Happy Blogiversary to me!

I can hardly believe it…this blog is four years old! Yup, four years ago today I was wondering if anyone would ever read it. Amazingly, the answer turned out to be yes!

Over that four years I’ve done 245 posts. Which rather makes me laugh, because one of my initial fears was that I wouldn’t find enough to say to have a blog. I had a lot of fears that kept me from starting sooner, and the one I remember most was the fear I’d either get bored or not have anything to write about. As I mentioned on my first blog anniversary, I finally got myself to start by giving myself permission to stop if I found I didn’t like it.

Writing as the Queen of Fifty Cents has turned out to be one of the funnest things I’ve ever done. Almost as much fun as actually going to the sales I write about. The amazing variety of incredibly inexpensive stuff I’ve found over the years has been gratifying,

          

but the real fun has been the people – both the ones I encounter at sales and the ones who stop by here. As of this writing, I’ve had over 268,000 visits. A whole bunch of you are regulars – 389 followers and 576 subscribers via Google Reader. And y’all have left over 2600 comments! All of you who have blogs of your own know how wonderful it is to get those comments. I can hardly wait to read them each week.

Four years. I was about four when this picture was taken.

Yeah, we’re smiling, but we were probably seconds away from fighting over who got to sit in the front seat.

Four years is long enough to get a bachelor’s degree. (At least in theory. It took me 7 years and 4 universities to get mine.) These past four years have seen a number of changes in my life. We created a pretty wonderful garden and welcomed about 500 people during a garden tour. I finished my library career and retired. We bought a house in Oregon and finally got to move into it. Our sweet dog Lizzie left us, and now Zoe  is here.

 

I wrote three novels, two of which are currently available, and the third should be out this year. I’m glad to say I’m still hanging out with the same husband. (There’s only so much change you should have to go through!)

I was bemused a few weeks ago to discover I’d been included on Women’s Money Week’s “Ultimate List of Women Money Bloggers.” Honored, but bemused. Most everyone else on the list writes about how they are getting out of debt, and how they budget, and how they’re doing with their goals.My blog is probably the only one on the list focused on taking pictures of people’s dogs

    

and getting folks to tell me the stories of the things they’re letting go. Most of the time they have made me laugh with their stories, and come to think of it that may be why my frugality has been successful. It’s no hardship to spend so little when it’s so much fun.

So here’s to my blog’s 4th birthday. Many happy returns of the day – and of you!