Woodworking with Sasquatch

Hi all! I'm just popping in to tell you about the exciting news that The Engineer now has his very own blog! Hooray! That's right, I'm as surprised as you! His blog is called Woodworking with Sasquatch (click the link to go see). Please stop by for a visit, and leave a nice comment if you will.

Happy Monday friends!

Serious Business

Hello Monday! Hello friends!

I have discovered a whole heap of admin type busy work that needs doing. Whilst I'm at it, I figured it was also time for a little shine and polish on my place here. So, for the next few days I am going to be nose to the grindstone, fingers to the keyboard and all that sort of serious business. If you stop by and see that things are out of place, a bit askew, and generally wonky, that's just me mucking about. Here's hoping I don't get myself in a sticky mess whilst at it.

I hope to be back by weeks end with a bit of very exciting news!

So until then, have a lovely week!

I was Hacked!

Dear friends,
If you have stopped by to visit me in the last couple of days you may have noticed I was gone. Poof! Just like that, no Lola Nova, no explanation, just gone! Oh it gives me the shudders just thinking about it!

I was HACKED!!!!

The result of my being hacked was that my Google account was deleted, my blog removed, all of the contacts in my email account were sent a scam phishing email saying that I was stuck in Madrid, had been attacked and needed money! I know many of you received this email, and for that I am truly sorry.

I simply woke up one morning and went to send an email and everything was gone! I'll tell you that I let out a scream, then I double checked everything, then I yelled NO! loud enough for the neighbors to hear. I will admit I had a full on freak out. Then I hid under the covers unable to move for the rest of the day.

I was able to send a recovery request to Google. I had to provide them with a whole lot of details to prove that I was hacked, that I am indeed the owner of my account and then the process took some time. This morning I was reinstated and my blog is back!

I am indeed grateful beyond words to have my shiny place back. The downside is that all of my emails were lost and there are significant repairs needed to my email account, but I'm working on it.

I can not tell you how devastating this whole thing has been. It has truly opened my eyes as to how vulnerable many of us are. My job today is to research my security options. I suggest to you my blog friends, to do the same. I also suggest saving important emails to a separate file on your computer - that is what I'm going to do. Yes, we all have good intentions on backing things up and making sure we are not victims of hackers and computer failures, but I know I get busy and my intentions don't always get the follow through they should.

If I come across any helpful sites or resources on how to protect ourselves, I will be sure to share them with you.

Lastly, I want to thank my readers - my friends, many of you turned into detectives and found me on Facebook, Twitter, etc. and let me know you had received bogus emails, asked if there was anything you could do, did research to find ways to help me, and were so very kind and supportive. Many of you sent kind notes and hugs! I'm getting misty eyed just thinking about this lovely community and family that have gone to such lengths to show me I am cared for.

Extra special thanks go to Sherri, Deb, and Tif for putting on super sleuth hats and sending lots of support.

I might need a couple of days to recover from the shock of it all, but I am so very grateful to be back!

Big love to you all!

Ghost in the Machine

Well isn't it just the way? Now that I'm back on track and ready to make my weaving way with posts of note and rambles of goodness, there seems to be a hitch in my get-along. Or rather perhaps a ghost in the machine. Hello technology, box of circuits that I have become so very dependent on, interwebs vast and mysterious, hello....hello?

There has been an uneasy amount of troubles 'round these parts concerning such things. I am unable to access my flickr account, so my photos are out of reach. All of my bookmarks have gone up in ether. I have been blocked from important sites... and then there's the spam.

Mayhaps the merry pranksters of cyberspace are playing a bit of a trick on me at the moment. Certainly the spurious "Perceval, Humphry, Dennis, Quintin, Jeffrey and Randolph" have been at me with more spam than 'Spamalot' ever could imagine. One side effect of this Spamathon has been that some honest to goodness comments from real life lovely readers have gone astray. Especially from some of the new folks, so if you have been nice enough to leave a word and thought me rude for not acknowledging you, I am so sorry. Let me say Welcome! now and thank you for stopping by.

This particular annoyance has lead to me making some changes in protocol. Comments will now be moderated. I hated to do it, but it must be done. I will also be making more of an appearance in the comments as well so that I can be sure to take note of every kind soul who drops in for a visit.

I really do have some nice things planned so I'm hoping I can get these ghosties and goblins sorted and sent packing! In the meantime, thank you for your understanding and patience.

Up and coming for next week: A happy how-to, a book report, and the titillating tale of a 'long lost' returning to the fold.

Happy weekending all!