upgrade vm to Wheezy and install mysql 5.6

gistfile1.txt

#Let's back up just in case
sudo mv /var/lib/mysql /var/lib/mysql-saved

#replace your /etc/apt/sources.list with the lines below: (beetween BEGIN/END)
#---BEGIN
deb http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/ wheezy main
deb-src http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/ wheezy main

deb http://security.debian.org/ wheezy/updates main
deb-src http://security.debian.org/ wheezy/updates main

deb http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/ wheezy-updates main
deb-src http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/ wheezy-updates main
#---END

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get -y install apt dpkg aptitude
sudo apt-get -y dist-upgrade

#IMPORTANT: As you're doing the dist upgrade, be sure NOT to replace /etc/sudoers when prompted


# restart
sudo su -
reboot

#Be sure to get this output:
cat /etc/debian_version
7.6

#append these two lines to /etc/apt/sources.list
deb http://packages.dotdeb.org wheezy all
deb-src http://packages.dotdeb.org wheezy all

sudo apt-get update
export PATH=$PATH:/sbin
sudo apt-get install mysql-server-5.6
#choose no password for root

sudo mv /var/lib/mysql /var/lib/mysql-5.6
sudo mv /var/lib/mysql-saved /var/lib/mysql
sudo chown -R mysql:mysql /var/lib/mysql
sudo /etc/init.d/mysql stop
sudo /etc/init.d/mysql start
mysql -uroot -p
show databases;
#be sure to see your dbs (homestars_development)
#see the version output to be "Server version: 5.6.19-1~dotdeb.1 (Debian)"
#if the above is true
rm -fr /var/lib/mysql-5.6

There were some issues with copy/paste format. There was a lot of text not visible to the right. I've changed it and went over the process with Ian. See updated notes.

Jodi, let me know if you're still stuck. I could help