Posts Tagged ‘Twitter’

  • 22 Oct

    Posted by
    Jillian Frank


    Category

    A List of People with Whom I Want to Make Out

    3

    Some of you may have noticed that And Other Times ceased to exist yesterday from about 7:30pm central time to about 1 or 2am today. Josh was trying to set up a new test site, and when he deleted a folder he had made from that, the public_html folder for this website disappeared as well.

    As soon as we both realized that we may have permanently lost more than a year’s worth of content, we started sending out APBs on Twitter and Facebook. Well, scratch that. The first thing Josh did was put a ticket into the helpdesk of our hosting company, midPhase. We weren’t sure if midPhase would be able to retrieve the lost folder, so we were hoping, nay, we were praying that someone was subscribed to my blog via RSS and that that person would be able to copy/paste my blog’s content into a document and send it to me for reposting.

    Last night I got lucky.

    Erin, the author of The Fierce Beagle, responded nearly instantly to a direct message I sent her through Twitter. She quickly copy/pasted the past four months of content from my blog and e-mailed it all to me.

    Shortly after receiving July’s content from Erin, Red (of The Naked Redhead fame), told me she had all my content from July of LAST YEAR in her RSS feed, and wanted to know what I needed. This morning I woke up to a large .pdf in my inbox that included all the rest of the content I had lost.

    And just recently, after a nice breakfast out with my family and some of our friends, I checked Josh’s email and found a reply from midPhase: they were sorry to hear about the missing folder, and they had gone ahead and fixed the problem. My website was up and running.

    I cannot tell you how relieved I am to have my website back. Actually, as soon as I realized I would have a copy of my content, a load was lifted off my shoulders. Truthfully, I would love if I could someday, somehow generate income from this website. I know that that’s unlikely to happen, but it is a dream of mine. However, I started writing this blog, and continue to write this blog, for Josh and for Jude and for myself. And, it’s like I told Erin: this is my way of chronicling our life as a family, and I would have been devastated to lose all of it.

    So, today I am thankful for friendship. I’m thankful for the kindness of new friends and old friends; thankful for my husband who cares about this website and my writing just as much as I do; and thankful for the techies over at midPhase.

    Today, click on the links in this post. Visit the sites of people who are kind and generous and good and helpful. If you can, help me repay these people by reading about their lives and what’s important to then. Take a minute to browse through the hosting services of a company that is prompt and helpful when dealing with their customers’ problems. Today I feel blessed, and I hope to be able to be a blessing others sometime soon.

  • 24 May

    Posted by
    Jillian Frank


    Category

    Birthday Party

    0

    Yesterday we had a small birthday party to celebrate Jude turning two (2!) years old. Josh’s two sisters and his brother-in-law are here visiting for the weekend, so they got to join in the fun with us and our friends. We started the party playing on the play structures and with Jude’s new tee-ball set (thanks Grandma and Grandpa!) at the Touhy Park playground and then headed into our apartment for cake and ice cream. We finished out the day with a shopping trip to Target that ended up in a full-blown meltdown by the birthday boy.

    (Much to everyone’s surprise) I made Jude’s birthday cake-an apple cake-and it rocked the house. I asked for recipe suggestions on Twitter, and a few people (namely Celine and Kathryn) came through for me. However, the recipe I eventually ended up using (with a few modifications) was from All Recipes. The original recipe is here. I substituted a cup of unsweetened applesauce for the oil and only used 1.5 cups of raw Turbino sugar. I also left the peel on the apples. The cake was super yummy and very moist. It was just sweet enough, and it didn’t need any icing (though a dusting of powdered sugar would have complemented it well). We served it with Breyer’s Vanilla Bean and Chocolate Chocolate Chip ice cream. Jude loved both of his sweet treats and ate a good deal of each.

    My brother-in-law, Grant, has a really, really nice camera, so stay tuned for pics from the party and the rest of our fun-filled weekend!

    I hope everyone is having a great Memorial Day weekend. Look for next week’s menu tomorrow afternoon/evening!

  • 09 Apr

    Posted by
    Jillian Frank


    Category

    A Foodie Wannabe

    1

    I recently realized that I have a desperate desire to be a foodie. Most of my friends on Twitter are foodies, most of the blogs I read are food blogs, and, above all else, I love to eat. (I also love my husband and my son. Most days, I love them more than I love food.)

    Right now, I can follow a recipe. Sometimes, though not often, I’m able to throw something together for dinner from random ingredients around my house. That being said, I don’t feel that I’m a good judge of complementing flavors; I have little to no experience using what I call “exotic” spices (read: curry powder, cardamom, coriander, saffron, etc.); and honestly, I’m kind of afraid of messing up and having to resort to grilled cheese for dinner.

    I enjoy cooking, and I would really love to learn to do it well. Maybe Jude and I can take cooking lessons together when he’s a little older. Maybe one day I’ll learn how to chop quickly and how to cut a bagel without cutting my finger at the same time.

    So, all you foodies out there, do you have any suggestions for me? Any tips or tricks for coming up with yummy recipes? Can you help me work through my fear of “exotic” spices? Do you know if there’s such a thing as Chopping Veggies for Dummies available for purchase?

  • 07 Apr

    Posted by
    Jillian Frank


    Category

    Mayday! Mayday!

    1

    This morning I woke up to the sad reality that there were only enough coffee beans/grounds left for about five cups of coffee. Of those five cups, the husband claimed about two, which left me with three. Three cups of coffee is three cups too little to get me through the day. And so, even though it was quite chilly here in Chicago this morning, I bundled Jude up, hopped on the El, and made my way to The Common Cup to pick up a pound of organic, direct trade, in season coffee beans. Suddenly, all is right with the world.

    Speaking of coffee, The Naked Redhead has teamed up with Naturally Nina on a “health makeover” for the next month. They’re striving for more natural (read: not caffeine-induced) energy in their every day lives. You can follow their conversation on their respective blogs as well as on Twitter (check www.search.twitter.com for the hashtag #getenergized to view the entire thread).

    Kudos to them. I wish them well in their endeavor. I think we could all use some more natural energy in our lives. And, while I wish I could obtain the energy that comes from good eating, daily exercise, and getting enough rest, I’m also quite happy to rely on the almighty bean for a pick-me-up.