HD wiped but getting back on my feet

Sigh, so at the end of August, I accidentally wiped my HD and then re-installed the Operating System which made it a ton worse. I took it to Geek Squad and thought it would only be a couple weeks. Turns out it will be 8-10 weeks, and this is already after waiting 3 weeks+. I am now having them return it to me so I can send it to a company that will be able to get it done in 2 weeks, or at least quickly tell me there's no use. I was pretty devastated at first. I felt like kicking myself. Just a week before, I had felt the strong urge to back up my files. I pulled out our External HardDrive to find it was broken. Knocked on the floor too many times this summer by the kids. So Brian and I started discussing online backup options. But did nothing. First, BIG foolish mistake.

My computer had all of our photos from when we were dating up to this year. 8 years of photos and memories. I tried to comfort myself that lots of the important photos, wedding, new babies, birthday parties and such, other family members will have copies of and I have uploaded lots of the photos to photo product sites like Snapfish and Shutterfly over the years. But it's also the anguish of all the hours I would spend organizing and naming folders to keep the files easy to handle and sort through. And of course, all the files that might not be anywhere else.

Another huge thing about the wipe, I lost over $1000 worth of commercial-use products I had bought for my digital scrapbooking business. I have been able to contact a lot of stores and they have been graciously letting me download whatever products are still in their store for free or for a small processing fee. I am so grateful. I also have a friend sharing with me the files she knew we both had. It has been a huge blessing because I really needed to keep my business going through this because I could not do my math tutoring. I was borrowing Brian's laptop during the day, trying to design as much as possible and then he needs it at night for his college work. For a little while I pulled out our old computer but it's space and processing speed just couldn't keep up with my design needs. So we finally purchased a new hard drive for me to use in my computer for the time being.

It may turn out that nothing can be saved and I have come to accept that I think. This has been a huge lesson for me in preparedness. I have bought a subscription to online backup and have decided to get a different anti-virus protection and guard better this tool that is more than just an entertainment device in our home but the means of providing our family with the additional income we need so I can stay home. If you count it, I actually have 3 jobs (in addition to being a full-time mommy :) ): I babysit a friend's child, I tutor math online and I do digital scrapbooking design. Wow. Whatever it takes so I can stay home with my kids. I am happy to be able to be the one there when they have questions, when they fall and hurt themselves, and just so I can have the energy for them. I was so stressed when I was the one working full-time, I hated it and with my 3 jobs, even though it sounds crazy busy, I tutor at night after they are asleep and I can stop any time with my designing to attend to their needs and wants. I am grateful for this blessing and hope to be more mindful and aware of issues that could arise in the future. Thank you, thank you, dear husband for so graciously sharing his laptop during this tough time!