Question of the Day?

Who's your favorite Food Star and or Show?

I loved, loved, loved The Take Home Chef with Curtis Stone.  Could have something to do with the Australian accent, just saying!

Watch Out for "Hotmail" Phishing Email

I just received an email response from Microsoft.  I had reported a suspicious email to abuse@hotmail.com.  I hope none of you have responded to this email I have pasted below.  It is a phishing email and they are trying to get into your contacts list to send an email to all of your friends and family saying that you are sick and need money and send it to them of course.  I hope this heads up helps all you great people on PNN.

 The first part is the response from abuse at hotmail.com.  If you ever receive an email that you feel is suspicious always email the company directly first before responding with any personal information.  If you get a funny feeling that something’s not quite right in life period, you're usually correct.

“Thank you for writing to Windows Live Hotmail Customer Support. This is Paulo and I am writing in response to the unwanted message that you received. I have read that the e-mail asks you to reply to the e-mail address. I understand how important this can be for you and your need for this issue to be addressed immediately.

The e-mail you received is a Phishing message. "Phishing" is a term that is used to describe fraudulent e-mail that is designed to acquire your identity by stealing your personal information. These misleading e-mail messages may appear to come from MSN or from another reputable company but are actually from persons masquerading as legitimate businesses. These e-mail messages will prompt you to disclose personal information, such as your bank account information or Social Security number to a fraudulent Web site. The sender of the e-mail can use this personal information to damage your credit status, access your personal accounts, open new accounts in your name, steal your funds, or commit fraudulent transactions in your name.

Moving forward, I have checked the information you provided. However it did not include the necessary information that we need. You must first display information about the message that may not be visible to you. This information is known as the mail header. The mail header contains information about the origins of the message, and can help us determine who sent the e-mail message.

To display and send the full header of the abusive message:

1.  Use your Windows Live ID to sign in to the Windows Live Hotmail account. 

2.  On the left side of the screen, click Mail. 

3.  In the folder list, click Inbox. 

4.  In the message list, right-click the abusive message, and then click View source. 

5.  Select all the contents of the message window. 

6.  Right-click the highlighted area, and then click Copy. You may also press CTRL+C to copy the highlighted text. 

7.  Click Reply to this e-mail, and then right-click in the body of the new message, and then click Paste. 

8.  Send the message. 

We appreciate your continued support as we strive to provide you with the highest quality service available.  We look forward to hearing from you soon.

Sincerely,

Paulo C.

Windo”

Below is the email I sent to hotmail abuse

Dear Hotmail Customer Service: 

I recently received this email and was suspicious since hotmail asked for my username and password.  After all I've only had the account for at least five years.  I researched online and found this is a scam.  I would like to report this and have you respond to me.  Thank you for your help.

Verify Your Account Now To Avoid It Closed?

Dear Account User

This Email is from Hotmail Customer Care and we are sending it to every Hotmail Email User Accounts Owner for safety. we are having congestions due to the anonymous registration of Hotmail accounts so we are shutting down some Hotmail accounts and your account was among those to be deleted. We are sending this email to you so that you can verify and let us know if you still want to use this account. If you are still interested please confirm your account by filling the space below.Your User name, password, date of birth and your country information would be needed to verify your account.

Due to the congestion in all Hotmail users and removal of all unused Hotmail Accounts, Hotmail would be shutting down all unused Accounts, You will have to confirm your E-mail by filling out your Login Information below after clicking the reply button, or your account will be suspended within 24 hours for security reasons.

* Username: ..............................
* Password: ................................
* Date of Birth: ............................
* Country Or Territory: ................

After following the instructions in the sheet, your account will not be interrupted and will continue as normal. Thanks for your attention to this request. We apologize for any inconveniences.

Warning!!! Account owner that refuses to update his/her account after two weeks of receiving this warning will lose his or her account permanently.

Sincerely,
The Windows Live Hotmail Team”

Question of the Day

Is it unreasonable for a husband/wife to expect their spouse to stay the same as the day they married: skinny, wearing the same clothes etc.  Is it grounds for divorce if the spouse doesn’t keep up with appearances or keep the house clean etc?  What do you think?

Question of the Day

What did you think of/hear/ experience today that makes you thankful for living the life you live?

Me sitting here with my girls.  They are such a miracle to me.  They are constantly doing things that I want to etch in my memory forever...

Question of the day

What's your favorite holiday movie?

Question of the Day

When someone asks you, "How are you doing?"

And you answer, "Fine, How are you?"  Why do people not answer? 

The question just sits uncomfortably in the air.

Question of the Day

What is the kindest thing you have done or seen someone else do?

Question of the Day

What's the cutest thing your child has said lately?

Mine.  My 21 month old was holding Band-Aids (she now wants to put them on all the time).

She said to her dad, "Band-Aid please." 

He said, "No," half joking. 

So she gave him a look and said, "Ask mom," turned around and came upstairs to have me open one for her.  She already has an attitude and she's not even two yet.  I think we're in trouble!

Question of the Day?

What is the funniest country music song title?

1. You're the Reason Our Kids Are So Ugly.
2. My Wife Ran Off With My Best Friend and I Sure Do Miss Him.
3. I'm So Miserable Without You; It's Like Having You Here.
4. Get Your Tongue Outta My Mouth Cause I'm Kissing You Good-bye.
5. I Don't Know Whether To Kill Myself or Go Bowling.
6. If The Phone Don't Ring, You'll Know It's Me.

Question of the Day

What is your biggest fear: Money, Death, Divorce, or something else?

Question of the Day

Do you believe in the Las Ness Monster, Big Foot, or UFO's?  Do you believe in them all or just a few?  Can you believe in things based on faith or science?

An Honest Stranger

There was a knocked on my door at about 8am on the weekend.  I thought who is that?!  Also, better not wake up the kids, grrrrr… but that’s not something I’m always willing to admit all the time.  I opened the door not entirely clothed and peaked out.  A man was standing there with his dog.

He said, “I’m sorry I just wanted to let you know yesterday when I was walking my dog the lead got caught around your mail box and almost knocked it off.  I can come back and fix it if you like.”

All my grrrrr… feelings left and a loving warm feeling settled in.  I couldn’t believe this sweet man would actually come back, knock on my door and volunteer to fix my mail box.  Most people would have walked on and never looked back.

“Thank you but it’s actually been like that for a long time.  I really appreciate you telling me through.”

He probably didn’t know just how much I appreciated his honesty, it made me believe in people and I felt great at least for that day.  It’s amazing what a little honesty and caring about others can do for someone else’s day.

Now the skeptic might say he ran off and the guilt got the best of him or he was afraid someone saw him but the fact was he was a honest enough to come back and tell me was huge.  It restored my hope in people for the day.  I guess if we all take a moment and do something caring and unexpected for someone we can change a person’s day and make a huge difference in our communities.

Hip Mama Here...

What’s a girl gotta do to be hip?  Be yourself.  Be confident.  Have big goals and dreams and know you can do anything.  Have your own sense of style and love your body what ever size you are.  Strive to be a great role model for your kids and know how to say sorry. 

I am on a constant journey to be more of the Hip Mama I know I can be.  I’ve finally decided I’m going to lose the weight, I need to.  I’ve ripped a few pictures from fitness magazines and placed them on my fridge.  In the past I’ve looked at them admiringly while I ate a whole bag of chocolate chips.  Hopefully, this time it will do the trick. 

Today so far, even though it’s only 6am, I’ve started out well.  Now I’ve just got to keep it going the rest of the day and work moment by moment and before I know it I will be a better roll model for my girls and be able to go out and buy a cute pair of new jeans and an adorable pair of sexy heels (and maybe even a matching purse, I'm such a purse girl)!

I’ve signed up at a weight loss web site but I spend so much time on the computer writing that I don’t have any time left to set up all of my daily food lists.  There seems to be lots of support and I’ll see what happens and keep you posted, so if you’re trying to lose weight, let me be your guinea pig first.  No, I don’t want to be a guinea pig.  I don’t think it’s a slimming body type or name.  How about I’ll be your slim athletic Greyhound?  After all, I do love to run. 

And let’s not call it; ‘losing weight,’ because as I heard in Weight Watchers, you don’t lose weight because you can always find what you lose, you get rid of it.  Or maybe a better word I’ll donate it, but who would take my donation of extra weight?  That’s like when someone says, “I don’t need that cookie.” My response is, “Who really does?”  Not many of us anyway.  Good luck with all of your goals.  I’m right here with you to offer support and to be your Grey Hound (at least until I can think of a better animal, I guess I’m more of a Mare or female horse, they love to run too and are cute)!

After the Storm

Well, hip mamas I’ve been off line for a few days now.  We lost our electricity here in the Buckeye State (Ohio) after being hit by 70 mile an hour winds.  I was even scared for a second when the winds started.  I’ve never actually seen a tornado before but I went outside and felt like I was going to be blown away (and no I haven’t lost that much weight that I could get blown away, but I have lost weight thought and I’ll get to that later). 

We lost power and at first I didn’t think much of it.  I mean usually it comes on right away but after it had been off all afternoon, evening and into the next day, I thought I’d better get ice for all of the things in the fridge and the freezer (I'd just bought light meals for losing weight).  So off I went in search of ice. 

I was up early and in the store by 7AM but they had no ice.  I thought it was no big deal and I’d just go to the next huge store.  So my daughter and I sat down and enjoyed a Starbucks (me: a nonfat no whipped and she had a hot chocolate) before heading out.  She was thrilled that they had a TV showing a morning cartoon as she was dangerously close to TV withdraw while I was getting my caffeine fix (at the sight of the line so was everyone else).

The next store had no ice and the story continued as we went from store to store.  I got the tiniest glimpse of what it must be like to try and find anything after a huge storm or hurricane.  Searching for ice became an obsession the more stores that didn’t have it the more I needed ice.  I finally found it in a drive through across the river, not far from me.  I bought 8 big bags (for two houses) totaling $34.00.  Now I’m thinking why did I pay that much for ice?  I ended up throwing all of the frozen food a few days later after a big puddle of water appeared under the fridge and the food was probably not safe anyway.  Now it’s been a few more days and some people still don’t have power.  At my parents house they lost both gorgeous Weeping Willows and a few other trees.  Part of the problem was AEP sent many of their workers down to help with the hurricane so no one was left to deal with our storm.  It’s great to help but you want to make sure you leave a few people to help at home too.  I hope everyone dealing with the after math from bad storms gets all the help they need and more. 

Question of the Day?

What's your stress relief secret?