blog linky

I saw 2014 out with a bit of reflection, now it is time to look forward with some predictions and projections (let’s call them anything but resolutions). My first thought when starting this was to keep it short and simple, I am doomed to fail if I make more than a few “changes”. Clearly I have failed already…. I finished up with ten! But they are necessary and they overlap… in places… if you look hard enough. Just trust me and take a look!

1. TIME, TIME, TIME

OK, so I have learned that I can’t make more of it but I really have to work out how to manage it a lot better. This year my focus is on compartmentalising my time, dividing my day into its appropriate parts and then sticking to it. Working when I should be working, cleaning when I should be cleaning and most importantly, being a present and calm mum when my children are around me.

2. REMEMBER TO BREATH

This leads me to the second point… to stay calm. I find that the further behind I slip on my to-do list the higher the stress levels. Remembering to simply take a few deep breaths can quickly ease the stress… I just have to work on making it a habit!

New research shows that lungs are the primary excretory body for weight loss with a staggering 84% of fat burned off in the body released as carbon dioxide; this definitely gives me double the reason to remember to take some daily deep breathes in 2015.

3. JUST SAY NO

No I am not starting an anti-drugs campaign, I just need to learn to use the word a little more (except when talking to my children, then, apparently, I use the word all the time). I have a tendency to just keep saying yes to every request, adding projects and tasks to my list, thinking I will manage. This year I hope to be more realistic – taking on less and achieving more.

4. SMILE

Sometimes a smile can fix everything. Even forcing a smile can create a fake it ‘til you feel it effect, reducing stress, boosting the immune system and even increasing attractiveness. I’m definitely in!

5. MARK THE MOMENT

I am all about memories, I have even written about them here a few times. But sometimes I am so busy creating new memories that I forget to stop and remember the ones I already have. Technology is great… these days you can capture a moment with so many different devices and within minutes they are safe in some form of cloud storage. But that is where too many of mine are ending up… in the clouds! This year I hope to actually write moments down a little more or even print some photos out and update our wall art a little.

I even received a cool new present to help me out on this one… (once I have read the manual!)

6. ME, ME, ME

This one is predictable I know but we could all do with a bit more me time right? I plan to find simple ways to look after myself a little more which brings me on to…

7. KEEP IT REAL (OR MAKE IT DO-ABLE)

This is usually where I fall down. I come up with some of the best plans that are going to turn me into everything I ever wanted to be. But then I fail! The secret, as I have finally learned is to keep it real. I know me well enough to know my own limitations. I have placed skipping ropes beside my laptop as I work (they go unused as the timer beeps).

I have failed to implement changes even when they involve things I actually want to do. So now I know I have to keep it simple… and do-able. Here is one example… every year I say I’ll dance more as it is something that really lifts my spirits, but I never seem to do it. But if I put on some funky tunes while I do the dishes then it might just work… I just can’t help but shake this booty when it’s all about that bass!

8. BE IN THE MOMENT

This will be my hardest challenge. If anyone had to ever spend more than a few moments in my head (*shudder) they would agree. But time (there it is again) is moving quickly and my babies are growing fast. I have so much in life to be grateful for, I just want to take the time to enjoy what I do have, when I have it.

It just so happens that my other half trains people in mindfulness meditation… I think it is about time I tap that resource and find out what it is really all about! This time next year I could be a whole lot more zen baby!

9. FEEL THE FEAR AND DO IT ANYWAY

Corny I know but we all succumb to self doubt, right? Some more than others, maybe. It has certainly been knocking on my door of late; but I have some new ideas for Science Wows … some big plans for 2015 and although they fill me with both fear and excitement I am determined to give them a shot. I’m ready to dive right in and hopefully when I look back at the end of the year I will have reached the shore.

10. TURN IT AROUND

We all have traits within ourselves that are perhaps not the kind we like to brag about. I have come to acknowledge and accept mine (or most of them). It seems they are not for shifting, so instead I am planning to use them to my advantage. I am planning to put my pig headed (teeth gritting) stubbornness to good use… and call it tenacity. Last year I used it to increase my fitness, change my diet and even slim my waist a little. I may have slipped off that wagon but knowing I have the tenacity to do it makes me look forward to taking on the same challenge in 2015.

I also have a bit of a hang up with anything to do with numbers. Getting those five a day into my kids used to literally keep me awake at night. If I don’t keep myself in check then blog stat watching can get to obsessive levels. This year I am planning on using this numerical OCD to my advantage, by tracking my daily activity. Another nifty present I received over the festive season will hopefully allow me monitor movement, activity, sleep and all that jazz. Once I can get some numerical feedback there will be no stopping me… with daily, and even hourly targets to set myself I can change my figure while watching the figures (sorry couldn’t resist that one).

This post is part of another linky… a great idea from the wonderful Busy Mama blog with the theme of Imagining the New Year. Click on the image below to see what other people have in mind for 2015… well worth a look.

This time last year I was deciding whether to continue blogging, or not, and now another year has gone by and I am so glad with my decision. This year blogging has really become a way of life, an integral part of me; when I lived in France (sooo many years ago) I knew I had made a leap in learning the language when I started thinking in French. I felt the same way this year about blogging, I realised I was ‘thinking in blogs‘.

So, time to reflect on my second year of blogging and what better way than to take in the 14 from ’14 blog linky by the wonderful Sadhbh from Where wishes come from blog. It has been a good year, here is the journey…

1. MOST POPULAR BLOG POST

The most popular post on Science Wows this year was this one…. “Does sound travel faster in warm or cold air?” It seems this is a burning question for many people!

The most popular experiment on the blog was this one.

2. FAVOURITE POST

It is very hard to pick a favourite but if I could narrow it down these are my top three…

Mum, marigolds and memories… Mother’s day gave me the opportunity to tell my Mum just how much she means to me!

The Science of Imagination – is it more important than knowledge?… you only have to watch children at play to observe the wonder of imagination. It is a subject that fascinates me, especially since I became a mother. This post was in my head for a long time and finally I got to put it all together in once post. I was happy with the results and the response from others too.

Three little words… sometimes the blog acts as a diary of important moments and events. Writing them here I have somewhere safe to store these memories. This is just one simple example.

3. FAVOURITE PHOTO

They say a picture tells a thousand words and to me this picture says it all; the people I love in a place I love during a wonderful and memorable family day out this Summer. It was included in a post where I let the pictures speak for themselves.

4. BEST ADVENTURE

This year we were very lucky to go to the Carlow walking festival as part of a blogging tour set up by Green and Vibrant. It was such a great experience it required two posts to cover it all… as we got to go on a canoeing safari and a family cycling trip, all in one weekend.

5. FAVOURITE EXPERIMENT

We had so much fun in the Science Wows house this year creating and testing experiments to share on the blog. Most of them are found on the Fun Friday spot; Again it was hard to pick just one so here are my top three from 2014…

I was not even sure this one would work but as I was set the challenge by Dee Sewell from Greenside Up I had to have a go and was really pleased with the results!

At Halloween we decided we wanted to make our own glow in the dark slime, we were all delighted with how our recipe worked and it has been a big hit with children and adults alike! It was great to receive photos and message from people who had tried this one out with their children too!

We had a real laugh with this one… especially when I offered it up for dinner in the Science Wows house!

6. MOST COMMON THEME

There have been some unusual search terms that lead people to my blog… here are my three favourites from this year…

“How many hugs a day do you need to survive?” – I really love how important hugs are to that person, literally life or death, I like the way they are thinking! I suspect this was the post they found.

“Maggot hair rabbit extraction“… I have absolutely no idea what that search term means nor do I know which post it lead to!

“Goblin juice density” … I imagine that search arrived here but unfortunately there was no recipes for Goblin juice to be found, even worse, no reference to its density!

7. FAVOURITE COMMENTS

I am sooo delighted when I see a comment pop up on my blog so a huge thank you to everyone who has commented this year! Some of my blogging highlights include a number of articles for The Journal; It was a great experience for me but as always, when you put yourself out into a bigger domain you open to all kinds of comments. For the most part I was lucky with the comments I received. My favourite comments were in response to this article on appreciating the simple moments in life!

The post on the blog that received the most comments was this one, part of Learner Mama’s blog linky on lessons of parenthood!

8. BEST MOVE

There were BIG moves for Science Wows this year… in February I moved the blog from blogger to Word Press, and amalgamated it with the Science Wows website as well. It was definitely a good move, but took a lot of time to get used to!

9. FAVOURITE CHANGES TO THE BLOG

Apart from the BIG change to Word Press there were other changes around here. A new character arrived on the scene in June, the every-geeky Dr. Simple was created to answer a science question in just 30 seconds. I was delighted with the very positive response he received and plan on having him around a lot more in 2015!

I also created a “school corner” on the blog; although I had a good idea of how I wanted it to look it took a good bit of tweaking to create what I had in mind. I love a good challenge and am very pleased with the end result.

10. BEST BLOG MOMENT

There were many but top of the list was probably making it to the finals of the Blog Awards Ireland, in the Education Category and attending the awards in Clane in October. I got to meet up with many bloggers I had previously only know virtually.It was a great night and a great blog high to get that far!

This year something I wrote got a mention on Ryan Tubridy and lead to an on line interview on The Spin 103.8 radio. I even had five seconds of fame with a tv appearance on RTE junior during Science Week.

11. MOST BIZZARE BLOGGING MOMENT

As I mentioned, there were radio interviews and a tv appearance for me this year, leading to the most bizzare blog related moment in 2014. The radio interview with The Spin 103.8 was conducted by phone from Mallorca and required me to literally hang out of a top floor window in order to get a good mobile reception;

12. FAVOURITE TITLE

I do not come up with the most creative of blog titles but perhaps a favourite is “Like the scientists on da telly” a tongue-in-cheek look at the reality of life in a lab compared to how it is portrayed on tv.

13. FAVOURITE INFOGRAPHIC

The great thing about the blog is that it has reintroduced me to another hobby of mine, graphics and design. I had great fun designing logos and layouts and creating Dr. How and Dr. Simple. This year I have dipped my toe into the world of infographics. Nothing too big or complex but enough to light up my creative side. I hope to expand on this in 2015 but my favourite so far is this one… “Should we be burning plastic? That is the burning question!”

14. WHAT MY BLOG DID FOR ME IN 2014

When I look back over this year of blogging I am really happy with what I see. The new blog design and format are still a work in progress but I am pleased with the way the blog is developing. Writing for The Journal and talking on the radio are certainly nice achievements from my second year of blogging. For me though, the best thing about the blog is the people it has introduced me to; this year I got to meet some virtual friends “in the flesh” and they were even more lovely than I imagined. That it is why I love getting comments and interactions through the blog, either directly here, or through social media. It makes the experience of blogging more interactive, more alive and more human.

So thank you all for your support, encouragement, questions and comments through 2014… without you all this blog would just be words on a page. Your support and interaction give my words a new dimension and this year I hope I get to meet even more of my virtual friends.

I wish you all a happy, healthy and fulfilling 2015!

This post is part of a blog linky hosted by Where Wishes come from, one of my favourite blogs by a very creative lady! There are many great 14 from ’14 posts included in the linky, just click on the image below to check them out… that’s my new year’s day reading sorted 🙂

Dr. How's Science Wows

Imagining the New Year – time for some projections (a blog linky)

14 from ’14 – a little blog reflection