The Best Laid Plans.......

This weekend I had big plans of getting lots of work done. I had a couple of custom orders for my buttons at http://www.buttonsbyrobin.com/ and I had several ideas for some precious metal clay and leather jewelry at http://www.outspokenjewelry.com/. I got up early and all set to buckle down and my external hard drive was not working. I thought there had to be something simple but finally figured out it was a huge problem. Now I know enough to back up my images and purchased graphics and patterns on CDs and thankfully I had done that. I "think" I have most of my graphics files both purchased and the ones I created. The problem is I didn't back them up in any organized way so while I have the files it's a bit like looking for a needle in a haystack at the moment. Also I know there are some files that I didn't back up. There are a number of letters and things I had written dealing with my parent's estate (they both passed away recently) and for a while I thought I had lost the latest version of my resume. I am very worried that there will be files I later realize I have lost. My husband is quite computer savvy and he tried his best to get the thing working long enough to get the images off. Not all hope is lost though as my son is even more computer savvy but he doesn't live with me and so I will have to wait a bit to get this to him before he can attempt to retrieve the images. In the mean time I am slowly taking the files from my backup CDs and putting them on my computer (they were not stored on the computer before but an external hard drive so my actual computer is working-thankfully!). I do have to load the files and then try and organize them in some way shape or form so I can actually find what I am looking for. Luckily the images I was using for my latest custom order (while they were not saved as a backup-silly me) I was able to find in my email and was able to complete that order. On the weekend I also got a couple of requests for different sizes and quantities and from some "sold" orders so I had to wade through images and find those particular files. Why oh why did I not back these up in a organized way. Luckily I have been able to find all the files I need for my current custom orders and I'm sure I'll get these organized. I am also pretty confident in my son's abilities and feel he'll be able to help me out shortly (crossing fingers and toes). Anyway lesson learned-while I thought I was being smart backing things up, I didn't back up everything so who knows what important files have been lost. I can't think of anything devastating to lose at the moment but I'm sure that will come unless my son is able to come to my rescue. On a positive note with what I've been through in the last few months (losing both of my parents) losing a few files is nothing more than a bit irritating. As I know all to well there is much worse things in life. And just because I can't leave a blog post without some sort of picture here is a pic of some of my owl shaped buttons!