Just Me & Z: A little bit of this and a little bit of that....

Can you believe summer is almost officially here? It has been a crazy past couple of months, and it already feels like summer. I am not too excited about how quickly the months are passing me by. I have not had enough time outside in the sun!

Here are a few things that have been going on in la vida loca de Lindsay (Lindsay's crazy life). :)

I had a garage sale on June 5th. It went really well. I was able to get rid of a LOT of baby clothes and toys that were just taking up space in my garage. We had a crazy hail storm in Oklahoma a couple weeks before, and one of the topics on the radio was, "Why were all of the nice vehicles parked outside and not in the garage during the hail storm? What do YOU have in the garage keeping you from parking your car?" My answer-- garage sale stuff. Ugh. So therefore, I decided to get rid of everything I didn't need! It was hard to part with some of the baby items. I think it is always tough on moms when that happens. But I made almost $500, which was much needed. All-in-all it was a great day. We braved the 100 degree temps and sat in the hot garage. The ice cream man couldn't have come at a better time!

That night, I took Stephen out to dinner for his birthday. We were going to pick the usual, Buffalo Wild Wings, but I decided it was time for a change. The previous weekend we had eaten there two nights in a row, so change sounded really good.

We decided upon Texas Roadhouse. I hadn't been there in quite some time, and I knew it was affordable and good. Plus I knew I could find something that little miss Zoie would eat.

We had a great dinner. Zoie had fun eating peanuts and throwing the shells on the floor (this grosses me out. I don't see how it is sanitary, even though they clean it nightly. I prefer to leave my shells on my plate, thanks). The service was so-so, but for the most part it was a great experience. Then... it all went downhill.

The waitress brought the bill, and I took it. It was my treat for the birthday boy. I placed my Discover card in the black holder, and the waitress grabbed it as she passed by quickly. However, she also quickly returned to the table holding out my card.

"I'm sorry, your card was declined."

Me: "What? Are you serious?"

Confused, I pull out my debit card (that I never use unless someone doesn't take Discover) and hand it to her. I immediately grab my phone to call the credit card company. I get them on the phone and we head to the car to get away from the loud music in the restaurant.

Me: "Hi, yes... I tried to use my credit card for dinner and they said it was declined. Do you know why?"

Operator: "Yes, let me get you over to fraud prevention. It looks like someone has fraudulently accessed your card."

...Transfer...

Me: "They just told me someone fraudulently used my card?!"

Operator 2: "Yes, it looks like someone out of California was able to verify your personal information and called to request a pin change. We will need to close out your account for your protection."

Sooo... after lots of tears over my identity being stolen, and lots of questions to friends, I found out that someone had hacked into the POS Software that was used by Buffalo Wild Wings and stole everyone's credit/debit card numbers that were stored (apparently their software stored everyone's info from previous purchases). They then proceeded to make duplicate cards with the stolen numbers and sold them. The manager verified this, and his response when I contacted him was, "Yeah, it happened at other places around here. Stop by next time you are in..." Like it was no big deal! Grr... I'm totally boycotting them for awhile.

My card was used in California at a One West bank ATM and they made a $500 withdrawal and maxed out my credit card. My sister, the same night I found out mine had been compromised, had someone make charges at Wal-Mart and Meijer in Ohio, on two seperate occasions, totalling four transactions that cleaned out her bank account. All-in-all, I had over 20 people that I knew have this happen to them. It is all Buffalo Wild Wings nationwide, as well as some other restaurants like Ted's Escondido and Alvarado's.

I had to wait a week for my new card to arrive. I also had to file a police report. The Detective I spoke with informed me this has gone all the way to Brazil, and often times, the drug cartel use this method to fund their system. Joy. From speaking with my friends, they were able to make off with tens of thousands of dollars from all of our accounts combined. And that is just the people I know... and I don't know THAT many people! :)

I am still trying to get the fraudulent charges removed, but hopefully now it is straightened out. I am so hesitant about using my card anywhere. I've been using cash on everything, and I hate carrying cash. It really makes you realize how quickly your personal information can be compromised. Because not only did they steal my credit card number, they did some research and were able to track down my social security number (you have to have at least the last 4 to access my account), my last 4 of my credit card, and my mailing zip code. Scary stuff.

But on a good note... :)

Zoie's birthday party with her friends was last Saturday morning. It went great! I really loved the theme: Ladybugs. I found a lady who made the cutest cake (thanks Alisha for referring, and thanks, Jamie, for your talent!!) I had her party for her friends at ABC Stay N Play in Yukon. It is a little room set up with a castle, slides, and wall-to-wall toys and games. It is a child's dream world! About 14 of her friends came, and the party went really well. Everyone had a great time.