Blog Review: Thinks By Me

The Blog: Thinks by me

The Reviewer: Omega mom from 3 kids No Job

First impressions:

It took a while to load so I had to time to ponder the enigmatic title. A song, maybe? Then I got to the profile. “A kickboxing Mum of 2”? “Recovering Type A personality”? Wow! Blog as energy bar. I’m interested.

Design:

What a nice, easy design to follow. There was a good, clear layout and excellent, and restrained, use of graphics. She is somebody who clearly has a strong visual sense and it really shows. There was only one small disappointment: that relaxing picture of a coffee cup suggested a mid-morning break while the kids are at school, rather than manic, kickboxing energy.

Content:

She’s a regular blogger – 25 posts in August – not easy with the summer holidays, so well done. Posts go up every couple of days, so lots of fresh content. That coffee cup visual is an accurate reflection of the content. I was imagining a manic, Type A blog kick-boxing its way through cyberspace. In fact, it’s essentially a ‘What I did’ diary that records the everyday niggles and triumphs that characterise life with children: vans that break down just as you’re planning a holiday; the trial of back to school shopping expeditions and so on. It’s all pleasant stuff, if undemanding.

Depending on where she wants to go with her blog, something to consider might be a bit more development of some of the themes she raises. For example, http://jjecolsen.blogspot.com/2007/08/different-looks.html tackles a subject of great interest to a lot of women – why men on the whole prefer their partners to have long hair. Judging by the comments she got for this post – the ‘stinking men’ one made me chuckle - the topic arouses strong feelings. She could do a lot more with it.

Similarly I was intrigued to note that she really enjoys shopping with the children for their school uniforms. http://jjecolsen.blogspot.com/2007/08/school-shopping-ya-poo.html If I told friends I enjoyed shopping with my children for their school stuff, they’d lynch me and it’s something I’d simply assumed was universally loathed by everyone. Again, it’s a topic that might be worth developing because she has a different take on the subject.

Best and worst:

Super design. No real worst. At a personal level, the Christianity, though prominent in the sidebars, didn’t dominate the content, which I find a comfortable arrangement.

Blogrollworthy:

I’d certainly consider coming back to this one, if only because I’d love to know where the kickboxing comes in! She has an interesting perspective on aspects of family life but I’m not sure she realises this. If she takes a step back once in a while and maybe looks at writing about a few more of the ‘whys’ in her life, rather than just the ‘whats’ she might end up with something quite special.

Score: