Elaine in Waycross asks:
Why can’t I do this?

There are a couple ways to read the question…. one as a specific item, and the other as web design… I’m going to assume that it’s the second.

The answer to the question is: You Can!

Absolutely! You can build your own website… and there are a few different options out there, ranging from the free cookie-cutter sites, to blog options all the way to buying web-building software and learning to use it.

I kinda look at it this way… I can change my own oil… theoretically, speaking! I know I would make a mess of it, and I’d always be wondering if I did a good job of putting that oil filter back in.. and hopefully that little screw at the bottom of the oil pan, too.

I’d rather pay someone else to do it, because I know it gets done right every time, and I can get in, get out, and get on my way, staying clean the whole way.

At the same time, I know a lot of folks who enjoy changing their own oil and working on their own cars.

Ok… so it’s not as simple as changing oil…

How about a cake?

I have a friend named Nicky who can take a carrot, some flour, a spatula, a couple eggs and a bunch of other stuff and make the absolute best carrot cake in the entire world. If anyone ever needs a cake for an occasion, we ask Nicky because he is really good at it. Never a singe, never dry, and a perfect balance of icing to cake every time.

Now when I go to the kitchen, I can make a real mean peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

I know that we have an oven because that’s where I keep the pots and pans.

If someone were to ask me to bake a carrot cake, I would go online and find a recipe. Then I’d have to go to Kroger and buy things… like milk… and those white things that come out of chickens that people makes eggs out of…

Then I’d have to figure out how to turn on the oven… and find pot holders real quick because I forgot to take all those pots and pans out of there.

I would follow that recipe to the letter. It would take about five times as long as it would have if Nicky baked it, and I’d make a big mess out of it… and at the end of the day, my cake wouldn’t look, smell, taste or be anything like Nicky’s.

So while the answer is you can, the question I would ask back is “should you?”

Give it a shot… Intuit and GoDaddy have website builders, as do a few other hosting services. WordPress and Blogger have a lot of things you can use, also. It’s definitely worth a try.

Worst case scenario, you burn your cake while playing on the computer!