blog — Page 21

A Little Break

September 25, 2014 at 7:51 am by Claudia

z bud

My friends, I’m going to take the next couple of days off. We are in the middle of what is called Table Work, where we analyze every scene with the actors, directors, coaches, etc. The actors come in and out, depending on what scene is being done. But I have to be there the whole time. Don’t get me wrong, I love that work, but it adds up to 10+ hour days. I have to race back to the hotel on lunch break to walk Scout and end up eating something on the fly.

I’m also coming down with a cold/sinus thing. The director has it, too.

So I’m just plain tired and I really don’t have any time to compose a post.

I’ll be back on Saturday.

Thanks for understanding.

Happy Thursday.

ClaudiaSignature140X93

Potpourri on Tuesday (I’m All Over the Place)

September 16, 2014 at 9:18 am by Claudia

As Thursday draws nearer, I find I have lists and more lists all over the cottage. Errands to run. Things to pack. Phone calls to make.

And I’m more than a bit spacey. The other day I posted a photo on a blog post that I realized – several days after the fact – I had already used in a post last week. After rereading yesterday’s post, I worried that it was sort of the same thing I’ve said before. And it is. Ah, well. Sorry.

Forgive me if I’m a bit stressed. Packing for five weeks is always hard, but now I’m also taking Scout. And, unfortunately, for the first two weeks, we have to be in a hotel. After that, we will move to an apartment. It’s sort of a pain in the tush. I like this hotel. I’ve stayed there before. Everyone who works there is really nice. But how will Ms. Scout adjust? I don’t know. It’s a bit further from the park and Scoutie has a limp these days, so I worry about her.

Oh lord, I’m all about worrying. I’ve been that way since I was a wee girl.

If Scout doesn’t adjust to the hotel, she’ll move to her dad’s for a week or so. Hopefully, she’ll weather the change and be okay.

beatles sign on piano

Remember the sign I got Don for his birthday? We temporarily propped it up on the piano until we could decide on a good place to hang it. Eventually, we realized that we like it where it is. So, for the time being, it’s staying right there. I added a photo I took of Don when we were in Boston – he’s doing his best to recreate the famous Abbey Road picture.

beatles sign on piano 2

Stepping back. I am still so in love with that lithograph of the Aquitania.

Yesterday was gorgeous. Today is rainy. I took advantage of yesterday’s beautiful weather and took at least a hundred photos of the gardens and the flowers and bugs and things like that. I’m stocking up on photos for future blog posts. Rehearsals are pretty intense for the first week and I might not have time to walk around Hartford and take pictures. And when I do walk around Hartford, I will often have Scout with me, so there’s that.

Don, my love, more of your zinnias:

for don

for don 2

We miss you.

We’ve talked about the ad income I receive (believe me, it’s minuscule) from this blog before, right? That’s the only income I receive. I say this only because a sweet and lovely reader assumed I was getting paid for my book reviews and I wondered if other readers thought the same thing? I never thought about it before, but I can see where someone might think that is the case.

I do not get paid for my book reviews. I receive the book in exchange for my honest review. If I got paid, I wouldn’t be able to be completely honest in my reviews. Now, if I worked for a newspaper or journal or something like that, I would expect to be paid because I would be working for an entity that is neutral as to the books being reviewed. But, since I get the books from the publisher and/or author, accepting any pay would be tantamount to writing a post in which I would feel pressure to give it a thumbs up. That’s why I include that statement in every review that thanks either TLC Book Tours or the publisher or NetGalley for a copy of the book “in exchange for my honest review.”

Just wanted to clarify that.

I’m off to read my lists and make a plan for the day.

Happy Tuesday.

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Sigh of Relief

July 19, 2014 at 8:20 am by Claudia

The last three days? Insane.

The attack started on Wednesday and continued through yesterday. The techs at my host assured me that kind of attack isn’t personal – it’s done by a bot with some sort of script and they just keep at it. And at it. Anyone with a blog has been on the receiving end of a hacking attempt – they might not know it’s going on, but it is. Usually, they are a few hours long. But this one was a whole new thing. By Thursday, I decided to add another level of security, even though I really didn’t want to spend the money.

My blogs mean a lot to me and feeling peace of mind about any future attacks makes the expense worth it. Unfortunately, these DDoS attacks and Brute Force attacks are becoming more and more common. You’d think these idiots could find something better to do with their time.

roadside lilies

When I was on Blogger, my blog was hacked four times. That’s why I moved to WordPress. On Blogger, getting any tech help is next to impossible and after the first hacking attempt, no one answered my questions. Not one person. I felt helpless. And as I scrolled through the Blogger Help Forums, I saw lots and lots of unanswered pleas for help. Some people had lost their blogs, some were hacked, sometimes Blogger just deleted a blog for some reason or another. Very disheartening. At least with WordPress, I can get help. I can add security. I have a host that will answer my questions and solve the problem. I have my security company that, I have to say, worked overtime yesterday to get everything in working order. But there were lots of hiccups on the way, which is why you saw 403 and 404 errors.

My body was so tense from hours of sitting hunched over my laptop that I went outside and mowed part of the lawn just to get some sort of physical release.

Anyway, all is well.

And, once again, I am reminded that I have the best readers in the world. The best friends in the world. Thank you for your support and for the emails alerting me to problems. Thank you for responding to my test posts. Bless your hearts. I am so, so grateful for your presence in my life.

Unfortunately, I ended up the day feeling feverish and achy. I’m not feeling much better today. I have a lot of congestion – maybe a sinus infection? I’m not sure. So I’m going to be laying low for the rest of the day.

the cupcakes

These ladies are The Cupcakes. They are extremely talented and I really love their work. They are based out of Woodstock, NY. The area I live in is full of musicians. Somehow, the Hudson Valley, including Woodstock, attracts musicians and there’s always lots of music going on. This is their new CD. The title song? A song written by my husband.

I’m busting my buttons with pride. Don is a very talented songwriter and musician. The Cupcakes have been singing their version of Trouble and Joy for a couple of years now and they decided to use it as the title song. Isn’t that neat?

You can go to their site on ReverbNation to hear Trouble and Joy.

Tonight is their CD Release Party. I hope I’m feeling better so I can go!

Oh, and in case you missed it, there was a new post on Just Let Me Finish This Page yesterday.

Oh and Bloglovin’ is somehow showing that I have a new post up, but when you click on it the text is blank. Don’t know why that is happening and, frankly, I find it sort of a pain in the tush. So do me a favor: if you see I have a new post up, just come on over directly to the blog. That’s the way I’d like you to read the posts anyway…I work hard at my blog design and the look of a post and readers don’t really show any of that. I’ll try to figure it all out at some point, but now? I’m tired.

Happy Saturday.

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A Little Break

Potpourri on Tuesday (I’m All Over the Place)

Sigh of Relief

Lambs Like to Party

A Note

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