2024 Blog Stats

Every year, Stephany does a round-up of her blog stats for the year, so I've completely ripped her idea off and here we are. I did it last year, too. 

The Stats (for the last twelve months)

331,000 pageviews
8820 comments
295 posts (as of 12/28 - I might sneak in another post before the year officially ends)
85 book reviews

Most people come to my blog via other blogs. Ernie, Elisabeth, Allison, and J are my top referral sources.

People from around the world view my blog, but especially people in the US, Canada, Hong Kong, and Singapore. 

This year I did two Cool Bloggers Book Club (CBBC) editions: My Brilliant Friend in the spring and I Capture the Castle in the fall. 

This year I also did a 20th Blogiversary Extravaganza that included TWENTY guest posts and lists of twenty things and it was so much. But let's all agree that I'm not going to do a big bloggy project in 2025, okay?

Other fun tidbits: one author commented on my blog this year and I had an email exchange with another author to get an ARC of his book. 

Top Five Blog Posts of 2024

(Blogs written in 2024, in order of number of pageviews.)

1. I Said I Was Chill, But I Was Wrong - Very recent post makes it to #1 for the year. If you want a follow-up, I just brought a salad. 

2. Tell NGS What To Do: Advice Needed for Basic Adulting - Updates on that post. 1) Kim turned me on to this product from Dove and I have been using the brown sugar and coconut butter and it's been life altering. 2) I still don't have a yoga bag. 3) The bloodwork was fine. 4) Kim's magic product fixes this issue. 5) We still don't use any garlic. 

3. 20th Anniversary Countdown: Guest Post #16 (written by Kae) - I don't know why some of these guest posts have more traction than others, but congrats to Kae!

4. Week 1: My Brilliant Friend CBBC - This one makes sense to me because a lot of people started with MBF, so week one was pretty popular. 

5. 20th Anniversary Countdown: Guest Post #7 (written by Lisa) - Congrats to Lisa, too!

My All-Time Top Five Blog Posts

(Total number of pageviews.)

As with Stephany, my top five all-time posts have remained the same. 

1. The Duke and I (with second epilogue) by Julia Quinn - I stand by this book review. Rape is not sexy.

2. A Holiday Survey - I answered questions about how I celebrate the holidays (totally copied from Lisa).

3. November Physical Activity Accountability Buddy - I post one of these every month. Why is this one so popular? (I bet it has to do with all the photos of Hannah.)

4. Thanksgiving Gratitude - From 2021. I do this every year, but this is the one with the most views. 

5. Is C.C. DeVille Gay? - I wrote this in 2006!! I have NO IDEA if he's gay or not, but the post only got two comments and people were outraged that I even suggested it. I'm sorry, Mr. DeVille, for speculating about your sexuality. But why did you and Bret get into a fight?

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Do you ever look at your blog stats? What's the most surprising to you?

Wednesday Dispatches

1) NPR had an article about eye fatigue for people who use screens a lot. I spent the morning trying to follow the advice in the article and realized it was a losing battle for me. I am not going to stop every 20 minutes to do 2 minute breaks for my eyes. I honestly would never get anything done. Also, my boss just walked by when I was doing this circle thing with my thumb and just raised her eyebrows and walked by with no comment. I don't know why I'm sharing this with you, but here we are.

2) A while back I asked all of you for some advice on what to buy my BIL for his investiture because he's being promoted to a judgeship.  He's getting an Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. book, a candle with a sticker on it that says "Only Badass Motherfuckers Are Judges" (his wife said it would be okay), and I bought a really cool card from an Etsy seller. Unfortunately I won't be able to go to the investiture, but my spirit will be there.

3) Last week I asked if anyone had any questions for my husband for a fun post later on this spring. I'm still collecting questions! Feel free to fill out this form or you can email me any questions you might have. There's a form on the righthand sidebar of this very blog if you prefer to email me! 

4) I am exhausted right now. Yesterday I was making granola, which is pretty straightforward.  You dump things in a big bowl, mix them up, then put it all in the oven on a baking sheet for 45 minutes, stirring it every 15 minutes. I literally was falling asleep in those fifteen minute increments and waking up, very confused about what was going on, to the oven timer going off. I need multiple nights of a full eight hours of sleep, some time on the beach, and the ability to erase the mental load about household chores and when we need to buy more cat food.

Alas, that is not going to happen. So here I am telling you right now that I am going to be taking a break from a couple of things. One, I am going to stop doing Duolingo daily. My streak is almost 1500 days and I'm starting to get really resentful. I'm going to stop doing it and start consuming more media in Spanish. 

5) I'm also going to be going blog lite for the next couple of weeks. I'm going to be in Michigan and I don't know what my schedule will be like. My mother is not responding to chemo well and she's having terrible complications even though she's on the lowest effective dose. I have been given the task of having the conversation about whether or not she wants to continue treatment*. Meanwhile, THREE of my aunt and uncles will also be there and that's a lot of people and I'm super stressed about this trip for so many reasons. I will be still be posting regular update posts, like my monthly reviews, a CBWC update, book reviews as I write them, and my 20th anniversary posts, but my daily writing and reading of other's blogs will likely be sporadic. I am allowing myself this as one fewer thing on my plate right now. 

*No, my sister still isn't talking to me. My mother barely returns texts and I think it's because she's sleeping like 22 hours of the day. My sister and her husband are going on a vacation (and I want them to because caretakers need respite) and I will be in charge of my terminally ill mother, my sister's zillion pets, and my aunt and two uncles (the youngest of whom is 61) will be there, too. It's going to really be a worst case scenario for me. 

So, if I'm pretty quiet over the next couple of weeks, please know that I will be back more fully after the first week or so of May. 

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Do you do eye exercises? Do you have burning questions for my husband to answer? Would you like a candle calling you a badass motherfucker?

17.1 Hat - Blogging Through the Years

You may or may not remember that one of my "fun goals" for the first quarter was to photograph the sculptures of cows around our town. I have literally only managed to photograph one, but maybe I'll  somehow manage to get done in March. Anyway, this is one of the photos of the cows! This is the Guernsey, if you were curious.

A lot of the sculptures in our town get scarves and hats added to them during the winter. I've heard that it's so if someone needs warm outerwear, they can take it off the sculptures, but I don't know if that's true. I think it's just adorable. 

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Kyria recently wrote a post (and then Stephany did it, too!) about her history with blogging and I thought it was fascinating and absolutely stole all these questions from her.

When did you start blogging and why? 
I was super lonely when I was in graduate school, so I started a blog as a way of venting about my life and just getting into the habit of writing non-academic nonsense for a change. I started blogging in September 2004, so I'm coming up on my 20th anniversary.

What was your first blog post about? 

It was about allergies?  Oh, boy. Riveting post, I'm sure.

What is your most used label and why? 
Books. No matter what else is going on in my life, I write about books. 

What is your most viewed post? And why do you think this is the case?
A book review about a popular Julia Quinn historical romance novel. I think it's because I am critical of the book that is quite popular? It's so close to being a good book, but sort of glorifies marital rape and I'm not on board for that. 

Do you answer comments on your blog? If so, what method do you use (email, post on blog)? 
I used to not answer comments on my blog because I assumed no one would ever come to blog twice. In the last year or two I have been answering the comments in my comments because I do sometimes go back and see how my favorite bloggers respond to my comments. I don't kid myself that I'm anyone's favorite blogger or that they will return to see what I've written, but if someone takes the time to write something to me, I think it's nice to acknowledge that I've read it and appreciate it. 

Do you go back to see if a blog post that you commented on got replies? If so, how do you keep track? 
I sometimes do go back, but mostly I just wait for another post from that blogger to appear in Feedly and then I'll read the responses to the previous post while I'm reading the current post. I'm sure I miss some this way, but it's the only system I have. 

What blog that you still read now have you read the longest?

I think it's Suzanne's blog, Life of a Doctor's Wife. I feel like there was a while there when it seemed like the two of us were the only ones still blogging. I remember her writing about how uncertain she was if she wanted to have a baby and now the hypothetical baby is double-digit years old!

Do you post on other forms of social media regularly? If so, where?

A lot of photos that end up on the blog were originally photos I took for Instagram. You can find a link to my Instagram on my sidebar. Other than that...I have a Facebook account, but don't really post much there. I'm FB friends with my boss, so I'm cautious over there!

I do not link my blog to any of my social media. A lot of people in real life have no idea I blog or, if they do know, they don't know what it is or how to find it.

If you talk about people in your real life, do you use their real names? 

Nope. Except for my friend Tabetha who I have, oddly, decided doesn't get a pseudonym. I've known Tabs since SECOND GRADE. We were SEVEN. 

If you could get paid to blog no matter what you are writing about, what would your focus/theme be? 

Books. Books. Books. All the books. With occasional mentions of my pets.

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What's the blog you've read the longest? 

2023 Blog Stats

Every year Stephany does a wrap-up of her blog stats and I'm always so jealous! Then I realized that I don't *have* to be jealous - I can just do it, too. I don't think Blogger gives as many stats as whatever she uses, but I do have some things to share.

The Stats (for the last twelve months)
227,000 pageviews
10,700 comments
516 posts (this is too many posts)
136 book reviews

Most people come to my blog via other blogs. Nicole, Stephany, Maya, Elisabeth, and Allison are my top referral sources.

People from around the world view my blog, but especially people in the US, Canada, and Singapore. 

Top Five Blog Posts of 2023

(Blogs written in 2023, in order of number of pageviews.)

1. Week 4: A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Chapters 19-26 - It has to be the riveting discussion of Tammany Hall, right?

2. 3.13 Failure - A Matter of Timing - When we bought our house, I spent ages going to antique shops and tons of money furnishing our house. But now, just when our house is pretty much fully furnished, we are getting some family furniture.

3. Beauty Tax - A very recent post about how much money I spend on personal care items. Do you think it's because I used actual dollar amounts? Or because it's so controversial? I'm still talking to my husband about the comment section of this post.

4. Week 1: A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Chapters 1-5 - I am so surprised at how much love there is for the Cool Bloggers Book Club posts in the top five!

5. Week 2: A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Chapters 6-10 - YOU GUYS. The photo collages of everyone's books are here. Birchie shared her dust jacket that included so much awesome stuff. I love that I asked you all to do homework and you did it. 

My All-Time Top Five Blog Posts

(Total number of pageviews.)

1. The Duke and I (with second epilogue) by Julia Quinn - I stand by this book review. Rape is not sexy.

2. A Holiday Survey - I answered questions about how I celebrate the holidays (totally copied from Lisa).

3. November Physical Activity Accountability Buddy - I post one of these every month. Why is this one so popular? (I bet it has to do with all the photos of Hannah.)

4. Thanksgiving Gratitude - From 2021. 

5. Is C.C. DeVille Gay? - I wrote this in 2006!! I have NO IDEA if he's gay or not, but the post only got two comments and people were outraged that I even suggested it. I'm sorry, Mr. DeVille, for speculating about your sexuality. But why did you and Bret get into a fight?

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What was your top post of the year? 

11.14 Control - Back It Up!

Bestest Friend and I are doing a blog project. Each day we will write a post on a pre-determined theme chosen by a random noun generator. The theme for the fourteenth day of the month is "Control."

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There's a lot going on in my life right now that I can't control. But when I recently found out that Elisabeth's blog had been deleted, I felt so terrible for her. Talk about something you can't control! I realized that I'd never backed up my own blog, so I decided to make it a priority.

In Blogger, it's pretty easy, although I had no idea how to even start until I did a Google. (Are any of you following the Google anti-trust lawsuits?  I'm fascinated by it and since I'm 100% all-in in the the world of Google, I'm nervous about what outcome might happen in terms of my own personal internet use/storage/email.)

Step One: On your Blogger dashboard, select "Settings." 

Step Two: Scroll down to Manage Blog. Select Back up content. 

Step Three: You're done! Store that file somewhere safe! This only saves posts, pages and comments, so all the images are gone. Hm. 

Step Four: Repeat Step Two with Videos from your blog and Media from your blog to save videos and images.  

I'm not 100% sure what I would do with these files if something happened to my blog, but at least I'd have them?  

Random photo of Zelda Belda just so I had a photo to add for my "Control" folder. LOL.

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Have you ever backed up your blog? 

2.21 Decision - Keeping Going

Bestest Friend and I are doing a blog project. Every day we will write a blog post on a pre-determined topic chosen by a random noun generator. The theme for the twenty-first day of the month is "Decision."

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In 2004, I started this blog on a whim. My roommate had a blog and I thought it would be fun to have someplace to jot down my thoughts about life. I kept at it, blogging at least once a month ever since then. I started it before I met my husband, when I was struggling with graduate school, and having some issues with housing. I've kept at it through my engagement and wedding, several moves, new pets, the death of my father, and more jobs than I can list.

For most of those years, no one read my blog, there was no engagement, and I was all alone in marveling over the extraordinary nature of my cat's tail. But I primarily thought of it as a record for myself and purposefully made the decision to spend no money on the blog, but to keep on keeping on. I blogged about my day-to-day life, my mental health, books (of course), family struggles, and my career ups and downs. 

But in the last year or so, there has been this growing blogging community that has reenergized me. People are so encouraging and smart and wise and witty and they have adorable kids and dogs. On Monday afternoon, I was feeling a bit down by the world at large and stress related to my job search and my volunteer gig, but when I got the mail, I had letters and cards from Meike, Nicole, and Elisabeth. I am so happy for our little community that has so many connections. I happily added these to my holiday card display which is looking less and less sad with every passing day.  

Later that afternoon, I also got this super exciting package from San! I was the winner of her giveaway for people who did NaBloPoMo and it was such a true delight to have all these lovely goodies arrive out of the blue.  What a lovely thing to do! I'm so thankful to all of you in this blogging community and I wish all of you a happy surprise when you're feeling down, too!

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To see what Bestest Friend has to say about decision, go visit her at Too Legit to Quit.