Sudokuaholics Anonymous 9A

Hi all.

Yes Julie, the icky errand ended as productively as possible, just would rather it not have to have happen at all!
To put you all in the picture very briefly about this one, my debit card was 'skimmed', which meant some scumbag somewhere got access to our account, and luckily the security system at the bank thought it curious that I had used my card both in Melbourne AND the UK on the same day...just that they neglected to let us know as quickly as freezing on our account, very embarrassing for hubby when he went in to pay for the petrol...
I had to go into the bank and put in a declaration for disputed use of funds, but they were very understanding. We had to go in the night before to change access details, and me breaking into tears had them all in a flap!
Honestly, sometimes I just think we are cursed. There have been a lot of other things going on that I have not shared with you, as I tend to keep private things private, suffice it to say if you do not hear from me for periods of time, it is because I am sitting in the corner in a foetal position mumbling incoherent ravings!

Having said all that, in answer to your question about the hail damaged car, Julie.
Yes, we have resolution. The manufacturer has decided that it is reparable, within the parameters of whether it is financially viable or not. We take the car down on Monday 19th April, and they say it will take about two weeks and we will have it back as good as new. For us it would have been fine either way, although hubby realised just how attached he had grown to his car, and was hoping like heck that this would be the outcome, so he is one happy chappy.
Luckily we have the number of cars that this will be of little consequence to us while it is being repaired. Hubby will use my car and I will use my 'old' car, the one that I bought new in 2000, but that all the children have used as their 'first' car, so she has done many, many kilometers and seen a lot of hard yards, if you know what I mean.

Big {{{{{HUGS}}}}} for you Dag.

Hi everyone! I'm having a quiet afternoon today and I think I'm bored. Actually, I know I'm bored and I just want to go home. The storeman at work is bored too but he has just washed all our cars. Mine is lovely and shiny now.
I started this post ages ago and now it's nearly time to go home. WooHoo!! I can't wait! I think it's just me and the dog home tonight. Hubby is at work until midnight, #1 is going to his girlfriends to finish an assignment and #2 will probably be out drinking and yahooing with his mates.
If I'm not on over the weekend then I hope you all have a wonderful time.

Poor Gail, I understand about the skimming. The same thing happened to hubbys credit card just recently. After they checked with us that we hadn't spent $2500 in Italy the silly buggers still processed it and charged it against our account. Many frustrating weeks later they got their act together and reversed it. I do wonder if someone ended up with a new tv or computer at the retailers expense.

Thanks friends, sympathy helps.

The bank was totally bamboozled though, this usually only happens with a credit card, mine was just a normal boring old debit card, and yet they still managed to use it overseas...bet I will never be able to if I try!

Afternoon all!
Things have been busy since I last read.

MizT, things are moving quickly with your surgery! I hope your surgeon is brilliant and you heal quickly and well. I too think it would be a fair request. A polite note in the mail box may even solve your problem for you. Your breakfast out sounded loverly!

June, it sounds like you are having an interesting trip. Can't wait for you to get home so we can hear more.

Heidi, it doesn't seem like more than a week since the last bill Gil forgot to pay. I liked the mate swapping story too. I hope your back pain has settled down a bit.

Nola, I hope this is Renae's last move for a while! I'd be tearing my hair out!

It sounds like you've been going through the wars, Gail. If you need a hug or shoulder to cry on, I'm here.

I just love banks .... "This has never happened before".... Yeah! Sure!
What I loved about mine was that they checked with us first and then when we denied all knowledge of the charge they applied it to our account about two weeks later. In the meantime they had cancelled hubbys card and replaced it.
They then had to investigate the charge to make sure it wasn't ours! So why would we have got a new card, why did they ring us, etc? I think that banging your head against a brick wall made more sense than talking to the bank.

Actually, I need to go to bed. It's 2:30 am.

Alright, I'm really going now. Bye all!

Cyn, what did you do with your time before you had the extra grandkids around again?! I saw the page you joined and worked out the family joke bit - I thought it was funny!

Broni, great news about the extra work from your old bosses! The timing couldn't be better either...

Vicki, not being busy at work is fun for about an hour or so, then the day just drags... I hope things pick up tomorrow.

Gail, I'm glad things are all sorted out with the bank. I learned a lesson about banking this week too. On Monday I filled some prescriptions and stuff at the Chemist. Unlike the grocery stores they actually input the $ amount manually. I didn't have my glasses on, saw the amount on the register and signed my life away - for over $700 more than I'd spent! The chemist found and fixed the problem while we were away and left a message for us on our phone - of course the bank will take 7 working days to replace the money... So I need to wear my glasses when I sign things!!!

Good... more smilies have been approved.
The Marans eggs... (with a normal brown egg), a Marans roo' and a White-Faced Black Spanish roo'.

I didn't talk to the doc about my cold, he was so disgusting I just wanted to get my referral and get out of there. I've never met anyone like him. I hope Ebob's medications are working because if she has this cold she is feeling rotten... I haven't heard anything from Outward Bound so she must be doing okay.

Sorry, meant to say, MizT, I am glad you have got your appt organised for the surgery, with plenty of time to cook up some meals beforehand.

Thanks Heidi. I think just the knowledge of having such a friend base here helps, even when I don't 'share'.

Suzy, if I were you, I would be proactive about that doc. I would contact the surgery he works at and put in a complaint, and maybe even take it one further and complain to the board. His bedside manner leaves a lot to be desired.

Shucks, I could not even ?FIND the You Tube, on Heidi'e page. Just a big blank white space where I think it should be. I am sure it was interesting, and sorry I missed it.

JULIE, I hope we did not miss further entries on your post. It was an enjoyable read again, as usual. You do such a good summary of posts. How goes things in your world? Are your knees progressing? Still having therapy? Julie, I am not sure how to become acquaintances of the neighbors, they have lived there since last summer. They both leave very early mornings before daylight, , come home very late after dark and go inside, keep all windows tightly covered, not a bit of light escapes, seem very private and a bit standoffish. I could never tell if they were awake or asleep over there. I was thinking a short note in their mailbox perhaps.

Neighbor did not wake me this morning, it was cold, windows closed. Temp into the 40's this morning, but should recover to 70 today.

Yesterday I got one big pot planted, periwinkles, or vinca, white with a dot of pink at the center. I love the shiny dark green leaves of these and how drought tolerant they are, they hold up well in summer heat of afternoon sunshine. Today I might put the petunias around the huge tub that has Asiatic lilies. The lilies are up, so I can manage to dig and not disturb them in the center.

Brenda, condolences to your daughter on the passing of her grandfather. I think I forgot to day that earlier.

Suzy, happy you got your referal, sorry that doc was so uncooperative and such a jerk. No such thing as a muscle relaxer? He has got to be kidding! Now my orthopedic doc said he did not think that relaxers did a lot of good, but I get mine from my general practitioner, and they do a lot of good for me. Wish I could send you off some, but postal inspectors get thier panties in a wad about things like that


Hand is complaining this morning, guess I really over used it yesterday cooking so much stuff. I also cooked several veg, some to freeze, some for today and tomorrow. Hubby did the chopping of the cabbage, cauliflower, turnips, so you would think thumb would be happy it did not have to do that.

Lots to do today, cook beef tips and rice, make burger patties for lunches, and spaghetti sauce, empty dishwasher, load it again, go to wal mart for colas, pay a few bills, and look for more flowers and perhaps another big container for my flowers, send one back to hubby to caulk seams, he made this one for me and it leaks too much when I water. AND start cleaning at least one room, OH dear, such ugly words today.

Just checking back in before I go to bed.
Gail {{{hugs}}} - it hasn't happened to me but card-skimming is a great fear of mine, so too is hackers getting into my internet banking - but it is so convenient.
Suzy - you can see why I was worried about that page/group - the name is bad, the rest is just a joke. BTW - my son-in-law, still recuperating after dislocating his shoulder in early January, has a Doctor who is offhand and rude to him, as if he's malingering. He's desperate to get back to work - can't afford not to but even the physio says he doesn't have enough movement in his shoulder. Very frustrating!
Ciao for now!

OH GAIL, I know how it is to have unarthorized access to your bank account. My entire account was removed! They seemed to know to the penny how much I had!! Of course other checks already in the system bounced. Luckily I had another account with a bit of money in it, cause it took them weeks to get our funds restored! Then I had to get letters from the bank to companies who had my checks to bounce, terrible! AND it was I who discovered the breach, not the bank, would have been days longer fore they could have got notice to me that I was overdrawn. Of course the breach was on Friday night, before a long holiday weekend. AND it was the bank records that were hacked, not my individual account, so the bank was swamped with others like me.

I am so glad your bank froze your account fore it could be further hacked!

Please, do not sit in the corner, we individually or collectively would be here for you, to listen and to hold your hand. If you need a sympothetic ear, private message me, and Hugs and love to get you through whatever. I will be thinking of you and sending super cyber vibes to help.

OH, I forgot one small story about our power outage. You must know, I really dislike a totally dark house, even when asleep. There has always been a bit of light for years and years. My house in the burbs had a neighbor with a dusk to dawn light that lent enough light I could walk length of the house from my bedroom to kitchen to warm bottles and never turn on a light. Since Al and I married and moved, well, he was accustomed to having night lights in strategic places, such as bathrooms. So, I am long accustomed to some light at night, always. Power outages at night freak me now, if I wake to a totally dark environment.

Recently, hubby bought some of those stick on battery LED lights, about the size of a compact. Just tap and they turn on. The sticky did not work for his application, they kept falling off, so I got 2 of them. One is on my bedside table and one beside my recliner.

The lights went off, and I felt around the table, tapped the thing and "let there be light". These little battery powered lights emit a nice glow, totally safe, and I was able to get to sleep without freaking about the dark.

Now I must get Tylenol and get to work. lots to do today. Hugs to all.

Morning all, just finished a deadline and am trying to catch up on the reading.

I too have a doctor horror story. When I switched family doctors in 1999 my new doctor said that he would like me to see a gynecologist for the first womanly checkup, and then after that he would do them every year. When I went to the gynecologist not only did he do the regular checkup, he did a scraping of the womb (which wasn't pleasant at all). I got a call from his office the following week asking me to go in to see him. They wouldn't tell me anything over the phone of course. The earliest appointment I could get was in about two weeks time. Of course during those two weeks I had everything blown out of proportion in my mind and I was a nervous wreck. I took the time off work and when I got to the gyn's office he said, "I just wanted to tell you in person that everything is fine." I barely made it out of his office before I broke into tears. The next time I saw my family doctor I told him what had happened and said that I would refuse to go back to the gyn ever again. My doctors have always told me that if everything is fine I wouldn't hear from them ... of course I assumed the worst when I was called in for the second appointment. As far as I'm concerned it was just a cash grab for the extra appointment.

MizT, hope the surgery goes well; I'll be thinking of you.

Gail, you have a lot of friends on this site and we're here for you if you need us.

I have lots more to read, so hope to be back later on.

MizT... I don't know why you can't see the YouTube on my page.... I see it. Here's the YouTube link, in case.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6b0y6oB8ijk&feature=player_embedded

I just found a home for the rescue pony. One of my favorite horse trainers wants a pony for her little girls. When I described the pony, they got really excited. They'll be picking her up on Sunday morning.

HEIDI, thanks for the link, but something on my puter must be blocking it, from the link I get a black screen and a notice " an error has occurred". thanks much for trying, appreciate it.

How did I miss about the pony Heidi? Did you mention this recently, or is this something I should remember from weeks ago? I am glad you rescued the pony and have now found it a good home.

OH, Theresa, that was terrible of the doc. It is bad enough to have to wait 2 weeks for results, but to be called into the office for them to say all is good?? This doc must be hurting for appointments. I do think I would have unloaded verbally on that doc, with language that was not lady like! I am upset that you had to endure this treatment.

I have packaged and frozen the soup made yesterday, emptied and loaded dishwasher, and made spaghetti sauce, sorted shelves on freezer so I can put cooked meals all in one place for easy finding and am making a list of what I have that is precooked. I found one package of smoked turkey, there should be others somewhere, perhaps in the upright freezer in the shop? I also found ham and some roast left over from the picnic, so my number of precooked entrees has increased nicely.

This was months ago, when I got the 2 rescue mares. Both had been abandoned on the property of a friend of a friend. One is a purebred 12 yr. old Arabian mare who turned out to be either the mother of my half Arab mare, or her long lost best friend. The other is a very flashy black and white 6 yr. old pony. The pony is a large one, maybe big enough to carry an adult. Both are very friendly. I'm keeping the Arab, but I've been looking for a good home for the pony.

We got the gate hung, and the wires transfered to the new posts, as well as putting up cattle panels on either side of the gate. We also found several nasty shorts on the fence where it attached to the old gate posts. Those have been completely removed.

Morning all!
Heidi, I remember when you rescued the horses. I'm glad the pony has a good home to go to.

Thank you for your doctor stories. Made me feel better about mine. Sort of.

The skimming stories are horrifying. I hear about them in the media and often look at the thing I'm putting my card through and wonder... but it must be impossible to tell.

That's why I try not to use a card, credit or debit. I prefer check or PayPal. The bank knows my weird signature and is good about checking it.

I just deleted a post venting about the poor 13 year old Yemeni bride. Perhaps her death will help get the laws through that are needed to protect others like her. Or at least make parents think for a minute before they agree to the matches in future.

Heidi, we can't use checks here like I did in the States. No grocery store would accept them, with the possible exception of a pre-arranged thing with a business. It's cash or card...

Here most stores take checks, but they're now processed electronically in the store. The signature is checked with the bank records as well. It prevents bad checks being written. I hate using plastic.

I read that story, Suzy, with absolute horror. The powers of some religions frightens me. There was a larger protest from woman AGAINST the proposed bill (raising marrying age for both girls and boys) because they were told to protest by their religious leaders. The protest FOR the bill was much smaller, a very brave group of women.

I just looked up the story, too. I'd better not make any comment or I could start a religious war.

Hi all. Just stopping in for a few minutes. Read the posts but don't remember everything I read.
MizTricia, glad surgery is scheduled. That is a smart idea to freeze dinners before surgery. I had the same plan when I was pregnant with Dylan but never did cook. Luckily I had an easy delivery and recovery and two grandma's to help out. The tooth fairy usually leaves one dollar. The fairy tries to leave the gold dollar coins but s/he must have run out of those yesterday.
Heidi, glad the pony has been adopted. I remember when you got them both. How is Frosty the turtle doing?
Hello to everyone I missed. I also feel good about being able to come here and vent to my friends and will always give a shoulder to those who need one.
Good night to all as I may not get back. I plan on going to bed early.

Frosty the Turtle is growing so fast that it's scary. When I found her, her shell was half dollar size. Her shell is now the size of the palm of my hand! She's a voracious eater... she eats about a teaspoon of food a day. I suspect that she noshes on live shrimp every day as well. There are well over a hundred live shrimp in the aquarium that she's in.

Off to check on the baby quail, then to bed.

Heidi, have you counted the shrimp in Frosty's aquarium lately??

Funny you should mention shrimp, I had shrimp for dinner. We had to run a couple of errands, hubby got a hair cut, and then, it was dinner time and we were not home. So we ate out, this is getting to be a nice habit. I enjoyed my shrimp skewers, cause they had no breading, no carbs.

Suzy, I can only imagine your rant about that story, I had to hunt for it also, and that is terrible, and even worse that she could have been saved during that 3 days.

Heidi, where are your baby quail now? do you have a nursery for them or are they outside in the poultry pen?

OH, I tried your page again, and did get to see the video this time, not sure why it would not show itself earlier. Perhaps I got a slow server or something. Interesting. It is amazing how young embryos all look much the same, no matter what they will grow up to be.

I am ready for bed, hope I can sleep tonight, major achies and pain meds are just making me sleepy, not relieving pain. bummer. I will catch you in the morning, or perhaps sooner.

Hello, Friends! I'm so sorry about my post from last night being cut off. Since I usually copy before hitting submit, I tried to see if it was still around. Unfortunately, copy and paste have been used today, so it is forever gone. I apologize!

Hi, Gail, Broni, Victoria, Suzy, Heidi, MizTricia, CynB, Theresa, Tami the Troublemaker and anyone I've missed!

Gail, I'm so sorry to hear about the problems with the debit card! I live in fear of that. It has happened once to a credit card. Since we didn't know how someone got our card number, we had to cancel everything and only replaced a few cards. It is truly a headache, as you, Victoria (hubby), Suzy have all discovered in one way or another.

Gail, good news that you only have a few more weeks for the car to be repaired! Remember when things get tough that you have loads of support here, whether we know the particulars or not. Just send up a white flag to let us know to send some especially positive vibes your way!

Victoria, you're right, not having enough work to do can be VERY boring! At least you got a clean car for going to work.

Suzy, I am still bothered by the treatment you received from that doctor! You don't deserve to be treated that way! I hope your cold is better and you're able to deal with the pain until you see a better doctor.

MizT, I hope your hand is OK with all the extra preparations you're doing to ease your life during recovery! Please don't over-do and make things worse prior to surgery! BTW, I liked your story about the little lights! I, too, need to have a bit of light, as there was a street light outside our bedroom window when I was a child and I got used to having it.

CynB, sending positive vibes for your SIL to finally be better so that he can return to work!

Theresa, what an ordeal you must have gone through wondering why you were called back for another appointment! Luckily, my gyn has patients self-address an envelope while at his office. If there's nothing to worry about, a short note to that affect is sent. Otherwise, a phone call is made. Good luck keeping up with your deadlines!

Heidi, so glad you have found a home for the rescued pony - sounds ideal! You and Robert got a lot accomplished today! It's good to hear that Frosty the Turtle is doing so well!

Tami, sleep well and enjoy the beginning of the weekend.

Time for me to head to bed - need to be up before 6 tomorrow.

Sleep well, Heidi and MizT!

Will try to remember to look for the story about the young girl tomorrow.

Looks like my first post was not too long tonight and didn't get cut off. Good Night, All!

Well, just looked at the number of posts.