Hello Out There…
Where did I go?
 
For three days, no blogosphere contact. You thought it was your computer at first, right? Some of you emailed, some called, texted and Fb me:
“Hello, Did you know your blog has dissapeared?” Uh, YES.
“Is someone stealing your site? Lawsuit.”
“What happened to your site? I need my food fix. Sometimes it’s just enough to look at the pictures.” keep reading and I’ll explain.
So here is the deal.
 
The Bad, my bad, whatev:
Ironically about a year ago, I purchased the domain name – ABountifulkitchen.com – so no one else could buy the name and start a website using my name (which is exactly what has happened). It cost a whole $10.00 . I set the account up to renew automatically, and Google was suppose to charge my card and renew the purchase and domain name every year. Well, the card expired, and I didn’t receive a notice, bc the renewal notice/email was sent to an account I never check. You know, and old email account I set up back when I first started blogging, but now use another account as a primary account. Anywho, I happened to see the expiration notice last week. I tried to renew. But it was too late -the name had been sold!
Gasp.
Wednesday morning, I could no longer access the website. I started digging around and found that people actually make a living waiting for domain names to expire, then buy and re-sell the names. Really? Yes, really. I erased the snarkyremark I originally posted right here. So, now we are in the process of finding out who is “cyber squatting” on ABK.com ( yes, there is a term for this) and seeing what we can do to retrieve the name. Fortunately, A Bountiful Kitchen is also a U.S. Registered Trademark. Another not so nice remark from ME, I decided should be deleted, was here.
 
The Good:
1. The info I thought I had lost, is still here. A Bountiful Kitchen has become family. Over two years spent recording stories about my childhood, our kids, marriage, friends, family, life, and how all of these things are intertwined with cooking. My online journal (I’m not so great at journaling, but am thinking this counts). I hope that someday, it will be something our kids and their kids will treasure.
2. I love that we (you and me) have this little online thing going. Love to hear your comments, suggestions, questions, etc. They bind us together. Love that over the past few days I have received notes from friends and readers (some of whom I have never heard from before- now, new bff’s) , expressing concern. SO Sweet.
3. Learning something new: I’ve had to find a solution to a problem. Searching into the unknown cyber world, and settings on my blogger account so I can have access to recipes and memories recorded. I could sit and cry or sit and try. Just made that up. I also learned a bit about domain names, importing/exporting blogs, storing info, hosting sites, and the importance of checking ALL email accts.
 
Result:
For now, I have switched back to using the original blog address:
Abountifulkitchen.blogspot.com
 
Fact, for now:
All of the recipes I have posted are still on this site. Unfortunately, the index is no longer working, because the indexed recipes were linked to the .com address. This will take a while to change, if we don’t get the domain name back. But you may still look up recipes under the “cooking categories” link on the home page or use the search tool at the top right of the blog.
Sorry for the inconvenience.
 
Thanks for reading, and for your sweet notes.
loves,
Si
 
Update 10-12-2010
All is well. Bought the domain name back. All of the links are working.
Grant is the best husband.
Ever.