tell stories about us to their own kids in the same way.” Lori helped me get started with researching my family tree years ago.

Lastly, Jewish IVF is on the 7th day of a mock transfer cycle, on the 315th day of an enormously upsetting time. She gets mixed up with the office location, and she ends up needing to reschedule the appointment. She wonders, “Why am I pushing it? I’m not sure. I recognize that doing this now doesn’t mean we’ve decided we’re transferring the last embryo. I want to believe that we’ll get there, and soon, but know it’s not just up to me.” I wanted to give her a hug through the screen.

The roundup to the Roundup: The kids go back soon. 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 16 – 23) 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 is the 1000th (okay, 900th) time that I’ve written the Friday Blog Roundup, a weekly series that started back in 2006. It has always been a way to capture posts that stuck with me after I clicked away to read the next thing. Posts I wanted other people to read so we could talk about them. Posts I didn’t want to forget.

Can I just say that all of those posts have been my favourites?

Thank you for reading this series week after week, year after year. I am so grateful to everyone who commented, celebrated, and clicked over to read the posts over the last 18 years.

*******

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 Road Less Travelled marked her own milestone recently. It would have been Katie’s 26th birthday; her daughter was born still 26 weeks into pregnancy. She had a lovely day remembering her daughter, visiting the cemetery, and doing things with her husband to find comfort and mark the moment. Sending a lot of love for a hard day that ended with a butterfly messenger.

Lastly, Slaying, Blogging, Whatever received a beautiful email that made my throat close up from emotion. I’m not going to say anymore because it is brief and the impact is feeling all of the love behind the words. Yes, this post is outside the time frame, but I was late reading it.

The roundup to the Roundup: 1000th Friday Blog Roundups — celebrating a milestone. 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 9 – 16) 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 survived my first colonoscopy and do not have to return for another for 10 years. There are a few things that made prep easier, and I pass them along in case they help you, too. You can have dye-free lemon or lime Italian ice or popsicles. I bought both and ate them through the day, and I never got too hungry. In fact, I worked up until I started drinking the prep in the evening.

I added lemon Crystal Light to the gallon of prep before adding water (skipping the provided packet), but I only used half the amount of flavouring for the amount of water. I worried a stronger flavour would be harder to get down. Not sure if this theory was correct, but I had zero issues chugging a 12-ounce glass every 10 minutes for 2/3rds of the bottle. It tasted like salty lemonade. I had a harder time with the final third and had to sip it, but got all of it down without issue.

So I pass along these tips to you in case they help you make your appointment. Glad to have it behind me, no pun intended.

*******

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:

• “Talking About My Freedom” (No Kidding in NZ)

Okay, now my choices this week.

Dear John took a road trip with her daughter and unfortunately ended their journey with the big Delta flight cancelation situation. But in between, it sounded lovely, with unexpected detours and beautiful sights. There is an ache behind the words, missing her husband while appreciating the time with her daughter.

Lastly, The Next 15000 Days has a post about hanging up a child’s art. A new friend comments they couldn’t hang up a child’s drawing in their house because “seeing them would break her heart every time. I told her I understood – that 15 years ago, I could never have had the drawings there either. But now I can.” It’s a lovely post about where life is now.

The roundup to the Roundup: Colonoscopy tips. 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 2 – 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.

Francine Pascal died this week. Like most girls my age, I was obsessed with Sweet Valley High books. I bought them the day they came out, immediately read them, and then felt an empty, aching feeling waiting for the next installment. I wrote my own Sweet Valley High fan fiction, typing it up on my word processor, and circulating it among the other girls in my elementary school. Let’s just say that Bruce Patman had a very spicy life in my version.

I joined the school newspaper in high school so I could be like Elizabeth Wakefield. I never tried cocaine because I didn’t want to die like Regina Morrow. And you better believe I’ve never flown in a tiny plane because of Enid Rollins.

I still collect Sweet Valley High books when I see them at a used bookstore, and we have a bunch of them on the shelf. They’re fairly ridiculous but still hold a special place in my heart.

Rest easy, Ms. Pascal.

*******

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 thought commentary about JD Vance’s words missed the mark. She writes: “It just felt like a missed opportunity to fight the pronatalist status quo and point out that not having children doesn’t make you an oblivious, selfish, uninvested stain on humanity.” I wish the article had gone further, too, though I liked that the writer pointed out how harmful these words are and that he is putting them out there in the universe.

Lastly, The Road Less Travelled also wrote about Vance, this time touching on another aspect of the conversation around it. Namely, people who now declare themselves childless because their children are no longer in the house. She explains why this is offensive: “Your life is different from mine/ours because of the simple fact that you got to be parents and we didn’t. Just because you don’t have kids in the house now doesn’t mean that your life is now like ours. It’s not.” So true.

The roundup to the Roundup: Goodbye, Francine Pascal. 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 July 26 – August 2) 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.

There may be an impulse to turn “Childless Cat Ladies” into the “Binders Full of Women” of this election, but I thought this take in WashPo (gift link) summed up why we shouldn’t keep repeating a repulsive message we don’t want to be reinforced in people’s heads:

Blackstone adds that her reaction has nothing to do with Vance’s or Harris’s politics: “I don’t make judgments on people’s political decisions, as far as who I’m going to vote for, or who they’re going to vote for,” she says. “But the family system is changing, and to make a comment like that … it’s just not helpful to society. We don’t need people to say, like, ‘You aren’t qualified to be president because you don’t have children.’ I want bonus parents to be respected as a parental figure.”

Years from now, people will hopefully forget Vance’s name and he will go down as the VP candidate from the losing party in the election, but what I don’t want to have happen is have his hateful thoughts lingering in people’s heads. Every human has a direct stake in the country’s future. Don’t forget that at the polls.

*******

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 has a post about that feeling you get when too many stressful things are happening at once, all depending your energy. She admits: “I was unable to sleep last night – just thinking, thinking, thinking about all the things that I am responsible for, all the tasks I need to be on top of. I was just lying awake and feeling like everything was spinning out of control.” Sending peace of heart.

Lastly, No Kidding in NZ has a post about the concept of “happily ever after” as it exists in romance books. She points out the thing people like about romance books is that the ending must contain a happily ever after moment, but that moment is usually summed up as a traditional marriage and kids. She writes: “Happily Ever After. It looks different for everyone. It’s about time society figured that out.” Three cheers to that.

The roundup to the Roundup: All of us have a stake in the future. 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 July 19 – 26) 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.