Five Years! #Blogiversary

Wow! It is so hard for me to believe, but today marks the fifth anniversary of when I started this blog and made my first post (which was just a "hi, I'm here" type of post). If you had asked me on that random day in 2008, how long I thought I would be blogging, I'm not sure that I would have ever guessed I would still be at it after five years; after all, I started the blog on a bit of a lark. I had been out surfing the web and seeing all of the other blogs that were sharing about deals and opportunities, recipes and life.

As I was reading the other blogs, one of the things that struck me more than anything was the idea that you could get deals at the drugstore. I could remember a time, a few years earlier, where I had headed to a CVS and bought something like a pair of hosiery for a wedding. I remember them being on 'sale' but that it wasn't actually a sale price, to take advantage of the actual deal, you had to come back. I can still remember my first CVS shopping trip, after I started reading about the drug store game on so many other blogs. I was so nervous, I was shaking and I kept thinking that the clerk is going to tell me that I can't do that...I can't actually buy product for nothing OOP. But, I did. With each visit, I gained confidence. I learned that half the battle was finding the right sequencing of the items, to maximize the savings and minimize the out of pocket. I thought, I considered myself a reasonably cost conscientious shopper, if I didn't know about the drug store game, there might be others that would benefit from reading about the scenarios that I saw for the coming week. I thought, why not set up a blog where I could share my plans and deals. Plus, an intern at work had asked one day that summer, do you have a blog...it seemed like a sign, that I should join in.

In order to start the blog, I faced one of the biggest challenges - choosing a name. I wanted something simple, yet memorable. There were a variety of blogs that I was reading at the time, with some that I read the most being The "Cent"sible Sawyer, Money Saving Mom, Rocks in my Dryer, and Mommin' It Up. I was worried that if I chose too specific of a name, that I would lock myself in. Although I have now seen a few of my favorites update their identity successfully. In the end, A Busy Mom of Two seemed to be a good fit. It didn't necessarily seem to say a lot about the content, but if nothing else, it was a description of my life and hopefully, something that others could relate to. Of course, sitting here 5 years later, I realize what an understatement busy really is. At the time I started my blog, my son was almost 5 and my daughter was 18 months. I felt busy then, but I am here to tell you that I am still busy, but it is a very different busy.

My strengths in life have always been in the area of science and math and never really considered myself to be creative. I have really enjoyed having the blog as a creative outlet. I have used it as a way to share with others the things that I love - cooking and baking, reading, music, movies and more. I enjoy trying new recipes to share on the blog (although, most of my recipes now I share on A Busy Mom of Two In the Kitchen). I really enjoy all of the books that I get to read and share. I have discovered new authors and grew in my enjoyment of familiar authors as I have read books and shared about them here on the blog. I have had the opportunity to check out so many new things in general.

In addition, as time has passed, I have found in my life that others come to me to talk through challenges and looking for ideas. A Busy Mom of Two has allowed me to share many ideas and tips, things that have worked for me to solve one thing or another - whether it be doing laundry each day or tackling cleaning one room at a time, the tips are nothing earth shattering or crazy creative, but honest, tried and true ways that I tackle things. In fact, as a regular participant in Works for Me Wednesday (at least I used to be), I even found links to my posts included in an eBook that was published, which I thought was pretty cool!

I am really enjoying my experience as a blogger and hope to continue for years to come. Thank you for being a reader - having readers and reading comments or posts on Facebook is part of what I love best! And, to help celebrate, I have a couple of upcoming giveaways that I will be posting in the coming week and a big giveaway coming in August.