Who Has My Info

On Thursday, September 22, 2016 I received a very frighting package in the mail. An Amazon Visa with a healthy spending limit. At first, I questioned myself if I clicked something by mistake while on Amazon. I couldn't figure out how I applied for a card without even knowing it. I decided to call and ask Chase bank about it since they issued it to me. After fifteen minutes of pressing buttons and trying not to activate the card, I finally reached a real life person. 

She wanted my personal information such as my social security number, but I quickly said " I'm not willing to give that out anymore" I told her "I will give you the first four digit, the last four digits or the middle four, but not the entire thing". She finally got past the verification part of the call and asked how she could help. When I told her that I didn't know how I applied for the card, she immediately put me with the fraud department.  I was sick...literally sick. Here I am, always taking precautions and my identity gets stolen. This is not something we can just change numbers for and fix. This is my identity. MY Birthday, MY Social Security Number, My Everything.  

The lady on the other end of the call cancelled the card and issued a fraud alert on my credit report. Somehow, I still felt sick, violated, and taken advantage of. 

Friday, September 23, 2016 was a brand new day, so I tried to treat it like one.  Brookelynn, Ella, and Mary wanted a dress up dinner, so we all went to Craw Daddy's. It must of been good because even Mary cleaned her plate. Afterwords, we strolled down Broad Street and through Dogwood Park. It was a great night to be outdoors.

Saturday, September 24, 2016 was a reminder of this weeks trauma as a Wal-Mart Mastercard arrived in the mail. I was sick all over again. Back on the phone, back to trying to reach a live person to speak with and back to the fraud team to close this account. I'm just devastated. It was hard to think about other things with my identity sitting in someone else hands. We took a ride to Alpine and sat up the movie screen in Algood.

Sunday, September 25, 2016 was about church and then took the dunk tank to dads. We don't slow down much this time of year.  Darlene's church had an event today too.

I took mom to her first visit to the foot doctor on Monday, September 26, 2016. He trimmed her nails and sent her on her way. When I got home, the mail had ran. More bad news delivered. This time from Best Buy. At least there was not a card enclosed. Just a letter stating that during my application, there was missing information to verify my identity so they could not issue a card. Still, I called the company, explained that it wasn't me applying for the card and they issued a fraud alert.

On Wednesday, September 28, 2016 I treated myself to two new pair of jeans to help me cheer up. We went to church and Zaxby's for dinner.  

As if the whole identity situation was not enough to deal with this month, on Thursday, September 29, 2016 the washing machine broke. Uuugh. I made Taco Soup for dinner while Stroker  googled stuff to see if the washer is repairable, but I doubt it. 

I got a credit report in the mail to review to make sure there was no other suspicious activity on my file. I hope we caught everything so far.

We sat out on the patio for a while by the fireplace for the first time. We put it together months ago, but it has been too warm to use it until tonight.

We bought a brand new washer on Friday, September 30, 2016.  These computerized appliances just aren't made to last (or be repaired) these days. We bought an LG washer this time with a glass top. 😁

Out with the old

In with the new

Mid September Roller Coaster

I picked up mom and brought her over to our house for a while on Monday, September 12, 2016. It gets her out of her house for a while and gives us a chance to visit. It is homecoming week at the high school and today was preppy day. Mary and Brooke went all out, but Brooke had to tone it down after an hour or two. She said she was not comfortable.

We visited Phyllis for a while on Tuesday, September 13, 2016. We took her some pie form O'Charley's.
Wednesday, September 14, 2016 was eventful.  I had a great lunch at 7 Senses before having head over to my annual physical (Uugh). I picked Brooke up from school, but got a ticket on the way (Another Uugh)

I cooked dinner at home, and we ended the day at church.  It was a roller coaster of a day.

Thursday, September 15, 2016 I went to Sparta for lunch with Maleigha. I obeyed all traffic laws that day. I also sat out some fall decoration on the porch (along with football colors)

I invited friends over for dinner for Stroker's birthday on Friday, September 16, 2016. It has been nice outside, so we had dinner on the patio.It was too warm for a fire in our new fireplace though. I made bbq chicken sliders (because they are easy) potato salad, corn,  and had a cake made.  It was nice to sit back and relax for a while.

 Devin still likes to skateboard.

Saturday, September 17, 2016 was another day on the road. God sure has blessed us. Sometimes we don't appreciate it enough. Spending our Saturday's and Sunday's together exploring our region is a gift. 

Sunday morning, September 18, 2016 we were back at church and then hit the road again afterwords.

I visited dad on Monday, September 19, 2016 and it seemed odd with Phyllis not being there. It has been eighteen days since she fell. She is still progressing with rehab though. Maybe a couple more weeks and she will be back home.  I can tell that it has dad worn out too. He is counting the days I am sure.

I visited mom for a while on Monday too. I also had my very first mammogram on Monday. Things change when you turn 40. I can't believe how good I feel to be 40. Turning 30 devastated me, but I have embraced 40.

A good friend from church died on Tuesday, September 20, 2016 Jim McCreless was an inspiration of what Christians should be. Although he suffered with arthritis so badly that his fingers were so twisted that you couldn't even give him a proper handshake, he never complained with the pain. His toes became so dis-formed by the arthritis that he had to have surgery and pins inserted to straighten them out so he could continue to walk. Yet he persevered. It wasn't until these last few weeks that his vision declined and his head ached so much that he went in for testing. He was diagnosed with brain cancer. God's mercy was on Jim that he took him home quickly instead of leaving him here to suffer.

Jim will be missed. He was a good man. 

Deb, Heather and I had pre-ordered tickets to see "To Joey with Love" for Tuesday night also. I though it was going to be total sadness, but turns out that it was a reflection of good things in there life. I'm glad we went to see it.

Before church on Wednesday, September 21, 2016 I went ahead and cooked mamwich's for the kids because they are always starving. After church, Stroker and I, along with Deb and Sterl went to Cracker Barrel.

Fall, Fall, Fall

I received a phone call from my dad around 10 am on Thursday, September 1, 2016. He doesn't usually call me that time of day so I wandered what was going on when I answered.  He first asked if I was working. I told him "yes" and asked if he was working. He replied "no" and continued to tell me that he was at the hospital with Phyllis. She had fallen and they thought both of her hips were broke, possibly even her back. He sounded worried, so I told him that I would come over there at lunch. After I got off the phone with him I began to think about how worried he sounded. I decided to head on over to be with them.

There were tests, scans and procedures for hours. Phyllis was in a lot of pain. Finally around 4 pm they concluded that her left hip was broken and her right femur had broken at the point where it joins her artificial hip. The good news is that her spine and back were okay. They told us that they would have her in surgery around 6 pm.

I hung out with dad while they done hours of surgery on Phyllis.  Daddy worked on crossword puzzles.

It was around 10 pm when the doctor came up to the room to tell dad how it had gone. He mostly just prepared dad for the worst. His entire speech was about nursing homes and never walking again. When I spoke up about how Phyllis was strong willed and was not one to lie around, he abruptly responded that "most people her age don't recover from breaking one hip...and she has broken both."  This is not what daddy needed to hear. You could see the hurt on his face. 

After Phyllis was back in the room and pumped full of pain meds (which helped only a little), Daddy and I both headed home for the night.

Tuesday, September 2, 2016 was day one for Phyllis to begin her recovery and show Dr. Roberts how strong she really was. Stroker and I went by the hospital to visit. She was alert and wiggling her feet because that is all she could do to build her legs back at this point. It was good to see her on this side of surgery. The doctor was already saying that she may go to rehab instead of the nursing home. 

After we left the hospital, we went to dinner at the Dipsy Doodle to have dinner in celebration of Jim and Phyllis Gaw's anniversary. There were about 20 of us there. It was a surprise anniversary party and they seemed quite surprised.

We spent the majority of Saturday, September 3, 2016 driving to Sparta, Monterey, Cookeville and Algood.  Some Saturdays are for sight seeing. It's so nice outside. It feels like summer, but the calendar says it's fall. I don't know if I should get a watermelon or pumpkins.

We started Sunday, September 4, 2016 at church, just like always, and then lunch at Rib City. We visited Phyllis in the hospital for a while and she is really determined to make a full recovery. It's nice to see someone so optimistic. 

We ended the day at our church picnic at Cane Creek. The weather was nice and the food was yummy.

Monday, September 5, 2016 was Labor Day, so we all celebrated my visiting mom, Mildred, and yard work for a while. We are still trying to find places to use the rest of this flat rock. Looks like other people are making the most of labor day too. I seen this old building on Spring St. being demolished. 

We want to cover our patio, something like moms, but we can't find any builders that will either show up to work or are already covered up with work.

They moved Phyllis over to the rehab center for hard core therapy to get her back up on her feet on Wednesday, September 7, 2016. We went by to visit her before church, but she was sleeping from such a hard day of exercise. After church we went to Cracker Barrel for dinner.

I attended the Board of Zoning appeals meeting on Thursday, September 8, 2016. I plead my case once again. Of course, the city was sympathetic, yet continued with their plans. Sorry, Not Sorry.

On Friday, September 9, I went for a micro-dermabrasion to rid the dead skin cells and make my skin feel smooth and soft. It makes me feel like this, even though the results aren't that successful.

I also took Brooke, Ella, and Mary to the football game.

Heather and I went to the Fall Creek Falls Festival on Saturday, September 10, 2016 and found some really neat crafts. We also ate some really good food. We spent most of the day there.

Sunday, September 11, 2016 was just that...A SUNny fall day. We were out in it all day too. Our view was mostly from the windshield of the truck, but it is still nice to be out and about instead of cooped up at the house. We made six deliveries, which is a lot for a Sunday. I really didn't expect it to be a busy day being such a solomn day in history, but once again...I was wrong.