Hacked Off!

Friday morning, I was in the usual frenzy to get ready for work when my sister called. I knew it must be important; she knows better than to call me when I’m trying to get ready for work. Apparently my facebook status update reported that I was in dire need of help. She called again within a few minutes to report that her sister-in-law, one of my FB friends was chatting with “me” and “I” was telling her that I was in London, had been robbed, and needed money wired.  I knew I had been hacked, but I didn’t know the lengths these hackers would go to. As I later found out, I was  a victim of the Nigerian 419 Scam.

I’m so glad, that despite my lateness for work, I took the time to check my gmail account. I was stupid and naive enough to have the same password.  Never really thought it would be a problem. I have passwords for so many things, it’s just easier for me to remember a few variations of the same password.  I didn’t have time to check to see if the hacker was in that account too, I just wanted to change the password ASAP.

While I was in my email, I noticed the top email from my bank, stating that my account was overdrawn. Funny, I thought, I had over $1600 in there 2 days ago. So I left for work in a panic, thinking I ‘d been robbed, but not knowing how hackers could have gotten into my bank account (that definitely has a different password and extra security measures).  To my relief, the bank matter was just an incidence of terrible timing. On the phone, the bank worker confirmed that all the charges were my own. We just had extra car repair bills and several automatic payments that occurred all at once.

I got a few more calls from concerned friends, wondering if I was OK.  The hacker continued to instant message people on my friends list, asking for money (I have no idea how many and which friends were contacted).   In the meantime, I was helpless. I couldn’t get into my account to warn my friends and I don’t have the email addresses of most of my FB friends in my regular email account.   I only know what was going on with my status update because some friends showed me. When you leave a status update on FB, friends can leave comments that all your friends can see.  Of course there were comments like, “Oh my goodness, is she OK?” and “Does anyone have her phone number”.  Then there were comments from friends who knew it was a hacker warning everyone else. The hacker would delete these comments every few minutes.  A few friends and I reported the problem to FB, and I’m not sure how long the hacker was “active” on my account, all the while trying to play upon the compassion of my friends and swindle them out of money.

The situation seems to have been resolved at this point….well not completely resolved of course, as the hacker is still out there. He/she was just kicked out of my account and is off to troll for new victims.

I did a little bit of online research because I was clueless on this topic. How in the world did they get my password? From what I found out, they “phish”, or set up a page that looks just like Facebook. While you think you are logging into your FB account, you are actually giving the hackers your password on a look-alike FB page. There are other ways of course, but I think this is most likely what happened in this case.

And by the way, the hacker did get into my gmail account. (So thankful I did change that password early on). I found it odd that I didn’t get any emails throughout the day Friday. Sure enough, when I checked, the hacker had set up another email account that my mail was going to – copies were going straight to my trash box. He/she had set up an account at  tawnyamarie@37 dot com. (I just have to point out, that it’s a bit ironic, as I’m not 37 yet).

This whole experience leaves one feeling very vulnerable and angry. You just don’t know exactly what the hacker has access to. (At first I wondered if it was everything on my computer, all my keystrokes, or just FB.) You wonder if your friends are going to look at your emails with a bit of hesitancy. You hope no one fell for the scam or blames you for any extra spam they may receive.

Despite my anger and bitterness, I had to laugh at this conversation someone had with a hacker on FB: http://www.businessinsider.com/2009/1/nigerian-scammers-still-roosting-on-facebook.

And finally, a few tips from what I’ve learned. If you’re a computer savvy person and I am wrong on something, please correct me:

1. Do NOT have the same password for multiple accounts. We’ve all heard it, now I know why it’s true. You can bet I went and changed all my passwords to much longer, more complicated ones. If you haven’t done this, go do it now!

2. If you’re a FB user, when you get emails from FB, don’t click on links in the email. Visit the site directly to prevent phishing.

3. Please know that if you have a friend that gets kidnapped, he/she probably won’t….
     a) run to FB as their first mode of communication.
     b) contact people that are friends but not close ones. (For example my sister’s sister-in-law. I like you Maria, but don’t know you well enough to be asking for hundreds of dollars).
     c) change the way they talk and/ or suddenly have bad grammar. Many times the hackers aren’t from the U.S. and may use slang from other variants of English. (i.e. I probably would never say “I need money for lodging”. That’s just not common in American English.)

4. If someone does contact you, whether by phone, email, FB, you can always ask questions that only the real friend would know (things that aren’t on the FB account). Or if they’ve contacted you via the computer, just call them.

5. It’s OK to unfriend someone on FB when they get hacked; you can add them back later. While in your account, the hacker can see anything in your profile, including contact information. My sister unfriended me Friday. My feelings weren’t hurt at all – though if she refuses to take me back that’s another matter!

6. I don’t think I would list my phone number on FB. I read about cases where hackers were calling people, harassing them about sending money.

7. For gmail users: I found a very useful tool at the bottom of the page….”Last account activity” If you click on details you can see if anyone else has accessed your account. No one has since I changed the password, and it’s good to get confirmation of that.

8. Be careful of videos that “friends” send out on FB. I’ve seen messages with videos from friends that were obviously not authentic. I knew because the hacker in one case used bad language and this particular friend doesn’t talk like that.

9. Just because an email says it is from a friend, doesn’t mean it really is. An article I read explained that the return address can be made to say anything, whether authentic or not, just as someone can write a completely false return address on snail mail. (So hopefully none of you get email from “me” via the email account the hacker set up). 

Be safe out there! All of you us trusting, compassionate people have to be extra careful, as there are people just ready to prey upon those attributes.

Don’t Ya Just Love Free Stuff?

I ran across this fun blog by a pet portrait artist/nature lover. I stop by on occassion and was excited to see that she’s hosting a give away for a free pair of Lee Jeans. I love that they come in long. Stop by and enter….

More blogging later. I’ve been in lazy mode during my 2 week break from school.

UPDATE: I won a pair! And they fit great and I love them! Bonus!

Jewel, Black Lab Portrait

Yesterday, was not only Father’s Day, but James’ birthday. Last year we had just gotten engaged when his birthday rolled around. I knew with James being such a dog-lover, that I wanted to do a portrait of one of his dogs. Well, life happened and all the wedding planning precluded me doing this portrait. James teased me from time to time about not getting him anything (although I did pay $40 for deep dish pizza in Chicago when we were there for  a Volleyball trip – that’s gotta count for something)!  But overall he’s been very gracious.

Recently he found some toy ships he wanted. I’m saying this tongue in cheek. It has something to do with the Axis and Allies addiction sickness mania hobby that he loves (and I feel OK about not understanding).  He told me that if this was my present to him, it would cover both last year’s birthday as well as this year’s. I gave him the money to purchase said ships, but this hasn’t materialized yet, so I thought I’d surprise him with the pet portrait I have been wanting to do anyway.

This was tricky to accomplish. We’re newlyweds and spend most of our time together. I had to wait for him to be gone for the evening to one of his Axis and Allies marathons.

“Jewel” Black Lab portrait
Colored pencil
8″x10″

Here’s the reference photo….

I feel like the background could use improvement – especially the grass area. I’m going to have to try better paper/support, as I worked the colored pencil in so much, it seemed it would’t take any more layers.

Friday I started an acrylic of Sasha, our Samoyed. I’m anxious to keep at this and see some improvement in my work. Also, I’m not sure what media I am going to end up favoring. The colored pencil was good, but tedious. I think painting seems a more natural choice for me.

Sasha’s Summer Haircut

Thought I’d share Sasha’s new looks. James likes to take the pooches for very long walks ( like almost 2 hours long). Here he is on one of our walks last fall:

Back in April or May, Sasha was already panting and struggling with the heat. So one Sunday, as I took my afternoon nap, James took Sasha out back for a little trim. I wanted to cry when I saw her. Animal grooming is not in James’ future, that’s for sure. Here are her before and after shots:

As someone commented on my facebook page, it looks like the other dog is embarrassed to be seen in the same room.  Other comments included, “She looks like a Q-tip” and “This proves we need to take our dog to the pros.” and the like.

Why does the word, “gremlin” come to mind?? Someone did comment that she looked cute, and I immediately thought, “yeah, cute in a so-ugly-it’s-cute, Cabbage Patch doll kind of way”.

About a week later, I decided Sasha needed some cleaning up. James had (seemingly) cut her short, but Samoyeds have an undercoat and it was tightly packed down near her skin. So what looked like short hair, was actually very dense. I shaved her down to the pink and evened her out. In all, we spent a total of probably 4 -5 hours doing this. Yikes!  Here she is evened out a bit…

I have to admit, I’ve really gotten used to the new look. And it’s been a strange phenomenon; she looks more puppy-like now. I find myself treating her more like a baby, as do our friends and family. Her coat is now about the length of our labs’ coats, but much softer in texture. And she still has her glorious squirrel-like tail.

Aww, reminds me of an arctic fox, all curled up. She often has her tail covering her nose, much like a cat would.

I Have Artistic ADD

Sometimes I find myself so wishy washy.  I, like many artsy people, can get very passionate about something and focus a ton of energy on it. However, I’m pretty scattered in this.  At one point, I’m thinking about how I should get my stamping side business up and going. I think about all the cool projects I could do, how I could drum up  business, and what neat things I could do to my blog.  I go with that a few weeks and then I get distracted by the next shiny object (artistic venture).

In the last couple of months (during a brief blogging hiatus) I’ve read up on, dreamed about, web surfed about, and/or dabbled in: 

• Learning how to work in pastel. I’ve looked for classes or workshops I can take. I’ve always liked pastels, but really feel pretty amateurish with them.  I love some of the beautiful Impressionist landscapes I’ve seen and would love to create some of my own. This idea is losing its lustre because 1) I can’t seem to find a local workshop or class on it and 2) I’ve priced some of the soft pastels. I’m not ready to drop upwards of $100 on pastels until I’m sure I want to pursue this. 
• Children’s book illustration. This is something I’ve always wanted to do, but can’t seem to give myself a kick in the pants about. In my pastel class quest, I stumbled upon a course this summer at the KC Art Institute. That may be the kick in the pants I need.
• Setting up an etsy store with my baby name signs. This one I probably will do as soon as I get enough pics to use for examples.  Here’s one I completed last week if you’re not sure what I’m talking about. I often make these for baby showers and inevitably, I end up with someone else ordering one for a friend.  This one was for a teacher whose new granddaughter’s room is decorated with tropical fish. I’ve done many themes, from simple teddy bears and bunnies, to castles, to snakes and snails. (By the way, if you have one of these name signs in your home, I’d love for you to send me a photo to add to my etsy store.)
• I also do the “grown up” signs for marriages or anniversaries. These are a big hit too. I’ve had several brides tell me it was their favorite present. I’ll probably put these in the store too, but they’re a little more labor intensive (and honestly just not as much fun).
• Murals. Also another area that I’ve always wanted to delve more into. It’s difficult while working full time. The most difficult part seems to be marketing myself. I hate that aspect.  Down the road, when James and I have kids, I’d love to stay home and have some kind of artistic venture that brings in some income. This is definitely one area I want to explore more. Here’s one I worked on at school. One of the teacher’s had enlisted my help in a huge Disney mural that she and her para did most of. Over the summer, I added this wall. (I did all of this but the lion on the hill).



and a detail shot (as you can see, this was on a cinder block wall)..



And here’s 2 murals I have in my home. A French bistro in the kitchen and my bathroom, in Monet’s water lily style (on all 4 walls).

• Pet portraits.  People love their pets and are willing to pay money for things related to their furry babies. I love animals, so it seems like a great area to pursue. I’ve done a few portraits in the past  that turned out pretty well, but regrettably did not take photos.  I spent several hours last weekend web surfing and researching.  There were definitely artists out there who were photo realistic and a bit intimidating (although so were their prices). However, there were also several sites with portraits that…..well, let’s just say they gave me confidence that I could definitely do this successfully.  I recently had a co-worker express interest in ordering one, and since I had already decided to do one for James at some point (for a birthday or Christmas), this seems like a good area to pursue.

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It’s sometimes frustrating to be so unfocused. My personality is not that way in general. I definitely don’t have ADD in other areas of my life. And in fact, I’m quite the opposite.

Case in point, my art room at school is adjacent to a classroom of older kids with autism. They can be quite loud at times (screaming, banging on the wall, even throwing furniture at times).  Usually I have the ability to focus on what I’m doing without even noticing the noise.  I sometimes have clients in my room who will look up at me with concern and ask what the screaming is all about. It’s then I realize that the noise hadn’t even registered.

And when I’m actually working on a piece of art or even scrapbooking or doing something creative, I get very quiet and absorbed in what I’m doing. I guess it’s the decision making aspect that is difficult for me.  Sometimes I wonder where I’d be in my own artistic development (not to be confused with professional development – I already have a career) if I had not waffled so much and had picked an area to focus on and honed my skills.

Currently, my artistic output is pretty minimal. I may do about 2 – 3 pieces of fine art a year, several name signs for babies and weddings, maybe a mural, some cards and scrapbooking, and some miscellaneous odds and ends that people ask for.  Legitimately, I could argue that I do work a taxing job full time; I’m adjusting to married life after 35 years of singleness (and it’s going well by the way); I’m trying to maintain friendships at the same time (that’s been more difficult as my time is even more limited now); and I’m also busy with church and musical pursuits.  That said, the artist within craves more.  I need to focus. Maybe I should throw a dart and start working on an area rather than being in a constant state of indecision. I’ll let you know how that works out.

Happy Easter

Another vintage photo of my sister and I at Easter. Mom often bought us or made us matching outfits…..notice my dress is a bit “highwater”.

Here we are with the goods the Easter Bunny brought. I loved these flocked bunnies and had mine for a long time. That’s our cat Spooky checking them out.

Vintage Photo….Easter baby

Don’t know much about this picture. But my Birthday is in October….Easter is usually in April. You do the math. I do know this is Grandma Widel’s house and she always called this her divan (which I always thought was a funny thing to call a sofa).

Vintage Photo…..I So Do NOT Feel Like This Today!

Just saw this pic on my computer and it made me realize how old I feel today. This isn’t a usual feeling for me. I still feel pretty young, even though I’m technically middle aged. We just had to go through a very grueling training at work called SCM – Safe Crisis Management. In it, we learned how to safely handle/hold/restrain acting out kids. We had another system – Mandt, but as it was decided that it didn’t meet our needs completely, we had to be retrained in something completely different. During this training, we had to practice over and over and test out of several different skills, including ones where we practiced taking each other to the floor in a lunge like move (but with dead weight). My quads and glutes hurt so bad now. It’s hard to stand up, sit down, climb stairs,  or walk, but otherwise it’s not painful at all. And my brain still feels like it’s on information overload almost 2 days later.

Anyway, here’s to the days of flexibility……Well actually, I must confess that I never was this flexible. I remember taking a bunch of these trick photos. These are my sister’s legs draped over me. I’m hiding the mole on her leg with my hand and faking the concentrated grimace.  Today I kind of feel like my legs have actually been doing this though.

Pirate Card

During our stamp retreat, Heather offered us a sketch challenge. I looked through the stamps I had with me and decided to do something with my pirate set. I had bought it to scrapbook a pirate murder mystery party I had last year, but hadn’t used it yet. Here’s what I came up with. BTW, I drew a lot of the images on the map because the stamps were simply too big for what I wanted on this card. You can’t tell from the pic, but an extra touch was adding metallic gold to the treasure chest and the hook.

Recipe:
CS: White, Brown from Penelope collection 
Papers: scrap of tan for map
Stamps: from the Pirates set by TAC
Inks: Palette Ink – Burnt Umber, Noir
Other: Gold leafing pen, Watercolor pencils, Pop dots, stipple brush, Tombow blending pen

A Productive Weekend of Scrapbooking

I spent a wonderful weekend in Salina KS at a Winter Angel Gathering. Avis, Heather, and Lori had lots of wonderful projects for us, I got to catch up with some of my stamping friends, and I had lots of quality stamping time. The main thing I tackled this weekend was the wedding photos. I just got the last of them last week (in fact picked them up on the way to the retreat). Now I’ve had quite the quandary with what to do with the wedding photos. I’m a scrapbooker, but I figured I would get really perfectionistic about wedding photos and with the vast quantity, it would simply take forever to scrapbook them all. I think for the bulk of my photos, I’m going to order one of those professional printed photo books. Should be fun to design, yet won’t take forever. However, I couldn’t stand the thought of not scrapbooking any of the photos. So I decided to create an 8 x 8 album with a page for each person involved in the wedding. I figured out the general theme, paper, colors, etc. and completed 4 pages so far (except for the journaling)….

 I realized the Penelope SWIC collection matched my fall wedding colors oh so well, but alas, all I had left was a sheet of tags. Luckily, my friend Kim had an extra Sydney Circle album kit and I bought it from her to use on my pages. I’m so thrifty, that I often use the little scraps no one else would bother with. Kim noticed this and punched out all the elements from her other Sydney kit and gave me the remaining scraps. Examples of how I use scraps: I stamped the F in the first pic on a scrap and cut out. I didn’t use a full circle behind the pic of my dad and I; I plotted and cut out just the little sliver I needed….Incidentally, I love the pic on the lower right of my dad and I. The photographer had set up a first viewing for the groom. James had his back turned and this shot was taken as he turned around and saw me for the first time. I obviously wasn’t watching my dad’s face, but it’s nice to see such an expression of joy there. 

 And I like this pic of my mom, taken from between 2 of the bridesmaids (you can see their green and burgundy dresses on the edge of the photo).

The pic of James and his mom wasn’t necessarily the most flattering for either of them. But I liked how they have their hands entwined (they have a very close relationship). SO I highlighted this part of the photo by punching it out with a circle punch, putting a pop dot and coordinating paper under it. I also stamped the Queen and labeled it Queen of Harts because my MIL truly is the queen of the family (and Hart is our last name).

 

 As I got these pages put together, I decided they needed a little extra pop. I borrowed Kim’s gold leafing pen (she was such a good resource this weekend) and outlined a lot of the elements….I love the pic of my FIL praying with my own Dad in the background. They both offered prayers during our wedding which was very special to us.

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 My friends laughed at me because if you look at my page from the back (see pic), you can see I cut out a rectangle of CS that would be behind a pic anyway. I then used that on the coordinating page. It makes your papers go farther.

 When you’re doing a theme album, whether it’s wedding, or baby, it goes so much faster if you have a color scheme and general layout picked out. The rest of my pages should be a breeze. I’ll share them as I get them done. It’s going to be a busy week, so not promising anything soon.

Recipe:
Papers: From the Penelope SWIC and Sydney CIrcle Album kit (also one page taken from Amberley Grace SWIC) – all TAC
CS: From Penelope coordinating papers (TAC) also scraps of Burgundy from unknown source
Stamps: AlphaGrunge (TAC) and Renaissance (TAC)
Inks: Noir Palette, Clear Embossing Ink
Other: Gold leafing pen, Clear EP, Watercolor palette in metallics, Green and gold ribbon