Hello all!
Time for a quick update as to what is going on with Lori!
I have been so busy the past couple of months with kids, work and home life, that I barely get a chance to sit down and recollect my thoughts here in writing. Let me try to catch you up.
First, as many know already, I have been homeschooling my kids for, oh’, about four years, and after a ton of coercing by my ex and husband, decided to try a go at the local public school system. The kids have been enrolled now for about six weeks, and they are enjoying it. Where I chose to send them is a higher academically rated school, and I have been very involved in their day-to-day education. I spend about 4-6 hours per day volunteering my time as a room parent, part of the PTO, and have volunteered to redesign and rebuild the “school website.
I am also in the process of obtaining my Para Pro license, and substitute teacher certification so that I can help my kids teachers when they need time away.
In health, Dad is doing ok. He remains in a comatose state, but still moves his arms, legs and body with the strength of a fully healthy man. He did, however, have a seizure a few days ago, and though minor (3-5 minutes) he has been to see a neurologist about the incident. He is still on a feeding tube, but that is all that supports him. He gets out in his specialized wheelchair a few times a week, which he enjoys. It has become more real that he may not ever recover completely, but I still hold hope that one day he will talk with me again. 🙁
Work: Trying to work and juggle all the other things has not been the easiest task, but I have remained busy through the summer, and into the fall. I have designed at least five sites over the summer, and am still working on a few more. Here are the latest contributions to my portfolio of work:
Chattanooga Fishbowl – Database = decent, User base = massive, site design and usability = horrid! So I gave the Nexbowl a fresh new look, reorganized the database, and created new newsletters that are visually appealing and at the same time, always deliver fresh content to the readers, something that had not been done in the past.
Sock Monkey Ministry – Beth has had her site for quite some time, and while I was researching information on Sock Monkeys (my kiddos love them as much as I do), I came across her site. I found it full of great content, but a not so good display of it, so I offered to redesign it as a donation to her cause.
Arlie Davidson Catering – I was fiddling around on CraigsList, and decided to click on the Barter category, and stumbled upon Arlie. He was looking for a small site to display his talents as a gourmet caterer in trade for handiwork. I knew I could give him something super, and decided to contact him, since I am also in the works of remodeling my home. The trade has been perfect – he has an online presence and I have a beautiful kitchen, bathroom and stairs to show for it. Sometimes trade is good. 🙂
My husband (and my Dad) is a member of the Dade County, GA Sons of Confederate Vetarans, and their site needed much more than a overhaul. So I donated my services to them to redesign and redevelop their site to better represent their cause. You can see it at http://www.stateofdade.com.
Throughout the summer, I have also been working on Bankruptcy101.com and Pandesa, and have just about finished those off. I have also created designs for Rachel Gaunt at Unfurl, Cafe Romaine, Pat Martin for This Lady Cares, a new design for a new domain for Tom at Aquatic Adventures, worked with Jason on EcoCon, Cleo & Cat Jewlery, and Peak22.
Finally, just last night I decided to enter a design in a local contest for the design of a radio station’s site with a decent price as the price – you can see that here, and give me your thoughts in comments.
Till next time.
