Delurk for us today!

January 25, 2023 — nicoleandmaggie

We haven’t done a delurking post in YEARS.  Like, maybe 10 years?

We miss our lost commenters.  We love our current commenters.  We wonder about the new people who have been reading but haven’t necessarily joined in the conversation.

So, in the interest of increasing conversation, we’re declaring this Grumpy Rumblings Delurking Day.

If you’re a reader of ours but not a regular commenter, say hi, and, if you like, tell us a little about yourself.  If that’s intimidating, then tell us what you like about our blog or what you’d like to see more of.  If that seems self-serving on our parts, then just say hi (and we’ll understand)!

If the problem is thinking up a screen name, we recommend choosing a font name.  Here’s a list, though you may of course choose something else.

There’s no captcha code, so delurk now!

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: , , . 82 Comments »

Grumpy Rumblings 2022 Year in Blogging

January 2, 2023 — nicoleandmaggie

Can’t believe another year has passed.  Let’s look at some stats!  I will note that some of these stats may be undercounts because wordpress stats has been wonky much of December this year and hasn’t been recording any thing it’s been tracking for some weeks.

Traffic is down compared to last year.  Posts are down a bit (202 this year compared to 209)), and comments are also down.

These are the posts that got the most views in 2022:

Four of these are from 2022 (Last year only two were from 2021!) and, for the first time, the post from students trying to plagiarize a really common composition assignment not only isn’t #1, it isn’t in the top 10. We have lost the market on plagiarizing a short essay about a relative’s wedding. (It still got 480 views though.)  Some of our other common standbys are still in the top 10 though (liberty tabletop review, percent vs. percentage point, our parenting philosophy, etc.)

According to our stats, here’s another five of the most popular posts from 2022:

Ok, what I’m getting from this is either I have had a really bad year OR there are suddenly a lot more people hate reading us and a lot fewer search engines finding us.  Are you hate reading or just sympathetic? Was my year really as terrible as it seems from traffic? Let us know!

Top referring sites were (same sites but slightly different order from last year):

Most visitors came from The United States. Canada & the UK came next.  Germany is inching up.

Our most commented post was Add me to the numbers of people who got covid for the first time this past month (note to self for next year:  this stat is now hidden under “insights” which is now a tab on site stats) (Thank you previous self!  Also, self next year, it’s been further hidden in the comments part– you have to scroll down and change to comments by posts and pages where it says comments by authors) (Thank you previous self!)

I can’t get the most active commenters for the year, only for what appears to be all time.  So what I’m doing is looking at how many pages of comments each person in the top 6 (which is all they show) gave this year (each page has 20 comments) :( These were the most active commenters of all time, sorted by the number of comments in the past year, but I may be missing newer active commenters or regulars who have changed the email they login with over the years.

1.  Debbie M 9 pages
2.  Revanche@agaishanlife 9 pages
3.  First Gen American 7 pages
4.  CG 6 pages
5.  Alice 4 pages
6.  Bogart 3 pages

Debbie M has a bunch more on that 9th page than Revanche, but it was pretty close.

Yay Debbie M!  This means you get to tell us where to donate the proceeds from our most recent month’s sales (plus a bump because amazon sales are also way down).    Either tell us and link up in the comments (if you want more exposure) or email us at grumpyrumblings at gmail if you want it to be more secret-like.

Any blog commentary or highlights from the grumpy gallery?  Also, congratulate Debbie M in the comments.  :)

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: , , , . 17 Comments »

RBOC

November 9, 2022 — nicoleandmaggie
  • As I dig into old drafts for post ideas, I wonder, am I running out of ideas?
  • I guess a lot of my brain cycles are taken up with incipient fascism and there’s only so much I can talk about that without everyone getting depressed.  Plus my kids are older and their business is their business to a much greater extent.  Nobody wants to discuss teens or even pre-teens like they want to discuss toddlers.
  • I will say that my kids are really really neat.  Watching them grow up into their own people is so amazing.  It’s crazy that DC1 will be off to college in a year and we think zie is going to be ok on hir own.
  • That said, I am a little concerned about DC1 being able to actually feed hirself.  Everything else, no problem.  Choosing food and getting it eaten before low blood sugar sets in, maybe not as confident.  (This is something zie inherited from me, but I didn’t realize until I was married and DH pointed it out because his mom has the same problem if she doesn’t eat.  At least DC1 grew up knowing.)  Like I’ve said before, a college with full dining hall service would be ideal.
  • DC2 grew a full inch last month.  Now 4’9″.  Soon I will be the shortest person in the house except for the cat.
  • Maybe I’ve said all the things I had to say.  Like, I had 30-odd years to think up the things that got detailed long posts on the blog back when we started and now I’ve already written about them and don’t need to write about them again.  So that leaves little twitter-sized snippets.  But I don’t have twitter, so they end up on these RBOC.
  • I have been having a lot of headaches recently.  I am not a fan.  I don’t know if it’s pressure or menopause or not enough stretching my upper-back/neck after doing various exercises with dumbells (lateral lifts are hard!).  Or maybe I’m just not sleeping correctly.  Stretches, massages, hot baths, and just heat in general seem to help (also OTC painkillers, though sometimes it takes two kinds).  Also it not being overcast helps.
  • I’m definitely getting to the age where I can talk about my aches and pains ad infinitum.  I try not to in polite company though!
  • Exercise continues to be happening.  I think I feel more nimble and stronger?  It’s not as obvious as with DH who has been doing it for a year now.
Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: , , . 18 Comments »

Abandoned Wednesday post ideas from 2011

October 5, 2022 — nicoleandmaggie
  • Here’s the list from 2010
  • Websites for kids.  This was a list from 2011.  In case you’re interested:  http://www.starfall.com http://playinterrobang.com/missions http://www.bigbrainz.com/ http://www.coolmath4kids.com/ .  The only one I remember DC1 playing a lot was starfall.com.  DC2 used it too but not as much.  11 years ago is a long time when you’re a kid!  I did not check to see if these still exist.
  • Money is about life.  This was actually an abandoned Monday post.  It was supposed to be deep and philosophical.  But I only got as far as:  “time is money too”
  • Goal ladders.  I’d come across a really neat psychology article in the course of my research and wanted to talk about it.  I don’t know what article it was.  All I have written is:  “Focus on future vs. focus on accomplishments”
  • Playground equipment.  This was going to be a rant about how they’d gotten rid of swing sets in all of the playgrounds in our county and some discussion about the old playgrounds still standing in the place we were on leave.  All I have written is:  “safe/boring.”
  • Real Self vs. Ideal Self. “pictures of both” And then this link to unclutterer that no longer goes anywhere:  http://unclutterer.com/2011/06/14/living-as-close-as-possible-to-your-ideal-self/#comments .  Since the article is gone, I’m not really sure what the post was going to be about.  I mean, I like to think I’m constantly trying to grow and improve, and I’ve definitely taken steps to change myself in the past… but I probably have reached a bit of a complacency rut in middle-age that I didn’t have back 11 years ago.  Who knows.  I don’t know my real self or my ideal self and these days I’m just trying to get things done without the long-term planning.
  • Which is more important preparing for baby: money or time?  I probably could still write this one and it would generate a lively discussion.  But I can’t find myself caring that much?  I think my natural state of the world is that babies are boring, and it’s only when I have one of my own that the topic is at all interesting.  Here are my notes:  family money, whether joint or separate finances; cost of childbirth (varies by state, insurance); story about working over time; push presents.  (BTW, push presents are such a ridiculous concept.  I’m pretty sure this post was sparked by the comments on that post.)
  • Cooking for diabetes/insulin resistance.  I’m worried that my knowledge on this topic is at least 11 years out of date.  Though I think cooking magazines now “get it.” Here’s my few sentences on the topic: Cooking when you’re insulin resistant or diabetic is all about the glycemic index. As best as I understand it, you want foods or combinations of foods that are slow to digest because this decreases the incidence of insulin spikes.  It’s really weird how so many of the cooking magazines I saw had recipes with baked potatoes and white rice.  Hello, not glycemically balanced.
  • Learning that you shouldn’t have tantrums in stores.  Another one I probably could write up.  But I’ve come to realize that my childhood was maybe not so great in many ways and I’d prefer not to dwell on it.  The short version is my father would only let me get a hard candy lollypop (like butterscotch) at See’s Candy.  Once (when I was small) I tantrummed that I wanted something else.  He dragged me kicking and screaming out of the store and I didn’t get the lollypop at all.  Then I have some commentary:  “somehow my kid is way better behaved… maybe just not old enough… doesn’t seem to have as big a sweet tooth either.”  There’s a lot of introspection in that comment from 2011 that I don’t really want to go into.  Anyhow, that was my last tantrum that I recall.
  • We’re down to 95 drafts now.  Next up:  2012.  I wonder what will happen if we run out.  Will we be able to come up with new stuff?
Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: . 19 Comments »

Grumpy Rumblings 2021 year in Blogging

January 3, 2022 — nicoleandmaggie

Traffic is again a little up compared to last year.  Posts are down a bit (209 this year compared to 210(!)), and comments are also up.

These are the posts that got the most views in 2021:

Two of these are from 2021 (Last year none of them were from 2020!) and, of course, the #1 post is still from students trying to plagiarize a really common composition assignment. We have cornered the market on plagiarizing a short essay about a relative’s wedding.

According to our stats, here’s the most popular posts from 2021:

  • I am not ok
  • Why I don’t want to list my pronouns
  • RBOC from March 1, 2021 (I think this is a first for an RBOC)  This one has a lot of complaining that is also in I am not ok above.  People like complaining!
  • Link Love from Jan 2, 2021 (I think this is a first for a Link Love).  See above comment about people loving complaining.
  • DH’s Delta Trainer/Co-Pilot Review  (DH is still going strong with this and would 100% recommend if you want to get into shape and have time to do so– if there is interest, I can do a post updating.)

Top referring sites were (no change from last year!):

Most visitors came from The United States. Canada & the UK came next.

Our most commented post was Why I don’t want to list my pronouns (note to self for next year:  this stat is now hidden under “insights” and is no longer on site stats) (Thank you previous self!  Also, self next year, it’s been further hidden in the comments part– you have to change to comments by posts and pages where it says comments by authors) (Thank you previous self!)

I can’t get the most active commenters for the year, only for some undetermined amount of time. :( These were the 5 most active commenters on that unspecified amount of time:

1.  Revanche@agaishanlife 60
2.  Debbie M 36
3.  First Gen American 30
4.  Three way tie for 4th:  mnitabach, omdg, Matthew D. Healy 27

Yay Revanche!  This means you get to tell us where to donate our most recent month’s proceeds from amazon sales.  Either tell us and link up in the comments (if you want more exposure) or email us at grumpyrumblings at gmail if you want it to be more secret-like.

Any blog commentary or highlights from the grumpy gallery?  Also, congratulate Revanche in the comments.  :)

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: , , , , . 22 Comments »

Abandoned Wednesday post ideas from 2010

September 15, 2021 — nicoleandmaggie
  • We have a ton of money posts and a ton of Ask the Grumpies, but these Wednesday posts are a bit harder to come up with.  I guess all I think about these days is money and work and whatever interesting questions Grumpy Nation comes up with for us?  I’ve been dipping into our archives for ideas and it’s a bit crazy how irrelevant or not applicable so many of these things are now.
  • The oldest abandoned post is called “On the Importance of Moxy.”  It only has a title and it was started in 2010.  I’m pretty sure it was about faking it until you make it and how you shouldn’t put yourself down because people start believing it.  But now I know more about the double-bind that women are in and how hard it is to get that humble yet confident thing right.  And the literature says to praise other women and have other people praise you, but what happens there is that sometimes other people don’t praise you back and then they end up getting resources because the powers that be think you’ll be ok with that.  I’ve gotten so negative!  Not just cynical, but also negative.  Maybe I’ll delete that one.  Still– don’t put yourself down.  That never helps because people do believe you.
  • The next one is about Nice to Live vs. Nice to Visit (also 2010) and I think that was about how nice it is to visit some places (Boston, LA) but not as great to live there.  4 years of Trump has made me rethink what it means for a place to be nice to live.  Though I still am worried about the unhealthy body images that LA indoctrinates people with.
  • The last 2010 post was a Mini-rant that I thought for sure I’d just use sometime when we needed a post.  Maybe I’ll do that even though the thing it’s ranting about isn’t as big a deal as it seemed to be 10 years ago when unhealthily messed-up “raw/honest” etc. was in.  With picture-perfect influencers being “in” right now it’s a bit outdated.  Still, there may be a backlash brewing.  Maybe you’ll see it next week!  (But also maybe not!)
  • After deleting or scheduling those 2010 posts we now have 142 items in drafts (not including this one which is scheduled).

Do you have any thoughts on places that are nice to live vs. nice to visit?  How important do you think moxy is?  Have you worked on not putting yourself down or does it come naturally to you?  Are you interested in me going through 2011 next?

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: . 30 Comments »

Grumpy Rumblings 2020 year in Blogging

December 30, 2020 — nicoleandmaggie

Traffic is actually a little up compared to last year.  Scalzi noted this trend too on his Whatever, so maybe blog traffic is generally up with the pandemic?  Posts are up a bit (210 this year, counting this one), and comments are also up.

These are the posts that got the most views in 2020:

I think these probably show an increase in people finding our blog via googling and perhaps a decrease in conversations across blogs (or twitter) bringing in traffic.  None of these are from 2020 (which is a first– usually there’s at least one popular post for the year) and the #1 post is still from students trying to plagiarize a really common composition assignment. We have cornered the market on plagiarizing a short essay about a relative’s wedding.

According to our stats, here’s the most popular posts from 2020:

Top referring sites were:

Most visitors came from The United States. Canada & the UK came next.

Our most commented post was Spoiled rich white boys:  Sophomore English hasn’t changed in 60 years (note to self for next year:  this stat is now hidden under “insights” and is no longer on site stats) (Thank you previous self!  Also, self next year, it’s been further hidden in the comments part– you have to change to comments by posts and pages where it says comments by authors) (Thank you previous self!)

I can’t get the most active commenters for the year, only for some undetermined amount of time. :( These were the 5 most active commenters on that unspecified amount of time:

1.  Revanche@agaishanlife 45
2.  Jenny F. Scientist 44
3.  Debbie M 37
4.  omdg 32
5.  Steph 29

I think this is a first time for Steph on the leader board!

Yay Revanche!  This means you get to tell us where to donate our most recent month’s proceeds from amazon sales.  Either tell us and link up in the comments (if you want more exposure) or email us at grumpyrumblings at gmail if you want it to be more secret-like.

Any blog commentary or highlights from the grumpy gallery?  Also, congratulate Revanche in the comments.  :)

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: , , , . 22 Comments »

Grumpy Rumblings 2019 year in Blogging

January 8, 2020 — nicoleandmaggie

Traffic continues its downward trend.  Again, blog traffic in general is down, and we haven’t really been doing deliberately controversial posts, we’re not on twitter, etc.  I think we’ve been engaging less with the blogosphere as a whole in terms of commenting on others’ blogs (and we’re off some blogrolls that we used to be on, though I’m not sure why this year… we don’t seem to have any obviously controversial posts or commenting drama this year).  We have a record low number of posts this year with 198 (previous low was 210).  And I suspect our posts just haven’t been as interesting.  Comments are down which I entirely attribute to Chacha1 being MIA (you are missed, chacha!), number of likes is about the same as last year.

These are the posts that got the most views in 2018:

I think these probably show an increase in people finding our blog via googling and perhaps a decrease in conversations across blogs (or twitter) bringing in traffic.  Again, only two of these are from 2019 and the #1 post is still from students trying to plagiarize a really common composition assignment. We have cornered the market on plagiarizing a short essay about a relative’s wedding.

According to our stats, here’s the most popular posts from 2019:

Top referring sites were:

Most visitors came from The United States. Canada & India came next.

Our most commented post was things you don’t actually have to do (unless you want to) (note to self for next year:  this stat is now hidden under “insights” and is no longer on site stats) (Thank you previous self!  Also, self next year, it’s been further hidden in the comments part– you have to change to comments by posts and pages where it says comments by authors)

I can’t get the most active commenters for the year, only for some undetermined amount of time. :( These were the 5 most active commenters on that unspecified amount of time:

1.  Debbie M 46
2.  Michael N Nitabach 45
3.  Revanche@agaishanlife 43
4.  First Gen American 39
5.  bogart 33

Great to see bogart back in action!  And I think this is a first time for comrade Nitabach on the leader board.

Yay Debbie M!  This means you get to tell us where to donate our most recent month’s proceeds from amazon sales.  Either tell us and link up in the comments (if you want more exposure) or email us at grumpyrumblings at gmail if you want it to be more secret-like.

Any blog commentary or highlights from the grumpy gallery?  Also, congratulate Debbie M in the comments.  :)

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: , , . 16 Comments »

Belated Grumpy Rumblings 2018 Year in Blogging

January 21, 2019 — nicoleandmaggie

Late because #1 is overburdened with service and teaching this year and has been sick and just has not had time for much of anything.   She does not like being in charge of everything, which I guess is what happens when you gain seniority and other people in seniority retire or become department chair so you end up being asked to do the service they did before they retired or got tapped for chair.  :(

Traffic continues its downward trend.  Again, blog traffic in general is down, and we haven’t really been doing deliberately controversial posts, we’re not on twitter, etc.  Or maybe we’re just not sparking joy for people and getting weeded because of Kondomania.  Comments are about the same, number of likes has more than doubled.

These are the posts that got the most views in 2018:

I think these probably show an increase in people finding our blog via googling and perhaps a decrease in conversations across blogs (or twitter) bringing in traffic.  Again, only one of these is from 2018 and the #1 post is still from students trying to plagiarize a really common composition assignment. We have cornered the market on plagiarizing a short essay about a relative’s wedding.

According to our stats, here’s the most popular posts from 2018:

Top referring sites were:

Most visitors came from The United States. Canada & India came next.

Our most commented post was DH got a 10% raise and now we’re really going to have some obnoxious money posts (note to self for next year:  this stat is now hidden under “insights” and is no longer on site stats)

I can’t get the most active commenters for the year, only for some undetermined amount of time. :( These were the 5 most active commenters on that unspecified amount of time:

1.  Revanche@agaishanlife 67
2.  rose 46
3.  gasstationwithoutpumps 44
4.  Debbie M 39
5.  Leah 38

Man, Chacha totally fell off the map this year!

Yay Revanche!  This means you get to tell us where to donate our most recent month’s proceeds from amazon sales.  Either tell us and link up in the comments (if you want more exposure) or email us at grumpyrumblings at gmail if you want it to be more secret-like.

Any blog commentary or highlights from the grumpy gallery?  Also, congratulate Revanche in the comments.  :)

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: , , . 17 Comments »

Welcome to our semi-break

July 5, 2016 — nicoleandmaggie

We’ll be posting less in July.  We both have multiple papers to finish in the next 6 weeks and we both have family travel planned.  Plus, it’s summer.

Tune in on Mondays and Fridays throughout July for new stuff, and feel free to read our archives on other days  :-)

And who knows, there might be a surprise post      here or there in the middle of the week.  We also haven’t decided about link love.  But definitely not a full slate of posts this month.

Cheers, mates!

 

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: , . 6 Comments »
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