Weekend odds & ends

• I realized, after it was published, that my recent post "The ties that bind (or not)" was post #173 this year. The significance of that number: I've now posted more often this year than any year since I first started blogging, 13 years ago. (Previous record:  I posted 172 times in 2008, my first full year of blogging.) And there's still about six weeks left to go in 2020! Don't ask me how I keep finding things to write about, but I do...! Not bad for someone who is almost 60, 22 years past her daughter's stillbirth and coming up to 20 years past her last infertility treatment. :)  
• Being retired certainly helps, I'm sure. Also, being in a pandemic has provided plenty of fodder for blog posts...! Plus, I was always the kid who turned in a five-page story when the teacher asked for a paragraph, lol. ;)  
• Lena Dunham's piece in Harpers magazine, which I mentioned here, has apparently received backlash from some of the #IVFWarriors she writes about, who did not take kindly to her descriptions of them, or of the adoption & fertility industries. 
• Katy at Chasing Creation had a few posts and stories on the subject on Instagram (where she now has 5,000!! followers!), pointing out the very different perceptions she'd noticed among women still in treatment or parenting after infertility, who took umbrage at Dunham's words, and those of us who (also) left treatment without babies, who were by & large thrilled to have our experience described so well by a public figure (and in a prestigious forum like Harpers, to boot). Said Katy: "I'm sad that public voices from our community are so rare that it's noteworthy and feels like Christmas when we get any visibility." In another IG post, referring to the negative reaction to the article, she said, "It's a perfect illustration as to why those of us who are childless don't always feel supported in sharing our stories and often don't feel included in the infertility community."
• I will admit, reading about the mixed reaction to the Harpers article (without reading a whole lot of #IVFwarriors posts themselves, because I don't follow many people these days who are still in treatment) reminded me of the kerfuffle within our ALI blogging community in early 2012 (8!! years ago!), when a rift developed between bloggers who were parenting after infertility and those still in treatment (while those of us in the CNBC corner of the community looked at each other & went, "Ummmm, hello, over here??"). (Sadly, I don't think our community ever fully recovered from that episode, although blogging was probably past its heyday at that point anyway...)   
• Did you read the article? What did you think? 
• After a lot of agonizing, we did go to BIL's on Little Great-Nephew's 1st birthday last Tuesday evening after supper. We stayed about an hour -- long enough to watch presents being opened, to sing "Happy Birthday" and have a piece of cake (which I will admit we originally didn't intend to do -- just goes to show you how hard it is to firmly stick to your guns in these situations...!).  We did wear masks the entire time, except when eating our cake (& I stood at the kitchen counter to eat mine, away from the table). Younger Nephew & his wife also came over, and when they saw dh & I wearing our masks, they promptly put theirs on too. (Great-Nephew will have some interesting photos in his birthday album, lol.)  They took their cake into the living room to eat. 
• The city of Toronto and one of its neighbouring regions (fortunately, not the one I live in) will be going into another lockdown on Monday, for the next 28 days. Among the places that must close:  non-essential retail, gyms, hair salons and barbershops, indoor AND outdoor dining (not that many places here are still doing outdoor dining right now, unless than have patio heaters...!).  Supermarkets, pharmacies and big-box stores like Walmart and Costco will remain open, other stores can offer curbside pickup and delivery, and restaurants can still offer takeout and delivery.  No indoor gatherings with people outside your household. 
• Trying to decide whether to get haircuts a bit earlier than we usually would, just in case the lockdown gets extended to other regions...!  (This week will be four weeks since our last ones;  we usually go every six weeks.)  
• My COVID-19 test & bloodwork is scheduled for Wednesday;  my hysteroscopy and d&c will be Friday morning. I'm getting nervous. Please pray/send positive thoughts/vibes, etc. that (1) the procedure goes ahead as scheduled and doesn't get cancelled/postponed because of rising COVID rates -- I've waited five long weeks to have this done already...!  and (2) that all goes well and that (3) the results are good. (I don't know how long I'll have to wait for those. The sooner the better, obviously.)