Thanks to all who sent your condolences here and on my other blogs and social networks, about the hack attack I suffered. I am happy to say that (Lord willing) the problem is resolved. My blogs are clean. Because of the nature of my web hosting (shared hosting), all my blogs (13 of them!) were affected in some way. This blog and my travel blog were especially attacked. It was nasty. I spent four entire days working all day long to get in under control. Thanks to Hostgator, they helped me sift through stuff, deleted some of the malicious crud, endured my wailing and crying, and scanned my blogs endlessly until we were all sure they are clean.

I have been moving everything over to a spanking new server. LOTS of work, and I have just one more blog to move (the biggest project, my travel blog). I have to redo the theme and basically start from scratch there.

On the bright side, I have learned more about SQL databases and php script in four days than I have in 14 years.

You know, whenever I met anyone who’d been hacked, I was always full of questions: what?! how?! when?! what did you do?! I always wondered why they were so quiet about it and why they didn’t tell their whole story…

Well, now I know.

IT’S EXHAUSTING. After such a long, tempestuous, and near-fatal experience, it’s exhausting to rehash the entire thing again. It’s almost like: I SURVIVED. I DON’T WANT TO TALK ABOUT IT, I DON’T WANT TO THINK ABOUT IT. I WANT IT OVER.

I hope to sometime recover from the exhaustion to be able to tell my story, at least as a warning or a help to others. Like many blogs out there, my hack came from a (most probable) theme vulnerability. I was totally unaware that my themes needed updating and apparently there were some serious vulnerabilities. I had also installed a plugin that was a hacker tool. Watch those plugins, folks.

So anyway, I’ll rehash the entire sordid story. Someday. Right now, I’m going to peel my sore eyes off the computer monitor, pluck my fingers from the keyboard (they were nearly grafted on), and get some much-needed rest. I still have to build the other website yet, so I must reserve my energy.

I finally finished the income taxes!!! :iquit: Good gravy, I was barely clinging to the sanity can with it all this year.

WOW.

So my life is sloooowly starting to come back. Everything has kind of been in upheaval right now. In a week where we had both snow and warm weather, both the snow blower and the lawn tractor broke. Sweet. :rants:

On the bright side, I’ve been clobbered with work assignments, many of them things I love to write about (WordPress, home improvement, and gardening!). So I’ve been very busy researching and writing that stuff. Not much time for blogging, nor visiting blogs.

In a way, it’s good to get away for a bit. After so many years of writing, you start to feel a little drained of good stories. Life settles into the mundane, and the creative juices slow down a bit.

Plus, my house is a total disaster and SOMEBODY has got to clean it out. lol. The IRS has made sure that I can’t hire a maid any time soon…..

Thanks to all you devoted friends who have been visiting and leaving me comments. They make me smile. Something we always have need of after April 15th.

And of course, Monday means Meet Me on Monday. It’s my favorite meme right now. The questions are nice and easy, and I can usually be creative. Please feel free to join in with your own answers!

1. How do you like your eggs?
Well, COOKED, for starters. Did you ever see Rocky, how Sylvester Stallone gulped a glass of raw eggs? *retch* When I was a kid, my mom would make scrambled eggs and we’d slather a quart of ketchup all over them. I can’t believe I used to do that. Then, I got older and she made them fried with the yolk cooked through hard. I wouldn’t TOUCH a runny yolk (I was a fussy eater). So my mom would cook the egg yolk rock solid, hard like a yellow hockey puck. I’d peel out the yolk and give it to the cats. I’d listen to them crunch crunch crunch. lol. Well, OK, I’m exaggerating. A LITTLE.

Now I prefer them fried. Just a little soft. Mmmm. I can’t believe I know like all the foods I hated as a kid! I drove my poor mom nuts back then. Sorry, Mom. I do now eat onions and peppers and soft fried eggs!

2. Who is the last person you spoke to on the phone?
The husband. He’s pretty much the only one I talk to on the phone besides all the telemarketers.

3. Do you have a place you keep ‘junk’ in your home?
Yep. The living room, the dining room, the kitchen, the laundry room, my bedroom….. *sigh*

We have no storage space in this house. The basement floods regularly (floods have wiped out our stuff down there THREE times in 5 years) and there’s no attic in the house except for a cramped little hatch area filled with cellulose dust from the 1950s. :-p So I can’t keep stuff for very long. We just don’t have the space. I pack things in boxes and cram them in “inconspicuous” places like under the couch, in cabinets, on shelves, etc. I tell you, it multiplies while I’m asleep. Now that’s it’s spring, all the junk is starting to ooze out of the containers again, actually…

4. What is on your ‘spring cleaning’ list?
See #3.

5. What blog post have you written recently that you’d like more people to know about? (don’t forget to link it up)
Oh wow, this is a hard one to choose. I have a lot of blogs and I do try to make them helpful. I can whittle it down to two. One is at my technology blog, The Older Geek: How to Check Your WordPress Theme for Malicious Codes and Links. For about 3 months, a whole bunch of my friends had their blogs hacked. They had no idea how it happened and it was pretty stressful. So I did a little research on the topic to try and help.

The other is at my travel blog, New York Traveler.net: Best NYC iPhone Apps. It was a fun post to write and maybe you can add to it by leaving a comment with some of your favorite apps. I am always looking for new apps.

That’s it for this week’s MMoM! Thanks for reading along and have a great week.

Oh how true it is.

I had an uncle who was a brilliant English teacher, and he loved his job. But sometime in the 1990s, education changed, he said. It was no longer fun because so few students WANTED to learn. They seemed to exert more energy in getting out of their assignments. He also said that discipline had become so bad that he couldn’t tolerate the classroom anymore, so he retired. Honestly, I don’t know HOW teachers today can even teach, what a tough job!

OK, back to more funnies…

This is what I think at least TWICE a YEAR.

*snort*

I’m all for it.

Get it?

Bwahahahaha!!!

i KNEW that’s how they were made!!

LOL.

Thanks for snickering a long. Have a great weekend!

I’ve been busy writing new articles. I got hired by another company and things have finally started to pick up a little. I’m so grateful for the work but professional writing is no piece of cake. I got hit with THREE rewrites in two days. Even though the communication problem between me and the client was probably an honest one (other writers were hit with rewrites from this client, too), they were still rewrites. Pro writing is wrought with tension. You have to know your topic (or do a heck of a lot of research first), you have to write succinctly yet meet the usually large word count. You have to use impeccable grammar and proofread the piece to death. And then when it’s all said and done, you hope what you submitted pleases the client. Whew. So after a couple of 800-word, War-and-Peace-style theses, I’m a little too tuckered for blogging.

I’m also doing a lot of daydreaming. Spring is a-coming and the fresh breezes fill my little head with all sorts of ideas for new projects. A new shelf here, a built-in cabinet there, a whole new bathroom here and here and here…. oh yeah. Plus, I’m going to New York City again and am very excited about the trip. I’m going to peruse some of the sights in Washington Heights (unfamiliar territory) so I’ve been scouring Google Earth to get my bearings. And I’m also doing more reading again. I was always a voracious reader and I think it largely fueled my blogging activities. I stopped reading so much after I began writing full time, though. But now I am trying to pick up again. Right now, I’m reading The Testimony of Watchman Nee and a book he authored Love Not the World which are very sobering. And I’m spending time every day reading through the New Testament again, in order.

Sometimes I feel that the blogging udder is dry, that I have nothing more to give to the blogs. I’ve always been a gal with diversified interests but after a couple of years things do slow down a bit. I’ve been around long enough to know that these kinds of thoughts are par for the course– they wax and wane for every blogger and there comes a time when you must reassess your goals. I don’t have any intention of stopping (I just paid for another year of web hosting!) but I’m obviously having a slow spell. Knowing me, things will pick up soon and the frentically blazing steam engine will roar once again. Especially after a few cups of my daughter’s high octane coffee.

Everybody goes through these kinds of seasons– a time to learn, a time to give, a time to reflect, a time to be silent, a time to learn and give all over again, and on it goes.

What have you been doing lately? Have you been a blogging fiend or have you slowed down to recoup?

I LOVE this. Gotta get one of these sometime, heh heh. NOT that I would EVER use it in such a way, of course not how can you possibly think that?!

He does make my skin crawl. But I think that’s due more to he sounds like a cross between Miss Piggy and Jeanne Dixon.

HAHA, true!

I know a guy like this.

Nothing like a friend to test your maxims…

*snort*

I had to shrink this to fit it in this post. If you can’t read the text, click the image to go to a larger shot. HAHA, true!

Somebody’s got a sense of humor… and it probably isn’t the kid…

It’s the SAME OLD story, I tell ya.

:blink:

Thanks for laughing with me. More to come!

In case you haven’t heard, Clipix is a little tool that you use to save all the cool stuff you find online. Let’s say you are surfing the web and see an awesome deal at your favorite store. Click the little Clipix button on the browser to save it to Clipix. And let’s say that later, while reading my blog, you find an awesome story you want to share with all your pals– again, just click the Clipix button. Oh, and let’s say your pal on Facebook mentions a great deal on train tickets or a hotel or a pair of shoes you’ve been looking for– click Clipix! Later, just go to your Clipix account and VOILA! There everything is!

The dudes from Clipix made a video that shows all the things you can do with Clipix.

Here’s a sneak peek of one of my Clipix boards. Isn’t it pretty?

So far, I’m using to store stuff like vacation ideas, gift ideas, books I want to read, and cool videos and photos I find on Facebook for reposting here on the blog. It’s been a real godsend because it allows me to save everything I like and access it later from other computers.

One of the best parts about Clipx is that there’s an APP FOR THAT! Woohooo! So now I can access all the stuff I like from my phone. Very, very cool. I am liking Clipix more and more. It’s a great time saver and it also helps me remember things I would otherwise forget or have to look for all over again.

I highly recommend Clipix. Go check it out for yourself. What will your Clipix board look like?

Promoted Post

I’m participating in Hilary’s meme this week. Check it out!

1. I don’t understand ___ and probably never will.

Calculus.

2. I prefer ___ to ____

Hymns to contemporary music. My daughter is playing a Celtic hymns instrumental CD right now and it’s lovely.

3. My favorite smell is ______________because ___________________.

Lilacs. Freshly perked coffee. Burnt toast.

Haha, just kidding about the burnt toast. It’s actually one of the worst smells. I’m actually smelling it now…. apparently one of the kids had a scientific experiment go awry….

4. I suspect my neighbors of _________________.

Hoh hoh, this could be a fun fill in. Or a dangerous one! Hmmm shall I play it safe or humorous?

I strongly suspect my neighbors of… stealing my mail. Yep, we’ve had our mail stolen a few times. My husband lost several packages worth $50 or more in goods. And I’ve had checks stolen. We live in a very small town but there are a lot of transients here. They come here because there are a lot of apartments and the rent is cheaper than the city 10 miles away… so drugs and crime have increased. We finally learned our lesson this last time and got a PO box.

I’m off on this lovely Friday. I have a few articles to write and schoolwork to score, and then I’m going to work on some graphics for my new website. I just love new projects! Spring is in the air! Have a happy weekend, friends.

So now, ladies and gentlemen, without further adieu… let us imagine for a moment the glorious, glittering scene before us. Sleek, black limousines line the streets. Paparazzi glut the sidewalks, their flashing camera bulbs creating a flood of artificial starlight….. an announcer excitedly announces, “Here she comes!”

The Freaky Frugalite, Rebecca, breathlessly extracts herself from the car, panting heavily from the effort. She plants her foot on the corner of the red carpet and viewers get a first glimpse of her distinctive “shabby chic” style. The black running shoes are crafted by Armani– Chang Armani, from the luxuriant Asian Walmart distribution center worldwide. Viewers catch a peek at Rebecca’s fuzzy pink and lime green anklet socks as she plants her flat feet onto the carpet. The crowds gasp at her amazing wardrobe, chosen specifically for this night: black knit Cabin Creek pants, a “USA 2010″ black t-shirt, and — oh the ripple of excitement that makes the photographers go crazy — her distinctive red flannel shirt, rolled up at the sleeves as is her style.

Rebecca poses for a brief moment before the adoring fans. She spits in her hand and slicks her ponytail back with a delicate air. The crowds swoon.

She walks slowly, so smooth and slowly — lest she trip over ANOTHER dang Lego brick left on the floor — and approaches the microphone. A gorgeous little toothpick with big poofy lips teeters up beside her and drops the Versatile Blogger Award and the Liebster Award into Rebecca’s hand. “Wurdz,” Rebecca speaks.

The crowd, now unable to control their elation, applaud loudly and throw a mountain of red roses toward the blogger. Rebecca is rushed into the awards center by a dozen refrigerator-sized suits wearing sunglasses and bulging with ordnance. Reporters catch a whisper of their conversation as Rebecca asks them if they prefer their pigeons in Double Trap or Universal Trench…

**THE CURTAIN OPENS**

Thanks, Susi, for giving me these awards! I promise to cherish them forever! As part of the award ceremony instructions, I must list 7 things about myself that you may not already know. Well, here goes, ya’all!

1. In case you didn’t know, I have a wildly vivid imagination. Sometimes I’m stupid enough to write it down. :blink:

2. I used to be a predominantly “right-brained” person, but now I am more “left-brained.”
I took a few of those “scientific” Internet quizzes that supposedly measure your strengths and weaknesses, and tell you what part of the brain you use. I thought it was funny that mine has shifted over years (assuming the quizzes were accurate). I’ve always been very orderly and regimental about some things, but I was always the “creative artist” kind of person. I don’t think these kinds of things are set in stone. People change. I had a very poor education as a youngster so when I was out of school I went about educating myself. Like Mark Twain said, “Never let schooling interfere with your education.” Maybe that’s what changed?

3. I don’t care much for pies, but I like cake. With creamy frosting. Mmmmm.

4. I just put a turkey in the oven.
I don’t save turkeys for only the holidays. After the holidays, when grocers are eager to sell their old birds, I snatch up half a dozen. I keep them in my freezer. When I am having a “winter blues” day, I bake one of them. There’s something about the smell of roasting turkey and a warm house that comforts me.

5. I like to emphasize my Scotch lineage because I think the Scots are cool, but I am actually not very Scottish. The line is somewhat thin even though the Scottish name has carried on in the family since the mid 1800′s. I’m actually more British English than anything. And not the Celtic British. Not the Welsh British. Not even the Anglo-Saxon or Danish British or Briton British. I’m more Norman British. The Normans were not even really British, not at first. They were from France before they conquered Britain. And they weren’t French, either. They were Scandinavian. The Vikings who, instead of pillaging the countrysides, decided to boot out the French dukes, and settle in French castles and pretend that they were royalty.

Got all that?

6. I like tiny, handheld stuffed animals. I have a little stuffed lamb on my computer. I snuggle him from time to time. It helps cure me whenever I am overcome with the I-Need-Another-Kitten disease.

7. It took me 6 hours to finally write this post.
I had brief interludes of laundry, loading the dishwasher, making phone calls, and laying down to rest my hip (sciatica). Boy, blogging is exhausting work! lol…

So how about you, wanna play this game? You don’t have to have a fancy awards ceremony to participate. Just write a post with 7 weird things about you. I’ll read it! :D

I’m sorry for the inconvenience. *sigh* That’s what viruses do, inconvenience people. :rants: GRRR!