Weird title, huh? You’re probably wondering what gives?! Well, I have had it up to my hairline with spammers. Last week I had 300 spam messages in my comment section on ONE day that I had to delete one at a time. Today, I had 60! Enough is enough. So I have added…
a spam blocker that will ask all of my readers the same question each time you comment.
I chose this format for a couple of reasons.
- I figured it would be easy enough for anyone to do, even Patricia who I know has a lot of trouble with those word catcha phrases. I don’t like those either.
- Since it asks the same question each time you comment, I figured repetition would become stored memory, even with our severe cognitive problems.
- I can NOT delete one more spam comment. I will not.
- I got to create the question that will be asked. Now that is cool!
Okay. Can you guess what the question is? You got it. WHAT IS THE NUMBER IN THE NAME OF THIS BLOG? That is the question. Easy, clear, and precise!
Just for clarity sake – I know how our foggy brains can work sometimes – the answer is 4. You don’t need to spell it out, just hit the number 4 and you can submit your comment.
Hopefully, that eliminates me having to delete all of those nasty spammer’s comments and it will make it easy for you. If … for some reason … this question proves too difficult on bad days, please let me know. I can change it any time I want. I will not be bothered. What might make sense to me on a bad day may not make sense to you on a bad day. I get that.
On the crash front, I am not worse today, which I am choosing to take as a good sign. For the past 6 or 7 days, I have been steadily declining towards this crash despite huge amounts of resting. Today, I am pretty much where I was yesterday, just a little more fatigued, sore throat and more body pain. So, that is good.
I spent the day on my BB (blackberry) instead of my laptop as it was too much earlier in the day. This little thing sure is amazing! I was able to comment on your blogs, my blog, and answer emails on it today. Nice.
I also chose to spend the day listening to Enya, calming water sounds, Cris Botti and Miley Cyrus’, The Climb’ – love that song. It has become my anthem.
While looking for calming and encouraging music, I also stumbled upon some really funny videos on YouTube and, as we all know, laughter makes the heart merry. One of them had me in stitches so I thought I would share it with you.
I don’t know how you reacted, but I laugh every time I watch it! I think I have now viewed it 6 times!
On the wedding front, the nightmare continues. Aunt Z called the limousine company today, cancelled it and got all her money back. She then sent a one line sentence in the subject line of an email that said, “You need to get your own limousine” or something to that effect. Unbelievable!
My daughter’s fiance, however, stood up to his dad and said if they make him choose, he chooses my daughter and he will just have a wedding with her and her side of the family. How sad that he even has to say that.
Speaking of weddings, I couldn’t believe the amount of emails I got sharing the ‘stories’ of your wedding difficulties! That was a wake-up call! I’ve always been very flexible when I went to weddings and I assumed everyone else was too.
Well, I think I’m going to watch that baby laughing video one more time before I go to sleep. Don’t forget that the answer to the question is 4! 
P.S. If the video isn’t staying centered, I give up!
Determined to continue forward,
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Dominique,
Can’t you set it up so that someone has to answer the question only once or three times or something, then that person’s comments don’t require the answer? I certainly understand the spam problem and the need to have some control, but I think there are ways to do it that don’t require your regular commenters to answer the question every time.
Lillie Ammann´s last [type] ..Five Christian Writers Who Left Their Mark: Guest Post by Louise Baker
Lillie – I can check and see if that is possible but every blog I’ve been to that a spam checker is set up on the question is asked every time. My understanding is that the way to block spam is to ask a question that only a human could answer every time a comment is made. The more complicated the spam checker the harder it will be to use. I apologize if you find this burdensome.
Thanks for the laugh! It’s so infectious. My Other Half and I were sitting out having our dinner last night and I told him about your wedding nightmare. It’s astonishing to us that people can be so vindictive, but thinking about it, we both have our own ‘wedding fall out’ stories. It’s such a pressure point in families and everything gets played out. No wonder you are having such a huge crash. I hope you’ve got some good pillow punching in. I have been known to draw a face on a pillow and use a rolling pin. It hurts no one and feels great. Makes your arms hurt though!
And then of course there is the grief in the loss you have had this week. It must feel like a Perfect Storm of emotion. At times like this there is only Faith to hang onto. Keep hangin’ in girl.
Jo´s last [type] ..Jogalates
Jo – That was infectious. There is something about a baby laughing that is just too cute! I’m not punching pillows (yet) but I am having to do the “I choose to forgive her” over and over. And she continues to give me new opportunities every day!
. I’m hanging in there. One day/moment at a time, right?! 
Nothing sweeter than a baby’s laugh! Thanks for sharing.
Glad you are not any worse today! Hope that means your crash has leveled itself and you will soon be on the upswing.
I tried removing the “word verification” option once on my blog as well and got tons of spam. It’s so unfortunate, as I think it may keep some from commenting, but such is the way of the internet these days! I certainly don’t mind typing a simple ’4′ it saves you from a huge hassle! Piece of cake.
Feel better!! Hugs to you.
Laurel´s last [type] ..Determined Spirits
Laurel – I hope that I have leveled out as well. I’m hoping to be up by Tuesday because Sue from Learning to live with CFS is in Oklahoma this week and we were planning to meet for lunch. I’m thrilled that you are feeling better!
No problem with needing to type in 4…I cannot remove the varification from mmy blog either without alot of spam…so we just need to meet the challenges as best we can…speaking of…sounds like you are doing just that, my friend! Hope you are now able to start the climb back up in your health. Thoughts and prayers continue…
Renee´s last [type] ..Eye Am Not Amused
Renee – thank you on both accounts!
That’s awful so much spam. I wondered
about that when you made your blog
so easy to use. using 4 will be
a snap. Thank you for making it
so easy. Seems like a spammer
could figure it out; but I hope not.
Praying daily that this relapse
isn’t a long, bad one and that
each day you are better.
I forgot to mention how sorry
I was to hear of the death of
your church friend and on top
of the wedding plans mess.
I think it was wonderful for you
son in law to say it would be
fine to just have your daughter’s
side of the family. I hope simplification can be a part of
making for a very meaninful wedding
day.
Patricia – Actually, my understanding is that spam (robots) can’t answer questions, so any question asked eliminates spam. Smart, huh! I loved that I could make up the question. I’m so anal it took me 20 minutes to come up with the question! Ha!
The crash is severe but it seems to have bottom out. I feel like I have a severe case of the flu. The fact that it has bottom out – and if I keep resting in bed – leads me to be hopeful I will be up and at it again … soon.
Thank you. It was an incredible shock to the members of our church. She was doing incredible well and then we were told she had died. Wow! It is a reminder to me that our time on earth is numbered and not to waste any of that time on things that are so trivial – like Aunt Z.
Yes, I am quite proud of my son-in-law-to-be.
Praying for you and Sammy….
Dominique,
Sorry to ask a question when you are not feeling great but can you tell me how to get the post of the day to come up first. I end up on the wrong day or on the home page and them have to keep going to the next page but clicking on the arrow at the bottom right hand corner of the page. Is there some easy way to get to that page?
Ruth – There are two ways to get the current day’s post. You can sign up for the email on which is in the right hand column under my copyright disclaimer – about four boxes down. This way you will get an email every time I post so you don’t have to come here looking for it.
The second way is to grab the rss feed – which is the orange square cube above the copyright disclaimer box. You click on it and it will ask you how you want the feed. Choose the one you want and that’s it.
I personally like the email version first because it does everything for me – even let me know when the next post comes out.
If you need any other clarification, just let me know.