Yes folks, I am planning on voluntarily jeopardizing my sanity and stressing out every last brain cell that I possess. Why? Mainly because I've found a brand spanking new (well, new to me) way to get back into something that I used to love doing. It can be challenging and involve a lot of picky fiddling around, but it's also enjoyable and the end results are worth the aggravation for me. Plus, I think I need a new challenge in my life - to learn something new to go along with what I've already learned in this area.
Several years back I started teaching myself how to design web pages. I loved doing it, and made several little sites. A couple of them were personal sites for myself, others were private sites for groups that I belonged to. I used either the tools that came with the hosting sites, or Microsoft Front Page Express for hosts that didn't have site-building tools. Front Page Express came with my old computer and Windows 98. Once I switched to XP, it no longer worked, and I didn't bother finding a new (and better!) editor to work with, so it's been awhile since I've designed any new pages.
One of the sites I had made was a group site in which I had done many different pages, including a large Hallowe'en section and a large Christmas section. I had put many ours of work and love into those pages, but due to the site not being used for awhile, it ended up being deleted by the host. Fortunately I had saved copies of all the text - although unfortunately I can't find them now! 
However, I shall keep hunting!
I keep thinking that I need to re-do those Hallowe'en and Christmas segments and set them up on a new site - with a host that won't delete them! I just never get around to finding another program, and while I know I can do it in Word, I haven't gotten around to figuring that out properly either. Awhile back I downloaded the Open Office suite, which I am quickly falling in love with. It's the free and open source answer to Microsoft's Office suite, and is truly wonderful, in my opinion.
But I digress. (Who? Me? Digress? Nah, couldn't be...) Yesterday I began looking around for a new HTML editor to fiddle with, and in my search I found a site where a gentleman had listed his favourite alternatives to Microsoft Front Page. Lo and behold, one of his picks was a function in Open Office - a function that I was not even aware existed. Of course, that excited the heck out of me, so off I trotted to fiddle with my Open Office programs. Sure enough, I found what I needed, and it looks like it's going to work beautifully for me.
So I'm planning on starting to work on the new Hallowe'en pages this afternoon. I will start off by fiddling with what I know, and then I shall start looking around for some tutorials to learn some things that I've always wanted to learn about web design. I can make some very nice basic pages, but there are so many neat and wonderful things that I see on more advanced designs that I would love to know how to do.
Yes, it is going to be fun. Yes, it is also going to drive me around the bend at times. I've decided that I need to find another stress reliever aside from pulling out my hair - due to some stress in my life in the past, it's a bit thin on top to begin with, so I can't afford to lose any more! 
Wish me luck, and hopefully one of these days soon I'll have some pages designed and put up somewhere that I can show you!
Have a lovely day, everyone!
