Yeah, I’m insane.

Watch for the launch announcement sometime this September!

Related posts:

1. Psycho Mom Blogger? Me?
2. Update – Personal and Bloggy

How I fixed my WordPress blog with a simple Hostgator Transfer

As many of you know, quite a few WordPress sites hosted on GoDaddy servers were compromised these past few weeks.  I was among them.  I woke up one morning and my dashboard was all wonky.  Thought it was a plugin gone mad and after working to try to fix it I finally gave up and installed a clean version of WordPress.  That left me rebuilding and it took me about a week to get things mostly back in order (it’s still not what I would call ‘finished.’)

Then it happened again.

And I got mad.

And I researched and discovered that I wasn’t the only one with this problem.  There were many bloggers I knew of who were affected by this including @redneckmommy, @feministbreeder, @busymomblog, @thetamom, @stacieinatlanta @happyhippymom and I’m sure many more.  All of them were using GoDaddy hosting.  I didn’t hear of anyone on any other servers having issues.  The problem wasn’t that my WordPress install was out of date because it wasn’t, it was brand new.  The problem was that I had an old install on a subdomain (which had been forgotten about) and that sneaky little virus wormed it’s way into my fresh, new install.

I immediately put in a help ticket and sent out a tweet to GoDaddy asking what was going on?  Would they fix my site for me this time because, quite honestly, I didn’t want to have to rebuild again.

All I got back were instructions on how to fix it myself.  I was told they would not be able to help me fix it.  By this time I was more than frustrated and VERY mad!  How could they just let infected sites hang out on their servers and do nothing to fix them, subjecting other innocent users to this hassle?  How’s that for customer service?

So what’s this got to do with HostGator?  I’ll tell you what.

I emailed them and asked if they could help me.  I wanted a Hostgator Transfer to their servers but I had a problem, I had a virus.

Hostgator said sure, open a hosting account with us.  We will transfer all your files for you and our security team will clean them before they go live.  No extra charge.  Well, sounded like an awesome idea to me!  I’d get clean servers, some free help, and a website that didn’t need a weeks worth of rebuilding.  Deal!

So I did open a HostGator account, and they did transfer all my files for me, and they did clean them – all for no extra charge.  Just like they said they would.  And now all is right with my world.  A happy ending!

I just need to transfer the gazillion unused domain names I own (which were somehow redirected to porn sites without my knowledge…thanks again GoDaddy) over to Host Gator and kiss GoDaddy a big, fat Good Bye!

By the way – there’s a new Hostgator Coupon Code for August 2010!  Save 20% on your order with hgnews07 at checkout!! Click here to get Started

(yeah, that’s an affiliate link…because I’ll actually stand behind this service)

For more info on the exploit, check out Neowin’s interview of a security expert at GoDaddy, who explained what happened.

No related posts.

I’m on a new, safe hosting account so all issues should be gone and done.  Thanks for your patience all!

Related posts:

1. GoDaddy vs Host Gator WordPress Transfer Review (and exploit info)

For now, I’m going to bed!

No related posts.

So, what do you think of the makeover?  I still have a million things to tweak but it’s getting there.  I’m hoping to have it all done for Monday so I can get back to writing!

Related posts:

1. When creativity goes bad…..

Sure, I’ve enjoyed interviewing creative moms.  And I’ve loved sharing their work with you.

But I need to focus inward now and spend my energy on my own projects.

I will not stop blogging, however, Maternal Spark is going to change. The url maternalspark.com will stay active for a long time so you can still use it to make your way here. I will also be using a new url starting soon and that will be HometoHeather.com.

I don’t know how often I’ll post here – likely several times a week but I’m not going to sweat it anymore if I go two weeks without posting. I’ll only write when I really have something to say.

No more giveaways.

No more chasing people for their interview answers.

No more hustling for others.

It’s me time.

If you’re a writer with work published here and you have concerns please email me and we’ll work it out.

If you’re a current subscriber (I love you, that kissy face up there is coming your way! ) you don’t need to do anything. You’ll start to receive new content as soon as I start producing it.

Stay tuned. The graphical makeover will be happening soon.

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Her little boy was the same age as my Little H.  If I lost her I don’t know how I’d carry on.  When I heard the news…, I really wish I could write more for her – not that it would help.  But I can’t, there are no words within me to describe how I hurt for this mother and her lost her baby.   If you have a place online to share an image, light a candle for her son Bryson and share the link here.  When and if she’s strong enough to view them I hope she’ll know how many people her story has touched.

Related posts:

1. A letter to my body

Blogs Giving!

Today, I’m thankful for Gena of  The Morris Bunch Blog. Gena is a spitfire of a gal whose energy just blasts through the screen when I read her posts.  Even when she is feeling under the weather (she’s pregnant with a baby boy!) she still sounds more energetic than I hope to ever be.  And she needs all that energy to keep up with her gaggle of kids.  Gena lives with her police officer hubby and loves to blog about everything from day to day happenings to recipes to products she loves.

Another thing I adore is that Gena is very active on twitter and the momdot forums – she’s always around and ready to chat, give advice or just share a joke.

Go check out her blog, you’ll love her personality and her posts I guarantee it!

What is BlogsGiving all about?  Find out here!

Related posts:

1. Blogsgiving Day Two
2. PR Blackout ~ I'll be participating

The UnMom

Today is Tuesday, and so, I’d like to share with you an internet destination that is awash in randomness.  Fellow Canuck, Keely, blogs at the UnMom. I enjoy Keely’s blog for many reason.  #1 – she’s Canadian (I know I said that already but it’s a big one ok?)  #2 – she’s funny. Sometimes I think I’m funny.  Then I go over to Keely’s place and realize I’m not funny at all.  In fact, I’m so unfunny I must actually be delusional to think anything I’ve written is close to funny.  #3 – she mixes the Canadian-ness with the funny and I end up reading a post about a decapitated moose and laughing and I realize there was no way on earth I could have predicted what I was about to read and I am thankful for it.  And this is how the UnMom has made it into my Blogsgiving post for today.

Go visit.  Go subscribe.  Go partake in Random Tuesday.

What’s all the Blogsgiving stuff about?  Find out here.

Related posts:

1. Blogs Giving day three

A bit of background:  Nestle has been wooing mom bloggers.  It makes sense ~ Nestle makes formula which they would like to sell to moms.  There are many moms who love the Nestle brand and many who don’t.  There is a point being made that Nestle goes against the WHO guidelines for promoting formula in geographical areas where formula might be an unsafe choice (IE areas where water is in limited supply or is contaminated.)  I’ll admit to not really knowing that much about the issue, but there are some who are passionately boycotting the brand.

What does this have to do with Oompa loompas?  Well, the discussion about Nestle has gotten so out of control on twitter that at some point it became a race issue and a post flew past me that said “Oompa Loompahs were a racist caricature based on African slavery. ”

Um, WHAT?  Did I just fall off the turnip truck yesterday?  Maybe I have my head in the sand because it seems this has been a point of discussion for some time.  In fact you can read a whole essay on the topic here.

What can we learn from this?  That while your ideas and words may be entirely your own, you are never the sole writer on anything.  Your audience is going to manipulate your words by bringing their own experience into the mix.  And the kicker is you have no way to predict what your readers experiences might be.  Just because you write something one way does not mean it will be read and accepted in that way.  Your reader will interpret words and ideas by placing them within a context that is familiar and proven to them.  It is a very rare thing for someone to approach any situation with a completely open mind.  Hell, I could write something hysterical about lollypops and it could be found to be offensive to a bald man.

Do I believe Roald Dahl intentionally meant to mock slavery?  No.  Do I see the parallels and  possibility for someone to come to that conclusion?  Yes.

I guess what I’m getting at is that when you are writing, you can’t be completely swept up in how others will perceive your words or your original message can be lost.  But at the same time, you must keep in mind how someone else could manipulate your message by placing it in a different context. Don’t let it dictate what you say, but do think about additional themes that you could be putting out there with your name on them.

image credit to

Steve.r’s photostream

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