Monday, February 17, 2020

#MicroblogMondays: (More) Odds & ends

  • Today is our Family Day long weekend Monday in Ontario. :p  Most of the press coverage I've seen has just been focused on what's open & closed -- no sentimental musings on the meaning of family (which usually mentions children and is seldom defined as a family of two like mine) -- for which I'm grateful. :) 
  • Our Valentine's Day was pretty uneventful. We generally just exchange cards (which we did) -- and we did the housecleaning (which is our usual Friday thing to do), lol.  It was pretty cold outside, so I was actually happy to just stay cozy at home. We did take BIL & SIL out for dinner on Saturday night, which was their wedding anniversary. (The restaurants were still pretty busy then, but we managed to get in to our favourite pizza restaurant fairly quickly -- even without a reservation! -- by going there right when it opened at 5 p.m.) 
  • Pre-VDay, I had bought a red sleeper for little Great-Nephew that said "Cuter than Cupid" on the front (lol), but we also took over a little book & card for him on Thursday night. His mom posted photos of him wearing the sleeper on Valentine's Day to her social media accounts, and thanked us for the book & card. :)  
  • Younger Nephew & his wife are planning a sunspot vacation to celebrate their second wedding anniversary in April.  BIL (the nephews' dad):  "I'll bet she comes back pregnant. A girl this time around... that would be nice."  Dh: "Well... I guess we'll see...!" (Me: (silently rolling my eyes...!) ).  
  • The Globe & Mail published an extensive first-person article this weekend about IVF in Canada (& the province of Ontario in particular), making a case for expanded government funding and regulation.  
    • As always, beware the comments!
  • The latest (February) episode of The Full Stop podcast (created for & by the childless-not-by-choice community) features a conversation with Suzan Muir of Australia. I was fascinated by her thoughts on rites of passage and childlessness (around the 43 minute mark), as well as nature as a community that she (& we) can connect to as a part of our healing. 
    • The podcast turns one in May!  And they are marking it with a birthday party, with all three co-hosts together in the same room for the very first time! Co-host Michael & his wife Vicki will be making the trip from their home in Australia to England to celebrate with co-hosts Sarah & Berenice, AND they've invited the CNBC community to join them. If you're going to be in London (lucky you!) on Saturday, May 9th, a limited number of spots are available...details here!  
You can find more of this week's #MicroblogMondays posts here

7 comments:

  1. Huge eye roll (BIL assumption)!

    Hope you're enjoying the long weekend. Which for you may mostly mean navigating closures.

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  2. Annnnddddd a relative just posted "Happy Family Day!" on social media, along with a collage of family photos... not all of the kids, fortunately; parents, grandparents & siblings were also included. But still... there goes the neighbourhood, lol. Will be interesting to see if anyone else does the same today...! (Fortunately, it's not Family Day everywhere in Canada, so the impact will not be the same as if it were Mother's Day, for example... But still...!)

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  3. Oh gosh. Eye roll. And high five for dinner at 5:00! LOL! That's when we did reservations too.

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    1. Jess had a similar comment... see my reply below! ;)

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  4. I bet you do a lot of silent eye-rolling. lol I know I'm an expert at it!

    I'm editing photos this afternoon, so will check out that podcast.

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  5. Ew, the assumptions and privilege in BIL's statement are icky. I think I'd have trouble with the silent part of that eye-roll! Ha, we went to our Mexican restaurant at 5:30 and had a minimal wait for a delicious meal out that was way over-indulgent. Sometimes an earlier dinner at a favorite, nonfancy place is the best for that holiday! I'm glad Family Day hasn't been too terrible (although I just saw your added comment, so ew). Those facebook challenges for these types of holidays are awful. I'm seeing a lot of "2020 Senior Parent Challenges" on mine, with baby pictures of 18 year olds galore and lots of "you'll miss these days" and "most important job ever!" comments. Blergh. I'll have to check out the podcast, it sounds great! I struggle with podcasts, although maybe I can listen while I do a puzzle while on break.

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    1. LOL, to you & Risa, dh & I have been doing 5-5:30 p.m. Saturday night dinners out for YEARS. Restaurants are always so busy around here on Saturday nights -- if you go anytime between about 6 & 8, you're almost guaranteed a wait -- and my dh HATES waiting for ANYTHING (let alone anything food-related, lol). We've always said we were practicing to be senior citizens. ;) Unfortunately, by some definitions, we now ARE senior citizens -- eeekkk!!

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