T-ball

So someone had this awesome idea to put both boys in YMCA t-ball, we won't mention any names...Anyway, since the Y splits 3 and 4 year olds we had 2 teams to deal with. Zachary's team did not have a coach and none of the parent's on the team were willing to volunteer so Jerry did. It's been a good season for the boys, we found that Zac really enjoys playing, pays attention and hustles when at practice and games so we don't mind putting him on a city team since the other parent's on the team left a lot to be desired, I'm hoping that since we have to pay for a city team the parent's will be more involved and focused.


Kaleb finally came out of his shell and really started to enjoy practice and games about 3 weeks before the end of the season. He won't be old enough for the city league next year so we will have to go with the Y for him again.

Zac's 5th birthday

Another better late than never birthday post. Zac had his first party with friends this year, he had 4 friends which was perfect. We played a few games and everyone won at least one game, the cake was awesome and Kaleb's expressions when opening presents were priceless. Our boys have almost decided on their own that they each help the other open their presents on their birthday, cuts down on whining and crying and since they share pretty well while playing no one notices they didn't get anything new that day.







The day after the party we invited one of Zachary's friends, Maddox, to a Redhawks game. Everyone enjoyed the game and the Redhawks won. We had Zac's name up on the scoreboard which he thought was neat. So even though it was hot, it was fun.

To Move or Not To Move...

Pros to the new house:
Has a den + 3 bedrooms
HUGE master bath and closet
No updates needed
More carpet than tile
Smaller yard
Walking distance to several places
Real hallways to separate living space and bedrooms
Smaller well layed out kitchen
Large attic space

Cons to the new house:
Backs up to commercial property
Small garage
Dinning area completely open to living room
Can only have very small shed for storage
Smaller laundry room
Cross house trek with groceries

Pros to this house:
Quiet neighborhood
Lots of space for the boys
Making progress on getting it the way I want it

Cons to this house:
Kitchen almost too big
Living room too spread out
No friends for the boys
Boys will never be able to walk/ride their bike to friends houses
Still a lot of work/updates to be done
Way to much tile

Ahhhh, July!

This month has gone considerably better than last. First I got all the Redhawks ticket vouchers from the ticket office to replace the ones that were lost. Then Red Robin said they'd make sure I got my free birthday burger yesterday, which I did! Then today we got the TT&L paperwork in the mail for the new car, our tag should be due by this Friday, the 9th, the tag agency said it's not due until the 22nd! That's awesome because it gives us more breathing room to pay the $880 we'll owe that day. Then, also today, I went to 1/2 price books to turn in the reading logs for the boys and get their $3 gift cards for this week, I asked the cashier if there was any way to replace the ones that were in my now lost/gone wallet and he said sure, and gave me 4 to replace the ones that are gone! I even found a rug for my kitchen for a good price at Bed Bath and Beyond, it was originally $39.99, on clearance for $19.99 plus a 20% off coupon! I'd love to get another one but didn't have a 2nd coupon, maybe I'll get one next week and they'll still have a rug left.

In other news...I've decided that my kitchen cabinet organization makes no sense, all my dishes are by the stove and usually only get put on the table, so the cabinets they are in are furthest from the table and dishwasher, all my baking supplies are in the cabinet over the dishwasher, across the kitchen from where I always use them; so next week I'll do a complete reorganization of the cabinets, which I'm sure will make Jerry so happy!

June just sucks ass...

Most every year June is a horrible month for one reason or another and this year is no exception. Stolen credit card and debit card numbers were just the beginning of this screwed up month for me this year. We've had problems with the t-ball team Jerry is coaching which for some reason causes me stress, the air conditioner in the house stopped working (luckily it was under $10 to fix), the van started acting up costing us $200, had a huge fiasco in Colorado, still need to replace the weed eater. And now, after a full week of being in just a horrible mood my wallet is gone. I had to replace my driver's license less than 30 days after renewing it ($10 in addition to the $21.50 I just paid last month), my wallet ($15 since nothing was on clearance), replacing my zoo membership will be $2, YMCA membership card will be $5, 3 library cards for $1.50 each. I had to go to the bank with both boys to get new account cards for them (which is a fiasco in itself), I have to wait 7-10 business days to have a credit and debit card again (yes, only 3 weeks after having them replaced last time). My insurance and prescription cards are gone, $9 in cash - I never carry cash, I happen to have money from a recent consignment sale and Zac's birthday money in my wallet. A $3 petsmart coupon off any purchase $3 or more is gone (we were going to buy a new fish or 2) as are 4 $3 gift cards for 1/2 price books and I just realized 8 flex plan baseball tickets for the Redhawks were in the wallet as well.
I would swear I put my wallet back in my purse, I put change in my change purse so why wouldn't I have put my wallet in there as well? I remember thinking something was off as I threw the trash from our ice creams away but chalked it up to my foul mood for the last week and being tired after the boys 2 games. I did have my wallet on the table with my change while I was eating the ice cream but once I finished I put the change away, the $5 bill folded in my wallet and the 66 cents in my coin purse. We came directly home, I put my purse on the counter and sat down on the couch to watch a movie, I never got my wallet out again. The boys and I went to the zoo this morning and when I tried to pull out my zoo membership to get in the gate I realized my wallet was missing. I immediately thought I threw it in the trash at Braums so I had Jerry call to see if the trash had been picked up yet, they said it wasn't so I had hope I'd find it. When I got there the manager said the dumpsters had been picked up already but it may still be in the trash can in the store so another employee took each piece of trash out one by one from the can I threw our stuff in, there were fries and burgers and ice cream in there so I was hopeful since we were there around 8-8:30pm my wallet was still there, it wasn't. So it was either taken out in a trash bag earlier or someone stole it from me. We've searched the car, house, garage. So now I have a bright red wallet.

Nearly $2000 taken from me in 1 day...thanks in large part to Walmart

Over $1600 debited from my checking/savings all at one Walmart in Charlotte North Carolina, 3 different purchases of $500 each, 2 in the same minute, then another transaction of $118 and an $8 transaction at the McDonald's inside that Walmart, so over $1600 stolen within an hour and no one in the god forsaken store ever bothered to check an id. Then in New York at another Walmart over $200 charged and then nearly $100 at a Macy's in New York.
I have come to the conclusion that my numbers were stolen at Sea World, San Antonio, it's the only place I used both cards, at different locations (1 at a cafe for lunch and 1 at a souvenir store). When I went to report this to the Mustang Police Department, the officer I was speaking with said his debit card information was stolen when he was at Sea World last spring which was when it dawned on me that it must have been there where this happened.
With some finagling I was able to get to the top of the refund list for Visa Debit and was refunded my money yesterday afternoon (after 4 days of no money), my credit card still has not been settled but I will give it til next week before I start making noise on that one. The credit union has been great, save one moronic man who answered my call one time.
I still, of course, have to be careful when planning outings/purchases because I do not have any plastic and a lot of places will not take checks. I'm hoping my new cards get here before I leave for Colorado and it would be really great if the PIN for at least my debit card got here before I left also, though I could always call and get that from Jerry.

Walmart still sucks ass...

After our nice relaxing vacation we got back home at around 2 a.m. on Saturday morning. We all went to bed and got up and needed to go grocery shopping since I let most food items run out before the trip. First though, we needed gas, so I handed Jerry my seldom used one and only in case of emergency credit card, he swiped it and it would not authorize, so he went inside and it still wouldn't authorize so I gave him my debit card which worked. Crap. And on a 3 day weekend so I can't call the bank to see what is up. We go to Sam's club and I again tried my credit card just to see if it would work, nope, so I used the debit card again. When I got home I check my credit card account online and found a huge math problem, my balance was $16 (which I did spend), my limit is $1,000 and my available is only around $600, I'm no math wizard but even I know $600 + $16 does NOT equal $1,000! Today, Monday, at around 7 p.m. I get a phone call from the fraud department for my debit card showing activity in Charlotte North Carolina at a couple Walmarts, she confirms I'm still in Oklahoma and deactivates my card and told me to go to the bank tomorrow to fill out a report. She also said that the charges did go through on my account. Crap. So I check online to see how much has been debited from my account, no information on there so I checked my credit card, there is well over $300 charged and most of it in New York at 2 different Walmarts and a Macy's. I called and reported my number stolen so again I have to fill out a report tomorrow at the bank. So all my accounts are frozen and neither my debit card nor my credit card will be usable again until I am issued new cards. Oh, did I mention I'm leaving for Colorado in 2 weeks and these cards usually take at least that long to be mailed, especially when waiting for a PIN as well?!?!
Now my question is how the hell is someone in 2 different states using my information when I'm holding my credit card in my hand. I know they can swipe my card and steal the numbers but I haven't used either card at unfamiliar places where I didn't have the card(s) in my sight at all times. I didn't use both cards at any of the same places so how did someone get both of my numbers on the same day? All my statements are sent through e-mail so it's not a stolen mail issue. The numbers are not available online so even if someone hacked into my computer they wouldn't have the account numbers. And why the hell doesn't the shitty Walmart policy require employees to take 2 seconds to confirm identity before accepting a card? So yes, someone stole my numbers but still I blame Walmart for making it excessively easy for someone to use my numbers to make purchases then charged to ME. I will dance a gig of glee when Walmart fails!