Category — Microblog Mondays

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

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A news article I was reading linked out to this map that shows the amount of money you need to earn to live comfortably in your state. The number is based on a single working adult, so the number is different if your situation is different (working couple, couple with one working partner, children at home, children out of the house, etc.). Still, it’s an interesting starting point to see how your state lines up with other states regarding the cost of living. And they do have a second graphic for households.

Massachusetts ranks first as the most expensive, and West Virginia is the least expensive. Maryland is in the top ten most expensive states with an average salary of $102,918 to live comfortably. It’s the 15th most expensive state for household income, needing a salary of $239,450 to live comfortably.

The numbers seem high considering the average distribution of household income in the United States, but what do I know?

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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.

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

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It started with one suggested calligraphy video in my Instagram feed. A disembodied hand was showing how to create illuminated letters. I watched it, and the next day, three calligraphy videos were in my feed. And for days after, a third of my feed was disembodied hands creating gorgeous letters.

And then came the embroidery videos. One was mixed in with the calligraphy videos, and within a day, the calligraphy videos were replaced with embroidery videos. There were embroidered flowers on jeans, embroidered designs on collars, and nimble disembodied hands showing me how to create seven different kinds of knots in thread.

I’m not sure what they’ll deliver next or if I’ll be stuck with embroidery videos for a long time because I bookmarked them, intending to return to them when I purchased some thread and could try out the knots myself.

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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.

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

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I spent longer than I want to admit trying to figure out the answer without looking ahead at the answer that Oliver Burkeman put in his newsletter:

Here’s a riddle, adapted from a Zen koan: imagine you’ve come into possession of a live goose, trapped in a large glass bottle … The neck of the bottle is much too narrow for the goose to pass through. Your job is to remove the goose from the bottle without harming it, and without breaking any glass.

How do you get the goose out?

It’s an excellent exercise for not overthinking things.

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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.

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

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I love finding old emails when I’m searching for something, and this substack reminded me of the pure pleasure that comes from re-reading old thoughts. If you haven’t excavated your Gmail account recently, follow their instructions, search for a term or phrase, and see what pops up. It’s as good as the memories feature on Facebook for bringing you back to the moment.

P.S. Go down to section V in the substack for their recommendations/instructions for search.

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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.

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

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A line in Austin Kleon’s newsletter spoke to me deeply because I’m halfway through a new writing project: “I am deep into writing at the moment and I keep repeating to myself: ‘It doesn’t matter if it’s good right now. It just needs to exist’.”

It led to a great quote from Bird by Bird, which I haven’t read in many years and probably should again.

It’s a good reminder that things are rarely great on the first try and that you should never compare your first attempt to someone’s fully edited finished product. This is true for all things in 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.