Tuesday began with the usual mayhem induced, chaotic morning, children crying for breakfast, sleep-deprived adults ignoring their bad parenting guilt to habitually tune into ABC4Kids.
Linking up my #IBOT post over at Essentially Jess, I noticed that there was something odd with the comments function.
The comments existed at the back end on my dashboard but clicking on them at the front end….poof! Off they disappeared!
“Must be a plug-in glitch,” I thought.
Now, I will happily confess that technical guru I am not. I also don’t have a very rational mind when it comes to technological hiccups.
Maybe it’s due to nasty past experiences, but I don’t do broken blogs very well. I’m extremely fatalistic. The stress causes my stomach to churn in what feels like a growing ulcer. My head feels like it’s filled with a box of dynamite ready to explode.
During the boys’ swimming lesson, I furiously tapped away on my iPhone, trying to deactivate, this and reinstall that.
But to no avail.
Crazy thing is, just a few weeks ago at Problogger, I had casually mentioned to Kelly of Swish Design that I was thinking of a makeover but thought I’d wait it out a little longer.
Anyway, to cut a long story short, what started as a perceived plug-in glitch turned into a full-blown bloggy makeover.
I thank the super duper friends who saved me from the ordeal.
Thanks, Mummy K for being there at a whim’s notice. For someone who’d been up since 3:30 that morning, she was fully alert to perform the emergency bloggy operation.
Big hugs to Daisy for listening to my frantic ramblings and made sure I didn’t hyperventilate.
Also, huge thanks to Emma at Five Degrees of Chaos who offered her assistance and gave me ideas for a new header image.
What have I learned from this experience?
When your gut tells you it’s time for a makeover, start doing something about it immediately.
But most of all…to calm the f*ck down!!!
Technology is always going to fail on us, one way or another and of course in the most unexpected of times. It’s a given. But there’s always, ALWAYS a solution. And sometimes, you even get your much needed bloggy makeover.
How do you cope with technological glitches?
1. Follow With Some Grace.
2. Sign up to the awesome Digital Parents community ( if you haven’t already done so). DP was created by Brenda Gaddi who happens to be the creator of FYBF. She’s also created 4 gorgeous kidlets. In case you’d like to know. Or maybe not. But we’ll share that info just the same.
3. Add your post URL to the FYBF linky. Please only link up one post.
4. Grab the funky FYBF button and post it on your sidebar. Help spread the blogfloggin love.
5. Visit the blogs of your fellow FYBF’ers and share the comment love
I went onto your blog this morning and went “What?” “Who is this?” “Where is Grace?”
Then I saw your smiling face to the right and thought, “this is Grace”.
Congratulations on your new bloggy clothes Grace!
Lovely and fresh.
Leanne @ Deep Fried Fruit
I thought I must have typed in the wrong address when your site first came up! It looks fantastic, I love it!! I can only imagine how nervous you must have been, On the odd occasion I’ve tried to tweak my site and inevitably crashed it, I’ve felt like I wanted to pass out! Have a great weekend x
Yep, I’m another one that thought I must have typed in the address wrong! But what a beautiful fresh facelife, G! Love it – it suits you and your gorgeous bubbly self very well indeed. xxx
It’s stunning – and yes I hear you – it can be VERY freaky with bloggy makeovers, especially when you’re clueless like me!! Well done lovely – xxxxx
It IS fresh! I love the photo of you. I loved your old design but I think this is sharper and brighter. As far as technical glitches go I usually run screaming to Scotto. I sit and watch him fix it and swear profusely x
I would go nuts! Good for you for keeping calm…and I like the new look. Very grown up (ie not mumsy…more about YOU!)
I did like the shadow picture tho too!
Looks so purrrrty! Love it! Sorry you had all that stress. I’m about to move my whole blog so I’m already pre-stressing. (Is that even a thing? It is now!) I hope it all runs super smoothly from now. x
Love the makeover! Looks very clean and fresh! xx
I love your new look. I’m not so good when technology doesn’t work. When I switched to my .com I stuffed something up and my blog was down for a few hours and I dam near had a heart attack.
What a gorgeous new dress, just in time for Spring! It looks and feels lovely and fresh, Grace.
Technology always has me nervous, and I don’t cope well with glitches. x
Oh Grace – I love the new look! It must have been meant to be coz your blog had a hissy fit demanding a makeover! Love that photo of you too – you look gorgeous! 🙂 xo
Well you did an amazing job Grace, it really does look gorgeous. I am like you. Technical hitches stress me out no end! I usually have to call in the professionals.
Love the blog makeover. I’m about to do something similar and have signed up for a workshop with Kelly Exeter next week. Can’t wait.
It looks super snazzy! I like it. Much cleaner and slick! I’m in the redesign process. God knows I hate how fugly my site is… but it’s taking me forever to make decisions! And now I’m considering a name change…. so confused. But your site looks GREAT!
Looks fab Grace. It takes so much time to fix problems I have found. I usually just Google everything and keep trying until it’s fixed. Enjoy the new look !
Chic and sleek!! congrats on your blog makeover! 🙂 Love your new profile pic too.. was that taken at PBevent?
Actually, no! I had it taken earlier this year with our professional family photos. The photographer is a good friend of mine and just always happens to get me at the right angle 🙂
Well done, looks great!! I thought I had clicked on the wrong blog there for a moment!! I have been thinking about making a change, although I have to do a full migration and I want it all done for me….. hence I have to save up a bit more money first….have been thinking about contacting Kelly myself!!
Woo hoo! I had to do a double take when I popped in… Looking good and so fresh. Glad your comments decided to cooperate again. Nothing like a bit of IT Stress to start the day 🙂 Happy Friday and thanks for hosting a great party each week!
l love the new look, though it did take me a few moments to work out to click the comments at the top to comment. Just thought I would let you know in case you notice a decline in comments.
I gave my blog a new look at the beginning of the year, it makes me smile everytime I look at it.
I hope you enjoy yours as much.
Lotsa people had issues with thesis and the recent WP upgrade, and while the fix is easy it’s not been widely publisised…. https://wordpress.org/support/topic/wordpress-40-master-list?replies=5#post-5969229
Like lots of others have said, I thought you’d been hacked when I first logged on this morning, it was so different! But change is as good as a holiday as they say! Seriously annoying that this happened to you though in this way, wanting a makeover or not! Looks great though, I’m sure I’ll get used to it very soon x
Technology is so stressful, and when it is our blogs, it feels like an emergency situation and we just need a doctor to sit down and hold our hands and listen.
Your new design looks GREAT!! I absolutely love it!! And what impresses me is that I never noticed your tag line before. You have a brilliant tag line. It is more obvious now I think. SOmehow the picture detracted away from it. xx
I love the design Grace. Very cool indeed. I also get stressed if anything goes wrong with my blog. My blog didn’t work a month ago but it was because the host was doing upgrades and meant my blog was unavailable for 12 hours!
I absolutely love it! And to get it done so quickly. That is amazing!!!
Looking great Mama G!
It looks lovely, lovely! And congrats on getting it done so fast! 🙂
Some say 43 us the answer to everything, but I say it’s Mummy K!
Gah, 42 even!
Haha! 43 will work too, Melissa! Shame I won’t get to see you on Thursday! Next time 🙂
Nyahahaha thanks Mel!
I love the new look, Grace. I once tried to fiddle with some code in one of my themes and crashed my whole website. I leave coding to my lovely web designer now!
Absolutely LOVE the new look!
Congratulations! She’s beautiful. You handled your bloggy breakdown a lot better than me. I threw the baby out with the bathwater. I was so ready to walk away from the blog x
I love the new look. Clean and minimalist certainly seems to be the way to go for websites!
I cope ok with technical glitches and just carry on. If in doubt, go to your backup.
Loving the new look! Last year my blog seemed to be randomly down for long periods…I took the ostrich approach and hoped that it would go away. Thankfully it did but I still live in fear that my site will go down properly and I will have NFI what to do about it!
Love the new look, I’m a fan of the dots and your pic looks super awesome, have a great weekend Grace x
Looks amazing Grace! Absolutely love your profile pic – just gorgeous! As someone who has recently gone through the woes of having a blog crash I can relate to the catostrophic reaction & implosion – I was a mess!!
As they say, a change is as good as a holiday & With Some Grace is looking mighty refreshed! 🙂
Well I am loving the new design! It really suits you! That would have had me freaking out too!!! xx
Such a stylish looking blog you have here Grace 🙂 I gave my blog a mini-makeover a while ago, just updated the header but I found it brightened it up and has made such a difference. I’m still a learner when it comes to the widgets but thankfully can figure out stuff like HTML coding. 🙂
Well, intentional or otherwise it looks lovely! I like how the photo of you is so prominent now, and the colours are beautiful. I usually start experimenting with mine just before bed time, then hit some techno glitch and end up frantically fixing things into the wee hours! In fact, I think that was actual advice somewhere during Problogger – don’t start tinkering with the layout at bedtime! Congrats on your makeover. Nice to have a fresh start sometimes eh?
Great new look Grace!! And a great pic of you! You’re quite lovely!
Thanks for hosting! Have a wonderful weekend!
It looks good Grace, very pretty and clear and clean. Top head shot too.
Love the new look, very pretty and light and refreshing
I did wonder what happened the other day!
Glad you got it sorted and it’s all fine now. And a blog change is always a good thing I think 🙂
Very belatedly commenting on your fresh new look (blog and you too). Love your photo. And congrats on the speedy makeover – there maybe a lesson in that.
Loving the new look of the blog Grace! And that’s a beautiful profile photo as well… It’s scary when blogs break!
I love the new look of your blog Grace!
I don’t cope well at all with technology going wrong. I still remember the nightmare I lived when I moved my blog to self-hosted… i never want to go there again.