Artisan's Row

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I've been invited to present A&S 50 as part of an Artisan's Row at Crossroads to Canterbury this weekend, and, since the offer included use of someone's pop-up tent and the assurance that my lack of 14th Cent or even *period* chairs/tables, etc will be no problem, I accepted.

How it goes, I'll tell you next week! I'm going to bring some modern chairs and card tables (yuck) and I need to find more table cloths and blankets to throw over things so they look better. I'm going to have flowers on the table (if I remember to buy them!) and I'm hoping to do some baking later this week so we have munchies and lemonade during our chats. I'm going to have Contact List sheets and my spinning and an open door. That and an actual Session on the schedule (right before Court, but that couldn't be helped; maybe they'll run late), and that's all. I'm hoping folks will be dropping by over the course of the weekend; using the space to schmooze, hold informal mini-lessons, talk A&S, get excited and comfy.

It should be interesting! We are even going to try and camp right behind the booth so I can be in the booth and near my kids while they nap at the same time. I've never merchanted before, so sleeping 'on the strip' will be a new experience for me - I hope my girls don't make a ruckus at 3 AM and tick everyone off! Fortunately, my husband isn't fighting in the tourney, so he can help with the girls. I'm not going to be at the booth all of the time, just 'live' there. I'm hoping that folks are interested, but I might have to have 'hours' when I am open, just so I can get a break between waiting for folks to drop by.

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Progress!

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Forward momentum is officially happening! I've been working on our new site, both structure and content, and even - gasp - got into the studio yesterday, and set my first ever 14th Cent sleeves! (It was on an undergown, and I doubt I'll get an actual dress done for Crossroads to Canterbury, ie next weekend, so I probably won't even get to wear it, but *still*! And heck - it counts as a new thing too!!!)

And did I mention yet that we have a Yahoogroup now? Hurray! Folks are finding it, and are *starting* to chat some, so I'm feeling a bit less like things are languishing now. Random emails about folks' progress on their Challenges keep coming in, too, which can only be a good sign! :)

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Joomla Blues

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I have a book. I have a host (hurray, Alexandr!) I even have some templates, and I rudimentary understanding of how modules work.

What I do NOT have is the gist of how to enter our data into the CMS itself... I know I am missing something really basic here; maybe I need some chocolate first.

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Butt in Gear

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I've been trying to motivate since I got back from a family vacation on Tuesday. Note the word 'trying.' My girls have been grumpy/growth-spurting, and I'm splitting my remaining energy between catching up on my email/A&S 50 stuff and (finally) babyproofing our living room (the girls have had a bedroom size baby yard until now).

But today I WILL srite up that outline for our web guru, so we can get the ball rolling on the domain transfer. The public side of the project is much languishing right now for lack of the new site, so today I start to change that.

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Growing Pains

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Well, we have an honest-to-God Web Guru helping get our new site up and running now, and he is even thinking of offering us FREE hosting - Joy! The downside? He says that transferring the domain name may take WEEKS.

Ok, ok, the forums are hardly *jumping*, but I better be able to figure out how to archive that data (namely those introductions!) so I can put it up, as is, on the new site. Meanwhile, this blog will be IT for the Challenge. Folks will be able to comment here (gasp), and I supposed I could put up a copy of the intro letter here for new folks who want to take a peak, but OY; talk about a long detour to a better highway!

Anyway, we have to figure out what we're doing first, so we're good for the meantime. I'll let you all know when things get rolling!

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Getting Stuck In

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I've been home from War and the Pity Party/Post-Revel for about 20 hours now, and I've spent my day alternately working on web design issues and playing Civ 4 when I got frustrated with the former. Unpacking? Yeah, right.

I've gotten SIX people who have said that they'd help with website/database stuff, but I have to know what to ask them to help WITH, so I'm learning and diagramming, and panicing some more. I need nested pages, a new hosting service that I can't afford, forms and database to go with them for contact info entry, and, if possible, better forums (the ones we have are ok, just not great.)

I have a STACK of contact info data to enter, and I just really don't want to have to do it twice, plus my main web guru is really only available to help for the next 10 days, so I'm hopeful that we can get something accomplished in that time, and I can enter it all once on the NEW site, and be done with it. Content for that new site, including guidelines for running sessions, will be coming shortly thereafter, the guidelines by the end of the month for sure, even if I have to put them up on the old site, or even here, if the transition takes more than a couple of days.

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Hi ho hi ho its off to War we go...

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Well, if we make it out of here before dark, I'll be happy. My stint as summer school teacher ends today, and I have NOT been able to prepare for War as much/as well as I would have liked. My girls don't have enough garb, and neither do I (not having been to War since before I had my girls means much of my garb no longer fits), and I haven't had the time to prep the history component of my Tapestry class as I wanted to (I still have the techniques part complete though, and that's the bulk of the class).

I suppose that no one is EVER completely ready for War, but with working the day I'm leaving for the first time (I give exams in an hour), AND taking children for the first time, AND, honestly, handing over of much of my control over the packing process to my husband... well, I'm nervous. I'm confident that we'll all survive as long as the weather stays reasonable, but otherwise? All bets are off.

One thing that I'm fairly certain will turn out ok? The A&S 50 meeting! Hurray! Hope to see you there - Mon, Aug 6, in AS 6, at 7 PM!!!

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