So many words, built up then dissolved...

I still have no rhythm for blogging in my life, but I wanted to give you the update.
Everything with the move is still going very well, and we're both so happy about it that it's kind of funny.
My kids will be starting school today, and I'm so excited for them!
Their school is brand new and is beautiful.
They'll be in class with my dear friend J's little boy (not phD J, who moved to virgina and has no kids...but a darling, sweet, happy friend who lives very close).
The best part, for all of us, is that this school starts at 9 instead of 8 and has 5 full days of school instead of a half on Friday.
Ok, that last part's better for me than for them, but they'll live.
Hee...

They talked me into getting them a kitten.
I am excited about this, but it was just too soon.
I still feel very overwhelmed by all the changes and have some minor unpacking and some home improvement stuff yet to do, but I'm sure it'll work out ok.
Last night I called dear D and as she listened to me unwind from my day, the cat came and sat on my chest and would not leave.
Every time I would move the little dear away from my face she would come right back.
I was bloody exhausted and all I wanted was to lie comfortably on my bed and chat with one of my very best friends--who I had lost and now I get to have back!!!!
And when I finished my call and came here to check my email before sleeping, at long last, where was the precious little dear?
That's right: prowling around the keyboard causing all sorts of havoc.
The good news is that her persistence in my bedroom was the motivation I needed to re-hang my door so that now I can comfortably keep her out.
Yay for that!!
A couple of my doors were left off by the slacker-asses who painted this place a few weeks ago, but oh well...the paint looks better than it did before, so I'll deal with it.

Ok, so enough of the details!!

It is so cool to be living in a house I've lived in before!
One of the hardest parts of moving (after all the packing, etc) is finding your way around a new neighborhood, and even your own house--the mindless patterns of our lives become conscious and it's a little exhausting.
No more stepping of the shower and groggily running through all the steps of your morning routine--the location of your toothbrush requires a real, live THOUGHT and the route to your closet becomes a complex math problem.
I remember this from the last move.
This time, I am organizing my kitchen with hardly a thought--
pans went there, baking products here, and canned stuff right here!
Easy peasy, lemon squeezy.
And for those of you who have been around so long you remember my love of the views from this place, they are still here and still stunning!!!
The sun rises and sets at my doorstep.
The sky is always so filled with wonder--
even storm clouds are art, as they spread across the mountainous horizon.

Remember when I said my credit card number had been stolen?
But that I was relieved to know that the credit card company wouldn't make me pay?
Well, they called yesterday and I thought they were just asking routine questions to finalize the case but instead they started accusing me of lying and said the charges don't appear fraudulent.
REALY? EVEN THE ONES MADE IN UTAH DURING MY TRIP TO MAINE????
They claim the charges were made using my card.
How would THAT be physically possible in that case?
And the charges were made at places I don't go, in locations that aren't in my usual pattern and for amounts I would never spend.
Most of them were at gas stations for around $100 or $200, and I know gas is high, but my car tops out around $50 and I NEVER go inside a convience store to spend that kind of money--and only ever go inside on rare occasions, or on road trips and I STILL don't spend 50-100 dollars on gas station crap.
They could see that if they would bother to analyze my spending patterns.
Although, to be fair, there's not much to analyze because I never use that card.
So it's not like it was that hard for me to figure out that someone else charged an extra $2000 to my rarely-used card.
I actually ended the call by calling the guy names, crying, and hanging up.
I'm sure my divorce-related stress had as much to do with how hard I took it as anything, but I felt so fucked over.
They were basically saying they hold all the cards.
(...believe me when I say No Pun Intended)
Because the card wasn't physically stolen (and WHY DIDN'T I JUST SAY IT WAS????) they dont' have to actually investigate the crime.
Capital One No Hassle, MY ASS!
Yes, I will be calling today.
I just wish there was something more I could do.
I feel so helpless.
Maybe I'll go talk to my bank and see if they have any advice.
I would be willing to give the CC people a copy of my debit card record--since that is where I spend all my money--so they can analyze my true spending habits and see that the use of that card does not fit my pattern.
It's a "buy the occasional thing on the internet and pay for vacations" card.
It gets paid off every month, just like my husband's travel credit card.
The man actually said at one point, "I just get the feeling you're leaving something out here."
WHAT THE FUCK?????
The card was used at several locations multiple times, so I may just go to those places and ask if they have surveillance tapes I can look at.
Or something!
This fucker on the phone claimed that my signature had been used on some of the charges.
I don't buy it.
...again, "no pun intended."
It's true that I could have been wrong on one or two of the charges, but not more than that, and frankly I'd like to know which ones had supposed signatures because I doubt any of them did.
I know for a fact that I only used that card on the trip to Maine and for 2 or 3 things right after (cuz we were talking divorce and he said I shouldn't use the checking account...that only lasted like 4 days).
I was very careful when I looked at the list of transactions.
I even googled store numbers to find out the address of this or that gas station so I could be sure they were places I didn't visit and they were.
They also said it didn't look like fraud because I was the one who attempted to make the final charge--the one that tipped me off that but the "other person" stopped using it without having it declined.
How the hell should I know???
All I know is that I'm NOT crazy.
I did not max out a card that I know I was lying dormant in a stack of other non-credit cards in the far recesses of a zippered pocket in my purse!
I don't use the damn thing!
I just don't.

Sorry...just needed to vent...
and, I'll be honest--if there's anyone out there with any good advice, please share it with me.
The soon-to-be Ex called just as I was wrapping up the phone call, as I cried, and so he got to hear about it.
He is livid and told me to try talking to them about it again, but if I don't get anywhere, to just refuse to pay.
Like my credit needs THAT right now, after not working and having almost nothing in my name for 7 years!
Siiiiigh.
He said make 'em sue you.
He said let 'em try to garnish your wages if they win.
He said you don't have a job, what are they going to garnish?
Thanks, mr. gravy train. :)
I will have a job soon (ish), just for the record...
but not yet.
Gotta finish this semester.

Anyway.
I am pretty frustrated with that and hope I can talk some sense into someone there.

As for the rest of my life, it's pretty beautiful at the moment.
Even this annoying little bundle of fur makes me smile.
She's so soft and little O is madly in love with her.
My brother's family took the kids for a few hours last night while I got some errands done and when O called me to see how much longer I would be he expressed adorable concern of the kitty's loneliness.
Aaaaw....

Ok.
I'll write more soon.
So much to say, so little time....

I'm back! That was fast, huh?
I have to leave in a minute, but I just uploaded some pictures and I wanted to share them with you.
This one is the funniest thing I saw, on moving day.
Cops.
With their cruiser's keys locked inside it...
Hehehehehehee.........


And the table and chairs I put together the other night:


And the shelves I put together that night:


God bless IKEA!!

And the lovely knobs I got for my cabinets:


And the KITTY!!!!