April 29th, 2019: Compromised credit cards, fuzz blowing & springtime allergies.
The weekend didn’t turn out anything like I had hoped!
On Friday afternoon – I realized that our main credit card had been compromised. I get an email notification for any charge over $1 – and saw a suspicious one that occurred while I was out to lunch with a friend. So first I called Melani – to see if it was anything she had purchased. It wasn’t. I then called the card provider and reported that fact. Upon doing so, they did the prudent thing and cancelled the card – so no additional fraudulent transactions take place. Well- that’s not very convenient! OK – we do have other credit cards to use – but I really like the Fidelity one! It’s green – and that is my favorite color…. OK – that’s true – but the real reason is – because it give me 2% back as cash on all purchases! So lousy way to start the weekend – and then to think of the merchants I will have to provide with the updated card number….. argh!
Friday
Spaghetti tower building competition – Dominick & AJ
Dominick’s scout pack had their annual Olympic games on Friday evening. The whole pack gets together and they have a bunch of silly competitions. Gracie went last year, and this year both Gracie and Annie accompanied Dominick. Annie & Gracie competed as a team – and it was really nice to see them working together.
All the kids had a lot of fun and it was a great way to spend a cold rainy start to the weekend!
Oh, and I really don’t think there is any danger that any of the events actually become Olympic events – ever! Fuzz blowing…???
Saturday
Earlier this month Gracie & Annie missed the Father – Daughter Dance – since it fell on the same weekend as Dominick’s birthday. So we resolved to make it up to them by hosting our own Father – Daughter Ball! We had hoped to pull it off this weekend – but a few things conspired against us, and it didn’t happen… yet!
First off – Gracie and Dominick were not very co-operative on Saturday. They were acting up, and that help things kind of morph into more of a general spring cleaning day. In fact, it is hard to remember a day in recent history – where either one of them spent so much time in time-out! On the flip side – I can’t remember a day where Sophie has been so good for an entire day! She was wonderful! She kept herself occupied very well while Melani and I were busy doing chores and cleaning.
For the Father – Daughter Ball my goal is to transform the living room area to a ballroom and to have dancing, games and activities there. The deal was/is that we all work towards this – especially Melani and Dominick – and then we (Me and the girls) will return the favor for the Mother – Son “Dance”…. sometime next month. Our goal on Friday was to have the Father-Daughter Ball on Saturday. Mid-day Saturday it became glaringly apparent that our plan was a little too ambitious, especially considering the lack of co-operation from Gracie & Dominick. So we “moved the goal posts” and decided instead to shoot for Sunday afternoon gala.
Unfortunately, it appears that I am developing some allergies as I get older. With all the cleaning and dusting I managed to get enough exposure to something that really got to me. So that was the second factor that helped in this conspiracy to doom the Father-Daughter Ball this weekend! My allergies are not usually a big deal on the day of the exposure – but rather the day after. And when it hits me – it usually hits me pretty hard! So Sunday morning ….
Sunday
Crash! The allergies hit me really hard! I was knocked out pretty much for the day – with some serious sinus pressure. Melani, ever the trooper – filled in for me carting the kids around like their own personal Uber driver. Instead of having a glorious Father -Daughter Ball it ended up being a more typical Sunday – being a little slower than most other days of the week.
The kids had their last religious education classes for the spring/summer on Sunday morning, then church, and finally, an ice-cream party afterwards. Nothing else was on the calendar until Gracie had scouts later in the afternoon.
At dinner time the kids and I were talking about some of the YouTube channels they watch. Just the night before I watched a couple of mindless videos that Annie wanted to watch with Melani & I (since she was the only older child behaving on Saturday). One of the channels we were watching was the JustJordan33 channel – which is one of her favorites. Seems like I am a little closer to figuring out just what might have stoked her obsession with slime!
Anyways – apparently Jordan and several of her siblings all have their own channel, as well as a family channel. Saturday night we watched one in which Jordan spent 24 hours in a pool in her back yard. Then we watched one on the family channel (That YouTub3 Family) in which the entire family (family of 6) spent 24 hours in the branches of a huge tree. And these are HUMANS – not SQUIRRELS!
Apparently this spending 24 hours someplace weird is a thing now? Anyways – Annie picked out both of those videos. I told the kids at dinner that the thing that impressed me (because I just HAD to find SOMETHING redeeming about these videos), was how all of the children got along so well when they were cramped together in a tree for 24 hours! Maybe some of it was through the magic of editing – but they still seemed to get along quite well – especially considering the tight quarters!
It got us talking about YouTube and some of the things they want to do on their YouTube channels. I suggested that they make spoofs of some of these popular channels. JustJordan33 spends 24 hours on the toilet (after eating a Taco Bell Chalupa)! ThatYouTub3Family spends 24 hours listening to Barry Manilow’s Copacabana! That got them all fired up – and they started writing things down and making plans! I like when I can get them excited and motivated to try something new or push themselves!
In the evening Sophie and I went couch fishing for various toys & items she has misplaced in the last few days / weeks / months! That kid is just funny! She is always carrying around / organizing something. First it was her Sesame Street friends, then her PEZ dispenser friends, and now it seems to be her Hatchimal friends (from her Hatchimals Eggventure game). She always manages to misplace a few of her new “friends” – since she is carrying them around everywhere. So she was asking me to help her find someone – Lamblet – I think….
We have a pretty long couch in the back room. It has to be around 18-19 feet long. So although it would seem that a couch this large should provide ample seating for all of us (which it doesn’t – because of all the stuffed animals, books & toys that HAVE to be on it for everyone…) it DOES provide more than ample hiding spaces for toys & items in it, behind it and under it! So I went into the garage and got a long metal hanging rod and started “fishing” under it for some of her missing toys – and boy did we find some treasures!! She was very patient and helpful with the flashlight. I was thrilled to make her happy – and it is something I will always remember…..mostly – because I am sure I will most likely have to do it all over again in another week or so…
I hope you have a great week!
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Sincerely,
