Turning Lemons Into Lemonade With a Fresh Start

Thank you to all who have left comments and sent emails trying to help me figure out what has happened to my blog pictures. We finally have it figured out. Blogspot stores everyone's photos on Picasa. When they made the switch to Google Plus, somehow they lost thousands of pictures in the process. Unfortunately, mine were among the ones lost. I still have those pictures on my home computer so I can replace them as I have the time. I have already replaced some, my header, profile picture and a few from recent posts. It will be too time consuming to replace all; so I will choose my most popular posts and just replace those. Because I am a very busy momma to six children, including a newborn and a very active 3 year old, it will take awhile. I'll just do what I can when I can.

I seriously thought about calling it quits. I have been blogging for 2 1/2 years and all of that time spent loading pictures are just gone. I thought, "I'll just go back to my life and leave blogging behind. Is it that important anyway?" I began to think about what life would be like without blogging. I would no longer have contact with my blogging friends. Would I be okay with that? When I sew something up, who would I share it with? I thought about the sense of community and support I have experienced through blogging and how you all have always been there to encourage me, offer your opinion and advice and pray for me when I need it. Your creative pursuits are an inspiration to me and it challenges me to do more and make time for my craft. And I have made some real friendships. I've even gotten together with a few of you. So even though I was discouraged and tempted to walk away, I couldn't do it. It will be difficult to fix my blog; but I am going to give it a try, bit by bit.

Another thing that has just happened that is even sadder to me is Blogspot has deleted my 11 year old daughter's sewing blog, Emily Callan of Super Stitches, that she has had since she was 8 because they have a new rule that you have to be 13 to have a blog. There was no warning. She had a gorgeous blog that she had worked so hard on. She had 157 followers, and she would hold Sew Mama Sew giveaways. She was very active in the sewing blogging community. She is heartbroken. I had to break the news to her today. It was so hard to see her cry. She could use lots of virtual hugs. I know many of you know her and followed her. I thought she would want to give up and walk away and never blog again, but she wants to start again if possible. Once again I need to ask for your advice. We are exploring her options. Where should she go? I am not very computer literate. I only know Blogspot. Should she go with Typepad, Wordpress or somewhere else? Do they have age limits? Which one is easier to use? Also, do you know where they store their pictures? After having my pictures lost, I am little nervous about all of this blogging wondering if it will happen again. And do you think I should move my blog somewhere else, too, or just stay here on Blogspot? Any advice you have would be much appreciated.