Friday Night

Alan took Emma to Roseville tonight to check out a motorized scooter. His car is kaput and we can't afford to buy another one so we are looking at alternate forms of transportation to get him to work every day. It's about 3 miles with some hills. He and Emma tried out some of the non-motorized ones and apparently had a blast. We'll see. Try as I might, I can't help but lament the fact that if we didn't have a massively large student loan payment (with no degree to show for it-- boo!) we could actually afford to fix our car or get a modest replacement. Not to mention that the minimum payment we can make on the student loans is not even enough to cover the interest. So our owing balance will just keep rising and rising every month (for 30 years until the government will forgive the remaining hundreds of thousands of dollars we owe). So investing in a new car seems extremely unwise when we've got that looming over our heads. Ugh. But "Count Your Blessings, Name Them One By One!"

Meanwhile, Brooke and I stayed home watching episodes of PBS's Arthur and eating licorice. We snuggled on the coach and talked about school and how she decided not to play with a boy who was "being inappropriate." (I think he was talking about his private). I told her I was really proud of her for making a good choice. He's a boy that said he wanted to marry her the first week of school and now she's saying if he keeps being like that, she's not going to marry him-- she's "just going to break up at the wedding."

Then we listened to the radio and she helped me pack for TAHOE (can. not. wait).

Then we read "David Goes to School" and laid in her bed of freshly clean sheets and blankets talking about Jesus and when she will see him again. She kissed me on the forehead and I scratched her back. Alan and Emma came home happy after their adventure. A perfect Friday night. 

Random Times (taken with my phone)

 Jamba for Dinner!

 Decorating Christmas cookies. 

 Enjoying a day at Lexington Park.

 Emma reads to Brooke's pre school class.

 Flat Stanley goes to Jamba. 

Brooke waiting in line at school.

Wedding Whimsy, Napa CA

Last weekend I was asked to be the backup photographer at my sister's brother in law's wedding reception. I still have a lot to learn but it was great fun! Here are just a few of my favorites. . . (you'll notice many are not of the bride and groom-- that's because I was trying to stay out of the way of the professional photographer they hired).

This last one would have been in focus and REALLY cool if I had known they were going to be doing this neat thing with the sparklers because I would have had my tripod set up. You learn as you go! Next time I'll ask for an itinerary.

First Day of School!

The girls were jumping on the couches and running around the house the night before school started again because they were so excited. Alan gave them each Father's Blessings that they would have a successful year and be able to learn and be kind to everyone. (Emma chose her outfit and she loves those shoes she's wearing. She said they help her express herself).

Brooke was wonderful when I dropped her off for her first day of Kindergarten. I stood there waving and saying goodbye while she skipped off into the classroom, not even turning back. I stood there for several minutes, just looking over the other parents' shoulders into the classroom, tears welling up in my eyes. I am so proud of both of my girls. (This is the dress she chose when we went shopping).

Mommy/ Daughter Date

Emma and I went on a date last Saturday while Alan and Brooke went on one. Emma and I decided to ride down to a bike trail near our house. It was great! Then we got some Starburst for our treat. 

Emma saw this spider and web and said it was exhilarating!

Family Home Evening

We love our new neighborhood! There are two parks just a few minutes from us. For family home evening last week we rode our bikes and scooters to one of the parks. It was so fun!

 

Emma's "high heels"

These shoes deserve a post. Emma has been wanting "high heel" shoes for a long time. When I took her back to school shopping we found some on clearance. She was sooo happy. And she is quite the shopper, by the way. She loved shopping possibly even more than me!

My Day

Today was Tuesday, the second day of the new school year. I am amazed at how busy it felt (i.e. my left eye is twitching) so I decided to write down what I did:

7:37am Alarm goes off. Pressed snooze twice. Woke up to Alan trying to fix toilet that overflowed for the third time in the last month. Helped Emma get ready for school, made breakfast for her, did her hair, etc. Alan took her to school.


8:40am Took a shower. Helped Brooke get ready, made her breakfast, etc. Did hair and makeup. Had a quick protein shake for breakfast.

9:30am Grocery shopping at Winco. Brought all my coupons, hurried as fast as I could so I could get home in time to make sure Brooke was ready for school.

10:45am Back home to put groceries away and get Brooke and her new back pack ready for school. Brooke and I eat a quick brunch.


11:17am Take Brooke to school just in the nick of time to find parking.

11:30am-1:00pm Work at school as Yard Duty. Help kids with their lunches, remind them to walk in the hallways, reassure nervous parents, get after kids for not listening on playground, etc. Have fun seeing Emma and Brooke with their classes. Told school nurse I will get Brooke's immunizations to her ASAP.


1:10pm Leave school and hurry to Kinkos to make copies of police report from having identity stolen. Rush to Trader Joe's to get other groceries. Rush home to put them in the fridge before picking up Emma from school.


1:52pm Pick up Emma from school after searching for parking and remembering to bring snacks so the girls aren't too hungry and crabby after school. Wait with Emma for Brooke to get out of school.

2:38pm Brooke gets out of school. We go home to relax and cool off (it's almost 100 degrees). I remember we had a birthday party to go to! Hurry and get bathing suits and sunscreen and change of clothes, shin guards, cleats, etc for soccer. Rush to the car and drive to party at park with water feature.

3:30pm Arrive an hour and half late for party. Have last few pieces of cake. Apologize for forgetting the party and forgetting to bring a gift. Have a good time with friends for a few minutes.

4:30pm Leave park and have girls change into soccer clothes in the car. Hurry over to a friend's house to pick up her daughter for soccer practice carpool. Rush home and grab my camera since I agreed to take pics of the team. And grab hair tie for Emma-- it's too hot to have hair down.

5:00pm Arrive at Emma's soccer practice with Emma, her friend, and Brooke. Carrying a camera, water bottle, 2 chairs, purse, snacks for Brooke, soccer ball, etc. Take pics of team, try to get good action shots and smiling faces. Call Alan and ask him to bring Brooke's cleats and shin guards to Emma's practice and take Brooke to her practice at a different field so she's not late. Give Emma, friend, and Brooke snacks. Talk with other soccer moms. Meet Alan, give him Brooke and Brooke's water bottle. Have Brooke wear the dirty socks Emma just wore to practice since we forget Brooke's socks.

6:30pm Take Emma's friend home. Take Emma home. Check mailbox. Turn on oven to start dinner. Check email, check calendar. Feel guilty for not walking on the treadmill then realize I'm WAAAY to tired and dizzy. Write this blog. Hope for a relaxing evening after dinner when the kids go to bed.

WOW. And yesterday was pretty much the same with the girls school schedules and my working. Except I actually did exercise, helped Brooke with her ABCs on whiteboard, played Connect 4 with her, sent emails to Brooke's soccer team about ordering our team banner and trophies (I'm team mom), got gas, told PTA president I will do some jobs, went to police station to pick up police report, picked up Emma's art project from a birthday party she went to, picked up coupons from Round Table Pizza for soccer party, organized the laundry room, did several loads of laundry, dealt with the girls screaming and hitting after school, made tacos for dinner, did the dishes, helped girls pack their lunches for the next day, gave the girls a bath and had family home evening.

I cannot believe how busy my life is right now!!! I could NEVER raise kids if I didn't have Alan helping me and supporting me. We are a team. THANK YOU HONEY!

And although I'm super busy and it's overwhelming right now, I am thankful that I have my own good car that can get me to and from all these places every day. And I'm thankful we have the money to buy the groceries and gas and all the things we need as I'm running around doing errands. It wasn't too long ago that we didn't have that. THANK YOU, Lord.

Identity Theft

It's a long story but my identity has been stolen. The people who did it called me last week posing to be a law company suing me on behalf of Chase Bank for overdraft charges. But I've never had a Chase Bank account. They were reading off my personal info such as my birthday, social security and drivers license numbers, and asking me to confirm them. They sounded super professional and I believed them at first. But at the same time I had a funny feeling so when they asked me to confirm my info I did at first but then I said "I don't know." Then I looked up their company online (we googled "ACS fraud") and told them I just saw online that they're frauds and I asked how they got my info (and opened a bank account in my name). Then they started yelling at me saying I need to call back when I'm ready to apologize because they're "helping" me clear my name. I hung up and changed my phone number and met with the police to file a report, etc.

It stinks because all my info is out there. ANYONE could have it and possibly always will. The cops said changing my driver's license number could cause new problems and won't really protect me. And you're not allowed to change your social unless you've had multiple identity theft incidents for a long period of time and doing so could cause new problems. In short, there's not much I can do other than placing a fraud alert with the credit bureaus so that if anyone tries to open a bank account or line of credit in my name with my social, the bank has to contact me.

They call themselves ACS (All Care Services) and say they're in New York. But everyone who has complained about them has been in CA. If they or anyone calls you with your personal info, don't confirm it, don't tell them anything. The scary part is, someone did open a Chase Bank account with my name and social security but I know ACS had something to do with it. They act like they're helping you try to find who did it, but they did it. They want you to believe they're on your side so they can get more information. For example, they asked if I have a checking account in good standing. Also, the police said there may have been a security breech in Health Net's data base a few months back, and we had Health Net Insurance for a while. So that could definitely be how they got my info. I've never lost my social security card or wallet.

I read this today, "In 2007, there were 8.4 million adult victims of identity theft, with a total cost of $49.3 billion." Be careful people!