Hello and welcome to Word of the Week! Thanks to those of you that linked you last week, as always, it was lovely reading all of your posts. I do love having you pop by here each week!
If you’re new here, Word of the Week is a nice and simple weekly linky, with everyone welcome to pop by and share. You reflect back on the past week and sum it up in one word. Then share your word with us in a blog post, with as little or as much explanation as you like. It’s a fun and friendly linky, so please do be lovely and visit as many of the other blogs as you can and share with them your thoughts on their words and weeks. I do comment on every entry to the linky, and if you add the Word of the Week badge to your post to help spread the ‘word’, I also tweet them out.
My word of the week this week is:
Thinking to that point that I’ve been struggling to switch off at night, feeling restless all of the time and getting easily frustrated. So not necessarily good thinking!
There have been a couple of main areas I’ve been pondering on. The first is right here, this blog. I’ve been thinking about stopping it and all that that would change in my world. Why would I walk away from such a beloved thing? I was hacked a few days ago, and too much of my time, thoughts, energy and stress have been spent dealing with it. It’s not a great feeling, and I felt I was teetering on the edge of a precipice, though I know that sounds dramatic. But when you’ve spent so long building something, and then you’re confronted with the possibility of it becoming blacklisted and having to take it down and start afresh, you do reconsider things. It’s been horrible and speaking as someone who knows very little about coding and software, I’ve felt a little lost. It is now fixed, fortunately, so at least that one’s less thing for me to have to think about now, so I will stay right here, blogging away.
I also discovered last week that the OU degree I started many years ago and completed a third of needs to be all done by 2019 in order for me to keep those two years worth of work or they’ll expire. I’d planned to go back to it when Little Man started school in two years time, but clearly time isn’t going to be on my side on this one. So do I get back into it this September, giving me the four years I need to finish it, or shall I just leave it and never have a degree? I know I could start all over again in a few years, but I wouldn’t do that knowing I’d wasted those credits and with it being so much more expensive now. I don’t necessarily need it, I know, though I kind of wanted it and I was looking forward to studying again, though not with the pressures of everything else at the same time. Still thinking on it….
Oh, and then there have been the every day things. Trying some new meal planning, finding out Boo needs a Fairytale costume for next week at school, starting to think about what we’ll need to do before and for our holiday in just over a week, thinking up blog posts to schedule for that time. You know, just thinking. A lot!
What about you? What one word sums up your week best? Please grab the badge, link up and share.
Linky opens at 6.30am Friday, to midnight on Sunday.
Gosh you have had a lot of thinking to do! How awful that you were hacked 🙁 that must have been so stressful! I’m so glad you haven’t walked away and are continuing to blog, you would be very missed.
As for the OU only you can make that decision that.
I think your upcoming holiday is just the thing you need to look forward to now x
It’s been horrible! But thanks for your kind words. I think you’re right, I’ll need that break 🙂 x
Sounds like a really tough week, you for thing. Blimmin hackers have a lot to answer for! Hope you have a good weekend and get back on track lovely lady. Big hugs xxx
It’s been frustrating, they certainly do! Thank you x
What a hard week you’ve had. I can see why there’s been so much thinking going on! I’m glad you’re sticking with the blogging x
Oh yes! And thank you for saying so x
What a nightmare about the hacking-that must have been incredibly stressful. It would be a shame to lose all that work for your degree-maybe there’s a way to keep it going but at a manageable pace? Good luck with the fairy outfit too xx
It has been, I could have done without it! That’s how I feel, too, still thinking about how to make it work. Thanks! xx
Oh dear, that sounds horrible, I think I would cry!
Glad everything is sorted. Seems like you do need your holiday! I hope you get lots of lovely time to relax!
Oh that’s really difficult with the OU, lots of things to take in to consideration. Wish I had some wiser words.
Hope you have a lovely weekend and thanks for hosting =)
I do need it, can’t wait now! Thank you, hope you have a good one, too x
Oh no! What a horrible week you’ve had, I have a tendency to overthink things but hopefully everything will pan out ok for you. Fingers crossed 🙂
Helen X
I don’t normally, which is why it’s got to me all the more! Thank you x
Sounds like it’s been a tough week. It’s awful your blog was hacked, but glad you’ve managed to get it sorted now. So many things to think about and work through can be difficult. I hope you have a lovely holiday and maybe that will help you relax and take time out to work through a decision about your degree.
I hope it works out x
I’ve had better! I think the holiday is coming at a good time, and thank you x
Oh no! I am sorry to hear about the nightmare of hackers! Pleased to see that everything is ok now. It is hard when thinking takes over. I hope you have a more relaxed weekend and a better week next week xx
I’m not a fan of thinking! Thank you x
Oh you poor thing; the idea of being hacked is one that scares me as I really wouldn’t know what to do either. Probably cry. Also, that someone could take all that you’re done and spent time on for their own gains; so very selfish of them. But please, don’t stop blogging – don’t let them win!
Best of luck with the OU decision – that too is a toughie as there is only so much time in the day!
At least you have your holiday to look forward to
xx
It has not been good, I have to say. Yes, that’s the problem, isn’t it, only so many hours! Thank you x
Sorry to hear you were hacked, that must have been awful. But I’m glad you’ll still be around, sounds like an awful week for you and sorry I’ve only just learnt of this and couldn’t offer any moral support. Holiday thinking sounds a lot better though x
Ah, that’s lovely of you, thank you. Holiday thinking is preferable 🙂 x
What a horrible time for you, h a c k e r s are just awful, a few moments of “fun” for them and consequences for their victims. Don’t give them any more thought, they’re not worth it.
Re the studying, I’d be inclined to not let the time almost spent on it go and see if you could allocate a few hours a week to it.
Enjoy your weekend and the sunshine and have a good think xx
It’s not been great. And thank you for that advice. Just trying to work out what I could give up/trade for a bit more time. Thank you x
Very pleased to hear you are not giving up on blogging – you gave me a little scare there – although I can completely understand why you were contemplating it.
As for the degree, it sounds like a tough decision! A shame to waste your work so far, but your moments with your little ones are precious and ones you can never repeat. I hope you find the answer that is right for you.
Take care xx
Thank you, not a nice thing to have to contemplate, really. Yes, that’s the quandary in a nutshell, really, so will keep on thinking, thank you x
Oh my :/ I’m sorry you were hacked.. that must have been horrible. I think if I were you I’d leave all my thinking until after the holiday 🙂 then your mind will be rested and hopefully you’ll be able to see clearly what you want to do 🙂
Yes, that makes sense, thank you x
Oh dear, I’m glad you managed to get things sorted with your blog. Don’t quit, though I can relate… There are days when I just want to pull in the plug too. Anyway, I don’t know if I’ve mentioned this to you before, but my husband is an OU lecturer. He teaches History: A200, A218 (which ends soon), and A327. Anyway, he thinks you should contact student’s services, just to see what your options are? Hope that helps. xx
I want to do to A200! I’ve spoken to them, my options are do it now! Thank you very much, lovely to know I can trouble your husband over it!! X
Oh yes, feel free to ask me questions. I’ll badger him for you 😉 #wotw.
Lovely! Thanks x
Oh my goodness, a lot of things to be thinking about – no wonder it’s keeping you awake at night. So sorry to hear that your blog was hacked and so glad that things got sorted and that you are planning to carry on blogging – would miss your blog if it disappeared. Good luck with whatever you decide re your OU degree – I can understand your dilemma over not wanting to waste those credits but not being sure about whether you are ready to restart those studies again.
Hope you can manage to switch off your busy brain a little over the weekend and have some relaxation time and hopefully that will help you see things more clearly too x
A little too much on my mind all in one go! Thank you, lovely of you to say. I’m hoping a break from thinking and all will become clear 🙂 x
that is a lot of thinking, and so sorry to hear about your blog. It also seems like a difficult decision with regards to the degree, I hope you can settle on what to do x
Thank you. Too much thinking for my liking! x
Oh gosh that is a lot of thinking indeed and some very hard decision too… I’m really sorry to hear that you’ve been hacked, that’s beyond awful! *send you big hugs* xx
Thank you, much appreciated. I think I’ll stop thinking and then the decision will probably come to me! X
It sounds like you have had a tough week….What a scare with your blog!
Sending virtual hugs! xxx
I’ve had better! Thanks, Kim xx
I can’t imagine how it must have felt to be hacked – it’s a violation really, isn’t it.
As for the OU – It’s a hard decision to make. I enrolled with the OU 4 years ago and promptly fell pregnant with M, so I made the decision to defer for a year or two. When I made decision to re – enroll I found out I was pregnant again about 2 weeks later! Now it’s nearly 3 years later and I’m trying to decide whether or not I can fit the course in or if I should hold off for a few more years.
I hope you come to the decision that is right for you.
Yes, it’s been awful.
What timing! Hope you can make a decision on it, too, then x
Oh that is terrible that someone would hack your lovely blog! How upsetting and scary. Thank goodness it didn’t stop you blogging. Ah that’s all too much to think about in one go! Maybe the OU answer will come when you have some time away and a chance to clear your head. If it helps, I did a law degree when my girls were little and then a year post grad, with a 40 mile each way commute, it was really tricky to organise but doable. They both remember it in a much more positive light than I do! I think we all just got on with it. But as parents we feel guilty whatever we do! Oh dear I’m not much help! Hope you have a lovely relaxing weekend and hopefully the answers will come! Take care x
Yes, I’m still just about hanging in there! That does help, thank you. I do suspect that whilst I worry they’d suffer with me doing it, it’ll just be me having to contend with feeling guilty for a few years and they’ll be oblivious! x
Oh no! What a sh*tty thing to happen, I’m so sorry to hear what you’ve had to contend with this week. I’m so glad you decided to keep blogging, you are far too good for the blogging world to loose xx
Ah, that’s really lovely of you to say, thank you x
You have an awesome blog. Thanks for not stopping. My blog has been going through a lot. I am always getting an error message and its hard to just go log in. Frustrating and as you know the laptop is not working so I am only commenting now.
I wish you can have all the time that you need to think and get some result out of it and then some mote time to do what ever it is that you have decided to do.
It’s so frustrating when you can’t just do what you need to, isn’t it?! Thank you x
Oh Jocelyn, that sounds like a really pants week. So sorry to hear you got hacked, that’s horrid and terrible hassle to resolve. Glad you’re sticking around with the blogging.
A real dilemma about the OU course too – wouldn’t it be great if there were more hours in the day? Trust your instinct on what the best thing to do is xxx #WotW
Thanks, Leigh. Oh yes, a few more hours would be oh-so-handy! x
Oh dealing with the hacking must have been horrid! So glad you got it sorted, and please don’t give up your blog – I know I wouldn’t be the only person to really miss it! Good luck working out what you want to do with the OU course… Personally I’d say go for it! I know that time is scarce, but having done a few OU courses in my twenties (I was keen to plug some gaps in my knowledge before I became a teacher) I am such a massive fan of the way it works and how easy it is to fit it in around everyday life. I was doing a PGCE at the time so had very little time to spare but still got a huge amount out of it. Could you maybe include some modules around childhood studies/early years in the two years before Little Man starts school? Obviously there would still be reading & assignments to do but at least it might integrate better with everything else that’s filling your head! And I know OU can be pretty flexible when it comes to the combination of courses that count towards a degree overall… xx
Ah, thank you, lovely of you to say. I am going to do it, Sophie I am going to do it! I have to have a go, I think, and I’m excited by the prospect of doing it again. I can sleep again in a few years time, surely?! x
Sorry to hear you got hacked, what a nightmare! I’d have no idea what to do. I’m glad you decided to carry on with blogging – there’d be a big gap if you left! It would be sad for us and a shame for you after all the hard work you put into it. Big decision about your degree, I’d go for it if I were you – I couldn’t bear to lose those two years’ of credits. I know you will still find lots of time to spend with the children. Maybe the OU would consider extending it if you explained?? Anyway, hope your head stops whirring enough to give you an early night tonight! x PS I’m going to link up! My post from Friday is all about being “eclipsed”.
Thank you, lovely of you to say. I have decided to go for it, as as you say, losing those credits would be such a shame, and I think I can work it all in OK, I hope I can! Lovely to have you linking up again x
Hi Jocelyn, I honestly wouldn’t know what to do if my blog was hacked…Curl up in the corner and cry probably. So glad you haven’t let the buggers beat you though, it would be such a shame if you gave up blogging (unless you really don’t enjoy blogging anymore, then that’s a different story, but know you would be missed).
I take my hat off to you fro wanting to finish your OU course. Imagine how you will feel when you’ve finished even if it’s before you planned…Who needs sleep?
Thank you for hosting and I’m off to see if I can write my post and link up before the end
Crying was considered! No, I do still enjoy it, and I struggle to imagine being without it, so it’s been tough. And you are so right, who needs sleep?! Thanks x
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I’m very relieved to hear that you’re staying online and continuing with your blog! Personally I’d say go for the OU.
Ah, thanks, Kriss, lovely of you to say. And thanks, I have decided to go for it, wish me luck!
Sorry to hear you were hacked. I would have no idea how to deal with that. I have it when thinking keeps you up at night. I hope you get the answers you are looking for x
Thanks, Jane x
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