Catching Up...Life Goes On...

We celebrated my birthday. I stopped at the Social Security office and got my name changed there too. My grandmother gave me the best birthday gift, she gave Matt and I the cake stand, the same one that all the birthday cakes have been on, the cake stand that our wedding cake stood on. She did it in her true style. Gave it to me with a bunch of potatoes and carrots…no fuss and frill and all practical. It was wonderful.

 

We went to my parents. It was nice to get back there again…really hadn’t been there in awhile…I don’t think we can count the wedding, that was a blur! We brought back all the wedding presents.

 

We couldn’t bring the arbor home yet. That will be another special truck haul back.We chopped wood for Mom and Dad, which is also way more fun in September than February. But this should be a good start for them. Matt always enjoys doing that.

 

We started organizing the house a bit more…or tried to.

I harvested my garden. I had so few tomatoes grow on my plant I could have named them. If I get every single one that has bloomed to actually develop it will be 5. How embarrassing. I really wanted to do some canning this year…so I begged and borrowed from anyone that would give tomatoes to me. I tried my luck a little and made spaghetti sauce. I also have plans to try tomato soup and plain tomatoes. We’ll see. I did have to call my grandmother on my first attempt.
Grandma: How many did you get made?
ALR: I think I’m not very good at looking at a recipe and seeing how many cans I actually need.
Grandma: Oh, I’m still not very good at that.
ALR: Well that doesn’t give me hope.

 

Other milestone that has happened…we hit 300 posts during September and also by passed most posts for one year. Here are some stats and facts.

• Most used tag is family (170) followed by weekend (167).
• The site has had 5360 pageviews (compared to 2158 when we were at the 200th blog post).
• The highest month was September 2013, this isn’t a shock, especially when you consider it also had the most blog posts.
• The blog has been viewed in 4 countries (USA 5252, Canada 54, Russia 17, and Brazil 4).
• The 2 most viewed posts on an individual basis are “California Girl” and “Moving…” both from 2012.
• The biggest traffic was from our wedding site that we used to collect RSVP’s, www.mywedding.com/matthewandamanadaremnyse.
• The biggest fans are Diana Moser and Randy Remynse…biggest in terms of most vocal. Kevin Remynse makes honorable mention for most comments.
• The blog has had 3 different layouts…and is probably ready for another as the maroon will be around for 2 full years this coming December.

Best meal: pizza and beer for my 30th birthday...to be honest...it was A & B pizza (pepperoni, hawaiian and hawaiian and pepperoni) and Happy Joe Taco Pizza and Summer Shandy Beer.

 

ALR: Tell me a story…when you were young?

MJR: Oh you’re funny. Once upon a time, I met a blonde and married her.

ALR: That’s a good story.