Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween! Elijah and his class went on a field trip to a senior citizen home for a Halloween Parade. He was a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle. It was his first time riding a schoolbus. He said he had a good time.

Tonight he will be a red Power Ranger. The only reason he was a TMNT was he needed something that was easy to get in and out of while at school.

Happy Birthday Chad

Happy Birthday to my brother Chad. I hope your day gives you what you want from it.

Do What You Have to Do

Once in awhile, I get songs in my head that I can't seem to get out. I once heard them called "earworms." Maybe they should be called something else because that is really gross. I don't know if I am 'allowed' to write down the lyrics, so I'll attach the links.

http://www.geocities.com/riddles_and_rhymes/lyrics/dwyhtd.html
http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/petergabriel/igrieve.html

I have cried to this song off and on for many years. It makes me think of my honey and how much I miss him.

Last week Elijah asked if he could play his daddy's guitar. I let him. I showed him how to hold it and I took his picture. It took everything in me not to burst into tears right then and there. I can't do it because Elijah gets upset if he thinks I'm upset. He tells me he misses his Daddy. It breaks my heart that Gary isn't here with us. That's all for now.

Book It!

Elijah's class participates in Book It! with Pizza Hut. If you make your reading goal, you get a coupon for a free personal pan pizza. Elijah earned his for the month of October. He was so excited. He was holding his paper all the way to school and even said "Mommy, I'm so excited!" We went today and got the pizza. He was so cute as he held it up and showed the server.

It's been a rough week from a work and personal standpoint. Hopefully it will start to get better at work, but I don't know when it will on the other front. If you are one that prays, I ask that you say a few for my family.

Don't forget to change your clocks tonight!

Elijah updates

Elijah is doing very well in his class. He seems to be enjoying school and is learning a lot. He now does number games like "I know what 5 and 6 are: 56!" It's cute to see him figuring things out!

He's also doing well in karate. He did some good deeds and read some books to earn two more stars for his Gi. He now has 5 stars for his Gi!

He's also excited that he's almost met his monthly reading commitment for school. If he makes it he gets a PizzaHut coupon for a free personal pan pizza. At first he wasn't excited because he said he can't read. Finally he realized he doesn't have to know all the words to read the book! (Is that what those pictures are for?!).

Yesterday he went to Carnival Cuts for a "wash and cut." He lets the hairdresser use the electric clippers on him. He looks like such a little man! His pictures from school came in, so I probably owe you a wallet photo!

A month later

It's been a month since my wallet was stolen. Last week I mailed off my last affidavit to indicate that I did not make the fraud charges, I did not benefit from the fraud charges, and I support prosecuting whoever did. So, unofficially, it looks like all the credit card charges have been reversed. What a PITA! Now comes the waiting game: waiting for the police to catch the criminal, and waiting to see if anything else happens as far as stealing my identity. The police said it is not likely they will catch the person. Sometimes they catch the person in the act and then backtrack and solve other cases they couldn't solve. I hope the criminal is dumb enough to use my brother's business card to try and get out of a moving violation. Usually the officer will call the other officer on the card to verify. Wouldn't that be nice if they caught him that way . . .

Help

First off, I found out that my aunt has colon cancer. She's having surgery on October 30. The doctor says they will need to remove half of her colon. Please pray for her. This C word: cancer, is really bringing me down.

Second, I have some loved ones that are still going through a rough time. They could use your prayers as well. I'm sorry I cannot tell you more, but I wouldn't ask you to pray for them if it weren't important.

Modern Technology

My contract was up on my cell phone. I searched around and found my current provider had the best deal, so I renewed with them. The nice thing is that they offer an upgrade program when you sign a new contract. I was able to get a $150 instant rebate toward a new phone! I now have a phone that has a camera (I chose to not have one all these years), and most importantly: Bluetooth! So, I now have one of those wireless earpieces and look modern and sassy! Did I mention that my phone is pink . . . ooooohhhhh!

I got an A in Finance! Seven classes to go (including the one I just started). I'm a little excited, but not so much when I think of paying back those student loans! Yuck!

Other than that, I'm tired and looking forward to the weekend. Bring it on!

Saturday the 14th

I don't know if any of you remember this spoof a movie back in the 80's. It was part comedy, part mild scary movie that made fun of the day after Friday the 13th. Each time the 14th falls on a Saturday, I think of it.

Anyway, not much is going on. Finishing up finance, getting adjusted to having another dog in the house, etc.

Elijah has been learning about the President this week. Yesterday he asked me if I knew that the president lives in a white house? I asked him if it's really big, he said yeah and it's all white! He's also learned about muscles and he told me that our hearts are not shaped like a heart you write on paper.

Today in karate he helped out the teacher and earned another paper star. That was the last on he needed to get another blue star for is Gi. He was very excited!

Enjoy the rest of your weekend. Stay warm!

The last week of Finance

Today starts the last week of finance. Classes run Tuesday through Monday. I was looking forward to it being over and starting a new class, but as you know, I tend to "freak out" when I review the syllabus for the new class. Today was not exception! It looks like it's going to be a lot of reading and a lot of work. I just keep telling myself three more classes and I move into the specialty of the MBA. I'm just under a year to finish!

Sasha is doing well and starting to get very comfortable in her new home. We've had a few hiccups, but I think in a week or two we will be fine.

On another note, I have some loved ones that are having a tough time. I can't get into any detail, but please say a prayer for them.

What's new

Let's see, I keep realizing things that were in my stolen wallet - membership to The Henry Ford, stamps, you know -- things that you don't think of until you go to use them!

I spoke with a detective in one of the cities -- in fact the one where the most fraudulent charges occurred. One of the stores has video surveillance. They are working on burning it on a disc to show me. I also discovered yesterday that there were more charges on one of my credit cards, than I was originally told. I hope they catch whoever did this.

On a fun note, it looks like we are getting another dog. Her name is Sasha and she comes from a Rottweiller Rescue group in the area. Elijah is very excited. She's a little over a year old and very sweet.

Elijah went to the dentist today and did very well. I was so proud. He also is doing well in karate and earned another stripe!

Have a great weekend!

Happy Birthday Marc!

Happy Birthday to my cousin Marc! I'm sure he celebrated last night!

Elijah started his religious education at church today. He was very apprehensive at first, but when I picked him up after mass he wanted to make sure that he comes back again! He made some nice artwork and started learning a new prayer.

After church we headed out to a metro park North of Auburn Hills so a Rottweiller Rescue Reunion. We went to see a rott puppy we are interested in adopting: Sasha. She was so sweet. Elijah wanted to take her home today, but when you adopt, it's a very formal process. Maybe soon we will have another doggie to fill the void that Porsche left behind almost two years ago.

Two weeks to go and I'm done with finance. One more week and I will be less than a year from graduation! Yahoo!

Not much to update

I really don't have much of an update on the identity theft/stolen wallet scam. I did go to the bank to straighten things out and the CVS that the one police detective went to, credited back the fraudulent charge on my account. That's one good thing. However, there was another charge! How can that be you ask? Well, if you don't know this already, take note. When you use your ATM/Debit/Check Card, it reserves $1 on your account. As the bank explains to me, it's done to see if the account is "good." It then takes 24-48 hours for the actual charge to debit your checking account. Of the phone calls I made Thursday and Friday, no one bothered to mention that there was a $1 hold on my account for another possible transaction. Fortunately, it was only $16.91 (still doesn't make it right, but at least it didn't drain my account). I also found out that they tried to make a $300+ purchase at Autozone, but I had already froze that account so the transaction was DENIED!

I also found out yesterday, that one charge that I was told was pending on my account at GFS in Southfield (3 transactions there by the way, so take note that they don't bother to check ID and see that a man is using a women's credit card). Since I reported the card stolen, AMEX was able to deny that hold on my account. Poor GFS. I feel so bad that you got ripped off . . . not! Check ID people!

Another funny. I got a letter in the mail Monday (5 days after the fact) from one of my banks telling me that they tried to reach me by phone and there were some suspicious charges to my account. You think? I've only talked to you on the phone 5 times in 5 days and in person once and I'm the one that told you!

So, I'm just waiting for some form to dispute some charges for one bank, and then I think I've cleared up the whole shopping spree. The future is unknown. Although the police feel that this yahoo was just looking for a joy ride and isn't confrontational, who knows who gets my wallet next. I'll probably be paranoid for awhile.

On a positive note, I have to say of all the companies I've worked with over this mess, US Bank is the best. From the minute I realized that there were fraud charges, they were on it and never even let the charges hit my account. They were A+ by all accounts and I would recommend doing business with them.

The latest update

I was pleasantly surprised to hear from a detective from one of the police departments yesterday. He went to the CVS where one of the crimes occurred. He was able to give me a description -- the main thing being it was a MAN. Now tell me that a man using a woman's credit card isn't suspicious. Unbelievable! There are supposed to be procedures in place where a manager would come and over-ride the transaction (because of how much it is) and check ID. As luck would have it, the manager was busy, so nothing was checked.

I hope I get more scoop from the other cities and I hope the criminal is caught! I also hope that my credit card company gets their money back and makes CVS take the loss due to their own stupidity! I'm trying not to be bitter, but I am angry!

Where do I begin

Yesterday when I went to leave work I noticed something odd. My wallet was gone! At first I'm thinking, could I have left it in the cafeteria . . . no, I remember putting it back in my purse. I couldn't believe someone would just take it!

So, I call one of my credit card companies. While she's putting a hold on my account, she happens to verify my last transactions. Imagine my surprise when she says $500 at a Rite Aid . . . WHAT! There were three transactions at Rite Aid in Waterford -- each $400-500!

I had a credit card, 2 bank cards and a corporate card. They all got hit! When I added up the charges, it's over $4,300! They enjoyed shopping at Rite Aid, CVS, Gordon Food Service, and Farmer Jack. Nice!

My day was spent talking to the Franklin Police -- very nice by the way. Going to the Secretary of State, the bank, lots of phone calls. I also had to go to the Waterford Police, Bloomfield Hills Police and Southfield Police Departments. You have to file a report in each city/town where the crimes are committed. This ensures that if they are able to catch the @&#$% they can be prosecuted and not get off on a technicality such as jurisdiction. PITA! I hope they catch whoever did this and they ROTT!

I'm tired!

Pandora

So my work put the big stop to what is on our computers. We can't have pictures, screensavers or anything that is .exe programs. Now if anything needs to be upgraded or installed, it has to be done by a system administrator. I found myself looking for free internet radio that doesn't require software to be installed. I found a site called Pandora.
http://feeds.pandora.com/feeds/people/tawnydys/favorites.xml?max=50 Here's some of my favorites. You can design your own radio station with your favorite music, as well as rate their suggestions.

TGIF

I don't know about anyone else, but this felt like a long week! I have to work for a few hours tomorrow, so it's going to feel even longer!

Today at work we had the Detroit Historical Museum. They brought us lunch and told us about their museum. Very interesting. It's being renovated right now, but reopens September 29. I can't wait to go check it out. They have an actual replication of a Detroit city street - fascinating! They have a special event in October call "Taste of the D" It's a beer tasting for my beer lovin friends!

On a different subject, I stumbled across a cool website that can give you traffic updates by email or phone: Traffic.com. You can set it up for most big cities around the US. Now I get a phone call in the morning if there are any traffic delays on my "route." Today going home, I hit some traffic, so I called the number and it told me where the problem spot was and the anticipated delay. I'm lovin it!

Happy Birthday to my niece Natalie. I hope you had a great birthday!

Too Tired to Only Be Tuesday!

It's only Tuesday!? Too much going on! Tomorrow is picture day for Elijah and I can't wait to see how they turn out with his new haircut!

Not much else other than juggling work, school, parenthood, and extra-curriculars -- ahhhhhh life in the fast lane! Not quite the fast lane I would have predicted years ago, but ya gotta love it!

The First Week

Elijah did very well for his first week of school w/o a nap! He seems to be having fun and learning a lot!

On another note, I took him up to the mall today and we did some clothes shopping. He's hit a growth spurt, so this was the first time we went in a dressing room and actually tried on clothes!
After buying some outfits, I walked him over to Carnival Cuts. If you don't know, Elijah does not do well when it comes to haircuts. Well, I just marched him in and told him it needed to be cut. He got to sit on a horse and watch Buzz Lightyear while he got a haircut. The stylist also used the electric clippers on him. He looks so grown up. Pictures for school are next week, so they should be nice!

Congratulations Nikki & Steve

Congratulations to my cousin Nikki who got married yesterday. It was a beautiful day and a great celebration. It was good to see some people I have not seen in a long time, and to see others again on a happy occasion. I wish you both all the best!