CaseyAndKelly.Com

A few things happened today in regards to our debit accounts.  The $440 taken from us by the thief was put back into our account by the bank, the downpayment check for the car cleared, and Casey’s check got deposited without issue.  This is the first check of 2011 and since we changed our medical insurance to the High Deductible Health Plan (HDHP) with Health Savings Account (HSA).  Surprisingly our check went up a little but I think it’s a combination of the HDHP/HSA and the extra money from social security being credited back to us.  We’ll see how the new HDHP/HSA works out.  So far I looked and while well child visits are covered at 100% because the doctor checked Brady’s ears (as part of the regular exam) and found something this was a separate line item and we owe $70 for that and then the other $10 I paid for the meds.  Ugh.  But I had figured out our HSA withholdings to cover a family deductible for a calendar year ($5000 – $1000 of which the company covers FREE) so if I do get pregnant/deliver in 2011 we shouldn’t have any more out of pocket expenses than has already been forecast.  And if it’s in 2012 (and nothing major happens this year to put a dent in our HSA), it’ll be covered too!  Enough about that for now.

It’s late, we’re caught up on Top Chef now, and it’s time for bed.  Good night all!

Our luck from 2010 seems to be carrying over into 2011.  So far you already know about Brady’s double ear infection and the debit card incident.  As of this morning I have something else to add to the list.  Our septic system is inspected quarterly and today was the inspection.  I figured something was wrong when the inspection took an unusually long time.  The inspector gave me the report and let me asked if we had visitors over the holidays.  I told him we did at Thanksgiving and the alarm had gone off several times and that we just ran the pump to circumvent the alarm sounding.  He said the alarm probably didn’t do much help and there was 10 inches of solids in a tank it’s not supposed to be in.  He then advised when we had visitors to stagger showers and hold off on doing laundry or using water as much as possible.  He told me to call the office and schedule to get the septic system pumped.  Now based on the type of septic system we have, we should only have to pump it every three years – it’s only been about 15 months.  Ugh, so I scheduled the appointment and will be $400 poorer when the system is pumped.

After talking to the septic guy, I posted on Facebook about things not working out in 2011.  Then the guilt hit and I removed the post.  Who am I to complain on Facebook about our bad luck?  I know someone always has it worse and a lot of people on there are going through their own problems and would love to exchange their issues for mine.  I’m going to try and reserve my rants for on here where this is my domain to talk about the good and the bad in my life.

This whole fraud thing is haunting me now. I even dreamt about it last night and woke up at 2:30 checking account balances in fear someone had stolen the downpayment money on the car. Wouldn’t that be great? Fortunately the money was not stolen, but unfortunately the check still hasn’t cleared. Let’s hope it gets deposited today.

Two weeks ago when we were in Missouri, I checked our account balances (as I usually do daily) to discover a mystery charge was listed as pending.  It was for $5.77 and the merchant was listed as Watergate Hotel.  The only Watergate Hotel I know of is in Washington D.C. and Casey and I were definitely not in D.C. on that day.  I immediately called USAA to report the charge and start the ball rolling on removing it from our account.  The charge was put through on Casey’s debit card from an account we only use for deposits and to pay bills.  We don’t even carry the cards for this account in our wallets.  Casey and I decided when we saw the charge that someone was trying to test out our account to see if it had any money in it before putting through a larger charge (the rep from USAA said she thought this as well).  She mailed out a new debit card for Casey only on this account since presumably this was the only card they had obtained.

Prior to this, I had read an article about credit versus debit cards and the pros/cons of each.  Against Dave Ramsey’s advice, we had decided we were going to make the transition to a credit card for our purchases and bills.  We just hadn’t done it by the time the charge had showed up on our account.  We were out of town and credit cards just sitting in our mailbox (since our mail hold wasn’t honored) didn’t seem like a smart plan.  Yesterday afternoon, I found a car that had good rewards on it and we decided we’d apply for it and start using it for purchases and bills and just paying it off in full every month.  We figured we’d have better fraud protection in case someone gained access to our information again.

Well today, when I woke up I checked our account balances and noticed something amiss again.  There was a $440 ATM withdrawal from our account (different account than above, only used for variable non-bill type purchases) thereby taking our account balance to $10.  Which I’m sure they would’ve taken too if they could get multiples of $10 out of the ATM.  I got on the phone to USAA again to report the fraudulent activity.  They were asking if we had made a withdrawal anytime this weekend and maybe it was just hitting today.  I told them, no, we had not visited an ATM or removed any money from the account and that I didn’t recognize the address.  The rep confirmed the withdrawal was made from an ATM in Peoria, Illinois this time using my debit card number and PIN.  I’m not even sure how they got the PIN because I rarely use my debit card as debit and usually just process it through as credit.  I can think of only two times in the last month that I have used it as debit and that was at the post office and Target before we left town.  The fraud department is supposed to be investigating the charge and refunding the money in 3-5 business days and in the meantime is FedEx’ing me a new debit card.

This whole thing has me wondering.  Two fraudulent charges in two weeks time on two different accounts and one under Casey’s name and one under mine.  The whole thing just seems fishy to me.  I’m honestly wondering if someone at USAA has compromised our account information.  I’m pretty nervous right now because the other checking account (the one the $5.77 charge was made on) has the downpayment for the new car still in it since the check hasn’t been cashed yet.  I just pray they cash that check today so nothing else goes on.  I also went ahead and notified the credit agencies and placed fraud alerts on our account for 6 months (the longest without a police report).

I know what happened to us was probably just another line crap that’s been going on lately but be careful with your own accounts.  Think twice before using your debit card or entering your PIN anywhere you don’t have to.  Unfortunately USAA doesn’t have a physical location here so if we need to use the ATM we can’t go to a branch (assumed more secure than elsewhere) to withdraw money.  You hear about this happening to other people but probably don’t pay much attention until it happens to you or someone you know.

Just as I got out of bed convinced the Word Press app was
going to fail again, it came up and logged me in without issue.
Casey’d be so proud of my trouble shooting skills of deleting and
readding the blog to the app. Not quite turning it off and back on
again. But close in its simplicity. It rained last night and all
this morning and made for a good day to stay at home. Casey slept
in before we headed out yesterday and he let me sleep in today! We
watched the Chiefs get pummeled by the Ravens (sad) but otherwise
just had a very low key day. After a 3-4 month hiatus from the
booster seat, we’ve reintroduced it. Last night was a nightmare
with a lot of tears, bucking, and uneaten food. Tonight was better
though and Brady voluntarily got strapped in for dinner. We’ve
started sitting at the island with her and all eating together and
I think that might be helping things. I’m going to adjust our
dinner time to eat with her and see if eating together will get her
in a better frame of mind. I’m hoping she starts eating more of the
foods we eat, stops making us chase her or have the TV on to eat,
and will do better at restaurants. I know it’s going to be an
adjustment for all of us, but hopefully we’ll get into the swing of
things in no time!

After enjoying a free breakfast (ok, $2 but only we only had to pay for the hash browns) at Chick Fil-A of spicy chicken biscuits, hash browns, and Simply Orange orange juice (plus we got four more coupons for free chicken biscuits), we headed out to car shop again.  We went to the Infiniti dealership first to look at a 5 year old, low mile, Volvo S60T.  It was incredibly cramped in there so much so that I had to move my seat forward so Brady had room in her car seat and Casey had to slide his seat forward (into what looked to be a super cramped and uncomfortable position) so the sales person could sit behind him.  (The Nissan dealership called to remind us about the “great” deal they were offering right before we started the test drive.)  Great looking car, nice features, but much too tight.  Especially since we hope to expand our family again soon.

Luckily, our next destination wasn’t far away and we headed to the Honda dealership.  Brady started having a meltdown at the Infiniti dealership (it was close to nap time then and well into it by the time we got to Honda) so she and I stayed in the truck watching Yo Gabba Gabba while Casey started looking at cars.  The car we originally went there to test drive already had paperwork being completed on it but we were able to find another car to test drive that my husband really liked.

We decided based on the price (no haggle dealership) and the free (!) oil and filter changes for the life of the car (I’ll have to read more on this but I think it might be limited to the time left on the power train warranty) that we’d put in an offer on the car.    The dealership was really a no haggle dealership and try as he might, Casey was not able to get them to budge on the price.  Brady and I waited around for 30 minutes or so while the paperwork got underway (and another person tried to put in an offer on the car) and then we made our way back home (two hours late for nap time but even after falling asleep in the car, she went back down without any problems).  Poor Casey was another two hours (during which time another two buyers tried to purchase our car) behind us but did end up getting us financing at 1.9% (versus the 2.49% we had secured through our credit union). Not a bad deal, but now I’m just eager to pay it off!

We are now the proud owners of a 2008 Honda Accord LXP!  I am so done with car shopping for awhile.  Hopefully next time we’ll be on Baby Step 7 and my parents will be here to babysit Cakes!

We went to South Point Nissan today in hopes of finding Casey’s new car. The used and new dealerships are in separate locations (within a few blocks of each other) so we ended up at the new dealership before being redirected. When we finally got there, Brady took off like a mad woman while we located the sales person and located the car we were there to see – a 2008 Nissan Altima. Casey uninstalled Brady’s car seat and we all took it on a test drive. This is definitely different than Infiniti and they don’t jot down your license and insurance information and let you go on your way. Oh no, the sales person has to go with you and sit in the front seat. I guess it beats our last experience with a Nissan dealer when they were adamant about driving it off the lot too.

We really liked the Altima and the way it performed but figured we owed it to ourselves to look at what else was available before making a decision. We found a 2006 Nissan Maxima for the same price but with 65k miles versus the 40k the Altima had. The age, mileage, and size/gas mpg weren’t what we were looking for but it had some of the options that our FX has that we enjoy, that the Altima didn’t have. I guess the sales person trusted us more after the initial test drive and he just let the three of us go out in the car.

When we got back to the dealership Brady was acting crazy and her and I went to go eat Goldfish in the FX while Casey went back to talk to the sales person. He made an offer, they countered, he countered, and eventually we came to an agreement. Or so we thought. Apparently somewhere along the way there was a miscommunication and they were charging us more than we had originally thought. We told them that wouldn’t work for us and gave them a lowball general number that we wanted to drive the car off the lot for (with taxes, title, registration, and fees) and thanked them for their time. As we were getting Brady in her seat, I asked Casey how long he thought it’d take before they contacted us again and he said not very long. Well at that exact moment, the manager walks up (we think the sales person had Parkinsons) and asks us if we knew about the Maxima they had and THAT car (being 2 years older than the Altima, 25 miles more on it, and 5 years old overall) we could drive off the lot for what we wanted. We admitted it was a good price, thanked them again, and said we’d sleep on it and be in touch.

Now we’re torn on what to do. As exhausting as it is, buying a car is a major purchase and I want to shop around to find the ideal car for us and to fit our needs/wants/budget. I found a 2006 Volvo S60 at Austin Infiniti that we are going to go look at in the morning and then maybe go back to the Nissan dealership if that doesn’t work out. All the Hondas (Accords, at least) are more than the Maxima or Altima and just don’t seem like as good of a deal. So hopefully tomorrow some time we’ll be a two car family again. Now we just need to clean out the garage.

Brady had her 2 year WCC (well child check) this morning.  It’s two weeks late but we were out of town and I like to have the doctor do all of Brady’s visits for consistency.  And because I like her so much better than everyone else in the office.  Brady’s doing great!  She’s in the 92nd percentile for height at 36 inches and the 80th percentile for weight at 29.4 pounds!  They stop checking head circumference at the 18 month visit so I don’t know what that is.  Her soft spot still hasn’t quite closed all the way but the ultrasound in June made the doctor feel better about it being a normal variance and that there wasn’t some medical reason for it not closing.  But it has gotten smaller so she’s just going at her own pace.

The only issue we had at the appointment was Brady’s ears.  The doctor took a peek at them and they were both red, infected, and fluid-filled.  She could not believe Brady hadn’t shown any symptoms of something being wrong (fever, runny nose, diarrhea, fussiness).  The doctor mentioned that she has been a relatively healthy girl with not very many visits and that this was only her third ear infection ever.  The office called in a prescription (which I already started her on) and she’ll go back in 2 weeks to have her ears checked.  The office was out of flu shots so the doctor wrote me a prescription to take to HEB to get it but they only had pre-filled syringes and not the dosing that Brady needed.  Luckily, when we got home their office called me back saying they were ordering more and would get me a dose if she stilled needed it.

So there were no shots at this appointment, but when we go back, Brady’ll have the flu shot and her last Prevnar shot.  Then, Brady won’t need any more shots until she’s 4 and won’t need another WCC until she’s 3.  That’s good news for me!  These first two years have been filled with more needles than I would have liked but at least she’s protected!

We’ve been truly blessed that Brady has overcome her preemieness and is thriving (and growing) so much!

I decided a new year meant a new goal – a 5k!  Well it doesn’t look like that’s gonna happen at this rate.  My exercise induced hives which I’ve had since I was a teenager started acting up yet again today.  I only ran a quarter of a mile and walked the other mile I was gone.  I saw an allergist in LA that said to eat something before walking outside to see if that would work.  It didn’t.  And that was just walking to the gym from our apartment, not even working out outside.  Oy – I just can’t win!  I’m hoping that if I take some Benadryl before my next run it’ll help but that’s if I can stay awake for it.  Benadryl knocks me on my butt – I don’t see how I could possibly exercise or take care of Brady after taking it.  So then on top of the hives, I also had burning in my throat and coughed for a good 30 minutes after I got home.  My mom has asthma – is it possible I do too?  Or even just exercise induced asthma?  Casey told me today that cedar fever is under way here in Texas so I’m guessing that might have something to do with it – all those allergens floating around out there.  So hives, burning throat, coughing, and the weirdest weak out-of-it like feeling possible does not make for a successful run.  I know I can’t jump right back in to where I left off (which wasn’t doing very much then either) but still I’m feeling pretty hopeless at this point.  Is it even possible I can finish a 5k without being in itching/stinging/coughing/dizzy pain?  The end part of that goal was to run the Cap 10k in March which is definitely not happening now.  One New Year’s Resolution out the window.  🙁