Well, better late than never I guess. Happy New Year everyone! January is half over and I was thinking of just giving this blogging thing up but decided to keep at it and give some more thought and time to it. The first weeks of January have been a mix of snow, cold, not much sun and not much working either. I know things should get going more in a few weeks once folks decide to start on their medical care and using deductibles. As for the weather it's typical of January in Ohio except we've been spoiled the last couple of years with mild temps and not much snow. Mother Nature has decided to up her game this year. It's been a back and forth of bitter cold and snow. The snow we have has thankfully came in small batches of only 2-3 inches at a time. Makes it easier to keep up with the shoveling! Next week we are expecting some bitter temps for Monday-Wednesday. After that I'm thinking it will go into a more normal pattern of winter. Thankfully, Annabelle likes the snow and doesn't seem to mind the very cold temps although I don't take her walking for very long periods of time.
I don't know if you can tell but I shovel out paths for Annabelle. I call them her pee paths! Ha! They sort of look like crop circles in the yard. Do you do things like that for your furbabies?
Once all the Christmas decor is put away, I bring out the snowmen and even put some lighted flakes on the kitchen mantel. I like to keep a bit of light up until February then I go for Valentine's stuff. It helps to keep the winter bright!
One thing that makes the winter brighter is watching my grandson play basketball! He's #14 in the red. They've had a good season and we were happy to watch them win this one and see Cameron score!
Go #14!
Last week we had a full moon. This isn't the best shot but I liked the tree limbs in the shot. The full moon made for nice lighted evenings and early mornings but also brought out some craziness at work. Full moons make hospital employees nervous! The next story here is maybe because of a full moon. It's one final thought for this first blog post of the year. This is also a public warning. This past week we,,,or I should say, me since I was the one who got involved, got scammed big time. I got caught in a banking scam that makes me so mad and also feeling so stupid to have fallen for it. Now to be honest the scammer was very good and even had the bank phone number he called me from to ask about a fraudulent charge on my account. Turns out he was the fraudulent call. I even called the number back to make sure it was from my bank, and it was. A long story short and $8,700 later I finally went to the bank in person and found out it was a total scam. We did get it straightened out but what a pain. We had to open new accounts, put in a dispute in hopes of recouping the money, change all our info to the places that we pay bills to or have automatically withdrawn funds from. I know it happens a lot these days, but I still feel very violated and stupid. Never deal with anyone on line or on a phone from a person saying they are the bank, or if you have a gut feeling something isn't right, just check it out in person. Lesson learned for sure! So, taking a deep breath and heading forward I will say, Hello 2025. Let's do better from here on out!
6 comments:
Happy New Year Kathy! I was beginning to wonder where you had spirited off to. I truly and surely hope you don't give up blogging. I know Google is making it more and more challenging - and there are fewer and fewer bloggers/followers out there but you'd be very missed. Sadly, most of my friends/acquaintances are through blogging and I feel my world getting smaller all the time. $8,700...YIKES! I sure hope you don't end up being out that money. What a frustrating and aggravating hassle to have to change all that stuff around. I know how you must feel but please don't feel stupid. Violated, yes...but not stupid. The scams are getting so unbelievably real and convincing these days - even to those of us who believe we "should" know better. I can only imagine how difficult things must be for the elderly or those with limited life skills. We are under a severe weather advisory starting tomorrow...high temps will still be below 0 and windchills of -35º. My furnace went out a week ago and I have a temporary part in until next week which is only working half-heartedly. It takes all day to get the temperature up to anything near what I normally keep it at and with temps that low, it certainly won't keep up. Hope the part comes soon and it actually resolves things. And I hope you stay warm and hell my friend. ~Robin~
Hi, YaYa!
I'm back in the blogosphere and entering your orbit, dear friend. It makes me mad and sad that you were victimized by a scammer. In recent years, they have refined their techniques to such an extent that it is easy for a person to be tricked. I hope you can get your money back, but you will never get back the time and effort you spent changing your account info, nor will you ever again have total peace of mind with regard to your finances. Again, I am hoping for the best possible outcome in this case.
Like you, we have seen temps plummet in our neck of the woods, with this January being named the coldest in almost 15 years. In the overnight hours of Monday thru Wednesday, the mercury is forecast to plunge down to 5 or 6 degrees, with daytime highs only reaching the upper teens to low 20s. Even so, I am not missing Florida one little bit. That's my story and I'm sticking with it. :)
Hooray for big #14, grandkiddo Cam, his teammates and their winning ways on the basketball court. Basketball was the sport I played in school. I was only "second string" and therefore didn't see as much action, but my shortcomings as an athlete had their advantages. I spent most of each game sitting on the bench right next to the prettiest cheerleader on the squad. :)
I love your post-Christmas decorations on the fireplace mantel. The picture of the full moon is so spooky it looks like a still frame from a Bela Lugosi horror classic.
I'll be back with a new post next Friday and hope it will be more to your liking than my last one. I also intend to reply to comments on this post, something I could not do on my last post. Please keep Annabelle bundled up when she goes out to pee in single digit cold this coming week, and here's hoping for brighter days ahead for you and your family as we plow through 2025, dear friend YaYa!
Nice visit, but I did feel some COOL there. LOL Thank goodness if we had a puppy, we would not have to shovel any Pee paths. LOL good one. But ending with the scam is a good warning. I once had to change CC and it was a pain, I know making new accounts would be a pain, especially since we do have many bills paid direct. Thank goodness my scam was less than $50.
Take care up your way and stay warm.
The best your way
Sherry & jack
So glad you decided to come back! It looks pretty cold there and yes...I do many things for our furrbabies.
hugs
Donna
Hi Yaya and Happy New Year to you too! We have had to deal with some fraud and identity theft too and yes, it is a major pain. We had to change accounts and get new credit cards and my husband even got a new computer because it appeared that someone had gotten control of his. It has been a major headache, but seems to be resolved for the moment. I am so glad you got everything in your situation resolved. It's fun to watch our grandkids play sports. We enjoyed watching our high school granddaughter play basketball for her school team last year, but this year, she opted for something else, so we will wait to watch our grandson play baseball in the summer. I hope you have a good week. See you again soon!
Hap npy New Year!!!! We had snow last night and the cold has settled in for the week. So sorry you got scammed they are pretty good at it for sure.
I hope you do not get done blogging I would miss you
Cathy
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