Beautifully Irrational

Posted by Mel

https://www.stirrup-queens.com/2026/09/1099th-friday-blog-roundup/

https://www.stirrup-queens.com/?p=40746

Remember back in 2024 when I said, “This is the 1000th (okay, 900th) time that I’ve written the Friday Blog Roundup, a weekly series that started back in 2006,” and I noted that it was really the 900th time because they got misnumbered at some point? Well, the next Roundup really is the 1000th Roundup. […]

https://www.stirrup-queens.com/2026/09/1099th-friday-blog-roundup/

https://www.stirrup-queens.com/?p=40746

Posted by Mel

https://www.stirrup-queens.com/2026/09/comes-in-threes/

https://www.stirrup-queens.com/?p=40712

While we were at the beach, my flip-flops snapped. I love these flip-flops; they’re one of the last things I have from BlogHer. I’ve already hot-glued them back together once, and I knew I could do that once we got home, but in the meantime, I didn’t have shoes. But I was in a beach […]

https://www.stirrup-queens.com/2026/09/comes-in-threes/

https://www.stirrup-queens.com/?p=40712

Posted by Mel

https://www.stirrup-queens.com/2026/09/infertile-or-not/

https://www.stirrup-queens.com/?p=40749

The Washington Post had a somewhat great opinion piece on Dolly Parton last week, pointing out that “She was a reassurance … that parenting is far from the only way to invest in the kids who are all of our future.” I say somewhat great because the repeated framing (emphasis mine) is that she hadn’t […]

https://www.stirrup-queens.com/2026/09/infertile-or-not/

https://www.stirrup-queens.com/?p=40749

Posted by Mel

https://www.stirrup-queens.com/2026/08/microblog-monday-598-walking-in-place-and-going-everywhere/

https://www.stirrup-queens.com/?p=40736

Not sure what #MicroblogMondays is? Read the inaugural post which explains the idea and how you can participate too. ******* I’ve written before that we put on first-person walking videos and walk in place in front of the television listening to an audiobook. This site is a really good compilation of these types of videos […]

https://www.stirrup-queens.com/2026/08/microblog-monday-598-walking-in-place-and-going-everywhere/

https://www.stirrup-queens.com/?p=40736

Posted by Mel

https://www.stirrup-queens.com/2026/08/consumption-18/

https://www.stirrup-queens.com/?p=40591

This is a monthly series, published near the end of the month summarizing what I found, ate, watched, googled, and felt this month. New categories added from time to time. Books Added to My TBR (e.g., books I just learned about that I’m excited to read… maybe) The Witches of Cambridge (Alice Hoffman) The Good […]

https://www.stirrup-queens.com/2026/08/consumption-18/

https://www.stirrup-queens.com/?p=40591

Posted by Mel

https://www.stirrup-queens.com/2026/08/1098th-friday-blog-roundup/

https://www.stirrup-queens.com/?p=40728

I am now the owner of a new coffee maker. Our old coffee maker stopped working, and after some scientific Googling, the Internet agreed it was probably a blocked valve. No problem. I found a tutorial on YouTube, and asked the Wolvog if he wanted to help me fix the issue. “That looks like an […]

https://www.stirrup-queens.com/2026/08/1098th-friday-blog-roundup/

https://www.stirrup-queens.com/?p=40728

Posted by Mel

https://www.stirrup-queens.com/2026/08/summer-of-lasts/

https://www.stirrup-queens.com/?p=40700

We went to the beach because it was going to be the last summer to go to that particular stretch of beach. Nature had been washing out the parking lot, and the town finally decided to give up trying to save that patch of land and instead spent the last two years moving the beach […]

https://www.stirrup-queens.com/2026/08/summer-of-lasts/

https://www.stirrup-queens.com/?p=40700

Posted by Mel

https://www.stirrup-queens.com/2026/08/galoppen/

https://www.stirrup-queens.com/?p=40694

I have been obsessed with going to Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen, and 84% of the reason is the carnival game Galoppen. Everyone is assigned a horse in the “race,” and you roll balls to advance your horse. If the ball rolls into one of the holes, it jumps forward one, two, or three steps (depending […]

https://www.stirrup-queens.com/2026/08/galoppen/

https://www.stirrup-queens.com/?p=40694

Posted by Mel

https://www.stirrup-queens.com/2026/08/microblog-monday-597-technology-and-age/

https://www.stirrup-queens.com/?p=40708

Not sure what #MicroblogMondays is? Read the inaugural post which explains the idea and how you can participate too. ******* The New York Times had a thought-provoking opinion piece (that I hopefully shared as a gift link) that said people should wait to use AI tool until they were in their 40s. They write: “We […]

https://www.stirrup-queens.com/2026/08/microblog-monday-597-technology-and-age/

https://www.stirrup-queens.com/?p=40708

Posted by Mel

https://www.stirrup-queens.com/2026/08/music-at-the-beach/

https://www.stirrup-queens.com/?p=40706

We’ve been watching a show called Unacceptable, where comedians express and defend their unacceptable opinion. They poll the audience when the opinion is first stated to see how many agree, and then poll them after the comedian has defended their position to see if they’ve swayed any hearts. The opinions are usually ridiculous. It’s a […]

https://www.stirrup-queens.com/2026/08/music-at-the-beach/

https://www.stirrup-queens.com/?p=40706