Ugh

I hate my new keyboard! There is something about it that is just a little off from my old keyboard, and I keep hitting the wrong keys when I'm typing. Then I have to go back and make corrections. It's so frustrating!

Guess Who

Guess who called me again today. My bank's overdraft department. Here's how the conversation went.

OD Guy: Your account is overdrawn $707.xx.

Me: Yes, it is.

OD Guy: We were just wondering when you were going to make a deposit to cover your negative balance.

Me: I'm not.

OD Guy: Uh....

Me: Look, dude. Someone fraudulently used my account to make unauthorized charges. I filed a fraud report with you guys yesterday. Once you guys fix everything, my account will no longer be negative.

OD Guy: Oh. ... Well, uh, thank you.

Me: Bye. (click)

If these OD people call me again, I'm really going to mess with them.

Fraud

I was out of the house all morning for a couple of reasons - 1. Sarah's Ortho appointment, and 2. We had no water, so I went to my mother's house. When I finally returned home this afternoon around four o'clock, I set about doing everything that I normally do in the morning, like checking my email and reading blogs. And since I hadn't been home all day, I also checked my voicemail.

One of the messages was from one of my banks (yes, I keep money in multiple banks). It said that they needed me to call them regarding an urgent matter. I didn't have a clue what it could be about since I am the only person on that account and I haven't used it in a couple of weeks. So, I pulled up my account on the bank's website as I'm calling them back, and what do I see? Negative $700+!

How the hell did that happen?! So, I scroll down the page and find four POS charges on my account that I did not make. How could I have made them when the charges were made in Miami, Key Largo, and Tavernier? I've never even heard of that last one, and I haven't been anywhere near the other two in nearly two years (and I certainly didn't stop and make any purchases when I was driving through there). On top of those fraudulent charges were the insufficient funds charges for each of the four fraudulent charges. All of which left me more than $700 in the hole.

Funny thing is, the bank wasn't calling me to ask me about the fraudulent charges. No, they were calling me about my account being overdrawn. It's nice to know that those four HUGE charges, in three different towns that are at least four hours away from here, made all in one day, didn't set off alarms for their fraud department. Their overdraft department is sure on the ball, though!

So, I had to drive all the way to my bank to file a fraud report so that, hopefully, in ten business days, my account will be back to the $.72 that was there before all of this craziness. That's another thing, too. I only had $.72 in my account. Like I said, I rarely use this account. How did the bank authorize all of those charges, totalling nearly $600, the smallest of which was $50, when I only had $.72 in my account? It's like these banks are TRYING to make you go negative so that they can charge their NSF fees.

I am grateful, though, that this happened to my account that didn't have much money in it and that I wasn't planning to use any time soon. I don't know what I would do if I had to wait two weeks for money that I needed (like for bills or groceries) to finally reappear in my account. I was really lucky in this regard. Thank you, Jesus, for looking out for me and my family.

Not a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

Wouldn't you just LOVE to live next door to this? I know I don't! Sure, it makes for a nice bit of blog fodder, but I'd give it up in a minute to never have to look at this again.


And they keep their back yard just as neat and tidy. This is the view from the sidewalk looking into their backyard through their always open gate.


Aren't those old mattresses and pieces of wallboard leaning up against the fence just LOVELY? I know I just LOVE (smell the sarcasm) looking at them every time I drive by. And those big old tires on the right side of the photo are perfect for breading those little mosquitoes I've come to LOVE so much (little bastards!). Here's a better view of the tires, so you can get the full picture.


Yes, I just LOVE having these people for my next door neighbors! Lucky for me, it looks as though they are moving again (YAY!). Yes, I said again. You see, they weren't making their house payments after refinancing their house for WAY more than it was worth, and they went into foreclosure. They moved out in anticipation of being foreclosed on, and then for some unknown reason, the foreclosure didn't happen, and they moved back in. So, now they have been taking truck loads of their furniture and stuff away again, and Phil said that he doesn't think anyone slept there last night.

So, now we are hoping and praying that they do not come back, and that we'll finally get some decent neighbors there. We're hoping for a nice couple around our age with a couple of well-mannered children, preferably girls. If you or someone you know fits the bill and would like to live in the suburbs of Tampa, please let me know. The house really could be nice with the proper maintenance, and the yard is definitely on the larger side. And of course, there would be the most wonderful next door neighbors imaginable - me and my family! What more could a person want?

Venting

I try my hardest to keep this blog of mine upbeat and positive. But this post is not going to fit into that category. So, I am giving you fair warning that if you don't want read my vent, please stop right here.

The air conditioning in my 14+ year old car has gone out again. Which makes any sort of outing in the heat of the day practically unbearable. Ordinarily, this would not be a problem. We would just take the car in to be serviced and everything would be just fine.

Unfortunately, we are broke right now. B-R-O-K-E, broke. Why are we broke? Anyone want to make any guesses? No, it's not the price of gas or the rising cost of groceries. And we didn't overspend on school clothes and supplies (despite that $20 binder).

We are broke because my ex-husband is a DEADBEAT DAD. Plain and simple, he's the classic example. Only out for himself, not giving a damn about how his children are being taken care of. I haven't seen a DIME in child support for nearly two months, and when I was receiving child support, it was sporadic at best. He was already well over $20K behind on his payments, but since March, he has gotten another $3275 behind.

He obviously doesn't care how our bills get paid around here, but I certainly am interested to know how his bills are being paid. Supposedly, neither he nor his little wife are working, but they sure are sitting pretty, and his wife's child certainly isn't starving (from the looks of her, I'd say far from it). You'd think that one of them could get off their ass and get a job to support these girls, but apparently being responsible is beneath them.

The sad thing about all of this is that my husband earns a decent living. But, unlike some LOSERS, Phil actually pays to support his child from his first marriage. Unfortunately, my JACKASS of an ex's irresponsible behavior is hurting Phil's relationship with his son, too. We've actually had to cancel visits on a few occasions because we just didn't have enough food in the house to feed an extra person and we couldn't afford the gas money to drive all the way to and from his home two times (pick-up and return, and he lives an hour away). It hurts Katie, too, because she really loves her brother and loves having him around.

So, to all of you deadbeat dads out there (not that there are many who read moms' blogs), try to get this through your pathetic little heads: When you don't pay your child support, you're not just hurting the mother. You are hurting YOUR OWN CHILDREN. You are not only depriving them of their basic needs, but you are depriving them of the pride a child feels when they have a dad who they can count on.

Luckily for my girls, they do have one dad who they can count on, and his name is Phil.