Updates

So obviously I have been out of the blogging scene for quite some time. I am still doing my Project 365 but need to get them in order and posted and I was trying to wait until I had my drive back so I could post in order and now that I have waited this long I think I should just stick to that plan, but alas, nothing goes as smoothly as I plan.

So here is the update. I still don't have my data back. I found out on Friday, Aug 14th that it was recovered and was thinking I would get it on my doorstep on Monday but no, I found out on Wednesday that it wasn't quite done and didn't make the FedEx pickup and would go out on Thursday the 20th. So come Saturday the 22nd when I still didn't have it, I called in only to be told that it wasn't done yet and my customer service rep wasn't in on a Saturday.

So, another weekend passed and more nights of restless sleep and wondering if I am being ripped off by what I am told is a legitimate company comes my Monday morning phone call where I am told that they are having trouble copying my data over and it is going very slowly. Now they tell me this has nothing to do with my data and everything is recovered it is just taking a long time to get it over onto the new drive and that it should be done by the end of the day (yesterday).

Have I mentioned how angry and frustrated I am with myself for letting this happen in the first place?!! I am not a patient person and this is really testing my patience and faith.

So, now it is Tuesday, August 25th at 10:38pm and at my last phone call of the day to my customer service rep the status was it was complete and will be shipped out today and I will receive an automatic email with my tracking number at 5:00pm. Did I mention it was 10:38pm and I still don't have an email from them. UGH, I will be calling again first thing in the morning. You know, you would think I would be relieved but now I am more stressed than ever and don't think I will be able to un-clench until I have it in my hot little hands.

On a lighter note, I decided to post some actual pictures, just in case you were wondering what the kids looked like any more.

Nathan is now an otter. He started the first grade today and I was much more emotional that I expected. 6+ hours is a long time for my first born to be away at school but he had a great day and was all smiles when I picked him up. This shot was from yesterday's sneak peak into the classroom and he spent quite a lot of time looking at everything and getting acquainted with his new surroundings. I was the only parent with a camera and that made me even more self conscious, oh well, I know I am a crazy scrapbook-y person, what do I care what they think? More school pictures will come.

And here is my baby boy. Almost one year old. He loves to walk around with things. He hasn't quite gotten the nerve up to let go and just go for it but he pushes whatever he can get his hands on, a chair, a laundry basket, a stool, a toy, his sister, you get the point - until last night. I was frantically trying to get them in bed before 9pm (it was a soccer night so cut me a little slack), fed and bathed and pajama-ed up and I stood him up and faced him toward Mike and he took 3 steps to Daddy. I started to cry and just thought great now this one will walk and the first one will be in school. Mommy needs a time out from all the growing. He is cute though isn't he?

And last but certainly not least is little Laura. My sweet girl. You will notice quite a lot of prodding on my part for her to repeat what she said but the punchline is definitely a scrapbook page in the making for me. I just love her to pieces. I am looking forward to my special time with her while Nathan is at school.

So that is the update for now. I will keep you posted and hopefully the stars will align and I will get my data back and things will be back to normal - wait - do I even know what normal is?

Maybe I will get my data back the day my blog friend in North Carolina has her baby! That is my guess Maggie.

Hallelujah! Hark the Angels Sing!

SIGH followed by YIPPEE!!

I found out last Friday that my hard drive was completely recovered. I am so excited and relieved and I was actually able to get my first good night's sleep in 2 weeks that night. I still don't have it yet, they have to transfer all the data to a new external hard drive and mail it to me from Los Angeles but I should have it tomorrow. I am just so grateful that the data was recoverable at all. It has been a costly mistake to say the least but at least we were able to recover all of our data.

Mike was correct, the record player was broken and not the record. They totally took our hard drive apart and put the "record" so to speak into a new player and were able to get all of our stuff - my precious pictures are saved. It was really difficult for me to think about losing all of Noah's first year of life in photography, half of Laura's life and all of the milestones Nathan has met this past year and a half.

So here's to California Data Services for their awesome work.

Now I will be printing a whole lot of pictures for albums and will be finally getting to scrapbooking without all the fuss. I painstakingly take hours on layouts and this has shown me that getting the picture down with meaningful journaling will have to do from now on - my new motto is just get it done!

I still don't know...

I still have no idea as to weather the data recovery service I have entrusted a huge chunk of my life to will be able to save my precious pictures - oh and Mike's work stuff too. I was hoping to hear something by the end of the day today but as it is 5:13pm and I have no news, I am stuck waiting until tomorrow which is when they said they would get back to me at the latest.

I am trying not to think about it because when I do, I feel really sick to my stomach and want to cry. I just keep reminding myself that nothing bad actually happened to my children and that having them is more important than having almost 2 years worth of pictures. Okay, I am getting that feeling again so I am stopping. Thank you to all my friends who have offered good thoughts and prayers - I truly appreciate them.

On a lighter note, I would like to send congratulations to my wonderfully, uber talented crafty friend Dustin Nakamura on being selected to the 2009-2010 American Crafts design team. Yippee! I am so proud of her and to be her friend. She totally deserves it and I can't wait to see what she comes up with. Check it out here: http://americancrafts.typepad.com/studio/2009/08/american-crafts-20092010-contributing-design-team.html

It's gonna be a while...

I am really behind in my blogging and I apologize that I have been too busy to attend to it. I have been (barely) keeping up with Project 365. I had a great time at the Keith Urban concert and Nathan had a wonderful 6th birthday. We are surviving swim lessons - many great triumphs with that going from crying on Monday to loving it on Friday.

I am in mourning because our computer hard drive crashed a couple of days ago. I have not backed up anything. Mike has backup files on the computer but not on an external drive and not any of my thousands of digital pictures. I have been sick since yesterday and am so incredibly angry at my stupidity for not taking the time to upload each and every month so they are in a safe place and just taking for granted that they are on the computer. I mean really how many horror stories do you have to hear to know this?! I am beyond upset. I am beyond disgusted with myself for not taking the time to back them up - I know better - even if it is time consuming and takes effort. All of Mike's work is on there too but I am just devastated about the thought of losing my photos. I have been in touch with some data recovery places and only time will tell if they can retrieve our data and at what cost.

Anyway, I can't post my Project 365 stuff or photos but will update soon.

By the way, Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad! 39 years and counting!