I was so looking forward to catching up on some writing.  Imagine my shock last night after brewing my decaf coffee and settling in on the couch with the laptop to find this…

Um…who is that generic-looking college student and what the hell is she doing on my blog?  I panicked and immediately contacted the woman who is my savior when it comes to technical blogging fiascos, my blog host Kelly from Twenty70Hosting.  I’m all like, “Kelly!  HELP! What happened?!”

Turns out, my domain name had expired even after automatically renewing itself last year.  So, um, okay. What was up? Apparently my payment method had expired also.  I registered somebodysparents.com like, I dunno, 1 1/2 or 2 years ago.  I learned if you buy through eNom or GoDaddy, an expired domain automatically defaults to Google. (Specifically Google Apps.) Google Apps sent me notices to my Gmail saying that it would automatically update.  Great! No worries!

Ha! What a joke.  According to Google, I don’t have access as an admin to MY OWN DOMAIN!  Yes, the one that I own. Huh?! Any time I requested a username or password change to log into Google Apps to reclaim my domain I got a response that it was an invalid request.  Kelly couldn’t help me unless I could reclaim my domain name.

In desperation I called GoDaddy and eNom. They told me to log into Google Apps.  Right.  Sure.

In further desperation I called Google Apps support.  They wouldn’t let me talk to anyone without getting a pin number from my Google Apps admin page.  Yep, the same one they wouldn’t let me access after repeated requests.  Right.  Sure.

This went on until nearly midnight, way past my bedtime since getting knocked up again.  I sent a sad Tweet and posted a pitiful message on my Facebook Fan Page before collapsing into bed.  I couldn’t do anything while I was busy at work and busy as a mommy this evening.  I sadly ignored all the amazing Facebook messages and Tweets from some of my darling readers today. They just made me sadder.  (I have since responded. Thanks for all the support! Love you guys!)

I will tell you.  I never actually cried over the Internet.  (Even though I wanted to.)

Yes, I was worried about blog stats, SEO and losing readers.  Of course.  All bloggers worry about that stuff.  But, that is not what made me panic.  It’s not what made me want to cry.

I almost lost it because I thought I had lost all the memories I had recorded.  This blog is not a place where I just write about cool free stuff I get.  This is my heart and my life on a screen.  The thought of losing it was terrifying.

So, until I can get Google’s attention, Kelly helped me get set up here at somebodysparentsblog.com until some Internet Nazi from on-high will let me have somebodysparents.com back.  I will change it on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest etc. Let me know if I missed somewhere to update.

Thank you, thank you, thank you for reading.  I will keep writing because I love it.  Before I collapse in bed tonight after another evening of troubleshooting, I will leave you with a picture of the girl I always want you to see when you come to this place.