2013 Day of Detours
This goes back in time some . . . 2013/03/31
Detours Everywhere!
This last week has been filled with physical and production detours.
I started off on a quick errand the other day to pick up a needed supplement. I had been out of White Willow for too many days and my left leg was beginning to swell a bit. I knew I couldn’t ignore that for long, or it would develop into a worse problem. So off I went to find this needed supplement.
The first, and closest place I went was out of it! The only item in that brand that was just an empty space on the shelf. Who would of thought?
And I ran into 4 friends there, quick chats and hellos. That was fun, and I did enjoy catching up with them. But time was passing quickly for what I needed to do that day.
Drove to the next closest place – detour #1 on the road. Had to go way out of my way because of road construction and pointed me down a variety of streets to get back to the one I needed to be on.
Second detour. I forgot this business closed for a lunch hour! And I had arrived about 10 minutes after their mid-day closing time.
So my solution was to I drive to my third choice, much farther away, but didn’t want to wait 50 minutes for this business to reopen, and I knew I could accomplish more errands in that time than just hanging around waiting. Another road detour. Must be Spring and the roadwork has begun everywhere after Winter created potholes from freezing water seeping into cracks.
Found my White Willow at Natural Groceries, and of course had to shop a bit while there.
Then stopped at my favorite German bakery on my way home for a couple of Pretzel rolls and good rye bread. Very hungry at this point, as I had gone out without a real breakfast and it was past 1pm by now. Went home and enjoyed that Pretzel roll with some Brie cheese. Yum! Good reward for myself after a frustrating errand adventure.
At home worked on getting the “Lessons From Past Floods” Kindle and CreateSpace versions online.
Kept finding errors.
And the cover for the CreateSpace, though created how I did my last two covers that worked perfectly, keeps coming up as a totally different background color!!! than the one I have used.
Detours couldn’t stop me from accomplishing what I needed to get done.
I did the finished uploads and am hoping by changing the color of the cover it will look how I want it to look.
Waiting for the urls to post tomorrow.
. . . And they did, and it looked great!
Protect Your WordPress Sites
I made Fresh Web Starts After being Hacked so many times last year.
So I thought I would share some suggestions on protecting your WordPress sites.
Here’s what you all need to know right now as a few simple steps to take to protect your WordPress sites:
1. Update your Theme whenever a new update shows up for it!
Keep all of your sites updated even if you are not using them much.
(My new hosting company, Springs Hosting, sends out an alert about updates.)
2. Update every plugin when it has an update.
3. Add a plugin that alerts you if there are a specific number of failed attempts to login to your WordPress site has occured and it locks it down after that number is reached.
I am now using Springs Hosting. They have been very helpful during this stressful transition and I highly recommend checking them out if you are in the market for a new Hosting Company.
4. If you have any older sites in different programs either remove them, or make sure you keep them up to date. My original problem started with an old Joomla site that got hacked. I had kept meaning to get the data off of it and turn it into a WordPress site, but other things were more important . . . and then I had to just delete the site quickly and lost all the work I had done there when I learned it was the main cause of my other sites getting hacked.
I am not a techy person, nor an expert, and these are just a few ways to help protect your WordPress sites.
Do more research, make sure your hosting company actually cares about helping keep your web sites protected.
The original problem came from a very old, unused Joomla site that I had not updated in years. I also didn’t check the email connected to it very often. More than a few months had passed when Joomla sent out an email warning people of many older sites being compromised.
That was way too late for me. So much damage had been done.
I hired techy people to help get one of my most profiable sites back up cleanly.
That lasted about two weeks, then it got hacked Again, even with a safeguard on it.
All the safeguard really did was tell me there was a change on the site – didn’t prevent the change, just asked it I had made the change . . .
The hosting company had only one very expensive solution for me.
I changed passwords so many times it was difficult to keep track of them, but I did’nt
The only solution my hosting company at that time had for me was to spend $50 per site per year with another company to guarantee no future hacking and clean up the sites.
I had about 10 functioning sites.
Some had just begun to bring in a bit of income, others, like this one, that were not bringing in any income yet. So that was not a financially feasible or practical solution.
Its been a lot of work, and I still don’t have all my sites back up to functioning as they should, but getting closer.
Don’t let this happen to you. Protect your sites!
Sun Came Out Today But It Was Cold-Brrr!
At first when I woke this morning and saw the sun shining, I wondered if it wouldn’t have been a better day for a hike than yesterday.
But the sun was deceiving . . . it was much colder today than yesterday, so I was glad we had hiked yesterday.
I am working on two people’s books to get them ready for publishing on CreateSpace, but neither of them had given me any feedback, so I worked on Art Festival projects, posted to FaceBook for the Gallery shows and worked on some of my own projects.
Then I worked on some changes I had wanted to suggest to one of my book project people. I realized I didn’t have to wait for all the answers to questions I had asked them in an email to show them how I thought the book should be formatted to look more professional than their first edition.
There was also a Flood Information Meeting tonight. Every time I go to one of these meetings, I am brought face-to-face with the harsh reality of what Manitou Springs is facing for the next 7-10 years. Yet it is always inspiring to see how many people are working together to get as much mitigation and creek restoration pieces in place before the next rainy season. And how different government organizations are finding funds to help pay for these very expensive projects.
One harsh reality was mentioned by a couple of speakers. They spoke about how the members of the community are going to have to chip in financially if the City is going to meet the matching funds for some of the grants. We are a very small town, with a very small budget. But that isn’t deterring everyone from believing we can make the projected solutions happen quickly.
I walked to the meeting, “hiking” over Osage and higher to get to the Congregational Church. Invigorating to take this route. I did walk home on the main street after the meeting. It was dark, and there were many icy patches on the other route. Not willing to risk falling to get more exercise. I have enough challenges in my life without taking a fall.
Came home to three messages on my answering machine: a fun one, a sad one and a lovely invite.
I had not noticed that the Flood meeting was a half hour later than normal, so I stopped at the Commonwheel Gallery to check out our Pots By The Pound Sale. The first caller must have called as I was walking to the meeting, and was at the Gallery, so we chatted about her message. She’ll be working with me to get trained next week when I work at the Gallery all day. Always nice to have another worker on a long day like that, and I get to learn a bit about a new member. And I caught someone else leaving that I needed to talk to about a Gallery show I, and he, are suppose to be doing in April – Old Spokes: 40 Years Reflections on Commonwheel.
My dear friend Ann had called to invite me to a glass of wine this Friday. We try to get together a few times each year, but last year, not sure if we even had one drink together . . . I am sure we did, just can’t remember when . . . maybe at a similar time in the winter last year . . . Luckily, she chose a time and day I have no meetings or webinars, so I am looking forward to that visit.
Then there was a sad and challenging call that I had to address with the caller and then share the information with Commonwheel’s President. Changes for the Gallery marketing are coming because of this change we need to handle in a way that is best for all parties involved. We had hints that it was coming, but this call confirmed we will need a new marketing person sooner than we had thought.
A year ago, I probably would have offered to step in for the interim, but I am grateful my financial situation is a bit more stable and I won’t be trying to “do it all” just to make some money. I have skills and knowledge to help until we do find a new marketing employee, but had already made it clear that others in the Co-op who have some skills they can share to help in this situation, should also step up. And they did!
Tomorrow will be an interesting day as we all come together to discuss our next move to not lose momentum for the advertising pieces needed to keep Commonwheel in people’s thoughts during our slow winter season.
And make sure our most fun sale, “Pots By the Pound”, is as successful this year as it has been in the past!
Grey Day Not Promised Sunshine
I had a hard time getting motivated for my hike today.
This was suppose to be the sunniest and warmest day of the week.
There was no sun to be seen and the sky was very gray.
Well, I had a “date” with a hiking partner and various errands that needed to be done before and after the hike. So I got up and packed up my gear and the items in needed for the hike and the errands.
I was hoping the hike would lift me out of the fog I had been in and got distracted for time.
I missed my bi-weekly meditation that I join a group of people who love this earth. Just at the time it was ending I looked at the clock and realized what day it was. I haven’t missed one of these sessions in years!
So now I must really figure out how to get myself back on track on many levels.
Thank goodness there are replays, but it just isn’t the same as being connected by phone with this energy . . .
So I will be looking for the golden light and blue skies to help me fulfill my purpose and get out of this funk!
This was the most interesting sky views on the hike to Pulpit Rock.
I stopped for a bit and meditated upon how to find the golden light on my own personal horizon.
I did come back feeling more energized and knowing I would listen to the replay tonight and imagined some insights to how to stay in focus and in loving energy tonight that would help me awake filled with creative energy and new ideas in the morning.
Meeting Preparation for Tonight
The first Monday of every month is a Commonwheel Artist Co-op meeting.
I had to spend some time preparing a report about the Festival earlier in the day.
Then I saw the Treasurer report did not agree at all with the Festival report I was going to give.
I sent out the info I had to a couple of people to see how they could be so very different. No responses. But I am sure that the Festival actually stayed in the Black at the end of the year, so it wasn’t possible for it to have a loss at the end of November. I checked and rechecked the report I got from our accountant, and it is factual.
A bit frustrating, yet I am looking forward to working with a new Treasurer this year and figure out where the disconnect is in the different reports.
I had offered at least twice to meet with the current Treasurer to look at the reports together, but that never happened. So now I am just waiting to see when the new Treasurer sees the reports that we can hopefully get together to look at them and discover the disconnect. Maybe even meet with the Accountant at the same time . . .
It was a losing battle with this past Treasurer, so not worth arguing or fretting about it. I know my report was correct, and that was what I shared tonight.
It is important to Stand your Ground, no excuses, just speak the Truth always and let go of what argumentative people want to bully you into doing or seeing.
Rooted in Truth. Growing Strong in a Harsh Environment.
Can you see the bird?
Is he seeking shelter from the coming storm, or just enjoying the view?
Needing a Lift
Today was one of those days that I just felt in a fog.
And I had to figure out ways to lift that fog and be productive.
Having this cold drag on, and on, and on hasn’t helped.
So I granted myself some FaceBook time. Always fun, and usually find some uplifting posts by my myriad of friends out there.
Reading about others who were much more ill than I this Holiday Season made me feel very grateful for how easily I am getting through this cold.
One friend had a combo flu/bronchitis/sinus infection, another got pneumonia, others had a version of the flu that has lasted for WEEKS – Yikes! I really am lucky that I caught it early and dowsed myself with lots of Vitamin C & other supplements, hot tea and essential oils & took hot baths, which combined together stopped it from getting worse quickly.
I went out into the sunshine and shoveled snow. Blue sky above and an easy bit of shoveling in the chilly, but not bitter cold got my blood circulating. I breathed in the crisp clean air and felt much better. I felt very blessed to be enjoying winter in Colorado rather than what others are experiencing to the North and East of here. I never have missed the Midwest Winters that I grew up with and left far behind when I came to College in Colorado.
Still feeling a bit off when I came in, so I went up into my feather studio and created 3 masks and did some set-up for more. Creating some art and thinking of the people who will get to play wearing one of the masks always helps to get me out of a funk.
Being in my feather studio also reminded me that Carnivale is coming to Manitou Springs in the not to distant future and I better create some wild and crazier masks for that event.
I took a short nap. The cold still dragging my energy down a bit, then got up and had a fun, easy dinner and came in to my computer office area to catch up with some work, including this daily blog.
I have never been one to let the “blues” keep me from moving forward on some level every day.
So now it is time to totally shake off the “blues” by getting a good night sleep and awake ready to face tomorrow as a bright new day.
This rock formation made me think of this expression “And Lifts his Noble Chin . . .” which I needed to be doing myself today. Always better to look up and at all the possibilities that are offered to me for this new year than to mope around. And I do have some very interesting new connections relating to books, helping others get published, and getting mine finished, that have just entered my world. Great way to start a New Year with New Connections that relate to some of my passions.
Every time I have hiked by this formation in the past, I saw something different.
But I think the concept of someone facing a new day with courage will be ingrained in my vision for some time now.
And the two rock formations in the background have opposite expressions, one is looking a bit grumpy, one at peace with the world.
Which One is a Reflection of You Today?
Holiday Not Totally Spoiled By A Cold
Going slightly back in time, here is how I handled this year’s Holiday week when a Cold knocked me down.
Earlier in the holiday week, I was very happy with my progress for getting web sites back up, making great progress. I felt I was on track for meeting my goal to have them all back online with at least one post and a page.
Waking up on 12-24-13, I knew my day was going to be not quite how I planned it.
I was really look forward to working the Commonwheel Artists Co-op on Christmas Eve, and then going to a friend’s house for a “Shrimp Boil” Holiday Celebration dinner.
On this Christmas Eve morning, one of my most favorite days to work in my Commonwheel Co-op Gallery, I felt the start of the cold others had hired me to work for them because they had it.
Too late to find someone to work for me.
I toughed it out and kept a smile on my face with the help of another wonderful member.
She had been hired to work for someone else who was sick.
She is a great sales person for our Gallery, very fun to work with, knowledgeable about jewelry and a great art packer.
And she stayed more than an hour longer than her paid for shift with not even a tiny complaint.
I am usually a better sales person, when I don’t sound like I had a frog in my throat.
Still, I had people laughing rather than feeling sorry for me with my froggy voice.
We had a $3,000 day!
Better than most Christmas Eve’s that I remember from the past.
And after all the flooding challenges that caused us to be closed too many days in the summer, we needed a GREAT holiday season.
Interestingly, there were people I was suppose to be there to encounter; two strangers and a friend, and both bought books. The stranger has an interesting connection for a mask fund-raiser and he is giving the book to the owner of the Spa Building prominently featured in the book. The other stranger has a dance company and may want masks for some future production.
One of the reasons it is my favorite day to work is that being the day before Christmas, it is the day of giving away the most gift bags.
Every time we offered someone a free gift bag or box for their purchase, big smiles and joyful thanks came our way.
And my selling partner was great at adding a bit of Rafia to the gift bags or a little ribbon on the gift box to make it extra special.
Sadly I had to miss my favorite Christmas Eve Shrimp Boil dinner with friends. Didn’t want to share what I had with another person.
I did use my Young Living Thieves hand sanitizer all day at the Gallery, but still worried I might have shared germs with someone. Yet there wasn’t much I could do to avoid contact with people there, even if I let the the member do most of the wrapping and interacting with people.
I was exhausted and could barely move on Christmas Day.
Luckily I had grocery shopped on Monday and intuitively bought things that I found edible while sick.
I watched “feel good” movies all day on TV, slept, and just vegged – not something I do easily, but that was all I could do that day.
The next day, I made myself some chicken soup, and ate soft healthy foods the next few days, coupled with hot baths, sitting in the sun on my porch, essential oils and as much Vitamin C as my body could tolerate.
Had to do that for many days in a row.
And this Cold had different symptoms each day.
Felt a bit better each day.
Just had to ride it out as best I could.
Sure enjoyed sitting in the sun on my wonder South facing porch each afternoon.
I always marvel at how lucky I am to have that asset in my life!
A New Life for Write-It
Life Upside Down-Write It is now nothing like it had morphed into before it got hacked.
This site is starting over from scratch.
All new posts.
The helpful pages relating to journaling, writing and getting published will be rebuilt.
It will get back to the root of what it was meant to be originally.
There is three meanings for the “Write-It” part of this site.
Writing about the “upside-down” part of life, is a good way to get a better picture of what the challenge you are facing is really all about.
Then use a solution-based approach to discern ways to right it, so as to not get bogged down in the challenge itself, but discover what steps to take to move forward.
I have many techniques I use when faced with challenges. And I will write about them.
Not to say I don’t recognize some challenges as very difficult and unpleasant, that is often the truth about challenges.
But after acknowledging I experience negative emotions around them, I set out to switch my thinking from what is not working, to how can I make it work, and what steps do I need to take to get back on a positive emotional path to my goal.
Journaling, meditations and vision boards are helpful in this process.
I will share how I use many different techniques to right my way of looking at a challenge as struggle to an opportunity to grow and thrive.
And finally, after writing about a challenge to help yourself through it, ask if what you learned is something you need to share with others and Write A Book about it?
This is something I am passionate about, helping others get published to share what they have learned from life’s interesting challenges to help others on many levels.
This blog isn’t meant to be a day to day journal. It will skip around quite a bit. Each post will have a category or more that could be searched to pull together a series of posts on one subject.
My life has been filled with challenges that I have faced and conquered with the help of others and a solution based approach to every one I have been faced with over the years.
But like a tree that grows out of rock, we can all find what we need to sustain us and grow beautifully, straight and tall with our face turned towards the sun.
I have always been fascinated by trees that I see growing out of what looks like a pure bed of stone, no proper soil to support it.
Their roots search deep for sustenance, and I find this a rare beauty that I greatly admire.
Day almost slipped away
This day nearly slipped by me without writing in my two blogs . . . Yet I did have a very productive day in many ways.
Coming into a New Year with a cold, not my favorite way to start a year.
But what can one do, except let it move through your system as quickly as possible and work and play as much as one can without making it worse.
Help it with hot teas, essential oils, hot baths, rest and sitting in the sunshine. I am oh so lucky, and I know it, to be able to have sunny days in the middle of winter.
I rarely get sick, but this did overpower my immune system some way. Hopefully that will mean I have that behind me and enjoy good health the rest of the year. And I didn’t get it quite as bad as others, which is a blessing in itself.
I took a Spirit Renewing Hike in the Garden of the Gods and I took a picture that reflects upon the feeling of this blog.
A twisted, yet very beautiful tree. It obviously has seen many a challenge in growing, yet it continued to grow and is very beautiful. Open to the sun and the wind and the lichen growing upon it.
What do you see?
Life can be twisted and beautiful all at the same time.
Just keep reaching up and for the sun!
Upside Down and Off Track
This web site originally got started late 2012.
It was to be about writing books and how writing about one’s life when it gets turned “upside down” can help others and yourself.
It got off track quickly.
And all mixed up with different ideas that belonged on other blogs.
How this site got off-track is explained a bit below.
I wrote on this site about other books I had gotten published and this one.
Not really following “a life upside-down” theme.
As to the “Write-It”, that section to help others get their books written and published, it had just barely gotten started, then I had to focus elsewhere.
2012 and 2013 were filled with some particularly weird and exceptionally challenging situations.
Below are just a few of the Glitches I have had to handle in my life recently.
And although this blog is meant to be about handling challenges or glitches in my world as they appear, it will also go back in time to relate how I handled ones in years past.
It is my hope, that it will inspire people to approach life and its little, or huge glitches/challenges, with a solution based approach, rather than get all tangled up in the challenge they present.
Having my web sites hacked, flooding in my home town, my art co-op Commonwheel’s basement flooded and covered in mud causing the loss Festival items, the Gallery’s POS system on a computer (just after the creator of that system had died, so no back-up) and moving an Art Festival in less than three weeks all contributed to my losing the focus of this blog.
I posted a variety of types of post that didn’t really fit with the theme. But I guess, I was Writing about what was happening in my world and how many people were resolving the issues the flooding brought to our town and lives.
Handling all of these challenges in a very short time, and other major, and some minor, challenges, will be written about more in following posts.
This incessant hacking made me have to look at the big picture for what I wanted to do with all of my web sites.
Don’t think I wasn’t very frustrated with the situation.
And I just can’t fathom why someone would waste time messing up small business people’s livelihood, which brought in a bit of anger to season the frustration.
But that question wasn’t one to focus on if I was go forward.
The only solution my hosting company at that time had for me was to spend $50 per site per year with another company to guarantee no future hacking and clean up the sites.
I had about 10 functioning sites.
Some had just begun to bring in a bit of income, others, like this one, were not bringing in any income yet. So that was not a financially feasible or practical solution.
I spent money on outside techs to help. But the hacking continued. And the hackers kept accessing my FTP file, even though I changed my password many times.
The Art Festival took on a life of its own after its original park location was flooded. It was all I could focus on during the three weeks in which I had to move it and all the unique challenges that involved.
One never knows how strong and resourceful one can be until absolutely stretched to their limits. (More on this later.)
After the Art Festival was successfully over, I did some research on hosting companies.
I wanted a new hosting company that offered more protection and help than the one I was currently using.
A couple of friends suggested a local hosting company that they used and liked. And my computer tech gave me the owner’s name.
So I called Springs Hosting and asked to speak to the owner. And after explaining my situation, I was invited to actually come to the office and sit down with the owner and his top tech to further discuss the situation. They are a growing company, not just a small, one-man operation, it was an impressive site to get into for my office visit.
The tech shared a few ideas on how to protect a web site for much less cost than $50.00/year/site.
And they had a variety of suggestions of how to move forward and get my sites moved and safely functioning again.
Of course I could pay them to do that, but they knew that wasn’t very practical financially. But they could do it for a price out of my budget.
Another way was for me to clean a site on my old host, open a static IP address for it on the new host and move the files over, then clean it again.
Having seen how hard it was to find all the bad code, that seemed tedious.
The tech actually gave me written instructions for how to do this.
We did experiment with one, but not being very technical, it was confusing to me to try to follow all the steps. As gracious as the tech was, she saw me struggling, yet was always encouraging when I called for more help.
Finally, I decided to go gather all the information I could from the various web sites, the posts, photos, links, videos, etc. and create a file for each web site and rebuild it from scratch.
I had to use Archive.com for some of it. Techs at the old host would help me get a site back up for a short time before it was hacked again in hopes to gather more information.
Yep, that turned out to be pretty tedious also. But I did it.
Then I closed down each site, and began to move each of these the domains over to Springs Hosting.
Another piece was that I have about 35 domain names, each of which needed to be moved, some sooner than others as they reached their annual expiration date. And that was an added expense, but at least they add the time the domain has remaining to the new renewal date.
While gathering the information, it gave me a chance to decide what I really wanted to do with each web site. So looking at this as a fresh start, rather than a horrible ordeal, I was able to focus on the positive and what I can do, rather than what I had lost.
Sure, that took some time, after all, there was over 8 years of time invested in the oldest web site, but I was able to capture most of the data, and will get them back up and running more efficiently soon.
As 2013 came to a close, I am began to get all the sites that had been up before, back up again.
Some are pretty complete, others, just have landing pages, awaiting re-posting of past information.
This one is in its infancy, and I am excited about its potential.
I an very much looking forward to growing with it and sharing ways to stay focused when everything around you is trying to distract you from your purpose, as these past few years have distracted me, but not discouraged me from following my passion for many years to come.