Monday, November 2, 2009

The Best Plans........

Okay so for the last 2 weeks life got in the way! Got in the way of all kinds of things! First, I had most of my canning done, the yard work caught up, and was really in the mood to scrap! I was excited to go to Kim Rose's Express the Moment Crop on the 24th! Packed everything up the night before, got up, kissed my hubby goodbye and went to lose myself for a few hours. About 11:00 my husband called to tell me his alternator was gone. No problem I said. Chelsea ran him to the parts store. Problem solved, right? Wrong. At 12:00 he called to say the starter was gone too! Both parts totalled $450! By now my crop was ruined! I couldn't concentrate and felt like I needed to be home at least giving moral support. So I packed up and went home. Got the parts in and everything ran fine, but now we were broke! Luckily, I checked the account and found that I had enough built up in their to cover it and still leave my rainy day fund. But our anniversary was Wednesday and we couldn't even afford to go out. So we rented The Proposal and bought Chinese and had our 32nd anniversary date at home. Which ended up being a really nice evening together!

Then on Thursday I got 2 emails, one from Paypal and one from Bank America telling me someone tried to access my accounts. I promptly went in, changed my user ID's and passwords and added security benefits they offered. Whew I averted that problem, right? Wrong. On Friday I tried to use my debit card and it was declined. Luckily I had my hubby there and he used his. I called the bank and found out that my card had been killed for fraudulent activity. So I ordered a new one and we laughed about it as we finished our shopping. When I got home I checked our checking account and found out that whoever had accessed my account had tried debiting $501 to Western Union. Luckily it was still pending and I called the bank immediately, who forwarded me onto Visa, who killed the transaction. Now I have spent the whole weekend changing every user id and password I own, even on the LDS website! I have also enrolled in every extra security item that my credit cards and dept store cards offered and now get email alerts if someone even sneezes near my account. I have a new debit card and credit cards coming, which means I have to write checks (such a bother) or borrow my husband's debit card. But we were lucky, because we nipped it in the bud. After it is all said and done, I think they got the info from my Amazon.com account, which is the only place I had both info's stored. I changed my password there and notified them of what happened.

So here is my advise to each of you: Check all your accounts, often, say at least once a week. Notify the bank or institution of irregularities immediately. Immediately change you user ID and password on all accounts if you suspect fraud or if you receive an email alert. Sign up for email alerts if your institution offers it. Contact Social Security to see if anyone has requested a new card recently for your number (I never thought of this one). Keep safe!

On the brighter side Halloween was adorable. We did Trunk or Treat at the church and I handed out 120 pieces of candy! I got to see 4 of my grandchildren and then the next day got to see all 6 of them when we got together to celebrate Sydney's 9th birthday! That makes everything else fade away!

So the moral of this story is, what doesn't kill you, makes you stronger! I toughened up alot this weekend!

Be in charge of your destiny!

Chris

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