Midweek odds & ends

• I Hate November, Chapter ??:   Longtime readers will recall that for many years running, I would publish a post titled or themed "I hate November."  Admittedly, November doesn't suck QUITE as much as it used to: I'm no longer working and dealing with year end and, with the passage of time, Katie's due date doesn't loom quite so large in my mind these days. And it's still early in the month to issue judgments...!  
• But it's been pretty dark and gloomy lately, because of the weather, if not (just!) the recent time change...!  I'm not quite ready to dive into the holiday season just yet (I like to wait until after Remembrance Day, at least, if not American Thanksgiving, before starting to decorate, wear my Christmas-themed shirts, etc...), but I will admit I look forward to the way the decorations and tree lights literally and figuratively brighten things up!  
• I'm continuing to work my way through the list of my Mom's Ancestry DNA matches, while waiting for my own results, trying to figure out how we're connected. In addition to the matches I mentioned in my previous post that had me going "hmmm..."  I noticed one match came from someone whose Ancestry profile identifies themselves as an adoptee born in 1970, who knows nothing about their birth family. It also identified the place where they were born -- which signals to me which branch of the family they might be from ( = potential grandparent or great-grandparent, at least). It's not a part of the family where I've had much contact with anyone, though -- so I think I will just sit tight for now and see if anyone approaches me for information... 
• We're due for a dentist visit later this month. And I've been feeling some sensitivity around a crown on my lower left jaw -- my original crown, and one that was actually replaced a couple of years ago. PLEASE don't tell me I need to get it replaced again...!  Sigh.... 
• The comedy of errors with "Big Blue" (pseudonym for my telecomms provider -- although any Canadian will know exactly which company I mean...!) continues, after we upgraded our internet service and had a new modem installed... then had to have a new TV receiver installed...!  (See this post, and my update in the comments.) 
• First, last Monday, we attempted to return our old (now defunct) TV receiver and remote to the local Big Blue store. Guess what? -- they don't take equipment returns in their stores now -- we will have to send it by post/courier (within 30 days, or risk getting charged). Of course, dh already threw out the box it came in, so we had to go to a nearby postal outlet to buy a box and some bubble wrap, etc.  
• I found instructions on how to return the equipment online and attempted to print off a shipping label.  Nothing happened. I eventually realized that (duh!) it's a wireless printer -- and so it needed to be reconnected to the new wifi. I wound up spending half an hour on the phone with my sister's computer geek partner. Between the two of us, we eventually got it done...!   
• In the meantime, we had a voice mail message on our phone. I input my password to retrieve it -- and was told that was the incorrect password. (!) I was asked for my "temporary password." I didn't HAVE a temporary password!  It dawned on me that this might have something to do with the new internet/modem (since our phone runs off the internet). Called Big Blue and yes, it probably did have something to do with the new equipment. Got some instructions on how to reset my password. I was intending to just reuse the same password -- except that's no longer an option -- they now want 6 to 15 digits, versus the original 4. (Sigh.)  I came up with a new password, retrieved my message and all is well. For now, anyway...! (Just waiting for the next shoe to drop...!)  
• Once this is all over and I've returned the TV receiver, etc., I am writing Big Blue a letter/email to complain about the ridiculous rigamorole we've been through -- it's been just one thing after another...! There HAS to be a better way to do this...!  
• On the bright side:  we spent a fun afternoon with dh's cousins on his mom's side on Sunday, playing golf virtually, indoors -- a new business venture in a nearby community, owned by the two adult sons of one of the cousins (one of them the same age Katie would have been).  I don't play golf, so I mostly watched dh & his cousins (he had a BLAST) and socialized. 
• We also got to see Little Great-Nephew AND Little Great-Niece AND the dog last weekend at BIL & SIL's house!  :)  It was LGNiece's first encounter with the dog... she seemed curious about him (and he, of course, instantly loved her and wanted to lick her!), but she started crying whenever he came too close, so we did our best to keep them apart for now...!  
• Pamela Mahoney Tsigdinos of Silent Sorority was Christine Erickson's guest on New Legacy Radio on Nov. 7th, discussing "When the Personal is Political What is Our Responsibility?" A very important (essential!) conversation for our community, and so well done! -- please listen! 
• Thank you to Jennie Agg at Life, Almost for the link to this great Substack piece by Helen Davenport-Peace on "the fertility wellness industry." I especially liked this part, towards the end: 

We are surrounded by the message that there is an answer to infertility that lies in the things we consume and the lifestyle we create. It’s alluring. It offers quick fixes in three month packages, often costing four figures sums we can’t really afford. It also feeds into our wider inhabiting of not doing a good enough job...

What happens when you do try out all alternative modalities, try all the diets, take all the supplements and you don’t ever get the outcome you’re seeking? How do we reconcile this with the narrative that holds us responsible for our fecundity? What do we do with that? It’s not easy to hold our heads up high in realms of wellness and diet culture when we’re positioned in this way.

We do get to do this though.

Fertility is not solely reserved to ‘healthy humans’ (however we deem this to look).

Infertility does not equal ill health.

• A thoughtful piece from the Atlantic:  "Capitalism has plans for menopause."  Subhead: "Feminists made the subject speakable. Now influencers and corporations are moving in." (Gift link.) 
• Key statement near the end:  "What women need is more Jen Gunter—a medical doctor and author of The Menopause Manifesto—and less Gwyneth Paltrow."  (Hell, yes!)  
• Oldster featured an excerpt from a new book by Maria Coffey, called "Instead: Navigating the Adventures of a Childfree Life." Excerpt title:  "No Regrets — Just Some "Counterfactual Curiosity" about Roads Not Taken."  (Now I want to read the book!)  
• The not-childless but always-wonderful Anne Lamott on aging: "It's good to remember: We are all on borrowed time." (Gift link.) 
• An excellent post from Meriel Whale, aimed at people with children, about "Supporting your childless friend," especially during the upcoming holiday season.  Read it and share, if you dare...! 
• ChildLESS? ChildFREE?  How about "areproductive"??  (Not sure I like that one any better, frankly... but there are some other good points in the linked article!)