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The Mommy Blog
I have to say that first impressions of the site came not with the loading of the page, but with the title itself ‘The Mommy Blog’. I’m not a Mommy, and I honestly couldn’t see what there would be for me there if the whole thing was centred around being a ‘Mommy’. But I persisted. This is not the weblog of a typical stay-at-home Mommy, and this is reflected through the entire blog. In one form or another the weblog has been around since December 2002, and is well established with a personal theme, and a good set of visitors.
As I had expected the site mostly consists of personal entries - about her family, her job and random life events as and when they happen. The posts are largely well written and easy to follow - the author writes well, and this is a definite bonus for any blog regardless of the content. Her posts are however sporadic, varying both in terms of posting consistency and quality/appeal of content. Not every post held my rapt attention, but all in all it was an enjoyable and worthwhile read. I couldn’t help but feel that this weblog is going to be more popular amongst fellow working Mum’s, judging by content at least.
The design is beautifully done and is individual, really suiting the style of its owner. It’s a commonly utilised 3 column layout, content in the centre flanked on either side by various internal and external links. There were two main problems I picked up on however. The first being the method of skinning the site, which didn’t work the two occasions I visited this site - Bit of a disappointment, as I was curious about the alternatives to the main theme. The second is the section “I’m telling” which resides at the bottom of the right hand column - the method of showing recent referrals to the site was pushing the fixed column out. Admittedly not a huge problem, but it was a blotch on an otherwise pristine template.
I found the content well written I couldn’t with all honesty say that this was a blog I would visit on a regular basis. I do feel it has appeal, just to a restricted audience. It’s contribution to the weblog world however is an insight into the life of a working Mum, and this if expanded on a little more could really have potential. An interesting diversion, a potentially good 3.5
This site was reviewed on 2004-04-19 by fembat.
They felt this site belonged in the Personal category.
fembat felt that The Mommy Blog deserved a rating of 3.5.
The Mommy Blog is the brainchild of Mindy, a mother of three living in the San Francisco Bay area. The layout is fun and quirky, with a header featuring a variety of 'mommy-centric' quotes and a picture of a playful, laughing woman -- presumably Mindy herself. Based on the design, I expected a whimsical look at the life of a mother, with a touch of humor in each post.
I dug into the archives, which go back to late 2002, and found pretty much what I expected -- lots of stories and anecdotes about Mindy's kids, and the experience of bringing up a group of youngsters. The posts are entertaining, ranging from 'awwww!' moments about the cute and innocent things the kids are saying to the harried (but often hilarious) pull-out-your-hair moments that mommy Mindy occasionally endures. Taken together, the stories paint a full and eye-opening picture of the ups and downs -- but mostly ups -- of motherhood, as seen through one witty, upbeat woman's eyes.
The entries are fairly sparse until the summer of 2003, when the post frequency grows to several each week, and later to multiple posts just about every day. This is also the time when Mindy begins to expand her range of topics a bit more, and write about other areas of her life. The majority of material is still devoted to her 'kidlets', but the recent posts provide a more complete picture of the author. And the best news is that Mindy has been downright prolific in 2004, entertaining her readers daily with a variety of tales, snippets and links to other sites.
Mindy's doing a fantastic job of letting her full personality shine through -- it's fantastic to see how her weblog has grown from a rarely-updated record of the best and worst of her kids' adventures into a creative outlet, filled with enjoyable and often humorous snippets of her life. Many of the features and 'extras' that you'd find on other blogs are here -- comments, a search box, a CafePress shop, and various blogrolls -- but it's the writing that really sets this site apart. If you're interested in reading about motherhood, or you're just looking for an entertaining read, then you should really enjoy The Mommy Blog. I give the site 4.5 out of 5.
This site was reviewed on 2004-04-04 by charlie.
They felt this site belonged in the Personal category.
charlie felt that The Mommy Blog deserved a rating of 4.5.
Well, I was a little skeptical about reviewing this blog at first, but after I went through a lot of the archives, I figured, "hell, why not". I will review it and be objective about it.
When I first heard the title "The mommy blog", I assumed that it was going to be a blog all about a lady and parenting.
The first thing I saw upon entering the page was , a photo of a lady at the very top of the page. To the left hand side was a photo of her child. Well at least I figured that's who it was.Well after reading a few entries on her main page, I was a little confused.
She mostly talked about her job and her co-workers. The couple of times that she mentioned her children, she talked about them "throwing up". Now i can understand when children are sick. I have children of my own. But I really don't think too many people would like to hear the details of when they threw up. What I mean by details is, what it looked like ect. Then there were more entries about her job and co-workers. I started asking myself "why in the hell is this called the "mommy blog".
At that point I started going through her archives. Believe me, she has a lot of them.
It was in her archives that she started to talk more about her children and her husband. My favorite posts were the ones where she talked about the conversations she had with her children, word for word. They were very funny. Kids can say the strangest things and act so grown up for their age.Several of her posts had only one or two lines. A lot of them really didn't have anything to do with the blogs title. Some of the posts were very confusing. I even went to her "About Me " link which is located on the left hand side, to see if I could get a little more info on this lady. But there was very little about her.
The best thing I liked about the blog, was the layout and design. It's a 3 column page ("which I don't usually care for), which looked good. She had links on both the left and right hand sides, a few photo's here and there of her children (which are really cute) and of other people. On the right hand side, she even has a "Blog Status" section which i found quite interesting because you don't see all that many bloggers with those.
To conclude the review, I would just like to say, it would be o.k. to visit from time to time, but I wouldn't visit on a regular basis.
This site was reviewed on 2004-04-04 by darkangel_00.
They felt this site belonged in the Personal category.
darkangel_00 felt that The Mommy Blog deserved a rating of 3.5.
My first impressions of "The Mommy Blog" were very good- a very professional looking site with a nice title bar and a tasteful colour scheme, which is skinnable.
I headed straight for the About Me page after a quick glance around. It is informative and makes it clear that the author, Mindy, is a working Mum with three kids. The rest of the site is pretty straight forward - a three bar layout with links, archives, search boxes and um... more links. I sometimes wonder whether all the stuff people put in sidebars is really necessary, or whether people just put stuff in them because they can (especially MT users, who are offered a plethora of features of this kind). Not sure how useful they are though - something that crossed my mind whilst I was looking around this site especially. I am also not a big fan of loads of linkage. Less is better for me as I am never going to have time to click 100 or so links and read a weblog too. As impressive as the site looks, it is designed commercially by a third-party, so I can't give the author too much credit for this, though I guess she could have had some input in to the process. No disrespect, the overall feel of the site is a good one, just a few niggles really.
Ok, on to the content then. Well the major theme, as can be ascertained by the title itself, is the personal life of Mindy and her family. These are all honest, fairly in depth and often amusing (along the lines of "don't kids say/do the funniest things"). Its pleasant enough to read with few spelling or grammar mistakes and I felt like I soon became a part of Mindy's world, particularly her home-life.
One criticism of the blog though is there isn't much else besides the home-life stuff for readers to get their teeth in to - unfortunately it is a bit of a one-horse blog in that respect. Ok so there are a few memes, links to other blogs and witty topics as well as a couple of work related posts, but generally these are sparser than the family posts. Fine, if you like families. In fact great, I expect (at least if the comments are anything to go by). Not so fine though if you like, say, motorbikes or new-age therapy or Marxist philosophy or something. Best off trying elsewhere for those kind of things, methinks.
Overall then, reading "The Mommy Blog" is a pleasant experience and gives people a great insight in to family life. I would say it probably only has lasting appeal to those with similar lifestyles though, despite the flash template.
This site was reviewed on 2004-04-04 by ODAAT.
They felt this site belonged in the Personal category.
ODAAT felt that The Mommy Blog deserved a rating of 3.5.
4 reviewers gave The Mommy Blog an average rating of 3.7500
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Site Category: Personal
Reader Rating: 2.2500 based on 14 votes
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