Last Wednesday I blew up my blog.

It was gone, completely.  A fatal error message was all that was left.  Not only that, I could no longer access my control panel to fix things.  The whole thing was lost to the ages.

I was just tinkering a bit, and I messed with the code.  I can write both HTML and CSS so usually this is OK, but in this case I was pasting from someone else and it didn’t work.

So I went to my web host page and found their customer service number and called it. I was barely on hold for a few seconds and in five minutes my blog was restored to workable order.  Their customer service guy set my blog back to the default template which allowed me access.  I could take it from there.

After deleting and reinstalling the corrupted theme, all was fine in blogland again.

So, who is this Wonder Web Host?  BlueHost!  They have 24 customer support, either over the phone or live chat.  They have one-click installation for WordPress and a bunch of other blogging platforms.  They have a very easy to understand file uploading system (FTP). AND I am able to add additional domains under this one. (In other words, our personal family-only blog with a separate name is also hosted there for no additional fee.)

They brought my blog back from oblivion in just minutes.  You can imagine how relieved I was!  And even though I blew the thing up right before Bip’s birthday dinner, I was able to join the family with my blog already completely restored.

So if you’re looking for a new web host- definitely consider BlueHost.  They’ll treat you right.

(I was totally not compensated for this glowing report.)

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So…I’m on Twitter now. Look over there in my sidebar – you can click on the Follow button and be one of my minions, er, followers. You never know when I’ll say something pithy or funny or have a great stock tip*, so go ahead and follow me. You know you want to!

And if you’re reading this on your feed reader – THANK YOU for subscribing, I love you more than you know – here’s my Twitter name or handle or whatever, so you don’t have to click over to my blog first and find the button: @justlorri That’s 2 rs, no e.

Of course, if you’d like to click over to my blog, that’s fine, too.

*no actual stock tips will be given

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Boo is home.

We have house guests (6 children and a mom!!).

We all attended the Easter Vigil mass where it snowed on our Paschal fire. The next day we woke to about an inch of snow on the ground and later it snowed during dinner. We had an indoor egg hunt (9 children running amok!!) and gorged on yummy baked goods, ham and scalloped potatoes. The children played board games and Wii. Our guests talked to their dad via Skype from Afghanistan. A good time was had by all. We are blessed to have such good friends.

So while I enjoy our company, I’m on a bloggy break. See you soon…

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You all know my birthday is Wednesday, right? Well, in honor of my special day, I’m having a little bloggy give-away.

One lucky person will win a free, downloadable, FULL version of the computer game Mystery Case Files: Dire Grove.

How best to describe Dire Grove? First off, it is a hidden object game, like I Spy. You must find each object in a given list to unlock further clues to the mystery of the main story line. The story line itself is a little spooky. From the Dire Grove website : “In the fall of 2009, four graduate students traveled to a small township near Blackpool, England. They were never heard from again.” Your job is to figure out what happened to them.

I would say that Dire Grove is spooky rather than outright scary. The background music does add a level of tenseness, especially if you’re playing at night when everyone else is asleep. But I didn’t find anything gruesome, though I haven’t actually finished the whole game. Other games in the Mystery Case Files series, which I have finished, were fine. It has an ESRB rating of 10+.

Here’s the official Dire Grove website: Dire Grove. And here’s just one site which reviews the game: Dire Grove Review.

Anyway.

The winner will be given a coupon code and a special website to download Dire Grove. The coupon must be redeemed by February 1, 2011. The coupon code may only be used once, but the winner may pass it along to someone else they personally know who might enjoy the game. I just ask that you don’t hold a giveaway of your own.

To enter to win, leave me a comment on this post and tell me what your favorite computer game is. If you don’t have one, that’s OK, just tell me that. For more chances to win, subscribe to my blog feed, blog about my contest, or link to this post on your Facebook page. Leave me a separate comment for each thing you do. The winner will be chosen by a random number generator.

Contest will be open until January 19, 2011 at 11:31 PM (my birth date and time).

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I learned from my friend Sandy’s blog that yesterday was National Delurking Day. Well, since I missed it, I declare this to be a Delurking Weekend! Leave me a comment over the weekend – just to say “hi”! I’ll borrow from Sandy and give you something to write. Tell me who you are, how you found my blog and what kind of chocolate you like.

I like all kinds of chocolate. From the humble Hershey bar, to this dreamy, creamy stuff I found in Norway. I don’t know it’s name, but it has a cow on it. Somewhere I might have the wrapper from the bar I ate lo those many years ago and when I find it I’ll figure out a way to get me a whole stash. I might have found it at the Norway Pavilion in Epcot, but I’m not sure. I also love hot chocolate, especially chocolate-raspberry flavor. I will seriously consider selling my first born son (especially when he’s ornery) for some good white chocolate. I’ll happily consume Godiva chocolates. Another favorite is Joseph Schmidt’s truffles. I was introduced to both the man and his chocolates when I was living and working in San Francisco. (Oh how sad. In looking for a link to him, I see Joseph Schmidt’s confections were purchased by Hershey and has now ceased production. )He’s a really nice man and his chocolates are were divine.

Ok, enough about me and my love of chocolate – now tell me about you.

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Here we are, the day before the day before Christmas. I hope your Advent has been full of joy.

Don’t forget that on Christmas Eve you can track Santa with NORAD. Next year Boo will be old enough to volunteer with the NORAD folks, so he’s hoping that he and his dad can get a good time slot.
NORAD tracks Santa

You can also email Santa all the way up to Christmas morning, just in case you forgot. Santa is all high-tech, so he’ll be receiving his email while en route. He’ll even send you a personal reply.
Email Santa

This has nothing to do with Christmas, but it’s a freebie too good not to pass along. You can get a free Sweater Stone by requesting one before the end of the year. If you’ve got clothing that pills, this is a good way to get those pills off.
Free Sweater Stone

And lastly, you may have already seen the Social Network Christmas, but here it is again. I bet you’ll want to watch it again, or if you haven’t seen it, please take the time to see it now. It’s totally worth it. I get chills and teared up every time I see it. There is another version out there, but this one is the best.

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I’ve got a new Advent look to my blog, complete with an Advent wreath that will get a new flame each week. Cool, huh?

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Happy Thanksgiving to you all!

Unless you’re not American. Then, uh, Happy Thursday.

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…Baby and I spent Friday night and Saturday in the hospital due to his jaundice. Not a new experience for me since two of my other children had to go under the bili lights too, but it is something I just hate doing. Now we’re home but have to keep a biliblanket on him pretty much 24 hours. It’s a pain, but at least we’re home. However, I can only move him as far as the cord will stretch, so my computer time is extra limited.

Here he is, looking like a glowworm, with the bili light shining through his blanket.

I’m hoping this will all be over tomorrow and we can start working on a regular routine. More later…

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A couple of Important Announcements that I’d appreciate you reading.  I’m not normally that bossy, telling you what to read and all, but these are worth your time.

1.  I changed my blog feed. I would never in a million years do this, but I had no choice.  For now, everything seems to be redirecting correctly and my posts are going out as always.  But there’s an off chance that the internet will reboot itself or something and the old feed will no longer work.  If you notice I haven’t posted in a while, it may be because you  need to resubscribe to my blog.  You can do this by going directly to my blog, where you will find at least 2 links to subscribe.  One is at the very top of the page, on the right.  The other is the very last thing on my sidebar.  Or you can click this link right here:  Subscribe to The Mac and Cheese Chronicles.

2.  What is a feed? If you have no idea what I’m talking about, let me explain. If you have more than about 5 blogs that you like to read, you should be subscribing to them.  You do this by looking for something on the blog that says “subscribe to…” and clicking on it.  Then all new posts will be sent to the feed reader of your choice, just like email.  I use Google Reader.  If you only read a couple of blogs, you may also have the choice of having new posts delivered to your email.  You can do that on my blog by following the subscription links described above and you will be given the choice of subscribing by email.

3.  Speaking of email…I now have a very handy contact form.  See over there in my sidebar, the little guy with a slingshot and envelope?  Click him to shoot me an email, if you want to say more than a normal comment will allow.

4.  Which brings me to comments. I now have the ability to respond to your comments both right there with the rest of the comments and send my response to you through email.  Isn’t that cool?

5.  Gravatars – if you don’t have one, get one!  Those are the little pictures that appear next to a comment you leave on someone’s blog.  It can be anything, a picture of yourself or something else that represents you.  Whenever you comment on a blog with gravatars enabled, your little picture will show up.  They are free and easy to create here: Globally Recognized Avatars.  PS – I used to have random little monsters appear in my comments for those without gravatars, but everyone seemed to be getting a frowning monster, so I disabled that feature.

6.  Printer friendly pages.  My posts are now printer friendly!  If my words so move you that you have to print them out and tuck them under your pillow or otherwise save them for posterity, you can now save time and ink by using the printer friendly option.  You can also save a page to a PDF file or share it through email.  First, click on the title of the post.  That will bring you to a page with only that one, single post.  At the end of the post will be a little printer icon.  Click on that to bring up the printer-friendly screen.  You will have the option to cut out paragraphs where I babble on about nothing, you can choose not to have the pictures print, and several other options.  I think this feature will be especially  nice if you want to print out any of the recipes I share.

7.  Streamlined look – I’ve got a new, streamlined look.  Come by and check it out!

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