Melodie's House » Web Development

Beside Myself Because I Finally Made the Switch

melodieshouse — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 04:21:00 +0000

I’ve been beside myself with joy today, because my DH acquired an iMac for me. It’s a used G5, but it leaves my former Sony VAIO Pentium 4 in the dust. My ol’ VAIO had been upgraded to Windows Vista, and it actually handled it pretty well, without any noticeable bugs, but it was getting slow and it was quickly proving itself insufficient for web development. Suffice it to say I was over it. I’ve been a fan of Macs for 14 yrs, having worked with them in a previous job for 5-1/2 yrs, but family economics hasn’t allowed us the luxury of a new Mac yet, and the bulk of our computer business is working on Windows systems, so we’ve been content with keeping PC’s in front of us. This isn’t my first Mac though. I actually had an old beige G3 that I got off Ebay that was my personal email and browsing machine back in 02-03. The logic board went out on it, but it was fun while it lasted. I also had an old blueberry iBook G3 that we replaced the logic board on (also courtesy of Ebay) that I used a lot when my oldest dd was a baby in ’03-’04 and when I was pregnant with my son in ’05 (I used it mostly in bed when I was cuddling with my baby dd or when I needed to be off my feet when I was preggo).

What of the VAIO? I’m trying to install Linux as a server on it because I need to test a CRM/ERP software suite for a business client. For you non-techie readers (I admit it, I’m a geek girl) that’s Customer Relationship Management/Enterprise Resource Planning, i.e. a suite that covers practically all the back-office for a retail/service business. In this case, I’m testing a solution for a business that has two restaurants and food markets that also produces foods and distributes them to grocers and sells online.

Taking care of business (and working overtime)

melodieshouse — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 02:19:43 +0000

I’m joining my husband fulltime to work in his computer consulting business. I’ve built 3 online stores since May; these will be continual works-in-progress, and now I will be building even more of these stores, using Zen Cart or other e-commerce solutions based on what features suit a particular business client better. This is a new need that my husband has seen arise with his clients, and we need to increase our income so we’re not going to maintain status quo and turn them elsewhere.

Because I need to concentrate fully on my work, we have hired a fulltime nanny who will start tomorrow. When I interviewed her I really liked her, what she had to say, and how she related to my kids. Her 2 references, whom she still babysits for occasionally, couldn’t recommend her highly enough. She’s 21 and has provided childcare since age 12. She was also raised up in our city, in the same part of town where we live, and still lives close by. I’m hoping this arrangement works out very well for us and becomes longterm. I’ll still be homeschooling my 5yo daughter and working mostly from home.

Stay Tuned…

melodieshouse — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 22:32:09 +0000

I’ve got a lot to say, but not the time to say it right now. I’m building a webstore for my husband that needs to go live immediately and I’m up to my ears in it now. Ah, the joys of Zen Cart (NOT!) Feel free to check out my other posts and comment if you wish.

Change be a comin'…2 sites rolled into 1

melodieshouse — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 04:46:31 +0000

I’ve registered a new domain called “www.melodieshouse.com” and I’m combining both my blog and my Mom 2 Mom Central sites into this one site. Thank my husband for thinking up the domain – he always felt it should be something simpler and couldn’t understand me struggling to maintain two sites. So look to Melodie’s House to continue reading my ruminations as well as to find articles, links, and recommended merchants all in one place. In a few days I’ll park mom2momcentral.com and mom2momhamptonroads.com and they’ll both redirect to melodieshouse.com when it’s ready.

What have I been up to? Life, unconcentrated.

melodieshouse — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 17:32:00 +0000

I have been sooo busy since my last post – we moved April 17, it took us a few weeks to get settled in, I’ve pretty much been SAHM and had no time to be WAHM until the last month, which I kicked off with an 11-day migraine episode and agreeing to take on a web development project for one of my husband’s IT clients so my Ebay and Internet marketing endeavors are still on the back burner. Since I’m also dealing with anxiety/depression, I’m not handling all this very well. I’ve learned I’m not the multi-tasker I would like to be and feel I really need to be. When I’m not productive in the way I feel I should be, I’m not a nice person to be around, because my emotional health takes a serious nosedive. Please pray for me that I get over the hump and get back on track still in possession of my mind.

That all being said, I’m so glad we moved, I really like the nice big house we’re in, I like the neighborhood, and I like the location (centrally located, close to interstate). We’re still renting not buying because my husband is still working on getting financing, but the rent is not bad for the size house we’re in.

Today I’m going to get some tomato plants from someone’s yard (thanks to Freecycle). We weren’t going to do any gardening this year because we were so busy, but after the salmonella tomato scare I think we’re now officially done with commercially-grown, mass-produced tomatoes (and pretty much any other produce of that kind for that matter) and I think it’s better late than never to get in on growing our own. So I’m heading out shortly to check out some books on square foot gardening, get the ‘mater plants, and make the time to get started growing. I’m also going to study up on composting and organics b/c I’ve always been interested in safe, chemical-free methods of growing and nourishing ourselves, my why has just never gotten so big as it has very recently, and you’ll start to see where I’m going with all this in upcoming posts.

Why I hate web development

melodieshouse — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 20:56:05 +0000

I’ve been working earnestly on getting my main site ready for public consumption, but it’s been a witch! I’m using WordPress for the main site as well as for this blog, and getting a theme with a layout just like I want and widget-ready and will display my affiliate banners properly in the sidebar(s) has been a real trip. I think I settled on one that will do, though, and as soon as tonight you should see the link to my main site from this blog.