Please wait. Need to go prepare the evening meal. Will be back later to say a bit more.
It’s OK. I’m back. What a day!
I’ve been working — gingerly — on a WordPress site in order to save website costs. I tried being clever. No, actually I thought I was just experimenting to see what happens and then BOOM! my website disappeared.
I called support, who actually got back to me on the phone straightaway (!). It must be because lots of companies are already on their Christmas break, I dunno. Anyway, the die was cast, and the easiest thing to do was to go “live” this side of Christmas, rather than on the other side of New Year.
(Would-be) customers can now see what I have ready to sell (in Etsy), and yes, please click through from Twitter/X if you can. This will save me paying the full whack on Etsy commission. Thanks.
Have you also been similarly inspired by Chris McCausland in his Strictly victory? I didn’t want him to win on pity votes alone, but I think he has proven himself to be an excellent dancer. Is it “ableist” or anti-ableist — I get confused — to judge him according to the criteria of good “normal”, sighted dancing, and not on the basis that he cannot see?
It takes me a long time to get ready in the morning. I do a squat and a lunge for every year of my life. Been doing this since I was about 55. That is a lot of squats (in three sets) and lunges (front, left and right; side, left and right) I need to get through! Inspired by Chris, I’ve been trying to do these with my eyes shut.
Guess what? That is not easy to do. Balance became an issue, but that’s good, as at my age, maintaining good balance is an important asset. So, thank you, Chris.
I clicked back to my “annual review” post from last year and was reminded that, by coincidence, I was writing about blind athletes playing “goalball”.
While I was not blind to the fact that my website was costing me an arm and a leg every month, I had been burying my head in the sand, refusing to see how I should change. (Eyes, head, arm, leg, who’s counting?) Finally … finally I decided that the most logical way forward was to use Etsy as a selling platform, largely because I am not able to trade for at least three months a year, but I cannot stop paying for a website. On Etsy, I could pause trading and start up again when I am able to, and pay only the commission.
Would this work in the long term? I have to suck it and see, as they say. Meanwhile the new WordPress site is cheaper to host and, importantly, it remains in view when I am on “vacation mode”.
However, I am still trying to figure out how to link the words at the bottom of the page (Blog, About, FAQs, etc) to a proper page. So, please bear with me.
Whatever happens, [see picture to complete the sentence].
Husband’s medical condition is stable with a new whizzy treatment. Son now has a job which he is happy to get to every morning. I was diagnosed as pre-diabetic late in 2023, but through diet changes, have returned to a “pre-pre-diabetic” state.
God has been good to us as individuals and as a family. And I pray the same for you and yours, too.
Have a super Christmas and a truly much better year ahead!
Update (2024-12-19): I think I’ve figured out how to re-jig the menu as header and footer. Yay! And I really quite enjoyed the learning process.