Salted Luck.

My adult A.D.D. has been on overdrive for the past week or so. I can't seem to prioritize all the stuff I am trying to do. I hate it when that happens. I'm getting a lot done, I'm just not doing it as efficiently as possible which means that I'm probably wasting time somewhere in the mix.

Anyway, a girl with a small but thriving accessory business really needs her own brand and web site, huh? I have, at least, accomplished that much. I'm calling the boutique "Salted Luck" and I have my own site set up now. All of my wares are still listed on Etsy until such time as I decide to obtain merchant services on my site (down the road). But making the web site will be fun for me. It's still under construction and I had a lot of help from GoDaddy's premade templates, but I will tweak it extensively over time.

One reason I'm struggling with time management is that I'm working on the web site AND making a crapload of awesome new stuff. I found a couple of great resources here locally for unique, funky and pretty supplies. Grabbed up a boat load last week and have already made about 2 dozen new items. This is my best work yet. I'm loving it. Unfortunately I haven't even had time to take all of the photographs and get the new stuff online. That is always the most time consuming part of the process. I'm hoping to get at least some of them up today.

This week also had its distractions. Thursday night, for instance, after he had been the guest speaker at a function we were attending, the Army's Chief of Staff and his entourage ended up at the same bar with us. My better half challenged the General to a round of billiards and what do you know.... there were 6 balls left on the table when my beloved claimed victory. He's unsure what rank he might be come Monday morning, but feels it was well worth it in the end!

Oh, and I also got my FIRST PARKING TICKET that night. Bugger.

I'm off to enjoy my long weekend of laboring on my beloved boutique items. Not only do a million pictures need to be taken and uploaded.... but I have 3 new products to make (temporary tattoos, window clings and magnetic mail-holder pouches for the fridge or filing cabinet) and Lord only knows when I'll find the time!

Gluttony... and disease. On my PC.

So there's this weird dealio going on with my computer right now. Something to do with the Adobe Flash Player. I keep getting other, seemingly non-related error messages every now and then. It's not too bad-- it's not like my computer is shutting down or anything. There are just some shenanigans here and there. And Microsoft, in their infinite wisdom, keeps displaying a custom (yet the same each time) message letting me know that they have pooled their massive brain power and found a resolution to my problem! In each instance I am given a link to the Adobe download center where I can download the newest version and cure all my ills. The brains, however, fail to realize that I have already done this 3 times in vain. I know this is an issue I can fix when and if I decide it's more important than everything else I'm doing. The same would apply to the other little glitches I've had in the past month or so since we "upgraded" (term used very loosely) to Windows Vista. Starting with a new printer being required for compatibility reasons and branching out into other running issues. There are still a ton of issues to be worked out with Vista to make play more politely with other software and to make it run more smoothly in general. This according to one of my very favorite mags, PC World. In the meantime, they suggest , among other things, that if your train is running slowly, close down (or get rid of altogether) the snazzy gadgets on the Windows sidebar. They're ultimately just a sap on your pc's resources. You can get your RSS feeds through any desktop email source and you probably already have a clock running in your bottom right corner, anyway...

Check back tomorrow for my suggestions on resolving world hunger and the national deficit.

On a brighter note, as a die hard thrifter, lately I am finding the web to be a vast playground. What, in terms of utilities, can you NOT find for free online? Often the paid versions of things are better, but usually not necessary for lay people such as myself. I promise I don't have profit sharing with any of the following but here are a few of my current favorite steals that are either free or very affordable:

• RoboForm: OMG-- how awesome is this thing?! I have about 2,900 different log ins and this thing stores them all. I don't even have to go to the page first-- it will even do that for me once I choose where I want to be. It's Free.
• Wix: I just adore this resource. I only found it about a week or so ago. All you MySpace addicts: pay attention. Cooler comments and layouts were never had. These are free, customizable flash files. You make what you want and then you copy and paste it wherever. Or, in most cases, you can have Wix do it for you. Keep in mind that MySpace doesn't allow certain types of code (like links to outside sites) but for looks these things are great. When you paste the code in, it imbeds their flash into your site by remote. See it in action at the top of my Blogger sidebar (where the pictures actually link back to my store), or on my profile page (where the links are inactive because of MySpace's preferences). Or, check out this whole website set-up that I am using temporarily on usmcwives.com. Wix is still developing and is accessed by invitation only but when I requested access I was granted it within 24 hours.
• Widgetbox: Name a widget. Any widget. It's yours. Or you can make your own.
• FormAssembly: I used this free resource to generate my questionnaire. It's beautiful.
• GoDaddy: For domain name purchasing/registration. They also have good, free site building tools if you want one of their free sites. I registered some domains recently (of which usmcwives.com was just one) and it was a great deal. And I received a professional but friendly follow-up phone call from a service rep to check if I wanted this thingy or that whatsit to go along with what I have. He didn't even laugh when I told him I only understood about half of what he was saying (as techno-diva is not my title!) and I wasn't pressured in any way. They let me know they were there and appreciated my business. That's nice in this day and age.

And, last but not least,

• My Store: Well, I suppose this one is just me being biased, huh? True enough. I just put some new stuff in there and aligned everything all to one space. I'm not done tweaking the layout yet... Gee, how often do I say THAT? But seriously, there seems to be some interest and I'm both flattered and happy because any proceeds derived from this will go to my web project. I don't/won't advertise the store on the site because the site isn't there for sales-- the sales are there for the site. I want to instigate something great. And I'm keeping my fingers crossed!