@tony

thanks for the help. i realize there is a step that i am missing....

i bought bluehost and transfered my domain over from godaddy...

then i installed wordpress through bluehost and I added thematic through the WP admin panel...

i think i needed to somehow put another step in there so I have access to the folders because as it stands now, i dont know how to get into the folders to create copy of the childtheme folder and start editing it.

can you help advise on this?? :)