Bumming

Yesterday when I tried to connect my external hard drive, it made some strange knocking noises and wasn't recognized by the computer.... yep, it's toast. I know this sort of thing is nearly inevitable, happens all the time, etc. But I was still pretty cavalier about procrastinating any kind of back-up. {{sigh}}

Luckily, all my digital photos are backed up on our home computer and I will be burning the more recent ones that haven't been burnt to DVD yet VERY soon. Good thing I have Flickr to archive photos, too. BUT - ALL my digiscrap stuff is gone, as are my 3 most recent layouts. One you didn't even get to see yet - my layout about Emmelia's first day of kindergarten. I did upload it to the galleries, so I guess you can see it here. But those 3 will never be printed out for the girls' albums.

I guess I'll just begin again to re-build my "stash" from what is out there now. I actually don't feel overwhelmingly upset about it. There's a certain resignation one has at events like this. Not much I can do about it - should've backed up, but didn't. At least the drive is under warranty.

Anyway...

On Wednesday it finally happened - something I've been expecting for a while and wondering how it would be taken. Emmelia's friend Rebecca, who started karate with her, got a stripe on her belt and Emmelia didn't. I know it's because Emmelia was horsing around in class, not paying attention to Sensei or listening, talking loudly. She was really a pill - she always gets that way when she's tired and this first week of school has been tough on her. So, after class, she immediately came over to discuss the unfairness of R. having 3 stripes while she only has 2. She said what I expected her to say: "I don't want to do karate anymore." Sigh. WHY is my child so competitive? I really try not to instill an overly competitive nature in the girls, but they seem to be genetically predestined to it. It will cause them endless hassle as they grow up. Anyway, we talked a bit about how she can still earn a stripe by listening better and paying attention, etc. Then, on the way home, Emmelia changed her tactic on it - she decided she wanted me to sign her up for karate class EVERY DAY - so she could have ALL the stripes. Sigh... at least she does enjoy it.

I got some great photos of the class on Wednesday. You can look at them over in my Flickr account, but here's one of Emmelia and Rebecca practicing step-punches with Sensei.

Emmelia is really loving kindergarten so far. Like I said, it's exhausting for her, but a lot of that is no longer getting naps. Today she took an apple in for her teacher. ;-)

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend! Ours is blissfully not-too-busy. Just a couple of things on the schedule, so that is nice. I might actually have time to do some laundry!