I have a mailing list that is affiliated with one of my non-blog websites where I mentor women who want to start small businesses in the crafting industry.

Since the group has almost 1500 members now, I tend to hear some of the same questions over and over. Many of them are very basic business questions and I truly don’t mind answering them more than once. I am finding that my best move would be to develop some useful articles to address some of the more frequently asked questions, though. So, let me start now.

What is web hosting?

When you first decide you want to have an online presence for your business, you will want to take the first steps to establish your own website. Doing this is not a one-step process. You have to secure a domain name for your site, which you will register with any of the online registrars out there. You pay a nominal annual fee for the right to “won” this domain name. This is something you need to renew as the years go on.

Separate from your domain name is web hosting. A web host is the company you will pay to host your website for you. Your website’s files will actually reside on their servers, which will be on all of the time so that your customers can access your site day or night. You pay the hosting company either monthly or annually, and prices vary tremendously.

You have to do some research before choosing a web host. Price is not the only factor to take into consideration. You want to look at the company’s longevity, reputation, average up-time, and what they are offering you in the hosting package.

You may just want simple pages with information about your business and what you offer. In that case, you can go with a basic hosting plan. On the other hand, perhaps you are looking to make your site fully interactive with a working shopping cart, discussion forums, blogs, and other features. If that is the case, you will want to make sure the package you contract includes those possibilities. Do you need to accommodate lots of traffic and bandwidth? Will your site be image intensive? These are just a couple of things to consider.

Once you have a good idea of what you need, your best bet is to use a website that reviews and rates popular hosting plans. Generally, this is where you can find feedback from existing customers, a synopsis of the plans and prices, and an overall rating. Such websites are great tools in your search for web hosting.

Last September, I wrote a story about the death of 14-year-old Raquel Ann Carreras. She was killed when the underage driver of the car she was riding in crashed. In the Tampa Bay area, this was a tragic story that gripped our community and made a lot of people think twice about how serious the issue of underage drivers really is.

Yesterday, six months after the fatal accident, the mother of the 15-year-old driver was arrested and released from the Pinellas County Jail after posting $10,000 bond. She was charged with manslaughter after allowing her son take her car before he wrecked it.

Lesa Ledesma, 42, of St. Petersburg, gave her sons the keys to her Saturn, according to witnesses, even though at the time he only had a Class E learner’s permit. That type of permit mandates that someone 21 years or older be in the passenger seat and that the driver cannot operate a car after 10 p.m. The wreck occurred at 10:45 p.m. on September 15, 2007.

Her son Shawn Ledesma was charged with vehicular homicide in December.

What page do you have set as your “home page” for when you first open a new browser window? Do you know what I mean? When you open Explorer or Firefox or Opera, which comes up on that page before you go surfing off to other sites? Is it your ISP’s default page, or maybe a blank page, or your fave search engine like Google? Right now I have a blank page set for Explorer and Speed Dial for Opera, but here is something absolutely cooler.

At HomePagle, you can effortlessly and fully customize your browser’s start page or “home page”. You choose the image you want (there are so many cool shots to browse through on their site). Then, you simply click the “Make My Homepage” button and a little window will pop up to tell you how to set your home page on whichever browser you are using. I was using Opera and Homepagle gave me a super easy step-by-step diagram showing me how to set the page in my browser.

Of course you can choose absolutely any image by just uploading it from your hard drive to the Homepagle servers. They will walk you through that, too.

I am feeling Spring in the air, plus I was just outside weeding my rose garden, so I picked the most stunning rose photo off of the Homepagle site and used it to set a new home page for my Explorer browser. A Google search box was automatically inserted, Here, this is what my new home page looks like:

And, here is a sample of one created using pics of Borat and the ever-amazing Captain Jack Sparrow.

I want to meet Adam Clark’s mom. She sounds like she has a real handle on what works when it comes to disciple and God knows I am struggling with finding the right angle with my 5-year-old. Maybe this woman should start offering consultations.

Listen to how the Merritt Island, Florida mom handled the fact that her son was caught driving over 100 mph in a 55 mph zone:

Sixteen-year-old Adam must carry a sign outside his high school each morning and afternoon that says: “I was stupid. I drove over 100 mph and got caught. Thank God! I could have killed me and my friends.”

We can all guess that plenty of the kids are snickering at him, but Adam says, “I’ve learned my lesson.” Looks like some public humiliation might just be doing the trick in this particular case.

Kudos for mom. To Adam I say, good for you to working WITH your mom to accept the disciple. It’s encouraging.

Seriously! You can enter to win a Nintendo® Wii™ and all the cool extras you need to be the most popular kid on the block. Or, if you are like me, I’m not a kid anymore but the neighborhood kids still tend to congregate here to play video games on our 55-inch TV. We are virtually famous for our Halo parties, but I digress.

This post is simply to tell you to get your rear end on over to Charter’s website to register to win a Nintendo Wii Console, Wii Stand, 5 Sports games ( Boxing, Baseball, Tennis, Golf and bowling), 1 Remote Controller, 1 Nunchuk Controller, 1 Sensor Bar, 1 Wii AC Adapter, 1 Wii AV Cable. That is absolutely everything you need to plug in and get going. Bam!

While you’re over there, you may as well take a look at the Charter High-Speed® Internet for Life auction. Starting March 12, you can get in as low as a $10 starting bid to win high-speed internet access for life. Yes, I said for LIFE! How cool is that? Seriously, if you have access to Charter’s services in your area, all you have to do is figure out what you would pay for even one year of their service and you can see how valuable a lifetime supply of internet would be.

OK, why are you still reading this post? Click Here for a Chance to Win a Nintendo® Wii™!

Scattered across the Fakahatchee Strand Preserve State Park’s 85,000 acres, there are 315 tiny orchids called Ghost Orchids and they are of interest to an awful lot of people right now due to the popularity of the book “The Orchid Thief” and the movie “Adaptation”. In fact, they have bolstered the tourism for this swamp in southwest Florida.

The preserve has seen many orchid thefts, but park biologists continue to lead groups of enthusiasts on fascinating four-hour swamp walks around the preserve where more species of orchids and bromeliads grow wild than anywhere else in the country. Some species have never even made it out of the swamp and remain unique to the area.

Prepare to also see snakes and gators, walk through deep water, endangered plants, various orchids and bromeliads, and maybe even a stunning Ghost Orchid blooming is what will look like mid-air.

While Ghost orchids are rare enough that actually spotting one during the walks can be rare at times, the orchids are easier to find during Florida’s November to April dry season. The park is open every day from 8 a.m. to sundown and admission is free. The Swap Walks, however, are only offered on the first, second and third Saturdays of the month from November through April, and even then it depends on the water levels. It costs $40 per adult and $15 for those under age 12. (You can call 239.695.2860 for more info).

Sports memorabilia is massively popular. In fact, it always has been. Think about how many of your fathers and grandfathers have signed baseball cards from back in days when the players wore wool uniforms and had to work three jobs to make ends meet. Back in the days before sports stars could become super wealthy by playing the sport they loved; their endorsed memorabilia was still a hot commodity.

While sports collectibles like jerseys, hats, posters, and player cards are more readily available than ever these days; it takes a whole lot more to make these items truly collectable. You already know that if you can manage to get your hands on a signed piece, you have something pretty special for your collection. What if you could take a collectable you already own and love, and send it off to be signed by the athlete it represents? Seriously, what if it was that simple?

There is the most amazing new program over at HypedUpSport.com where you can send in sports collectibles like your prized mint, first edition Nike Airs for Michael Jordan, or maybe a Pin Flags for Tiger Woods to sign. Just imagine how much more valuable the items will become!

All you have to do is send in a picture of the item you want signed, so that you can get on the next signing schedule. Then you purchase the signing program you want and ship the item over to the Upper Deck Authenticated location and the item will be signed, authenticated, affixed with an “Exclusive Signature Service / Show” hologram (which will match the hologram on the accompanying certificate of authentication), and returned to you.

The athletes involved in this program include Tiger Woods, Michael Jordan, Lebron James, Kobe Bryant and Kevin Durant.

Hyped Up also has tons of already-signed items on their website that you can buy, but I think it is amazing that it is so easy to get a collectable you already own signed.

When I got married, I found it was harder to eat right. First, I started cooking more of the dishes my husband liked. Then, I eventually found myself eating the same portions he ate and snacking along with him. It only got worse once my daughter was born. She is just not happy with a plain chicken breast and a plate of steamed greens for dinner four nights a week.

So, now I have to refocus my efforts to eat right – all of the time. I’m single again, so I do not have to worry about a husband with poor eating habits. And, my daughter is still young enough to be won over to healthier eating. Thank goodness she does generally love fruits and veggies. Also on my side is the current trend in whole foods and super foods, as evidenced by the popularity of products like Orovo. The more general society leans toward healthy eating, the easier it will be to find and afford the better ingredients.

I am starting slow, by cutting out most carbs. I have been able to almost completely weed potatoes out of our diet. We eat them mashed only rarely, like if I fix bangers and mash as a treat. Next, I am tackling bread. We have it around for sandwiches, but I try to get organic, whole grain varieties. I do aspire to grind my won wheat and bake at home like my friend Kathy, but that will take some time. I will have a go at pasta last. We love pasta at our house, so it is a hard switch. Last night we did have wholegrain spaghetti my daughter chose at the store. Not only was it a healthier option, it made my daughter feel lliek she had really had a hand in choosing our meal.