Designing Problems!

Okay, this is going to be a big-time rant! I am so aggravated and annoyed right now I could scream.

I am a self-employed blog designer who works mainly with images - creating headers and such. I love my job/work/whatever you want to call it. However, my ambition is to create websites and blogs, so I am always eager to take on a new challenge. So far, I have been able to conquer the new platforms I have faced: TypePad, HomeSchool Blogger, free WordPress (like rsdesigns.wordpress.com), hosted WordPress (like designsbyrs.com), and, of course, Blogger - I have worked with all of these platforms. Successfully, I might add. A couple of them took me several hours to figure out, but I did figure them out. Right now, I am working on not one but two(!) projects on new platforms: yahoo.com and GoDaddy.com, and I am about to tear my hair out!

Yahoo.com is giving me the most problems right now. It seems as though they do not want you to find the template HTML/PHP. They certainly don't make it easy! If I can just gain access to that, I think the hard part will be over.

GoDaddy.com is presenting a different problem: I'm having to install WordPress, and as it turns out, GoDaddy.com is rather notorious for being difficult when it comes to installing WordPress. Of course!

I am determined to figure these problems out, but I thought I'd rant for a second. Alright ... you may return to your normal lives. Thanks for listening to a frustrated artist. *grin*

Mexican Pizza

photo of Salad Shell package courtesy of Azteca

One of my first posts here at Rants, Raves, and Reviews was my review of Old El Paso's Soft Taco Bake Dinner. At the time, this was the only way I knew to make a Mexican pizza. I have since found a tastier method.

Ingredients

1 box of Azteca Salad Shells (4 shells)
1 lb. ground beef
1 packet taco seasoning
1 can refried beans
1 small can sliced olives
8 oz. sliced mushrooms
1 avacado, cubed
sliced jalapenos
2 c. shredded cheese
taco sauce
lettuce, shredded
tomato, diced
chives, sliced

Azteca Salad Shells (our Wal-Mart sells them in the refrigerated section with the cream cheese) feature a Mexican Pizza recipe printed inside the box. You can follow the directions given or try the variation we favor (directions as follows).

1. Cook 1 lb. of ground beef, drain, and season with a packet of taco seasoning. We prefer Pace's taco seasoning mix.
2. Heat a can of refried beans.
3. While completing steps 3 and 4, heat your oven to 350F and bake 4 shells (flat) on an ungreased baking sheet for 3-4 minutes. Remove from sheet and allow to cool.
4. Place two shells on the baking sheet and spread with beans, taco meat, a small can of sliced olives, sliced mushrooms, cubed avacado, cheese, and jalapenos as desired.
5. Place remaining shells on top and spread with remaining beans and meat mixture. Top with cheese.
6. Bake at 350F for 7-9 minutes.
7. Remove from oven and add taco sauce, lettuce, tomato, and chives as desired. Cut into quarters and serve.

Serves 4

Research for this post led me to Azteca's recipe archives. The Baked Ice Cream recipe really interests me. Take a look for yourself - these sound delicious!

Austrian Attractions

I would love to become a world traveler! Perhaps some day I will, but until then, I will have to content myself with researching the places I wish to visit.

One such country is Austria, home of world-famous musicians, including Johann Strauss II (whose composed so many waltzes that he became known as the "Waltz King"), Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and the Vienna Boys' Choir. Favored tourist locales include Vienna, Salzburg, and the Tirolean region. Hotels in Austria are available in close proximity to favorite attractions.

Vienna, Austria's capital, is an architecture-lover's delight with its fine, ornate buildings which include the Opera House and the palace, Hofburg, which formerly housed the Austrian imperial family, the Habsburgs. Fine music abounds, and activities are available at all hours, day or night. Hotels in Vienna are plentiful and are able to accommodate every budget.

Salzburg, the famed birthplace of Mozart, offers visitors such attractions as the Mozart Museum, Sound of Music Tours, the Salzburg Fortess (I am told this is a must-see which offers the added bonus of being an excellent place to take pictures of the city), Mirabell Palace and Gardens (in the Sound of Music, the Von Trapp children sang the Do-Re-Mi song in these gardens), and Hellbrun Castle, which features trick fountains guaranteed to delight those who love surprises. To ensure that you have enough time to adequately explore the area, check into one of the hotels in Salzburg for at least one night.

The Tirolean region features not only the breathtakingly beautiful mountain scenery found in the Alps but also offers such gourmet fare as Tirolean chocolate and Alpine cheese. Skiing is a popular winter activity, and the Alps offer unparalleled runs.

Altogether, I believe that Austria offers you the opportunity to create unforgettable memories by exploring both its ancient history and its vibrant present.

Giveaway!

Stop by my personal blog, The Porch Light, to see what I am giving away as part of the Dog Days of Summer Bloggy Giveaway hosted by Shannon of Rocks in My Dryer. Make sure you stop by her place - the contest just began at 8:00 a.m. CST, and there are already over 100 participants!

Let the Love Begin

Donations for little Parker are being accepted now through Friday. He is not doing so well right now, and I hope a lot of money is raised with this fund raiser. After you donate, make sure to leave a comment so that you can be entered in the contest for 17 great prizes.

Do Some Good and Earn a Chance to Win a Prize

Parker of Praying for Parker not only struggles with Down Syndrome but also deals with several medical problems. Their insurance company is not helpful at all and refuses to cover medical items that Parker must have in order to keep on living.

Melody of Slurping Life will be holding a fund raising drive to help Parker's family with his expenses. The dates of the love offering will be July 23 through July 27. She is offering prizes, donated by herself and others, as incentive for monetary donations to Parker's fund. Melody's prize contribution, courtesy of Hewlett-Packard, is a digital camera/printer/accessories package retailing for approximately $430. To be entered in the drawing, all you have to do is donate a minimum of $2, though it would be great if you could more. All donations will be paid directly into an account accessible by Parker's parents.

I have contributed the following prize to the pot: a custom website design update from RS Designs, valued at $55 - $120 (depending on options chosen) The winner may choose 3 of the following options:

1. Web site color change (change the colors of your existing template, including images)
2. New background image
3. Custom sidebar image
4. Custom header
5. Custom advertising banner.

I know there will be other great prizes, so don't forget to stop by between July 23 and July 27 to make a donation and be entered for your chance to win. If you would help spread the word by writing your own post about the contest before or during that time, it would certainly be a help to Parker and his family.

I Like Mike

I am going to get into a very touchy topic here: politics. I do not claim affiliation with any party and have no intentions of ever doing so. Independent I am, and independent I plan to remain. I will vote for the politician who best matches my convictions, not caring with which party he affiliates himself. (I must say that I do not believe there will ever be a Democrat who will gain my vote!)

Having said that, I must tell you that the current field of Presidential candidates has looked very discouraging. The Democrats don't even come close to meeting my standards: a candidate who has a realistic plan for reducing excessive government spending, is pro-life, is committed to protecting heterosexual marriage, has creative solutions for the economic difficulties that plague our nation ... am I really asking that much?

The "top tier" of Republican hopefuls is equally depressing:

• Mitt Romney is a Mormon who sees no problem with allowing for abortion in certain situations. Chuck Todd of MSNBC had this to say about Romney:

"In fact, some Democrats worry privately more about Romney than McCain, because they fear he is a Republican Bill Clinton -- that he's impossible to pigeon-hole ideologically."

• Rudy Giuliani supports abortion "rights" - a fact which immediately negates any chance he would get my vote. Added 7/18/2007 - According to MSNBC, Mr. Giuliani also supports gun-control (a stance that I find patently ludicrous - let's disarm all of our law-abiding citizens so that law-breakers have free reign to do as they please!) and, even more importantly, gay rights. Quoting from the article:

"On gay rights, Giuliani backs benefits for same-sex couples and says "gays should be protected." In 1997, he signed a bill creating domestic-partnership benefits in New York City. "We should be tolerant, fair, open and we should understand the rights that all people have in our society," he said recently.

While campaigning, Giuliani has been careful to declare his opposition to gay marriage, saying: "Marriage should be between a man and a woman. It should remain that way."

However, he says, at this point, he doesn't see the need for a federal constitutional amendment defining marriage that way..."

• John McCain lost my respect and my vote when he became so vitriolic in the past election campaign. I am pleased that he desires to effect the overturn of Roe v. Wade as well as protect the sanctity of marriage. If it came down to voting for the "lesser of two evils," I suppose I could bring myself to vote for McCain.

With all these strike-outs, will I have to resort to voting for the least "evil" candidate? Actually, I am really hoping that I won't. I recently became aware of Mike Huckabee, considered the cream of the second tier crop. A former Southern Baptist minister, Gov. (AR) Huckabee is staunchly pro-life, pro-marriage, pro-Israel, and pro-family. Here is what The Hotline, "the National Journal's daily briefing on politics", has to say about Huckabee:

"...Huckabee is not an ideologue. He's a social conservative with a stellar voting record who worries about seeming mean or punitive. He's a political conservative who is a functional pragmatist when it comes to economic issues. Dare we say: he's a 'compassionate conservative?' "

Is Mike Huckabee the perfect Presidential candidate? That is a question that each must answer for himself. The more I see and read about him, the more I personally like him. You will have to take your own look at Gov. Huckabee's stance on the issues and decide how you feel about him.