I apologize, dear readers, for being off the radar for the past week. I do hope you'll be able to forgive me. It wasn't that I forgot about you, or decided I no longer care about you, it was simply that I was puttering around the casa, and computer-time didn't happen much.
The high points of the past week:
July 15, Saturday:
I had a relapse of OCD/ADHD Cleaning-Illness in preparation for my friend's mini-visit. She lives in Milwaukee, and was in town for a seminar, so we were going to get to spend a few hours together. I decided I didn't want her to see my house in its scene-of-the-crime state. So I C.L.E.A.N.E.D...it was phenomenal.
July 19, Wednesday:
Spent the morning running errands...Target, WalMart, OfficeDepot, etc. Had a workout with TrainerDude that afternoon...after which I went to my current-favorite-store-in-life, Recollections, to feed my scrapbooking addiction. Then I went to Michael's (conveniently placed right next door) to peruse their selection. Drove home, talking to SingingGirl along the way.
July 20, Thursday:
Enlisted Buggy's help to move some furniture in my room at school....while I was there, I visited with my friend about taking over her class next week. (I have to teach Lord of the Flies...better get to reading, I suppose!) I spent the afternoon having some solitude at the pool. Just me, the Ipod, and Mr. Sun. aaaahhhhhhhhh, Summer!
July 21. Friday:
While getting ready to meet a friend for lunch, I checked my bank balance to see if I needed to transfer cash. Upon logging in, I saw a rather sizable charge for Macy's that was still pending. I am not sure if you have picked up on this, but Ms. H is not a "Macy's Girl". I am very much a Kohl's Girl...or even an Old Navy Girl. But Macy's?? Nope.
I called my bank...found out the charge was incurred Wednesday evening. Now, I know I did a lot of shopping and running around on Wednesday....but I did not darken the door of a shopping mall. (And how do I know this? Because shopping malls are where teenagers congregate....and Ms. H likes to avoid those humans during the summer months.)
As we looked through the other charges, we found out that the WalMart charge on the account was from 10:30 Wednesday evening. Yes, WalMart is a store that I dearly love....but not at 10:30 on a weeknight. Nosirreebob. The woman instructed me to call the credit card company to cancel the card....posthaste.
I called the credit card company....found out that not only was the WalMart charge from 10:30 at night...it was from a WalMart in CALIFORNIA. And that both of the transactions (THANK GOD THERE WERE ONLY TWO) were "swipes"...which means that some punkass CREATED A NEW CARD WITH MY NUMBER...and then USED IT. Pretending to be ME.
yep, that's right. I said, "punkass".
I asked her for the phone number for the Macy's store...she said it wasn't listed on the information....but she did have the store number. Being the Nancy Drew devotee that I am....I took down the number and called the 1-800 number for Macy's.
Yep...you guessed it...that Macy's is in the SAME TOWN in CALIFORNIA as the WalMart.
Bastages.
I went to my bank to get the paperwork I'll need to file once the charges get processed through my account...yep, that's right....AFTER the ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY FIVE DOLLARS comes out of my account. Thankfully, the bank will put it back when they initiate the investigation, but I'm still chapped.
It's the idea of the thing....
Some person, who has ZERO RIGHTS to MY MONEY, has SPENT ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY FIVE DOLLARS of the money I earned MOLDING THE YOUNG MINDS OF SQUIRRELS!!!
Punkasses.
The good news is that:
a. my bank issued me a garden variety ATM card to use til my new debit card gets here (in TWO WEEKS)
b. the punkasses only made two purchases....which did not drain my account to the point of zapping my summer school money. DUDE, I'd a been PISSED.
c. I caught it early.
d. my bank has a $0 liability clause.
e. so far, it appears, the punkasses didn't get any of my other account info...nor have they tried to jack my identity by applying for other accounts. Thank God for realtime checks of your credit reports on the world wide web.
and most importantly:
f. I don't know who stole my information....because I would be hard-pressed not to "locate" them for a "little chat".
Punkasses.